Georgia Institute of TechnologySchool of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering
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Strategic Plan 2000

Objective Two


Conduct research that expands the knowledge base of chemical engineering, educates our students, has a beneficial effect on society, and acts as a catalyst for economic development.

 

Actions

  • • Stimulate research with a continued influx of new talent by

  • —recruiting, developing and graduating the very best graduate students (see Objective 1)
    —recruiting, developing and retaining the very best faculty (see Objective 6)
    —arranging visits by accomplished engineers and scientists to the School

  • • Obtain the best from our people by

  • —increasing opportunities for professional development of the faculty and staff
    —rewarding faculty members for contributions in research
    —increasing the opportunities for undergraduates to participate in research (see Objective 1)

  • • Provide an organizational framework that enhances the development of new research areas by

  • —supporting the core research in the School while facilitating and rewarding cross-unit collaboration and initiatives within and outside the School.
    —providing additional opportunities and methods for faculty and students to form
       partnerships with industry (see Objective 5)

  • • Enhance the research enterprise by

    —continuing to improve our physical infrastructure
    —increasing the administrative and technical support available to faculty, and —providing skills enhancement and development opportunities for our staff (see Objective 6)
    —responding to the needs of mid-career faculty by offering resources that enable continuing and evolving research development (see Objective 6)
    —leading in developing seamless interfaces between centers and the School

Engage the core competencies of the School of Chemical Engineering in strategic initiatives of importance to the State of Georgia, the nation, and the world. These initiatives fall into five categories that are not mutually exclusive. For example, advances in biotechnology will enable the development of more environmentally sound, sustainable processes for numerous industries. Similar synergistic relationships exist among biotechnology, nanotechnology and microelectronics.

— biotechnology (context: The utilization of biological sources to solve engineering challenges via biocatalysis, bioinformatics, and bioseparations is expected to be an important component of future industrial growth. Moreover, the use of engineering methods to solve biomedical problems in tissue engineering, cellular processes, and drug delivery are making an increasing impact on modern health care. Because of its close links to molecular synthesis and transport, Chemical Engineering is a discipline well suited to lead many of the breakthroughs likely to occur in both bioprocessing and biomedical engineering. The School is positioned to couple its efforts to those of the Georgia Research Alliance, an organization that has chosen biotechnology as one of its three strategic areas of development.)

— nanotechnology (context: The scale at which manipulation of chemicals and materials occurs influences the properties of products formed from that matter and provides great opportunities for the development of new chemicals, materials applicable to numerous industries. Chemical Engineering has led in methodologies to scale up and scale down processes and in the thermodynamic and transport phenomena relevant to the generation and manipulation of nanometer-scale particles for catalysts, aerosols, pharmaceutical products, and magnetic tapes. These efforts and related work in MEMS provides the basis for selection of nanotechnology as a strategic research initiative.)

— sustainable technology (context: The productive conversion of material and energy resources has always been a core activity of chemical engineering. A particular focus on "environmentally benign" technologies creates opportunities to turn environmental constraints into competitive advantage. The development of alternative energy sources, such as the direct conversion of chemical to electrical energy in fuel cells and batteries, offers near pollution-free and high-efficiency energy production. Environmentally benign solvents and process technologies, such as near-critical water or the catalytic converter, allow industry to be productive and innovative while eliminating or mitigating negative environmental effects. The School will continue to work with the Georgia Research Alliance, which has chosen the environment as one of its strategic thrusts, and the allied Georgia Tech initiatives in Sustainable Technology and Environmentally Conscious Design and Manufacturing.)

—microelectronics (context: Chemical Engineering is playing a major role in the development of new materials, chemical processes, and devices used in microelectronics technology. The research areas include low-dielectric-constant materials, deep UV photolithography, plasma processing, chemical cleaning, and advanced packaging. Advancements in materials and processing are an integral part of two existing national centers in microelectronics on campus (the NSF Engineering Research Center and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency/Microelectronics Advanced Research Corporation Focused Research Center) and an excellent companion to the statewide initiatives in design (Yamacraw) and those of the Georgia Research Alliance.

—fine-chemicals manufacturing (context: Fine chemicals include pharmaceutical compounds, dyes, nutrient supplements, high-performance polymers and composites, and a wide range of compounds produced at relatively low annual quantities. The technologies important in the manufacture of these chemicals are often different from those used in the production of commodity chemicals. For example, many of these materials are produced in batch processes and/or require solids handling and/or have complex (multistep) chemical or biological routes of production.)


Goals


  • • An endowment of $500,000 for a visiting professorship (through efforts initiated in the Capital Campaign)

  • • An endowment of $4 million for support of graduate students (through efforts initiated in the Capital Campaign)

  • • Annual externally generated research funding averaging $250K per faculty member

  • • At least one major research center brought to the School

  • • At least 250 ft per researcher of high-quality laboratory space (to be provided in the Environmental Science and Technology, the Molecular Science and Engineering, and the Institute of Bioengineering and Bioscience Buildings and the Microelectronics and Manufacturing Research Centers)