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Chemical Engineering: Past and Present
 In 1989, the Chemical
Engineering Department at the University of Florida celebrated its 50th
Anniversary. Does that mean that Chemical Engineering at UF is only 55 years
old? Not at all. The Chemical Engineering Curriculum at this university goes
back to 1917 when a degree course was first offered. From 1922-1938, Dr. W.H.
Beisler, Ph.D. Princeton, was the only professor teaching ChE, which was then a
part of the Chemistry Department. In 1938 another professor, Dr. R.A. Morgen,
was added, and in 1939 a separate Department of Chemical Engineering was
created. In 1940 and 1942 two more professors joined the department but in 1944
eight additional professors were added. Things were beginning to take off, and
to the present time 57 professors taught on this faculty. Some died, some left,
and in 1993 we had 18 full-time professors, 151 undergraduate students, 50
graduate students, and 7 post doctorate students.
The department is housed in a four story building on the University of
Florida campus. The faculty has gained millions of dollars for their research
and has turned out thousands of research reports and journal articles.
The students have had a student chapter of the AIChE (American Institute of
Chemical Engineers) since 1932 which has received the outstanding chapter award
year after year. The students only work together but have trips, picnics, and an
annual banquet with skits and great fun.
The Department now has 16 faculty members engaged in graduate teaching and
research. Their interests span a wide range of topics including thermodynamics
and statistical mechanics, biochemical and biomedical engineering, interfacial
and surface phenomena, process control, kinetics and reaction engineering,
pollution, transport phenomena, applied mathematics, space processing, polymeric
materials, rheology and pulp characterization. This diversity of interests is
reflected in the large number of graduate courses available, allowing the
student an excellent opportunity to obtain a broad background in chemical
engineering.
Listed in this brochure are the present members of the Graduate Faculty with
a brief description of their major areas of research. The number of faculty is
expected to increase in the coming years. Many are leading members or Directors
of special university centers such as the Center for Surface Science and
Engineering, Chemical Physics, Applied Mathematics, Microfabritechreg. (for
electronic materials research), and Biotechnology.
Our present annual funding level is approximately 2 million dollars and is
expected to increase considerably. Support for our programs comes from federal
agencies such as NSF, NASA, DOE, Sematech, a variety of Defense agencies,
non-profit organizations such as the American Chemical Society and the Gas
Research Institute and a large number of petroleum, chemical, aerospace, defense
and semiconductor companies.
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