The program in Chemical Engineering at Drexel University began in 1923 with a four-year co-op. It differed from Civil, Electrical, and Mechanical Engineering in that the students were required to take a chemistry course each term of study. A five-year co-op for chemical engineers was introduced in 1925. In 1927, Pennsylvania granted an amendment to the charter and the first four students graduated with a BS in Chemical Engineering. In 1930 the first international student graduated. The first Head of the Department of Chemical Engineering, Prof. Leon D. Stratton, led the new department beginning in 1940. In 1947 there were nine women enrolled in the program; that year Alice E. Maven became the first woman to graduate with a BS in Chemical Engineering from Drexel. Prof. Frank A. Fletcher became Department Head in 1948 and initiated the first undergraduate research program. In 1964, Prof. Charles Huckaba became Department Head.
In 1967, the next era of the department began when Prof. Donald Coughanower became Department Head and initiated the graduate program in Chemical Engineering. The first MS student graduated in 1969, and the first PhD student graduated in 1971. In 1980, a graduate program in Biochemical Engineering was pioneered by Prof. Raj Mutharasan. In 1994 the department moved to new laboratories in the Center for Automation Technologies where it resides today. In 1988, Prof. Charles Weinberger became Department Head, and in 1991 the first student graduated from a new MS/BS program.
The year 2004 ushered in the next era of the department. It changed its name to the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, and Prof. Giuseppe Palmese became Department Head. Prof. Palmese's tenure as head saw massive growth in research productivity and the initiation of a complete revision of the undergraduate program. Prof. Palmese was appointed interim Dean of the College of Engineering in 2017, and Prof. Cameron Abrams was appointed Department Head.
Click images to enlarge.
Figure C.1: A pictorial representation of the department’s history – the blue background “mountains” represent conferred BS degrees in Chemical Engineering.
Figure C.2: Historical indicators of graduate program activity, PhD graduates (left) and publications (right) showing large growth during the last decade as discussed in Section H of this report.