Dr. Raja Aravamuthan Professor and, Undergraduate Academic Advisor

Welcome! I look forward to hearing from you regarding your interest in our Chemical Engineering Program. Never before has the demand for chemical engineers been at this all time high!

Ever wonder how gasoline is made from oil or paper from trees or about the manufacture of pharmaceuticals or toothpaste? Are you concerned that we must do a better job of reducing chemical by-products and improving waste treatment? Are you excited about applications of anotechnology or bio-engineering? Do physics experiments excite you? Are you good in math and like chemistry? Then maybe chemical engineering is for you.

Chemical engineers are involved in almost every industrial process in our society. The chemical engineer discovers, designs, builds, and operates industrial processes that involve changes in the chemical composition, physical nature, or energy content of materials. Chemical engineers play a lead role in waste minimization through process improvement and treatment plant design and operation. Gasoline from oil, cereal from grain, paper from trees, and pharmaceuticals by chemical synthesis—all utilize chemical engineers. In fact, you would be hard pressed to find anything you are using, at any time of day, that was not produced using the skills of a chemical engineer.

Many scholarship programs are available to chemical engineering students. Many of these scholarship opportunities are based on national competition, such as those sponsored by the America Institute of Chemical Engineers or the Society of Women Engineers. Others have local sponsors, such as those through Kalamazoo's Monroe Brown Foundation or our department's own Paper Technology Foundation.  

I look forward to welcoming you soon to the Chemical Engineering Program at WMU!