Making food and drink stay fresher and tastier longer. Finding ways to refine fuel to reduce pollution. Turning unclean water safe for human consumption. Developing new pest control products to prevent the spread of disease. Designing engineered cardiac tissue to reduce the risk of heart disease. Producing chemicals from natural resources.
These feats may sound beyond reach right now, but they’re actually projects that are being skillfully and confidently brought to life by a team of skilled chemical engineers. In a world dealing with an ongoing pandemic, a climate crisis and the coming age of automation, chemical engineers and the knowledge they bring are key to producing the most important compounds — fuel, vaccines, food, and many other products — that humanity will need to respond to these challenges.
In-demand and in-line with today’s global needs, it’s of little surprise that chemical engineers are among the highest paid entry-level professionals. Globally, they have gone on to occupy CEO positions at Fortune 500 companies that include ExxonMobil, Chevron, Coca-Cola, Intel, Stryker Medical, and 3M.
Auburn University, one of the largest universities in the Southern US, offers students a strong background in every core area. Their Department of Chemical Engineering offers curricula that challenge and encourage aspiring chemical engineers to learn the basics of solving real-world problems in relation to energy, medicine, nanotechnology and sustainability. All of these play a major part in our lives, and advances in these fields make the world a better place. In any industry that contributes to daily life, the job market for professional chemical engineers is strong and robust, with qualification in the field opening doors to a wide range of exciting professional opportunities in industry and academia.
At the Auburn University Department of Chemical Engineering, students are taught the fundamentals of taking products and compounds, and transforming them into usable, safe and sustainable products for home and industrial use. In a field that stretches from chemistry, to physics, to math, to biology, to the economics behind it all, the Department of Chemical Engineering gives students a 360-degree experience. Their classroom lessons go hand-in-hand with research and faculty mentoring, providing students with individualised support and a fully-immersive learning environment.
The Auburn Family dynamic
The possibilities are endless and the personal development that each student experiences in their life at Auburn University is an added bonus. Apple’s Tim Cook, CEO of the world’s biggest and fastest-developing tech company, describes his alma mater as “one big, happy family,” crediting Auburn University for his own development as a person.
The Auburn Family dynamic is not only a saying — the university and its departments are dedicated to more than just academic development, with personal milestones being equally as crucial. Through support and collaboration, students and faculty members come together to ensure mutual success. Always keen to offer opportunities to the next great minds of a generation, the Department of Chemical Engineering offers several scholarships to students at different stages of their academic careers.
Students at Auburn get to learn the processes of creating goods and products that are essential for sustaining global well-being. They have access to a faculty that is young, dynamic, and growing with a broad expertise in energy systems; biology engineering; systems engineering; and advanced materials and nanotechnology.
Knowledge in these areas contributes to the global fight for sustainability, enabling innovation for present and future generations. The faculty actively conducts research across several fields that contribute to global well-being. They work with their students to achieve their academic and professional goals.
Join an illustrious community of researchers
“With our department’s combined knowledge and experience, we offer students a well-rounded education and prepare them to be among the best in their field upon graduation,” says department chair, Dr. Mario Eden..
In 2020 alone: Assistant professor, Robert Pantazes will further his research in therapeutic proteins and was awarded US$1.75million from the National Institutes of Health to this end;
Assistant professor Bryan Beckingham was the first faculty member from the Auburn University Samuel Ginn College of Engineering to receive an award through the US Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science’s Early Career Research Programme. He was awarded US$750,000 to support his research on multi-solute transport behaviour within ion-containing polymer membranes;
Faculty members Robert Ashurst, Virginia Davis and Maria Soledad Peresin advanced biosensors with grant funding from the State of Alabama;
In collaboration with the Auburn University MRI Research Centre, Tareq Anani, Barry Yeh, and Allan David developed a technology that reduced the toxicity of MRI contrast agents;
Auburn University doctoral candidate in chemical engineering, Richard Cullum, was a part of the R&D team that brought a COVID-19 test from development to clinic in less than two weeks.
Being a part of the Auburn family means being a part of a supportive, collaborative group of faculty members and students who are equally as passionate about bringing forth change and helping each other progress in the process. With accomplishments like these, it’s hard not to be inspired to contribute.
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