CENG to strengthen biology focus
The department of chemical engineering has changed its name to the department of chemical and biomolecular engineering as part of a plan to integrate biology into its research and curriculum in order to stay ahead of industry trends.
‘Chemical engineers know math, chemistry and physics,’ Department Chair Kyriacos Zygourakis said. ‘Molecular biology is very fast becoming the fourth fundamental science for our discipline.’
Changes will be made in the department’s curriculum, including the addition of an introductory course in molecular biology, but not in the name of the degree students receive, Zygourakis said. The department will continue to offer a Bachelor of Science and a Bachelor of Arts in chemical engineering.
In Fall 2004, the chemical engineering department included 63 undergraduates, 63 doctoral students and two Master of Science students.
‘The most important thing, and the change that people are going to see, is that we will start integrating biology into our existing courses,’ Zygourakis said. ‘Integration is the key. We are not going to become biologists; we are not going to become bioengineers. We are going to enrich our curriculum by adding new elective courses, streamlining the biology requirements and introducing biology examples in the courses.’
Other universities’ Chemical Engineering departments have made similar changes. ‘About 30 to 40 chemical engineering departments around the country have changed their name to chemical and biomolecular engineering, or chemical and biological engineering,’ Zygourakis said. ‘This is a change for the entire discipline.’
Provost Eugene Levy said the department’s changes reflect the growing importance of biological ideas, materials, systems and processes in the 21st century.
‘I anticipate the influence of biology and biologically inspired ideas and methods will gather force at Rice, at other universities and in the broader society,’ Levy said. ‘I anticipate that this will continue to happen on its own, without anybody directing it to be so.’
A committee of seven members of the chemical engineering faculty, with participation from the entire department and a seven-member advisory board composed of five people from industry and two from academia, created the changes.
Zygourakis said no plans have been made to abandon Rice’s past emphasis on energy.
‘Everybody realizes that there are two or three very important problems that we have to solve,’ he said. ‘One of them is the energy problem, and the strategy plan says that we are going to keep investing in this traditional strength of Rice. Rice and petrochemical industry go back to the 1920s, so we sort of grew together.’
Zygourakis said the changes will benefit Rice beyond the George R. Brown School of Engineering.
‘The result of this initiative within chemical engineering is going to be a strengthening of the area throughout Rice,’ he said. ‘In the end, the biomedical sciences are going to become much stronger.’
Faculty members have explained the changes to students in their classes and plan to hold a meeting with both graduates and undergraduates to provide more information, Zygourakis said. Lovett College senior Margot Herrman, a chemical engineering major, said she approves of the changes.
‘My only concern is that our degree will be less well-regarded by employers because it is becoming more broad, but I don’t really think that will happen,’ Herrman said. ‘I trust the department to make a good decision.’
The faculty is already working on the new direction of research, Zygourakis said. ‘A really hot area right now is to use agricultural waste to find enzymes that will convert agricultural waste to useful products,’ he said. ‘Two professors here are working on that research, and we plan to hire more.’
Zygourakis said molecular biology and the use of genetic engineering will allow the engineering of microorganisms. One company, he said, is now producing polylactic acid from corn and using the polymer for fibers, clothes, pillows, packaging material and other products, all of which are biodegradable.
‘The idea that we can now use genetically engineered microorganisms and come up with commodity chemicals is very attractive,’ he said. ‘This is one of the directions our discipline is going to go in the future.’
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