University and Department Summary
CMU is a private University, small by US standards with ca 7,500 students and 3,000 faculty and admin staff. It is situated next to the University of Pittsburgh, with which they have a lot of collaboration. This is especially encouraged with the large Pittsburgh Medical School.
The department has strong ties with industry, and the Computer-Aided Process Design Consortium, which includes six faculty from the chemical engineering department, lists twenty companies as participants. the department currently includes 18 faculty members, 17 postdoctoral research fellows, approximately 75 full-time and 20 part-time graduate students, and approximately 150 undergraduates. On average, the department awards 12 Ph.D. degrees each year. It is beginning to move towards formal "quality assurance" type documentation of course syllabi. This contrasts with a normal US approach of leaving the faculty free to define course content.
They will cope with new accreditation requirements to include certain transferable skills as well as subject content. They are going to start using a "checklist" for assessing if course meets ABET 2000. CMU does not take its own undergraduates into the graduate programme.
CMU have with four exceptions, appointed chemical engineers although some of these have been a long way out of traditional chemical engineering areas! Their strategy is one of increasing quality in a flexible appointment policy - if someone approaches them that is good, then they will appoint. They also have the flexibility to do this on a continuing basis without specific line approval. There are few departmental barriers – which leads to easy interdepartmental collaboration and a number of interdepartmental appointments
Two faculty studied biochem/chem on the side whilst doing CE degrees. They felt chemical engineers are better equipped to go towards science than chem/bio to go towards applications as their in-depth specialisation can make them too narrow minded. Chemical engineers can break from this.
Start-up packages seemed to be on the lower side of the national average. Starting salaries in academia and industry are comparable. Key indicators: academia vs. industry figures. Average $52,000 vs. $70,000 (CMU); Maximum $70,000 vs. $95,000 (CMU).
Academics don't get tenure until full professorship is reached.
Research in the department is conducted in five major areas:
Students specialise in one of these areas following core chemical engineering courses. Research in the bioengineering area includes fundamental and applied aspects of biological transport, cell biology, and protein separation and aggregation, drug delivery device surfaces, and adsorption protein monolayers.
The Biomedical Engineering Program is distinguished by the variety of traditional disciplines represented by its 14 faculty: five chemical engineers, one physiologist, one civil engineer, three electrical engineers, one mechanical engineer, one materials scientist, and two biological scientists. It participates in a combined Ph.D./M.D. program with the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine to enable qualified medical students to develop their engineering and computer expertise at the frontiers of medical research.
Complex fluids engineering (CFE) studies systems that include "colloidal dispersions" of two immiscible phases (like oil-water emulsions or dispersions of solid particles in water) or "association colloids" formed by self-assembly of soluble surfactants or polymers. An industrial advisory board from 10 companies assists the group.
Envirochemical engineering researches complex atmospheric chemistry models for air pollution (smog, acid rain, global), studying the formation and properties of aerosols, heterogeneous atmospheric chemistry, and bioremediation of soils and solutions. Research of this area is integrated with the College’s Environmental Institute and with the NSF Center for Global Change.
Process systems engineering (PSE) studies process synthesis, large-scale nonlinear and mixed-integer optimization, modeling and simulation, scheduling and planning of multiproduct plants. Once each year, the Computer-Aided Process Design Consortium holds a two-day review for all industrial participants (currently 21
Solid State Materials aims preparing advanced materials, semiconductors, solid interfaces, experimental tools for characterising them, and computer methods for molecular simulation. This research has strong ties with the NSF Data Storage Systems Center.
The Colloids, Polymers, and Surfaces program builds on the university’s unusual strength in colloids, polymers, and surfaces in both the departments of Chemical Engineering and Chemistry. A combination of process + product with 10 (will go to 11 in 1999) faculty associated with "product" oriented research and 5 (will go to 6 in 1999) concerned with process. Others don’t really fall into these categories and may be termed fundamentalists or environmental.
The department’s emphasis on interdisciplinary research takes advantage of the complementary skills and knowledge of various faculty in Chemical Engineering and other departments, such as Biology, Chemistry, Civil Engineering, Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, Materials Science, Mathematics, Operations Research, and Physics.
Major interdisciplinary Centres involving chemical engineering include the Institute of Complex Engineered Systems; the Data Storage Systems Center; the Center for Light Microscopy Imaging and Biotechnology; and the the Colloids Polymers and Surfaces Program; the Environmental Institute and the Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center.
The Engineering Design Research Center (EDRC) - one of 25 supported by NSF/DOE for from 1986-97 years. Is co-supported by over 40 companies. The State replaced NSF funding, when it ceased, with $1.3 million per year as it was convinced by arguments that the Centre contributed to the regeneration of Pittsburgh in particular, and the State in general. Industrial subscribers advise on research direction but do not control. Companies actually have full-time staff sitting in EDRC to keep eye on the research happening and to leap on opportunities when they arise.
Some academics had spin-off companies. It was neither encouraged or discouraged but the external environment may have made it easier than in the UK.
Industry has a strong record of giving grants of $5-45k. It was said that at less than $15,000 there are few strings attached; at less than $25,000 some not insignificant strings attached; greater than $25,000 and industry want to own the work!
Interviewees Included
Todd Przybycien, Lynn Walker,Spyros Pandis, Erik Ydstie, Michael Domach, Lorenz Biegler, Art Westerberg, John Anderson.