Master of Science [M.S] [Chemical Engineering] From University of Maine

The graduate program is designed to prepare student for careers in research or education. A choice of courses and research topics allows the student to become specialized in specific areas.

Research projects cover a wide area of chemical engineering and include both fundamental and applied topics. The major active research areas include pulping and bleaching processes, coating flows, flow in porous media, rheology, advanced materials, surface chemistry, molecular biophysics, advanced imaging and spectroscopic techniques,  nanotechnology and heterogeneous catalysis. Significant recent funding has improved laboratories and supported students to do research on methods to produce fuels and chemicals from biomass.

The unique aspect of the department is the close contact with industrial sponsors. This interaction with industry gives the student real life exposure and good contacts. The Paper Surface Science Program is a consortia of companies that meet regularly to review student research. A number of other research projects receive direct support and input from industrial representatives.  In addition to industrial support, the department receives significant funding from governmental agencies such as the National Science Foundation, the Department of Energy, the Department of Agriculture, and the Department of Environmental Protection Agency. Some funding recently has been obtained from foundations interested to produce fuels from biomass as well as to use cellulose nanofibers in various packaging applications.