Chemical & Biological Engineering

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Confronting Our Planet’s Polymer Problem

Professor John Torkelson is seeking solutions to the plastics pollution dilemma with new ideas on polymer design and upcycling.Read more

Climate Change Could Have Negative Effect on Great Lakes Travel

Using machine learning technology, a research team in Professor Luis Amaral’s lab simulated the impact of losing 67 percent of direct air routes and found insufficient rail connections could lead to more driving and more pollution.Read more

Faculty Startup Wins 2022 Equalize Pitch Competition

Professor Danielle Tullman-Ercek’s company, Opera Bioscience, is developing a bacterial platform that produces high purity proteins, reducing the cost of goods for proteins needed to make cultivated meat, biomaterials, and cell therapies.Read more

Artificial Ribosome Continues Advancing

Researchers created a new version of Ribo-T that provides a foundation to propel broad, new efforts in the synthesis and evolution of non-biological polymers made from engineered tethered ribosomes.Read more

About the Department

Pioneering transformational discoveries to tackle global challenges

Our internationally recognized Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering at Northwestern University prepares the next generation of engineers by fostering their growth in a collaborative, multidisciplinary community built on excellence in research and education.

We impact and shape the world through inventions and innovations in soft materials, complex systems, synthetic biology, biotechnology, and catalysis and use them to tackle global challenges in renewable energy, biomanufacturing, clean water, sustainability, and human health.

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Facts and Figures

Setting ourselves apart

10

NSF CAREER awards

12

interdisciplinary research centers, institutes, and programs

13

startup companies

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Research Areas

From transformational discoveries to impactful solutions

Our department combines the fundamentals of physics, chemistry, biology, and mathematics with technology development to drive discoveries in our core research areas.

Programs

Fostering growth in a collaborative, multidisciplinary community built on excellence in research and education

Undergraduate

Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering

Combined BS/MS Degree Program

Minor in Biotechnology and Biochemical Engineering

Explore special programs in this department and across McCormick

Graduate

Master of Science in Chemical Engineering

PhD in Chemical Engineering

Learn more about interdisciplinary programs and research groups for graduate students

Affiliated

Master of Science in Biotechnology

Department News

Gaps

Closing Gaps to Find New Energy Sources

A multi-institutional research team including Professor Michael Jewett implemented a new process to produce butanol, butanoic acid, hexanol, and hexanoic acid, which could make green energy easier to generate.

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  • Climate Change Could Have Negative Effect on Great Lakes Travel

    Using machine learning technology, a research team in Professor Luis Amaral’s lab simulated the impact of losing 67 percent of direct air routes and found insufficient rail connections could lead to more driving and more pollution.

    Northwestern Engineering News

  • Faculty Startup Wins 2022 Equalize Pitch Competition

    Professor Danielle Tullman-Ercek’s company, Opera Bioscience, is developing a bacterial platform that produces high purity proteins, reducing the cost of goods for proteins needed to make cultivated meat, biomaterials, and cell therapies.

    Northwestern Engineering News

  • Why Celebrated Designer Bruce Mau is Betting on a New Kind of Renaissance

    Science, art, and technology converged in the first Renaissance. A new book from Mau and Dean Julio M. Ottino argues that today’s complex problems can be solved by ‘Renaissance teams.’

    Fast Company

  • Artificial Ribosome Continues Advancing

    Researchers created a new version of Ribo-T that provides a foundation to propel broad, new efforts in the synthesis and evolution of non-biological polymers made from engineered tethered ribosomes.

    Northwestern Engineering News

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Events

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Discover Our Whole-Brain Engineering Philosophy

We augment the analytical core of engineering with design, entrepreneurship, leadership, personal development, and unusual collaborations to imagine what's next and take the world in a whole new direction.

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