Message from the Chair

It is a great pleasure to welcome you to the website of the Department of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering at the University of Kansas. I hope that you find the information you require and gain a good impression of our activities. We are very proud of our track record of excellence in both teaching and research and we regard ourselves as one of the premier departments offering programs in Chemical Engineering, Petroleum Engineering and related emerging areas, in the entire region. All our activities are underpinned by the department's outstanding teaching and research facilities. These are currently in the process of further expansion and upgrading to accommodate the interests and agendas of the new faculty members in new exciting research areas in Kinetics and Catalysis, Bioengineering, Enhanced Oil Recovery and Reservoir Engineering, and Electrochemical Engineering.

Our website highlights some of the most recent developments in our leading edge research in these areas. There are also links to our two prestigious research centers, The Center for Environmentally Beneficial Catalysis (CEBC), and the Tertiary Oil Recovery Project (TORP). We are also closely associated with the Transportation Research Institute which was established in the School of Engineering in 2006 with $14.5M of federal and state dollars.

We are also proud that our undergraduate programs in Chemical Engineering and Petroleum Engineering are fully ABET accredited and as such, a BS degree from KU will be recognised nationally internationally and will greatly facilitate your formal recognition as a fully fledged professional engineer after training and experience in the field. I urge students who are currently making choices with regard to choice of engineering program to keep in mind the importance of international quality benchmarking. Our graduates from both our programs continue to attract among some of the highest starting salaries of all new graduates in the US and overseas.

The current year and through 2008-2010 remains a hugely exciting period for Chemical and Petroleum Engineering at the University of Kansas, which has recognized the importance of our discipline to the local, regional and national economic interests of the US. This recognition is reflected in the expansion of our faculty to a total of 18 full time faculty positions and 1 part time distinguished professor. The faculty team is also supported by two additional instructors, and six administrative and technical staff.

In March 2007, Dr R V Chaudhari joined the Department as Distinguished Professor and working with the CEBC. Dr Chaudhari comes to KU having been Deputy Director and Head of the Homogeneous Catalysis Division of the National Chemical Laboratory of India. He brings with him a major international reputation in chemical reaction engineering and catalytic systems.

2005-2006 saw a major laboratory renewal program with new laboratories for the teaching and research in petroleum engineering, a new purpose built suite for tissue engineering research, two new computer suites for our undergraduate and graduate students, two new research laboratories for fuel cell research, and catalysis. A new laboratory for work in process intensification in liquid-liquid systems, and for work in plasma etching became available during the latter part of 2005.

In February 2008, due to the generosity of our alumni and from endowments, we open a new faculty and student suite for networking events, small group teaching, meetings and research discussions.

We have also seen a significant upswing in demand for undergraduate places in both our Chemical Engineering and our Petroleum Engineering BS programs. We have been especially appreciative of the support from industry and our alums in helping to add further excitement and interest in our PE program. In the Fall 2007 Occidental Petroleum generously hosted a visit for our petroleum students to the THUMS oil processing facility located offshore from Long Beach CA.

In addition to our undergraduate students, it also continues to be a great pleasure to welcome to the Department a significant number of graduate students. We welcome especially, in addition to our US students, a significant group of international graduates from Germany, Korea, Kuwait, India, Iran, Mexico, and P.R.China. The Department is privileged to host such a friendly and established community of international students.

The last year has been an excellent one for our faculty with significant achievements by many colleagues. Particularly noteworthy was the Christy Scholar Award made to Drs Susan Williams and Marylee Southard for them to develop innovative in-class room practical demonstrations of chemical engineering principles. Dr Aaron Scurto received a prestigious DuPont junior faculty award which is only one of a few awarded by DuPont to engineering and science faculty across the US.

Outside the University, we were delighted to learn that our colleague Dr Paul Willhite was elected to the National Academy of Engineering. This is a major distinction for Paul. In April of 2007 Dr Don Green received the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE) Pioneer Award for his major contribution to Petroleum Engineering. This was quickly followed in fall 2007 with his appointment as Honorary Member of SPE which is a rare and distinguished honor.

Finally, if you are interested in seeing the Department or require further information I would be delighted to hear from you, by phone, fax or e-mail.

Sincerely yours,

Laurence R. Weatherley
Chair and Spahr Professor of Chemical Engineering
Department of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering
Voice: 785.864.3553
Fax: 785.864.4967
Email: lweather@ku.edu