There are many handouts that are helpful for planning your academic career in chemical engineering at Michigan Tech. Printouts are available at the Advising Center on the second floor of Chem Sci (across from the elevator). All handouts are also available on the web in PDF form on the Advising Handouts page.
The first year of graduate school in chemical engineering typically involves taking advanced courses in transport, thermodynamics, kinetics, and mathematics (partial differential equations). It may also involve specialty courses specific to your area of chosen specialization. Anything that makes those required courses easier is a good idea. I feel that at Michigan Tech we do not go far enough in transport, so I recommend that you take the graduate transport class (CM5300 Advanced Transport Phenomena I, 3 credits, Spring, prereq=CM5100) or Polymer Rheology (CM4650, 3 credits), either of which will introduce you to the use of tensors in mathematical analysis. After that I recommend taking our graduate math class (CM5100 Applied Mathematics for Chemical Engineers I, 3 credits, Fall) or any advanced mathematics course that interests you (some examples might be MA
I can recommend two large programs that sponsor undergraduate research:
- Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) program, sponsored by the National Science Foundation (NSF), and
- Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) program, sponsored by the National Institutes of Science and Technology (NIST)
NSF through the REU program sponsors summer research programs at many universities. These are competitive programs and an excellent way to check out if you are interested in graduate school. You may obtain more information about the REU program from the NSF website. Undergraduate students sponsored with NSF funds must be a citizen or permanent resident of the United States or its possessions. NSF maintains a website that allows you to search by topic for REU programs throughout the country. A contact person and contact information is listed for each site.
NIST sponsors an undergraduate research program (SURF) that brings students to their Gaithersburg, MD location (near Washington D.C.) to do research with government scientists. This program requires that your university apply for you and cost-share your application. Thus if you are interested in the NIST program, you will have to interest a professor here at Tech to cosponsor your research. For more information see the NIST SURF website.
Undergraduate research is an excellent idea for all students, but it is an especially good idea for those who are interested in attending engineering graduate school after completing their B.S. degree in chemical engineering. Check out our short video on the subject.
There are three paths to undergraduate research experience at Michigan Tech (for information on off-campus possibilities, click on the tag below), and all three of them begin with speaking with a professor. You must go to individual professors, presumably those who do research in areas that you find interesting, and discuss with them what types of opportunities there are to do research in their laboratories.
There are three types of research arrangements possible:
- Research for credit;
- Research as a part-time job;
- Research as an unpaid intern.
Yes, you may drop your class with a W until Friday of the 8th week of classes. Go to the Registrar’s web page for the current academic calendar, which gives the drop dates.
No. CM2120 a prereq to CM3110. If you need to take CM3110 in the fall, then you will need to arrange your schedule to take CM2120 first. CM 2120 is offered in the spring and in the summer, track B.
You may retake any class in which you receive a CD, D, or F. However, before you retake a class there are two things that you should know:
- The second grade always replaces the first grade. If you retake a class and receive a better grade this will improve both your semester and overall GPAs. However you can retake a class and get a poorer grade. For example if you have a D (a passing grade) and retake a course and receive an F (a failing grade), you now have a failing grade in the course and would have to retake the class a third time.
Success in your freshmen and sophomore science classes is critical to your continued success in the chemical engineering courses. It is our experience that the first step to being successful in our program (and in your chemical engineering career), is to get a C or better in the following key classes:
- Math (MA 1032, MA 1160/1161, MA 2160, MA 3160, MA 2320/2121/2330, and MA 3520/3521/3530/3560)
- Freshman Chemistry (CH 1150 and CH 1160)
- Physics (PH 2100 and PH 2200)
If you receive a CD or D in any of the math, chemistry, or physics classes listed above, we strongly encourage you to retake the class BEFORE continuing on in the next class in the sequence.
Yes! We strongly encourage all incoming transfer students to meet with an advisor. We use this time to review transfer credit and to develop an expected graduation date based on remaining degree requirements, scheduling and prerequisite constraints, and your individual goals.
Walk-in office hours for new transfer students are scheduled during the fall transfer student orientation, which is held the Friday before fall classes start. The transfer student orientation is highly recommended. If you are not able to attend during this time or are transferring in during the spring or summer semesters, email cmadvise@mtu.edu to schedule an in-person or phone appointment with an advisor.
In order to keep your department fees at a minimum the advising office is not open in the summer (May through mid-August). The advising office reopens two weeks before fall classes start. If you have an issue that needs immediate attention during summer months please call the Department of Chemical Engineering office at 906-487-3132.