Chemical engineering is addressing pressing challenges to advance society such as biomedicine, energy, security, and sustainability. Join an R1 research institution and work alongside accomplished faculty in the heart of Boston - a hub for biotech, medical institutions, high tech, and academia.
Innovative Education and Research
Offering rigorous yet flexible academics and top-ranked experience-powered learning to develop the next-generation of chemical engineering leaders.
Academic Offerings
Chemical engineering encompasses a broad range of cutting-edge research allowing them to work at the intersection of a variety of different fields, including biology, chemistry, energy, physics, materials science, and other engineering disciplines.
Hub of Innovation
From being in the heart of the city of Boston with industry and the world's top hospitals, to a range of active student organizations and a network of faculty, alumni, and industry professionals, the Department of Chemical Engineering offers a welcoming and exciting community.
Engaged Student GroupsSpotlight Stories
Engineering in Action
Chemical Engineering Research Co-op in Switzerland
Chemical Engineering student Hannah Boyce shares her unique experience conducting research abroad at ETH Zurich, one of Europe’s leading biotech institutions.
PhD Research for Impact
With a dream of curing breast cancer, Chinedu Okorafor, PhD in chemical engineering, took full advantage of her Northeastern University curriculum and surrounding biotech centers in Boston. Northeastern’s interdisciplinary approach—sparking collaborations among the sciences—helped her chart her own course toward a degree with many possible rewarding applications.
Reaching Career Goals
For Haroon Bukhari, MS in chemical engineering, the Northeastern experience culminated in a co-op at Rogers Corporation, an innovator in engineered materials. Focusing on applications including electric vehicles, he’s already building a career toward making green technologies safer, more efficient, and more cost-effective.
World-Renowned Cooperative Education
Bradley Priem, BS in chemical engineering, had two co-ops that gave him the ability to delve into a particular industry. At Synlogic he was a bioanalytical chemist and bacterial engineer creating e-coli strains, and at bluebird bio he was an upstream process development engineer for gene production. He now knows he wants to go into the biotech industry and is interested in graduate school too.
Recent News
A Link Across the Ocean Using Biomarkers in Oil
Assistant Professor Bryan James, chemical engineering, shares his research regarding the 2019 oil spill in Brazil, linking it to a German supply ship through biomarkers.
Two ChE PhD Students Win Big at Competition
Qudus Rafiu, PhD’28, and Lawrence Ajayi, PhD’27, chemical engineering, attended the same undergraduate university but did not meet until they happened to join the same lab during Lawrence’s master’s at Ohio University. Since then, they have become close friends and have worked together in research and studies. Recently, their teamwork helped them win the second-place prize in the NPG x Liberty Mutual Business Case Competition.
How Mining Waste and Microwave Technology Could Solve the Rare Earth Shortage
ChE/COS Assistant Professor Damilola Daramola developed a method using chemical treatments and microwave reactors to extract rare earth elements from coal tailings two to three times more efficiently than standard approaches.
Tracking the 8,500 km Journey of Petroplastic Pollutants
ChE Assistant Professor Bryan James is the lead author of a new study on “Long-range transport of oil by marine plastic debris: Evidence from an 8500 km journey,” which was published in Environmental Science & Technology.