Professor Gregory B. McKenna, Chairperson

Professors Graham, Mann, Parker, Riggs, and Tock; Associate Professors Abbott, Desrosiers, Hoo, and Simon; Assistant Professors Leggoe, Vaughn, and Wiesner; Adjunct Faculty: Chaffin, Cutler, and Ramkumar. Emeritus Faculty: Bethea, Bradford, and Heichelheim.

This department supervises the following degree programs: CHEMICAL ENGINEERING, Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering, Master of Science in Chemical Engineering, and Doctor of Philosophy. The undergraduate degree requirements appear in the accompanying curriculum table.

The major objectives of the department during the next decade will be: 1) to provide students with a high quality education at both the undergraduate and graduate levels that will enable them to adapt to a rapidly changing technical environment, 2) to produce graduates who will be productive throughout their careers in a wide range of industrial and professional environments, and 3) to develop graduates with a strong sense of ethics and professionalism and the ability to succeed as both individual and team contributors.

Along with the degree of Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering, a student may declare a minor in a field of his or her choice. Any required or elective courses in the chemical engineering curriculum may be applied toward the minor, with the approval of the minor department. While declaration of a minor is not required, it is strongly recommended. A minor in chemistry or mathematics can be earned with very few additional hours. An approved minor in Business Administration with a B.S.Ch.E. permits a student to enter the MBA program at Texas Tech with no additional leveling in B.A. or Economics courses.

An agreement has been reached between the Department of Computer Science and the Department of Chemical Engineering whereby degrees in both fields can be earned. The additional semester hours are specified as follows:

Semester hours

MATH 2360, Linear Algebra -- 3

E E 2372, Modern Digital System Design -- 3

C S 1462, Fundamentals of Computer Science I -- 4

C S 1463, Fundamentals of Computer Science II -- 4

C S 2350, Computer Org. and Assembly Lang. Programming -- 3

C S 2365, Software Engineering -- 3

C S 2382, Discrete Computational Structures -- 3

C S 3352, Introduction to Systems Programming -- 3

C S 3364, Design and Analysis of Algorithms -- 3

C S 3372, Advanced Digital Projects -- 3

C S 3375, Computer Architecture -- 3

C S 3361, Concepts of Programming Languages -- 3

C S 4311, Senior Project Design -- 3

C S 4312, Senior Project Implementation Laboratory -- 3

C S elective -- 3

Total additional specified hours -- 47

Six of these hours may be used as free electives in the B.S.Ch.E. curriculum, resulting in an additional forty-two hours for the B.S.C.S.

Several substitutions are made in the B.S.C.S. curriculum:

Semester hours

CH E 4343 for Math. Prob. & Stat. elect. -- 3

CH E 2343 for Computer sci. elect. -- 3

CH E 4353, 4153 for Computer sci. elect. -- 4

CH E 2306, or

PETR 3308 for ENGL 2311 -- 3

Technical or professional development electives required for the B.S.C.S. degree may be selected from required CH E courses. Oral communication is included in CH E 2306, 4121, 4232, 4354, and 4355.

A minor in chemical engineering consists of 18 or more hours in chemical engineering courses, including CH E 1311, 2311, 2225, 2321, 3226, and 3322.

Prerequisites for all of these courses will be enforced.

The profession of chemical engineering combines the principles of physical and chemical sciences with the discipline of engineering to solve modern technological problems and be of effective service to society. The chemical engineer is largely responsible for the continual development of new processes and new products that have a direct impact on improving the quality of life and the environment. To this end, the Department of Chemical Engineering provides a broad-based program with individual, academic, and professional counseling.

The importance of professionalism in engineering cannot be overemphasized. Chemical engineering students are presented with a code of professional behavior and ethics at each academic level and are required to adhere to it. Copies of these codes are available on request.

The senior-year courses, as indicated in the list of courses in chemical engineering, are taught as a year of professional practice. Professional behavior constitutes a significant portion of grade evaluation in these courses.

The chemical engineering curriculum is sufficiently general that upon completion the student is prepared for a career in any of the process industries that involve chemical transformations. Employment opportunities cover a wide spectrum that includes, among others, petroleum refining, petroleum production, plastics production, basic chemicals, petrochemicals, pharmaceuticals, metal production, textiles, semiconductors, and various biomedical and biological specialties. Many chemical engineers also are directly involved in the design of systems to minimize pollution of our environment or are active with governmental regulatory agencies that set environmental standards.

Continuing advances in the practice of chemical engineering include extensive use of computer simulation and computer control of chemical processes. The Department of Chemical Engineering at Texas Tech has well-established programs in both of these areas. All chemical engineering students must have access to a personal computer running the Windows operating system, including Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, and MathCAD software. Many on-campus classes have their own Internet sites, and some classes are available only on the Internet. For this reason, access to an Internet provider is strongly recommended.

In order to be prepared for professional training as well as to practice chemical engineering professionally, it is essential that the prospective engineer have a good background in the physical sciences, namely mathematics, physics, and chemistry, in addition to the engineering sciences which include basic civil, electrical, and chemical engineering. Summer experience in a chemical processing industry is strongly recommended as part of the preparation for professional practice. In order to illustrate the application of engineering principles, visits to processing installations may be required as part of academic course work.

In accord with the Dynamic Enrollment Management Plan of the College of Engineering, the progress of each chemical engineering student is carefully monitored to ensure that all prerequisites for upper-level courses are satisfied, and that degree requirements will be met in a timely manner. A grade of C or better is required in any course applied toward the B.S.Ch.E. degree. The department uses outcome assessment to monitor quality. Students should expect periodic assessment of technical competence beyond course grades. All seniors are required to take a mock FE exam prior to graduation.

Students earning a grade lower than a C in any course will be required to meet with their advisor before the start of the next semester. Any course or prerequisite completed with an unsatisfactory grade must be repeated.

Students transferring into this department from other institutions or from another department at Texas Tech must have an overall grade-point average of 2.00 or better, as well as a grade-point average of 2.00 or better in all science, mathematics, and engineering courses. All grades assigned in the matriculation of these courses will be included in the computation of grade-point averages.

In addition to scholarships offered through the university Financial Aids Office and the College of Engineering, the Chemical Engineering Department also offers scholarships to qualified students. The awards are based on consistent academic performance of maintaining a GPA of 3.00 (on a 4.00 scale) or better.

Specification of prerequisites implies all prior prerequisites must have been met.

The following table gives an eight-semester sequence of required courses that must be taken in the order shown as partial requirements for the B.S.Ch.E. degree. The remaining requirements can be taken as the student's load permits, provided all prerequisites are met.

Chemical Engineering Curriculum.

Critical-path hours--91

Additional requirements:

American Government -- 6

American History -- 6

Humanities or Fine Arts -- 3

Humanities/Multicultural -- 3

Chemistry Electives -- 8

+Engineering science elective -- 3

Chemical Engineering elective -- 3

Group or Individual Behavior -- 3

Minimum hours required for graduation--126.

*Students who are not adequately prepared for calculus must take appropriate courses (MATH 0301, 0302, 1320, 1321, 1350) before enrolling in MATH 1351.

**Students who are not adequately prepared for chemistry must take CHEM 1301 before enrolling in CHEM 1307.

***Students who are not adequately prepared for physics must take PHYS 1304 before enrolling in PHYS 1308. A high-school physics course and a year of calculus are recommended as adequate preparation.

Choose from Core Curriculum requirements.

Select a course that is simultaneously listed in the Humanities section of the Core Curriculum requirements and the section specifying courses that satisfy the Multicultural requirement.

Must include two laboratory courses from approved sophomore or higher courses.

+May be any sophomore or higher engineering course which is not equivalent to a course already taken.

Courses in Chemical Engineering. (CHE)

1121. Freshman Seminar in Chemical Engineering (1:1:0). Selected readings and small-group discussion of the chemical engineering profession; history, ethics, career paths, research opportunities.

1303. Survey of Chemical Processing Technology (3:3:0). Study of the technology underlying consumer products and utilities such as electricity, water, fuels, paper, plastics, and integrated circuits. Not for major credit.

1305. Engineering Analysis I (3:2:3). Synthesis and analysis of typical engineering problems emphasizing the use of computing tools, spreadsheet and compiler programming.

1311. Introduction to Chemical Processing (3:3:0). Prerequisite: CHEM 1307, ENGL 1301, MATH 1351. Dimensions, units and conversions, process variables, material balances, process flow sheet analysis.

2306. Exposition of Technical Information (3:1:6). Prerequisite: ENGL 1302. Organization and presentation of experimental data, and research interpretation and conclusions. Computer-aided preparation of engineering reports.

2311. Chemical Process Principles (3:3:0). Prerequisite: CHE 1311, PHYS 1308. Coupled material and energy balances, phase equilibrium, elementary transient balances.

2321. Chemical Engineering Thermodynamics I (3:3:0). Prerequisite: MATH 2350 and CH E 2311. Properties of pure substances, ideal gas behavior, first and second law analysis, and applications to energy conversion and power cycles. (Cross-listed with M E 2322.)

2343. Numerical Techniques for Solutions of Chemical Engineering Problems (3:3:0). Corequisite: MATH 3350. Numerical methods for integration, root finding, solution of systems of algebraic equations and initial- and boundary-value problems, optimization.

3115. Fluid Mechanics Laboratory (1:0:3). Corequisite: CHE 3315. Experiments in laminar and turbulent flow, fluid metering.

3126. Heat Transfer Laboratory (1:0:3). Corequisite: CHE 3326. Experiments in energy transport.

3141. Mass-Transfer Laboratory (1:0:3). Corequisite: CH E 3341. Experiments in separation operations.

3315. Fluid Mechanics (3:3:0). Prerequisite: CHE 2311, MATH 3350; Corequisite: CHE 3115. Principles of momentum transport. Application to laminar and turbulent flow, metering, porous media, and settling.

3322. Chemical Engineering Thermodynamics II (3:3:0). Prerequisite: CHE 2321. Solution thermodynamics, phase and chemical equilibria, analysis of processes.

3323. Chemical Reaction Engineering (3:3:0). Prerequisite: CHE 3315 and 3326. An introduction to the kinetics of chemical conversion processes and the design of chemical reactors.

3325. Intermediate Transport Phenomena (3:3:0). Prerequisite: CHE 3315, CHE 3326. Study of advanced topics in transport phenomena including momentum transport in non-Newtonian coupling of momentum transport with heat and mass transport.

3326. Heat Transfer (3:3:0). Prerequisite: CHE 2321 and MATH 3350. Principles of energy transport. Application to heat conduction, convection, and radiation. Design and performance of heat exchangers and furnaces.

3330. Engineering Materials Science (3:3:0). Prerequisite: CH E 2321 and 2305. Engineering properties of metals, ceramics, and polymers; molecular, crystal, and microstructure configurations; selection of materials for applications.

3341. Mass-Transfer Operations (3:3:3). Prerequisite: CHE 3322; Corequisite: CH E 3141. Theory and practice of mass transfer. Particular emphasis on the operations of distillation, absorption, and extraction.

3343. Engineering Experimentation (3:3:0). Prerequisite: Junior standing in physical science or engineering. Strategy in experimentation; planning efficient experiments; analysis of data and interpretation and presentation of results.

4000. Special Problems in Chemical Engineering (V1-6). Prerequisite: Departmental approval. Individual studies in chemical engineering areas of special interest. May be repeated for credit.

4121. Chemical Engineering Seminar (1:1:0). Prerequisite: Advanced standing and approval of the department chairperson. Group discussion of current events, chemical engineering education, professionalism, as well, as individual prepared talks. Field trips, as necessary, will be scheduled. May be repeated for credit. Professional-practice course.

4153. Process Control Laboratory (1:0:3). Prerequisite: CHE 4353. Experiments with control equipment and the minicomputer. Professional-practice course.

4331. Corrosion Science and Engineering (3:3:0). Prerequisite: Senior standing in engineering or consent of instructor. Study of corrosion management technologies.

4232. Unit Operations Laboratory (2:0:6). Prerequisite: Senior standing or consent of instructor. Laboratory experiments illustrating the basic principles of unit operations. Includes instruction on experimental methods, equipment scale up, and technical communication. Professional-practice course.

4340. Polymer Processing (3:3:0). Prerequisite: CH E 3315, MATH 2350. Polymer processing and fabrication technology for thermoplastic and thermoset polymers: The science and art of manufacturing with plastic materials.

4341 Polymerization Engineering (3:3:0). Prerequisite: CHEM 2305 and MATH 2350. Polymerization reactions, mechanisms and kinetics, control of properties through reaction and processing, polymerization reactor and process design, degradation reactions.

4342. Polymer Physics and Engineering (3:3:0). Fundamentals of polymer science and engineering. Solution properties, chain conformation and molecular mass characterization. Rubber elasticity and vicoelastic behavior. Crystalline polymers and morphology.

4345. Dynamics of Polymeric and Nonlinear Fluids (3:3:0). Prerequisite: CH E 3315. Observed phenomena in polymeric and multicomponent flow systems; viscometry and viscoelastic measurements for nonlinear fluids; rheological models; analytical solutions to flow problems; dimensional analysis.

4346. Polymer Viscoelasticity (3:3:0). Prerequisite: MATH 3350 and CH E 3330 or consent of instructor. Linear viscoelasticity, Boltzmann superposition, experimental methods, molecular theory, and mechanical properties of solid polymers.

4353. Process Control (3:3:0). Prerequisite: CHE 3323, 3341. Study of the principles of process dynamics and control and their applications to feedback control. Professional-practice course.

4354. Chemical Engineering Plant Design (3:2:3). Prerequisite: CHE 3323, 3341, or consent of instructor. Development of process and equipment designs for integral manufacturing plants. Professional-practice course.

4355. Chemical Process Design and Simulation (3:2:3). Prerequisite: CHE 4354 or consent of instructor. Application of computer simulation and flow sheeting, optimization, and process synthesis techniques to the design of chemical processes and equipment. Professional-practice course.

4360. Advanced Industrial Waste Treatment (3:3:0). Prerequisite: Senior standing in chemical engineering or consent of instructor. Advanced methods for treating industrial wastes and remediating contaminated sites of increasing importance to industry and society.

4363. Biochemical Engineering (3:3:0). Prerequisite: CHE 3323. Introduction to biochemical reaction engineering and separations. Kinetics of biomass and product information, and substrate utilization. Biotransport phenomena, bioenergetics, downstream separation and purification processes.

4375. Chemical Process Safety (3:3:0). Prerequisite: CHE 2321 and 3226. Case studies in emergency response, hazard evaluation, accident investigation, toxic releases, atmospheric dispersion, fires and explosion types.