Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering

If a career in chemical engineering is in your future, then you owe it to yourself to look at everything the graduate program in chemical engineering at Iowa State has to offer. Learn more about the chemical engineering profession.

Graduate study in chemical engineering is an exciting, challenging, and rewarding undertaking.  Graduate Brochure

Research

The faculty in the department are acknowledged leaders of research and teaching in a number of areas including biotechnology, catalysis, crystallization, reaction engineering, statistical process control, materials processing, environmental technology, thermodynamics, and fluid mechanics.

External support for the graduate program comes from alumni and friends of the department as well as from more than 40 government agencies and industrial firms.

Program of Study

• Graduate courses
• MS degree requirements
• ME degree requirments
  
• PhD degree requirements
• Graduate handbook (pdf)
• Graduate College

Facilities and Laboratories

With a new 35,000 square-foot addition, the department has excellent physical facilities. The new addition contains research laboratories for corrosion and electrochemistry crystallization, biotechnology, statistical process control, and reaction engineering.

Also located in the new building are analytical laboratories, a small pilot plant, state of the art teaching laboratories, and offices. The department has close associations with a number of university-wide research centers and the Ames Laboratory, a U.S. Department of Energy National Laboratory.

In addition, the community offers a pleasant and congenial academic setting with easy access to larger metropolitan cities such as Des Moines, Minneapolis, Kansas City, and Chicago.

Graduate Students

Our graduate program attracts students from all over the United States and throughout the world. In recent years, approximately 25% of our graduate students have been MS candidates and the rest are PhD candidates. 

Our students are strong competitors for several departmental and university-wide fellowships from a variety of sources. With the population of nearly 60 graduate students and 16 full-time faculty members, the department maintains a moderate number of students per faculty member ensuring a quality mentoring relationship.

Because of our excellent students and the reputation of the department, our graduates continue to be in demand by both industrial and academic employers. 

Get to know other students through the Chemical Engineering Graduate Students Organization (CEGSO), an informal organization of the chemical engineering graduate students that sponsors both educational and social activities.

Financial Assistance

Learn about financial assistance opportunities.