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Chairman's Corner
 First of all, I want to share with you the great news
that our Chemical Engineering Department has moved up from 25th in
graduate program rank (last year) to 21st (this year) in US News and
World Report. We are well on our way to the top 20 and higher!
Congratulations also go to the Gator faculty in the Materials Science
Department - which many of our ChE faculty interact with in their
research. The graduate program in Materials Science moved up in rank to
6th nationally.
Our Chemical Engineering Department has consistently continued to move
up in graduate program rank in the last ten years from the mid 30s to
our current rank. As you know from our Fall 2005 Alumni Newsletter, we
added four new top-notch faculty last year - bringing our faculty size
up to 24. And, this spring, we have made offers to two additional
faculty candidates - one of which has already agreed to join our faculty
ranks in August 2006.
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To accommodate our faculty and student growth and to
achieve our vision of a top-ten chemical engineering program nationally,
additional teaching and state-of-the art research laboratories are
needed. Such facilities will provide enhanced learning opportunities for
our students and a significantly improved educational experience. Hence,
we have embarked on a campaign for a chemical engineering building
addition. The proposed building addition would be oriented perpendicular
to the current Chemical Engineering Building and parallel to the New
Engineering Building. It would be connected to the current building via
a beautiful and welcoming atrium which would be visible from Center
Drive. UF Facilities and Construction has estimated that, given a
construction start date of 2008, the 44,000 sq. ft. addition will cost
$23 million dollars. In order to make this much needed chemical
engineering building addition a reality, we have initiated a development
campaign to raise the necessary funds for construction by first
contacting potential donors for significant gifts associated with naming
opportunities in the new building addition.
All of the changes going on in our department and our department's
increase in rank is attracting the attention of our academic peers.
Recently I received an e-mail from a chemical engineering department
chair at another university noting that "no other chemical engineering
department has risen (in rank) so far so fast" and asking "care to share
the secret of your success?" Well…we're the Gator champions - what more
needs to be said?
GO GATORS!!
Jennifer Sinclair Curtis
Chair and Professor |
Proposed Chemical Engineering Building Addition |
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