Davidson School of Chemical Engineering

School Overview

History

  • The BSChE curriculum was approved on April 26, 1907. The School of Chemical Engineering was founded June 14, 1911.

  • The Chemical Engineering building was built in 1939. The building was renamed to Forney Hall of Chemical Engineering in 2004, following a $20-million expansion made possible by an anchor gift from Robert (BSChE ‘ 47, PhD ChE ’50 HDR ’81) and Marilyn (BSChE ’47) Forney.  

  • The School of Chemical Engineering at Purdue was named the Charles D. Davidson School of Chemical Engineering on November 11, 2016. This unique milestone in the history of the School was made possible through a $20 million gift from Charles “Chuck” Davidson (BSChE ‘72) and his wife, Nancy.

Our Reputation for Chemical Engineering

  • No. 6 Best Engineering School in U.S. (U.S. News & World Report)
  • No. 16 Best Chemical Engineering Graduate Program in U.S. (U.S. News & World Report)
  • Home of NSF Engineering Research Center, Center for Innovative and Strategic Transformation of Alkane Resources (CISTAR)
  • Published in More than 50 Peer-Reviewed Journals with More than 6,000 Citations

Mission

  • Provide students with a rigorous and relevant education, conduct field-defining research, and enhance the School’s global impact.

Vision

  • Continue to be among the premier chemical engineering programs in the world.​

Values

  • Integrity, Excellence, Leadership, Diversity, Sustainability

Our Faculty

  • 35 Tenured/Tenure-Track Faculty
  • Courtesy Faculty
  • Professors of Engineering Practice Faculty

Research Areas

  • Biochemical and Biomolecular Engineering

  • Catalysis and Reaction Engineering

  • Dr. Norman & Dr. Jane Li Chemical Engineering Separations (Endowed Research Area))

  • Dr. Doraiswami & Mrs. Geetha Ramkrishna Mathematical Modeling (Endowed Research Area)

  • Fluid Mechanics and Interfacial Phenomena

  • Mr. Robert T. Henson Soft Materials (Endowed Research Area)

  • Nanoscale Science and Engineering

  • Product and Process Systems Engineering (Endowed Research Area)

  • Thermodynamics, Molecular and Nanoscale Modeling