Advising

Undergraduate Advising

Academic advising services are currently being provided remotely through Zoom and email*. There are no in-person appointments. Remote advising will continue until further notice.

*Email advising is for brief questions (e.g. course clarification, degree Audit questions, etc.) For more in depth questions, make a Zoom advising appointment (see below) for petitions, change of major, career and professional planning, etc.

Who is my Advisor?

A-M

Kristen Burns
E-mail: undergraduateadvising@che.ufl.edu 
Phone: 352-392-0095

Schedule an Appointment with Ms. Burns

Zoom Walk-in times and links below – no appointment needed.

Monday: 2:00-3:30 p.m.

Tuesday: 9:30-11:00 a.m.

Wednesday: 2:00-3:30 p.m.

Thursday: 9:30-11:00 a.m.

Friday: Email advising only, for brief questions.

N-Z

Shaura Thomas
E-mail: undergraduateadvising@che.ufl.edu
Phone: 352-294-7003

Schedule an Appointment with Ms. Thomas

Zoom Walk-in times and links below – no appointment needed.

Monday: 9:00-11:00 a.m.

Tuesday: 9:00-11:30 a.m.

Wednesday: 1:00-3:00 p.m.

Thursday: 9:00-10:30 a.m.

Friday: Email advising only, for brief questions.

Virtual Peer Advising: Chemical Engineering Peer Advisor Information (ChEPA)

To get your advising hold removed, attend a ChEPA Group Advising Session.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: I HAVE A HOLD ON MY ACCOUNT. CAN YOU CLEAR IT?

A: Chemical Engineering advisors can ONLY clear departmental advising holds.  

  • To clear an advising hold, complete ChE Curriculum Plan (131134) entirely and email to your assigned advisor from your @ufl.edu Gatorlink email along with your UF ID number. Failure to do so will delay response time.
  • For holds other than departmental advising (e.g., Immunization, Violence Prevention, Ready, Set, Work, Local Contact, Past Due Debt, etc.), check ONE.UF. Select the hold for removal instructions, which will indicate the correct department to contact.

Q: HOW DO I REGISTER?

A: Refer to the following resources:

Q: HOW DO I KNOW WHAT CLASSES TO TAKE?

A: To choose your classes:

  • Consult the ChE Curriculum Plan (see BSChE 131 credit – for admission after Summer B 2019 or BSChE 134 credit for admission before Summer A 2019.)
  • Discuss course load/course sequence with your assigned advisor and/or Chemical Engineering Peer Advisors (ChEPAs.)

*** Note: Review any changes to your course schedule with your assigned academic advisor to ensure progress toward graduation. ***

 Q: I WANT TO CHANGE MY MAJOR TO CHEMICAL ENGINEERING. WHAT IS THE PROCESS?

A: After reviewing the Intro to UF Chemical Engineering Video, create a ‘What-if’ Degree Audit for the Chemical Engineering program to identify applicable courses.

Please ensure completion of the following items:

Schedule a Zoom appointment with the assigned academic advisor to facilitate a productive discussion. Please submit the curriculum plan at least 72 hours in advance (excluding weekends and holidays).

For detailed information on transitioning to an Engineering major, refer to the resources available at: Engineering Major Change Information.

Below are some helpful videos to view as you consider changing your major to Chemical Engineering:

Your proactive engagement with these materials will significantly contribute to our conversation during the upcoming appointment.

Additionally, connecting with the Chemical Engineering Peer Advisors (ChEPAs)can provide invaluable firsthand experiences and insights into the Chemical Engineering major. They are a valuable resource for guidance and advice regarding this academic pursuit.

A few notes:

  • You are required to complete all 8 of our critical tracking courses completed with a final grade posted by the 5th semester to change your major to Chemical Engineering as an undergraduate student.
  • If you are a transfer student who has earned an AA degree from a Florida Public State/Community College and applied to the University, per the UF Transfer Admissions eligibility requirements, you are not eligible to change your major.
    • Please note: Earning an AA degree in High School does not count as a transfer student status.
  • The Chemical Engineering Critical Tracking Course GPA can be found in the “What If” section of the degree audit or use the HWCOE GPA calculator. A 2.5 GPA is required for all critical-tracking courses based on the best of two attempts (including drops and withdrawals).
  • A 2.5 GPA is required in the MAC2311, MAC2312, and MAC2313 sequence based on the best of two attempts (including drops and withdrawals). Use the HWCOE GPA calculator.

Q: I HAVE A PETITION OR OTHER FORM TO BE SIGNED. WHAT DO I DO?

A: Please access the ChE Advising Canvas page. Petitions such as Bright Futures Application Extension Form*, International Forms, Financial Aid Satisfactory Academic Progress Form, Hardships (Ex: DepartmentalCollegeUniversity, and/or Medical), Enrollment VerificationSummer Enrollment Requirement Waiver, etc., will be listed in the Petitions module of the ChE Advising Canvas page. Petitions for violating prerequisites or corequisites will not be approved.

From your @ufl.edu Gatorlink email, please send your assigned advisor the completed form and required documentation (Ex. personal statement, curriculum plan, etc). Include pertinent information about your petition/form in your email. Please remember to include your UF ID and a working phone number in case additional information is needed. Your form will be signed electronically and returned to you via email.

*Do NOT send the Bright Futures Application Extension form to the Department Chair! Please send it to the authorized designee, which is your assigned academic advisor.

Q: WHO DO I GO TO FOR FINANCIAL AID QUESTIONS?

A: For any financial aid related questions, please contact the Office for Student Financial Aid and Scholarships or UF’s OneStop Office. This includes financial aid, scholarships, fees/payments, tuition, etc.

Q: I AM TRYING TO REGISTER FOR A CHEMICAL ENGINEERING COURSE AND I’M GETTING A PREREQUISITE ERROR. WHAT DO I DO?

A: For Chemical Engineering (ChE) classes, you need to follow the critical sequence shown in your Curriculum plan (BSChE 131 or BSChE 134.) Failure to follow this sequence will result in not complying with the prerequisite or corequisite requirements (prerequisite error.) If you are complying with the critical sequence, please check the UF catalog to make sure you are complying with any non-ChE course prerequisites. If you are complying, please email your assigned advisor from your @ufl.edu Gatorlink email and include your UF ID number, the course you are trying to add, and why you feel the error message is incorrect.

The department policy is that no student can take a class without having had the prerequisites and corequisites listed in the Catalog. Course instructors do not have the authority to override this policy. There are no exceptions!

Q: I AM TRYING TO REGISTER FOR A COURSE OUTSIDE OF CHEMICAL ENGINEERING AND I’M HAVING A PROBLEM. WHAT DO I DO?

A: Contact the department offering the course. Department contact information is available from the UF Homepage.

Q: I HAVE QUESTIONS ABOUT PRE-HEALTH REQUIREMENTS, GEN EDS, FOREIGN LANGUAGE, AP/IB CREDIT, ETC., NOT APPEARING ON MY DEGREE AUDIT. WHERE CAN I FIND MY INFORMATION?

A: Look at the Transfer Course section at the bottom of your Degree Audit on ONE.UF. If the class is listed, contact your assigned advisor from your @ufl.edu Gatorlink email and include your UF ID number along with the explanation of the problem.

If the class is not listed on your Degree Audit, then contact the Admissions Office to determine if your transcript was received.

For Pre-Health questions, please contact a Pre-Health Academic Advisor within the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences for assistance.

Q: I AM CONCERNED ABOUT EXCESS HOURS. HOW DO I KNOW HOW MANY HOURS I HAVE REMAINING?

A: Check your Excess Hours screen on ONE.UF for a list of courses and remaining hours. More information on Excess Hours and its Petitions process can be found here.

Q: I DON’T KNOW WHAT COURSES TO TAKE NEXT SEMESTER. CAN YOU HELP ME FIGURE IT OUT? ALSO, I WANTED TO PLAN THE REST OF MY TIME HERE AT UF. HOW DO I DO THAT?

A: Refer to your degree audit in ONE.UF to see which courses you have remaining for graduation and compare that to your BSChE Curriculum Plan (131134). Complete your curriculum in its entirety to know your projected graduation date. Use the Undergraduate Catalog to see a general semester plan. Click on the link for any courses in that list to see descriptions and prerequisites. Go to the Schedule of Courses and start working out your schedule. Also, the Schedule of Courses is a great tool to use if you wish to know when a course was previously offered. It will be an indicator of if the course will be offered in a future semester. If you have reviewed all these resources and still have questions, send an email to your assigned advisor. 

Q: I NEED TO DROP A CLASS AFTER THE ADD/DROP PERIOD. HOW DO I DO THAT?

A: When dropping a class after the add/drop period, you will request the drop through ONE UF.

Before dropping a class, it is very important to consult with your instructor to ensure that you are passing with the required grade for progression.

Students are allowed two free drops in the first 60 hours of enrollment at UF, and two additional free drops after 60 hours. All drops must be approved by your Academic Advisor. If you are a transfer student, you are only awarded two free drops (as it would be after the 60 credit hours).

Once you have requested the drop through ONE UF, you will complete this required Finalize Request to Drop a Class form as soon as possible.

Note: This Finalize Request to Drop a Class form is ONLY for undergraduate students who are in the Department of Chemical Engineering starting in their 2nd Year until Graduation. First Year students must speak with the First Year Advising.

To make sure your drop is processed by the posted Last Day to Drop with a W deadline, ChE Advising requests that you submit by 4:30 pm EST of the last day to Drop with a W deadline.

*If you do not have any drops available, you must petition through the HWCOE for an additional drop.

Once a class has been removed from your schedule, it CANNOT be undone/retracted.

  Q: HOW DO I OBTAIN/REGISTER FOR RESEARCH/INTERSHIP POSITIONS?

A: Research: The best resources to explore options is through the ChE Canvas Website for Research and the ChE Research Website to see the steps and faculty/topics to reach out to.

Once you have found a lab and spoken to the faculty member in charge, you can submit the ChE Research Contract for your chosen semester and credit amount (0-3 credits).

A: Internship:  The UF Career Connections Center is the most beneficial resource available to students for all things regarding Internships and Co-ops. For ChE specific questions and information, please go to the ChE Canvas Internship/Co-op Website.

Once you have gotten confirmation of an Internship/Co-op for a company, you can submit the registration form listed on the ChE Canvas Internship/Co-op Website. The form is to verify that your internship/Co-op will provide relevant educational experience, so please provide as much detail about your responsibilities/duties as possible.

Note: For both Internships/Co-ops and Research, please check your ONE.UF for registration credits you may need for your technical electives and registration cost. You must be actively registered for the Internship/Co-op or Research experience in the term you are requesting credit for. Retroactive registration for credit is NOT allowed!

Q: I NEED TECHNICAL ELECTIVES. WHAT CAN I TAKE?

A: Technical Elective information and a course list are available on the ChE Advising Canvas page through UF E-Learning.

Note: There are two types of technical electives. You must take a minimum of 3 credits of Chemical Engineering Technical Elective (ChETE) coursework from the Department of Chemical Engineering. The additional minimum 9 credits of Technical Elective (TE) may be taken from 3XXX+ level quantitative coursework offered through Science, Mathematics or Engineering. Detailed information is available on the ChE Advising Canvas page.

 Q: I TOOK MULTIPLE CHEMICAL ENGINEERING TECHNICAL ELECTIVES (e.g., ECH4905, EGN4912, ECH4948, ECH4949, BME3406, etc). CAN I HAVE SOME OF THEM COUNT AS REGULAR TECHNICAL ELECTIVES?

A: Students can enroll in multiple ChE Technical Electives (such as ECH4905, EGN4912, ECH4948, ECH4949, BME3406, etc.), provided each course covers a different topic (e.g., ECH4905 – Special Problems in Chemical Engineering). If you want to move Chemical Engineering (ChE) Technical Electives to the regular/general Technical Electives section of your degree audit (since the system doesn’t do this automatically), please email undergraduateadvising@che.ufl.edu with your request. It should be noted that regular Technical Electives cannot become Chemical Engineering Technical Electives.

Regarding research (e.g., EGN4912) or industry involvement (e.g., ECH4948/ECH4949), students are allowed a maximum of 3 credits. They can also take up to 5 credits of combined research/industry involvement. For example, participating in an REU (Research Experience for Undergraduates) under the course code ECH4905 counts as research credit, similar to EGN4912, within the maximum 3 credit hours limit.

Moreover, any Management of Unit Operations/Unit Operations Management (ECH4905) course is limited to 3 credits, separate from research and/or industry involvement.

It’s crucial to note that all regular/general Technical Elective courses outside the department must include technical content in Math, Science, and Engineering.

Q: I’M THINKING ABOUT GETTING A MINOR. WHAT ARE SOME OF THE MOST BENEFICIAL MINORS TO MATCH WITH CHEMICAL ENGINEERING?

A: You can use up to 9 credits of your 12 Technical Elective credits by completing coursework outside your major for BSChE requirement. Think of Science, Math or Engineering fields of interest (Ex. Food SciencePackaging ScienceMaterials Science and EngineeringComputer and Information Science and EngineeringElectrical EngineeringMathematicsPhysicsAstronomyActuarial ScienceStatistics, etc). Start with a class that will meet the Technical Elective requirement.

Note: The Biomolecular Engineering minor is offered through the Chemical Engineering department will satisfy 3 credits of the Chemical Engineering Technical Elective (ChETE) and 6 credits of the 9 credit Technical Elective (TE) requirement for the BSChE major (depending on course selection). More information on the Biomolecular Engineering minor can be found on the ChE Advising Canvas page.

 Q: CAN I GET A MINOR IN CHEMISTRY? WHAT ABOUT A DUAL DEGREE/DOUBLE MAJOR IN CHEMISTRY AND CHEMICAL ENGINEERING?

A: The College of Liberal Arts & Sciences prohibits receiving a minor in Chemistry as a Chemical Engineering major along with majors in Biology-Biotechnology and Botany. In addition to this, students cannot pursue a Dual Degree/Double Major in Chemistry and Chemical Engineering.

Current ChE majors: For questions not answered in the above text, please email your assigned advisor from your @ufl.edu Gatorlink email, including your UF ID number, and concise information about your question. It is our intention to return your email within 72 hours (excluding holidays, weekends, campus closures, etc). Please be patient and do not send multiple emails as it will delay our response time (especially during peak advising times).

COMBINATION BS/MS DEGREE PROGRAM

Explore the Combination BS/MS degree program allowing qualified students to earn both a Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering and a Master of Science in Chemical Engineering simultaneously.

Undergraduate Advising

Kristen BurnsKristen L. Burns

Undergraduate Academic Advisor
PO Box 116005
Phone : (352) 392-0095
Fax : (352) 392-9513
E-mail : undergraduateadvising@che.ufl.edu

 

 

About Kristen:
Kristen has over five years of experience as a professional in the higher education space. After earning her Bachelor’s degree in English from the University of Florida in 2015, she worked for Pearson Education’s higher education science division in San Francisco, California as a Courseware Portfolio Assistant. While in California, she completed a Professional Editing Certificate from the University of California, Berkeley. She then worked at UF Online as an Admissions Officer for two years. Recently, Kristen earned her Master’s in Education with a specialization in Educational Technology through UF’s College of Education. Her colleagues say that “in every endeavor, Kristen is professional, curious, and wholly committed to excellence in advising.” She is grateful for the opportunity to continue growing as a Student Affairs Professional and as an Academic Advisor for Chemical Engineering students.

Shaura ThomasShaura Thomas, M.Ed., GCDF

Undergraduate Academic Advisor
PO Box 116005
Phone : (352) 294-7003
Fax : (352) 392-9513
E-mail : undergraduateadvising@che.ufl.edu

 

 

About Shaura:
Before coming to UF, Shaura served as an academic advisor at Santa Fe College for 11 years. Throughout her tenure, she created the Advising Toolbox that assisted with the onboarding of program advisors from multiple departments across campuses and educational centers, developed the College Success virtual degree audit presentation, produced the Academic Advisement Center newsletter, and served on multiple committees such as Petitions, Screening, Advising Council, Student Development and Leadership, One Advising Professional Workgroup, Policy Review, and Digital Learning Plan.

In 2017 and 2020, Shaura won the Excellence in Advising Award. She has presented at the Association of Florida Colleges (AFC) on the topic of “Using Assessment Findings To Improve Practice.” Shaura was the inaugural recipient of the Department of Chemical Engineering’s Staff Excellence Award in Fall 2023. The following testament was given about her work ethic:

Shaura Thomas is a powerhouse of initiative, innovation, and dedication. From pioneering training and mentorship programs to implementing streamlined recordkeeping and digital processes, she exemplifies what it means to be an invaluable team member.
Her relentless efforts in recruitment, commitment to diversity, and unwavering dedication—even when on vacation—make her
more than deserving.

She is an active member of the National Academic Advising Association (NACADA) and the National Career Development Association (NCDA). Recently, she partnered with the Association of Black Alumni (ABA) and the UF Office of Admissions for a virtual Transfer Event to provide recruitment and outreach opportunities. 

Shaura is a Double Gator earning her Bachelor of Science in Family, Youth, and Community Sciences with Honors, a minor in Education, an Area of Specialization in Human Services, and a Master of Education in Student Personnel in Higher Education with a concentration in Community College Student Affairs. She holds the following certifications: Global Career Development Facilitator from the National Career Development Association (NCDA), Social Media Marketing from the HubSpot Academy, Multicultural Mentoring from the University of Florida (UF), and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in the Workplace from the University of South Florida (USF). Shaura earned a Graduate Certificate in Professional Social Media through the College of Journalism and Communications (CJC) at UF. She believes in investing in herself and the department’s vision of “continuous improvement.”

Her primary responsibility is to lead programs to recruit, support, and retain transfer students. In addition to this, she serves on the Diversity, Inclusion, and Equity Committee within the Department of Chemical Engineering. As a First-Generation and transfer student, Shaura understands being the first in your family to attend college, the process of transferring to a big university, and ‘figuring it all out’ as you go. It is her goal to make each student feel welcomed into the Department of Chemical Engineering and the Gator Nation.

 

Dmitry Kopelevich, Ph.D.Dmitry Kopelevich, Ph.D.
Associate Professor and Undergraduate Program Coordinator
PO Box 116005
Phone: (352) 392-4422
E-mail:

Spyros Svoronos, Ph.D.Spyros Svoronos, Ph.D.
Harry and Bertha Bernstein Professor and
Associate Chair for Undergraduate Studies

PO Box 116005
Phone: (352) 392-9101
E-mail: svoronos@ufl.edu

 

Graduate Advising

Gabrielle DonalsonGabrielle Donalson 
Graduate Academic Advisor
PO Box 116005
Phone: (352) 294-2891
Fax: (352) 392-9513
E-mail: grad@che.ufl.edu

Shirley KellyShirley Kelly
Graduate Academic Advisor
PO Box 116005
Phone: (352) 392-4753
Fax: (352) 392-9513
E-mail: grad@che.ufl.edu

David Hibbitts, Ph.D.David Hibbitts, Ph.D.
Associate Chair for Graduate Studies
221 ChE
E-mail: grad@che.ufl.edu

Whitney Stoppel, Ph.D.

Whitney Stoppel, Ph.D.
Graduate Recruitment Coordinator
Phone: (352) 294-2891
E-mail: grad@che.ufl.edu