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
MS in Chemical Engineering Now Offered with Concentrations
The MS in Chemical Engineering offers three concentrations to prepare students with knowledge and skills that align with their career interests. Students can pursue research with the general principles and applications concentration, or topical areas with the course-based concentrations in biosystems or sustainability that integrate chemical engineering knowledge with systems applications for industry.
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
Advancing Methane Conversion Catalyst Research
ChE Assistant Professor Qing Zhao received a $110,000 American Chemical Society (ACS) Petroleum Research Fund Doctoral New Investigator Award for “First-Principles Discovery of Single-Atom Alloys as Coke-Resistant Catalysts for Direct Methane Activation.” Using electronic structure theory, Zhao is designing catalysts at the atomic level to convert earth-abundant methane into value-added multi-carbon hydrocarbons.
2023-2024 AIChE First Year Student Recognition Award
Eleanor Kutschera, E’27, chemical engineering, is the recipient of the 2023-2024 First Year Student Recognition Award from the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AICHE). The award is given to one AIChE undergraduate member in each student chapter who has been the most active during their first year.
2023-2024 Donald F. Othmer Second Year Student Academic Excellence Award
Luana Forti Bergamo, E’26, chemical engineering, was awarded the 2023-2024 Donald F. Othmer Second Year Student Academic Excellence Award from the American Institute of Chemical Engineers. (AIChE). This honor is presented to one active AIChE undergraduate student member in each student chapter who has achieved the highest scholastic grade point average during their first and second years.
Inclusive Engineering Mentoring Initiative
ChE Professor and Chair Rebecca Willits was awarded, in collaboration with the University of Akron (PI), an $800,000 NSF award for “BPE Track 3: Engineering Academic Mentoring Collective,” which is designed to help build supportive networks of underrepresented groups in engineering, particularly Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) individuals and women.