Ch/ChE 9
Chemical Synthesis and Characterization for Chemical Engineering
9 units (1-6-2)
|
third term
Prerequisites: Ch 1 ab and Ch 3 a or Ch 3 x. Previous or concurrent enrollment in Ch 41 is strongly recommended.
Instruction in synthesis, separation, purification, and physical and spectroscopic characterization procedures of model organic and organometallic compounds. Specific emphasis will be focused on following the scientific method in the study of model organic and inorganic materials. Enrollment priority given to chemical engineering majors.
Instructor:
Mendez
ChE 10
Introduction to Chemical Engineering
1 unit (1-0-0)
|
second term
A series of weekly seminars given by chemical engineering faculty or an outside speaker, on a topic of current research. Topics will be presented at an informal, introductory level. Graded pass/fail.
ChE 15
Introduction to Chemical Engineering Computation
9 units (1-4-4)
|
first term
Prerequisites: Ma 2 (may be taken concurrently).
Introduction to the solution of engineering problems through the use of the computer. Elementary programming in Python is taught, and applied to solving chemical engineering problems in data analysis, process simulation, and optimization. No previous knowledge of computer programming is assumed.
Instructor:
Flagan
ChE 62
Separation Processes
9 units (3-0-6)
|
second term
Prerequisites: ChE 15 and Ma 2.
Equilibrium staged separations. Membrane separations. Absorption. Distillation. Liquid-liquid extraction. Introduction to mass transfer.
Instructor:
Seinfeld
ChE 63 ab
Chemical Engineering Thermodynamics
9 units (3-0-6)
|
second, third terms
A comprehensive treatment of classical thermodynamics with engineering and chemical applications. First and second laws. Applications to closed and open systems. Equations of state. Thermochemical calculations. Properties of real fluids. Power generation and refrigeration cycles. Multicomponent systems, excess properties, fugacities, activity coefficients, and models of nonideal solutions. Chemical potential. Phase and chemical reaction equilibria.
Instructors:
Gavalas, Ismagilov
ChE 70
Special Topics in Chemical Engineering
Units by arrangement
|
terms to be arranged
Prerequisites: instructor's permission.
Special problems or courses arranged to meet the emerging needs of undergraduate students. May be repeated for credit, as content may vary. Grading scheme at instructor's discretion.
Instructor:
to be determined
ChE 80
Undergraduate Research
Units by arrangement, instructor's permission required
Research in chemical engineering offered as an elective in any term. Graded pass/fail.
Instructor:
Staff
ChE 90 abc
Senior Thesis
9 units (0-4-5)
|
first, second, third terms
A research project carried out under the direction of a chemical engineering faculty member. The project must contain a significant design component. Students must submit a proposal outlining the proposed project, and clearly identifying its design component to the faculty mentor for the thesis and the chemical engineering option representative, by the beginning of the first term of the thesis for review and approval. In addition, students must submit a midterm progress report in each term, end-of-term progress reports at the end of the first two terms, and a thesis draft in the third term. A grade will not be assigned prior to completion of the thesis, which normally takes three terms. A P grade will be given for the first two terms and then changed to the appropriate letter grade at the end of the course.
Ch/ChE 91
Scientific Writing
3 units (2-0-1)
|
first, second, third terms
Training in the writing of scientific research papers for chemists and chemical engineers. Fulfills the Institute scientific writing requirement.
Instructors:
Parker, Weitekamp
ChE 101
Chemical Reaction Engineering
9 units (3-0-6)
|
second term
Prerequisites: ChE 62 and ChE 63 ab, or instructor's permission.
Elements of chemical kinetics and chemically reacting systems. Homogeneous and heterogeneous catalysis. Chemical reactor analysis.
Instructor:
Davis
ChE 103 abc
Transport Phenomena
9 units (3-0-6)
|
first, second, third terms
Prerequisites: ACM 95/100 ab or concurrent registration, or instructor's permission.
A rigorous development of the basic differential equations of conservation of momentum, energy, and mass in fluid systems. Solution of problems involving fluid flow, heat transfer, and mass transfer.
Instructors:
Kornfield, Shapiro, Flagan
ChE 105
Dynamics and Control of Chemical Systems
9 units (3-0-6)
|
third term
Prerequisites: ACM 95 ab or concurrent registration, or instructor's permission.
Analysis of linear dynamic systems. Feedback control. Stability of closed-loop control systems. Root locus, Frequency response, and Nyquist analysis. Feedforward, cascade, and multivariable control systems.
Instructor:
Seinfeld
ChE/BE/MedE 112
Design, Invention, and Fundamentals of Microfluidic Systems
9 units (3-0-6)
|
second term
This course combines three parts. First, it will cover fundamental aspects of kinetics, mass-transport, and fluid physics that are relevant to microfluidic systems. Second, it will provide an understanding of how new technologies are invented and reduced to practice. Finally, students in the course will work together to design microfluidic systems that address challenges in Global Health, with an emphasis on students' inventive contributions and creativity. Students will be encouraged and helped, but not required, to develop their inventions further by working with OTT and entrepreneurial resources on campus. Participants in this course benefit from enrollment of students with diverse backgrounds and interests. For chemical engineers, suggested but not required courses are ChE 101 (Chemical Reaction Engineering) and ChE 103 abc (Transport Phenomena). Students are encouraged to contact the instructor to discuss enrollment.
Instructor:
Ismagilov
ChE 114
Solid State NMR Spectroscopy For Materials Chemistry
9 units (3-3-3)
|
second term
Prerequisites: Ch 21abc or instructor's permission.
Principles and applications of solid state NMR spectroscopy will be addressed with focus on structure and dynamics characterization of organic and inorganic solids. NMR characterization methods in the areas of heterogeneous catalysts, batteries, energy storage materials, etc. will be reviewed. More specific topics include NMR methods in solid state such as magic angle spinning (MAS), cross-polarization (CP), NMR of quadrupole nuclei, multiple pulse and multi-dimensional solid state NMR experiments, dynamics NMR. Hands-on experience will be provided via separate laboratory sessions using solid NMR spectrometers at Caltech Solid State NMR facility.
Instructor:
Hwang
ChE 115
Electronic Materials Processing
9 units (3-0-6)
|
third term
Prerequisites: ChE 63 ab, ChE 103 abc, ChE 101, or instructor's permission.
Introduction into the gas-phase processing techniques used in the fabrication of electronic materials and devices. Kinetic theory of gases. Surface chemistry and gas-surface interaction dynamics. Film deposition techniques: physical and chemical vapor deposition, atomic layer epitaxy, liquid-phase epitaxy, molecular beam epitaxy. Introduction into plasmas and their role in patterned etching and layer deposition. Charging damage during plasma processing. Determination of key parameters that control the ion energy and flux to the wafer surface. Not offered 2019-20.
ChE 118
Introduction to the Design of Chemical Systems
9 units (3-0-6)
|
second term
Prerequisites: ChE 63 ab, ChE 101, ChE 103 abc, ChE 126, or instructor's permission.
Short-term, open-ended projects that require students to design a chemical process or product. Each team generates and filters ideas, identifies use cases and objectives, evaluates and selects a design strategy, develops a project budget, schedules milestones and tasks, and writes a proposal with supporting documentation. Each project must meet specified requirements for societal impact, budget, duration, person hours, environmental impact, safety, and ethics.
Instructor:
Vicic
ChE 120
Optimal Design of Chemical Systems
9 units (1-6-2)
|
third term
Prerequisites: ChE 63 ab, ChE 101, ChE 103 abc, ChE 126, or instructor's permission.
Short-term, open-ended projects that require students to design and build a chemical process or manufacture a chemical product. Each team selects a project after reviewing a collection of proposals. Students use chemical engineering principles to design, build, test, and optimize a system, component, or product that fulfills specified performance requirements, subject to constraints imposed by budget, schedule, logistics, environmental impact, safety, and ethics.
Instructor:
Vicic
ChE 126
Chemical Engineering Laboratory
9 units (1-6-2)
|
first term
Prerequisites: ChE 63 ab, ChE 101, ChE 103 abc, ChE 105, or instructor's permission.
Short-term projects that require students to work in teams to design systems or system components. Projects typically include unit operations and instruments for chemical detection. Each team must identify specific project requirements, including performance specifications, costs, and failure modes. Students use chemical engineering principles to design, implement, and optimize a system (or component) that fulfills these requirements, while addressing issues and constraints related to environmental impact, safety, and ethics. Students also learn professional ethics through the analysis of case studies.
Instructor:
Vicic
ChE 128
Chemical Engineering Design Laboratory
9 units (1-6-2)
|
second term
Prerequisites: ChE 63 ab, ChE 101, ChE 103 abc, or instructor's permission.
Short-term, open-ended research projects targeting chemical processes in microreactors. Projects include synthesis of chemical products or nanomaterials, detection and destruction of environmental pollutants, and other gas phase conversions. Each student is required to construct and troubleshoot his/her own microreactor, then experimentally evaluate and optimize independently the research project using chemical engineering principles. Where possible, cost analysis of the optimized process is performed.
Instructors:
Giapis, Vicic
ChE 130
Biomolecular Engineering Laboratory
9 units (1-5-3)
|
third term
Prerequisites: ChE 63 ab, ChE 101 (may be taken concurrently) or instructor's permission.
Design, construction, and characterization of engineered biological systems. Students will propose and execute research projects in biomolecular engineering and synthetic biology. Emphasis will be on projects that apply rational or library-based design strategies to the control of system behavior.
Instructors:
Davis, Vicic
Ch/ChE 140 ab
Principles and Applications of Semiconductor Photoelectrochemistry
9 units (3-0-6)
|
second term
Prerequisites: APh/EE 9 ab or instructor's permission.
The properties and photoelectrochemistry of semiconductors and semiconductor/liquid junction solar cells will be discussed. Topics include optical and electronic properties of semiconductors; electronic properties of semiconductor junctions with metals, liquids, and other semiconductors, in the dark and under illumination, with emphasis on semiconductor/liquid junctions in aqueous and nonaqueous media. Problems currently facing semiconductor/liquid junctions and practical applications of these systems will be highlighted. Part a Not offered 2019-20
Instructor:
Lewis (b)
ChE 141
Data Science for Chemical Systems
9 units (1-2-6)
|
second term
Prerequisites: ChE 15, ACM/IDS 104.
Through short lectures, in-class activities, and problem sets, students learn and use methods in data science to complete projects focused on (i) descriptive and predictive analyses of chemical processes and (ii) Quantitative Structure Property Relationships (QSPR). Topics covered may include six sigma; SPC & SQC; time-series analysis; data preprocessing; dimensionality reduction; supervised, reinforcement, and unsupervised learning; decision tree & clustering methods; univariate and multivariate regression; and visualization. Python is the programming language of instruction.
Instructor:
Vicic
ChE 142
Challenges in Data Science for Chemical Systems
9 units (1-0-8)
|
third term
Prerequisites: ChE 141.
Student groups complete a one-term, data-science project that addresses an instructor-approved chemical engineering challenge. The project may be an original research idea; related to work by a research group at the Institute; an entry in a relevant national/regional contest; a response to an industry relationship; or other meaningful opportunity. There is no lecture, but students participate in weekly progress updates. A student may not select a project too similar to research completed to fulfill requirements for ChE 80 or ChE 90abc.
Instructor:
Vicic
Ch/ChE 147
Polymer Chemistry
9 units (3-0-6)
|
first term
Prerequisites: Ch 41 abc.
An introduction to the chemistry of polymers, including synthetic methods, mechanisms and kinetics of macromolecule formation, and characterization techniques.
Instructor:
Robb
ChE/Ch 148
Polymer Physics
9 units (3-0-6)
|
third term
An introduction to the physics that govern the structure and dynamics of polymeric liquids, and to the physical basis of characterization methods used in polymer science. The course emphasizes the scaling aspects of the various physical properties. Topics include conformation of a single polymer, a chain under different solvent conditions; dilute and semi-dilute solutions; thermodynamics of polymer blends and block copolymers; polyelectrolytes; rubber elasticity; polymer gels; linear viscoelasticity of polymer solutions and melts. Not offered 2019-20.
Instructor:
Wang
ChE 151 ab
Physical and Chemical Rate Processes
12 units (3-0-9)
|
second, third terms
The foundations of heat, mass, and momentum transfer for single and multiphase fluids will be developed. Governing differential equations; laminar flow of incompressible fluids at low and high Reynolds numbers; forced and free convective heat and mass transfer, diffusion, and dispersion. Emphasis will be placed on physical understanding, scaling, and formulation and solution of boundary-value problems. Applied mathematical techniques will be developed and used throughout the course.
Instructor:
Brady
ChE 152
Heterogeneous Kinetics and Reaction Engineering
9 units (3-0-6)
|
first term
Prerequisites: ChE 101 or instructor's permission.
Survey of heterogeneous reactions on metal and oxide catalysts. Langmuir-Hinshelwood versus Eley-Rideal reaction mechanisms. Reaction, diffusion, and heat transfer in heterogeneous catalytic systems. Characterization of porous catalysts.
Instructor:
Giapis
ChE/Ch 155
Chemistry of Catalysis
9 units (3-0-6)
|
third term
Discussion of homogeneous and heterogeneous catalytic reactions, with emphasis on the relationships between the two areas and their role in energy problems. Topics include catalysis by metals, metal oxides, zeolites, and soluble metal complexes; utilization of hydrocarbon resources; and catalytic applications in alternative energy approaches. Not offered 2019-20.
ESE/ChE 158
Aerosol Physics and Chemistry
9 units (3-0-6)
|
second term
Fundamentals of aerosol physics and chemistry; aerodynamics and diffusion of aerosol particles; condensation and evaporation; thermodynamics of particulate systems; nucleation; coagulation; particle size distributions; optics of small particles. Not offered 2019-20.
Instructors:
Seinfeld, Flagan
ChE/BE 163
Introduction to Biomolecular Engineering
12 units (3-0-9)
|
first term
Prerequisites: Bi 8, Bi/Ch 110 or instructor's permission and CS 1 or equivalent.
The course introduces rational design and evolutionary methods for engineering functional protein and nucleic acid systems. Rational design topics include molecular modeling, positive and negative design paradigms, simulation and optimization of equilibrium and kinetic properties, design of catalysts, sensors, motors, and circuits. Evolutionary design topics include evolutionary mechanisms and tradeoffs, fitness landscapes, directed evolution of proteins, and metabolic pathways. Some assignments require programming (Python is the language of instruction).
Instructors:
Arnold, Pierce
ChE/Ch 164
Introduction to Statistical Thermodynamics
9 units (3-0-6)
|
second term
Prerequisites: Ch 21 abc or instructor's permission.
An introduction to the fundamentals and simple applications of statistical thermodynamics. Foundation of statistical mechanics; partition functions for various ensembles and their connection to thermodynamics; fluctuations; noninteracting quantum and classical gases; heat capacity of solids; adsorption; phase transitions and order parameters; linear response theory; structure of classical fluids; computer simulation methods.
Instructor:
Wang
ChE/Ch 165
Chemical Thermodynamics
9 units (3-0-6)
|
first term
Prerequisites: ChE 63 ab or instructor's permission.
An advanced course emphasizing the conceptual structure of modern thermodynamics and its applications. Review of the laws of thermodynamics; thermodynamic potentials and Legendre transform; equilibrium and stability conditions; metastability and phase separation kinetics; thermodynamics of single-component fluid and binary mixtures; models for solutions; phase and chemical equilibria; surface and interface thermodynamics; electrolytes and polymeric liquids.
Instructor:
Wang
ChE 174
Special Topics in Transport Phenomena
9 units (3-0-6)
|
first term
Prerequisites: ACM 95/100 and ChE 151 ab or instructor's permission.
May be repeated for credit. Advanced problems in heat, mass, and momentum transfer. Introduction to mechanics of complex fluids; physicochemical hydrodynamics; microstructured fluids; colloidal dispersions and active matter. Other topics may be discussed depending on class needs and interests.
Instructor:
Brady
ChE/BE/MedE 188
Molecular Imaging
9 units (3-0-6)
|
second term
Prerequisites: Bi/Ch 110, ChE 101 and ACM 95 or equivalent.
This course will cover the basic principles of biological and medical imaging technologies including magnetic resonance, ultrasound, nuclear imaging, fluorescence, bioluminescence and photoacoustics, and the design of chemical and biological probes to obtain molecular information about living systems using these modalities. Topics will include nuclear spin behavior, sound wave propagation, radioactive decay, photon absorption and scattering, spatial encoding, image reconstruction, statistical analysis, and molecular contrast mechanisms. The design of molecular imaging agents for biomarker detection, cell tracking, and dynamic imaging of cellular signals will be analyzed in terms of detection limits, kinetics, and biological effects. Participants in the course will develop proposals for new molecular imaging agents for applications such as functional brain imaging, cancer diagnosis, and cell therapy. Not offered 2019-20.
Instructor:
Shapiro
ChE 190
Special Problems in Chemical Engineering
Up to 9 units by arrangement
|
any term
Prerequisites: Instructor's permission and adviser's approval must be obtained before registering.
Special courses of readings or laboratory instruction. The student should consult a member of the faculty and prepare a definite program of reading, computation, theory and/or experiment. The student must submit a summary of progress at midterm and, at the end of the quarter, a final assignment designed in consultation with the instructor. This course may be credited only once. Grading: either grades or pass/fail, as arranged with the instructor.
Instructor:
Staff
Bi/BE/Ch/ChE/Ge 269
Integrative Projects in Microbial Science and Engineering
6 units (3-0-3)
|
second term
A project-based course designed to train students to integrate biological, chemical, physical and engineering tools into innovative microbiology research. Students and faculty will brainstorm to identify several "grand challenges" in microbiology. Small teams, comprised of students from different graduate programs and disciplinary backgrounds (e.g. a chemical engineer, a computer scientist and a biologist) and a faculty member, will work to compose a project proposal addressing one of the grand challenges, integrating tools and concepts from across disciplines. Student groups will present draft proposals and receive questions and critiques from other members of the class at check-in points during the academic term. While there will not be an experimental laboratory component, project teams may tour facilities or take field trips to help define the aims and approaches of their projects. At the end of the course, teams will deliver written proposals and presentations that will be critiqued by students and faculty.
Instructor:
CEMI Faculty
ChE 280
Chemical Engineering Research
Offered to Ph.D candidates in chemical engineering. Main lines of research now in progress are covered in detail in section two.
Published Date:
Aug. 18, 2025