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Graduate Program in Chemical Engineering
General requirements Graduate Courses
Admissions and Application Process Financial Aid
New projects for Fall 2008 Graduate Program brochure

View the department's brochure  ChE Grad Handbook .

The Department of Chemical Engineering offers graduate programs leading to Master of Science and Doctor Philosophy degrees. The thesis masters program includes 18 credits of course work and 12 credits of research. A written thesis and a formal thesis defense are required. A non-thesis masters program is available for part-time students, with permission of the department chair. Requirements for the Ph.D. degree include 18 credits of course work beyond the M.S. and 24 credits of research. Students must pass a comprehensive examination and defend an original dissertation.

The department also offers a Polymer Certificate Program. The post-baccalaureate certificate program in polymers is targeted toward students who possess a bachelor's degree in an engineering or science field and are seeking further education in polymers. The program provides opportunities for students to improve their knowledge of polymers in areas outside of their specific field of expertise, to apply their technical knowledge to problems in polymer engineering and science, and to develop technical skills that can be applied in industrial polymer engineering positions.

General Requirements

The Master of Science (M.S.) requires a bachelor's degree in chemical engineering; candidates from other engineering fields or from mathematics, biology, chemistry, or physics may be accepted into the program with possible addition of prerequisite courses. A Ph.D. candidate's program is determined in consultation with his or her committee and is usually based on his or her background or career goals. A comprehensive examination is required and, while there is no general language requirement, a student's committee may require a foreign language or research tool in addition to an acceptable dissertation.

Courses in thermodynamics and transport phenomena are required of all M.S. level graduate students. Ph.D. candidates are required to take advanced chemical engineering thermodynamics and advanced transport phenomena. Additional classes involve technical electives, often related to a student's research area. See the Chemical Engineering section of the URI Catalog for official details.

Areas of research concentration include

  • Bioengineering
  • Colloids and Surfaces
  • Computational Methods
  • Environmental Engineering
  • Materials and Characterization
  • Molecular Simulation
  • Polymers
  • Process Engineering
New students in 2008 will likely work on one of these new planned projects.

Department facilities include a scanning electron microscope with EDAX, static and dynamic laser light scattering, auger probe, scanning probe microscopy, contact angle goniometer, IR spectroscopy, differential scanning calorimeter, thermo-gravimetric analyzer, light microscopes. In addition, the university makes available a wide range of analytical equipment including TEM (cryo and normal), NMR, confocal microscopy. Research programs within the department are currently supported by the NSF, NASA, and the EPA; the State of Rhode Island; and many industrial firms.

A package of self-managed application materials is available. This may be obtained by downloading the U.S. and international applications forms.

Application and Admission

The following passages are intended to provide information to potential graduate study applicants. You are strongly encouraged to read this information carefully because it will help you understand the application, admission, financial aid and orientation processes. It will also answer many common questions and concerns related to graduate study in Chemical Engineering at URI.

Applicants must complete and submit the appropriate application information to be considered for admission and financial aid. This information includes

  • an on-line application form
  • statement of purpose (also on-line)
  • official transcripts (not copies)
  • official TOEFL score (not a copy)
  • letters of recommendation on letterhead or submitted on-line
  • application fee ($65, can be paid on-line)
Graduate Record Examination (GRE) scores are optional for both domestic and international applicants, as listed on a reference copy of the application forms (international or US). The University has established a minimum TOEFL score of 550 (paper based test); the equivalent minimum score on the computer-based test is 213. On the newest TOEFL test, minimum scores are 20 (reading), 22 (writing), 17 (listening), and 17/23 (speaking, higher value to be a teaching assistant). If your TOEFL score is below these minimum values, then you cannot be accepted into the program. The ETS institution code for the University of Rhode Island is 3919.

It is important to pay careful attention to the details associated with the information required for admission. Once applications are deemed complete by the Dean's Office, only then will they be reviewed by the Chemical Engineering Department.  For those wishing to enter in the fall semester, deadlines for application are February 1 and July 15 of the same calendar year for International and US applicants respectively. For entry in the spring semester, July 15 and November 15 are the respective deadlines for International and US applicants. The application deadline for US applicants for summer entry is April 15 of the same calendar year. We do not waive application fees.  Receipt of application materials will be acknowledged by the Dean's Office via email.  It is the applicant's responsibility to ensure that all of the necessary information has been forwarded to URI.

Financial Aid for Graduate Students

We do not prescreen application material. Our policy is to review applications in a timely manner and rank applicants according to qualifications in order to fill a limited number of both Teaching Assistantship (TA) and/or Research Assistantship (RA) positions. We also do not respond to questions regarding rank.

Once applications have been reviewed and a rank of applicants has been decided, applicants will be notified of the results of the review, including those who are declined admission. Offers of admission and financial aid are made starting with those at the top of the list and working downward. It has been our recent policy to provide full financial aid for all incoming full-time students so that all full-time graduate students in the department are supported. Part-time students can also apply for financial aid. Applicants who receive offers of admission and financial aid will initially receive information from both the Department of Chemical Engineering and the Graduate School. Information from the department will consist of a letter from the Chair of the Graduate Committee stating the conditions of admission, financial aid, and other general terms.

Graduate School information will consist of the following:

  • admission decisions are posted on eCampus and sent via e-mail
  • an Intent to Enroll form
  • a financial responsibility form
The letter from the Dean of the Graduate School will not contain any statements regarding financial aid. This is something that is autonomously determined by each department. Full financial aid consists of funds to cover the first academic (or calendar) year of
  • tuition ($22,100/yr)
  • stipend ($13,894/ academic year)
  • health insurance ($1133)
  • 20% of student fees (registration, health services and student services)
with the intent of continued support provided the student’s performance meets acceptable standards. The figures shown in parenthesis are rough amounts meant to give the applicant an idea of the level of support. These figures change from year to year, usually in July, and slight differences may exist. Financial aid does not cover other fees (e.g., health fees, student activities fees, etc.) which total roughly $600/per semester because of RI state regulations; this is the responsibility of the student.

Intent to Enroll and Financial Responsibility Forms

Any applicant receiving an offer of admission and financial aid will have ample time to decide to accept or decline that offer. Those applicants accepting our offer must complete both the Intent to Enroll and Financial Responsibility forms and return them promptly to the correct campus offices. The Intent to Enroll form must be sent to the Graduate School while the Financial Responsibility form must be sent to the International Students and Scholars (ISS) Office. Mailing addresses for both of these administrative offices are on the associated forms.

I-20 Form for International Students

This is particularly important for international students, since processing an I-20 form can not begin until all official application and financial responsibility information is received by the ISS Office. The I-20 form, which is both required by law and necessary for a visa application, is the responsibility of the ISS Office and not the Department of Chemical Engineering. This process is begun shortly after the student accepts the admissions offer. Once an I-20 form is received, international students can apply for a visa. Proper visa and passport application is the responsibility of the prospective student.

Orientation

Those new full-time graduate students entering in the fall semester will participate in both a mandatory department and mandatory Graduate School orientation program shortly before the beginning of the semester. Thus students should make appropriate travel plans to arrive on campus a few days prior to those orientation meetings. The dates of those meetings are forwarded to new graduate students in correspondences from both the Chemical Engineering department and the Graduate School.

Incoming spring semester full-time graduate students are only required to attend a departmental orientation program since the Graduate School does not offer an orientation program in the spring.

Many of the graduate students in the department belong to on-campus student organizations that are outside of Chemical Engineering. The most popular include