Excellence in Teaching and Research: Chemical Engineering

A new decade of excellence

At the Department of Chemical Engineering, we tackle real-world challenges in energy, water, food, health and the environment with practical solutions that lead to new opportunities in a fast-paced world. We strive for global impact, innovation, and sustainability. We are driven to excel, and we prepare our students for the future.

Since its creation in 1959, the department has maintained a focus on both student success and research excellence. Outstanding students, passionate faculty members, and dedicated staff all work together to teach, learn, innovate, and create solutions that will lead to a brighter world.

We are proud to be part of McMaster’s Faculty of Engineering, which produces world-leading, collaborative research, while ensuring our students are placed in the centre of the learning process. It’s tremendously gratifying to be part of our students’ journeys. They embody a deep sense of community, the ability to work in teams, a drive toward excellence, and a fervent desire to change the world for the better.

Going forward, we will continue to focus on contributing to our students' success, to outstanding research through discovery and innovation and to a better future.

Please enjoy reading this special report. We hope it gives you a glimpse into the many department achievements and their impact on the student experience, global research, and society. We invite you to get involved, whether you choose to attend an event, mentor a student, volunteer your expertise, or fund a student award.

Thank you for your support and we hope to see you on campus!

Warm regards,

Carlos Filipe Professor & Chair Department of Chemical Engineering Faculty of Engineering McMaster University

A pivotal student experience

Creativity. Diversity. Leadership. Co-op. Community.

At McMaster Engineering, we offer more than a best-in-class degree. We offer experiences that help create global-ready, socially aware citizens through project-based classes, exible co-op work terms, research opportunities, and dozens of clubs and teams.

In the Fall of 2020, the Faculty of Engineering will launch the largest transformation of the student experience in our 60-year history. The Pivot will revolutionize the undergraduate experience, preparing our students to be able to “pivot” and meet the challenges of a rapidly changing world. This initiative will help to place us among the world’s best engineering schools and become a model for the revamping of other undergraduate programs across Canada, the U.S. and the world.

Hamilton is home

The Faculty of Engineering is the most diverse faculty at McMaster University. Sa'ida Shdaifat, a chemical engineering student from Jordan, made the decision to call it home. “Leadership roles are where I excel,” said Shdaifat “This is what McMaster helped me realize.”

Thank you, Dr. Wood

Phil Wood joined McMaster Engineering in 1983 and was recognized for his exceptional teaching with a 3M Teaching Fellowship Award in 1993. During his time as Dean of Students, he helped lead many Student Affairs legacies, including the Student Wellness Centre, the Mental Health Initiative, the Student Success Centre, and the Les Prince Residence. In June 2018, he retired after 40 years of service.

Co-op student of the year

McMaster’s Engineering Co-op Program provides 2,968 undergraduate and graduate students (from the 2019 Engineering Annual Report) with the opportunity to gain valuable work experience before they graduate. The Inaugural Co-op Student of the Year awards were launched in April 2019. Noelle Wilton, level 5 Chemical and Bioengineering student, was recognized as a Co-op Student of the Year 2018, for her outstanding workplace and academic achievements.

An awesome summer job

Chem Eng grad Dean Chambers ’78 remembers what it was like to be an undergraduate preparing for a career.

In 2016, he created the Chambers Experiential Learning and Discovery Fund to give students a leg-up in their future career.

“I’m a big believer in experiential learning,” said Chambers, seen here (second from left) with Chloe Dawson, fourth-year student in chemical engineering and bioengineering (right), along with faculty member Todd Hoare (left).

“This was an awesome summer job,” said Dawson, who worked for four months with Hoare and Kenneth Ng (Product Specialist, Suncor Energy) testing new technology that could improve plant health in the fight against microbial pests.

The undergraduate researcher

Great researchers must have the opportunity to start their research careers as soon as possible. Every summer, our faculty members hire more than 60 undergraduates to work in their labs on leading-edge research projects.

Annika Yardy, chemical and bioengineering and Jennifer Tian, biology and chemistry worked with Heather Sheardown, chemical engineering professor, on developing contact lenses designed to deliver drugs to the back of the eye.

Chem Eng today

At the Department of Chemical Engineering, we focus on innovative problem-solving, hands-on experience, laboratory investigation and inquiry, innovation, inclusiveness, sustainability, and global impact to give our students the skills they need to become the leaders and the entrepreneurs of tomorrow.

Recognizing that student success in the workplace depends on their attitude and leadership values as much as it does their technical competence, we have identified seven key characteristics that we cultivate in our students and faculty members, as captured with the acronym PROCESS. So we ask our students throughout their time at McMaster to trust the PROCESS!

PROCESS encompasses a departmental culture fostered by students, staff and faculty. Our faculty strives to help our students become versatile, engaged and marketable employees across all industries, helping to set them up for success beyond McMaster.

The PROCESS is delivered through personal and peer reflections the moment students enter our department and until graduation. We ask students to monitor and discuss their growth as it relates to the PROCESS and we ask students for their feedback on the support that they have received from the department to help them do so.

“As one of the founding ve departments of the Faculty of Engineering, the Department of Chemical Engineering leads the way in preparing future-ready students who can meet the challenges of a rapidly changing world.”

-Ishwar Puri, Dean, Faculty of Engineering

By the numbers

1st

McMaster is ranked 1st among all Departments of Chemical Engineering in Canada in these categories of the National Survey of Student Engagement:

•Effective Teaching Practices

•Higher-Order Learning

•Quality of Interactions

•Quantitative Reasoning

•Supportive Environment

5

The percentage of female students enrolled in Chemical Engineering at McMaster has risen from 36% in 2015 to 55% in 2019.

Chemical Engineering Associate Professor, Kim Jones, is chair of the Ontario Network of Women in Engineeing.

5 McMaster Chemical Engineering graduate students have received the prestigious NSERC Vanier Scholarships. 5

5 McMaster Chemical Engineering faculty members have been elected to the Royal Society of Canada.

•Citations of McMaster Chemical Engineering faculty members have risen from 4 in 1976 to

5,348 in 2018 (using Web of Science). A key indicator of research impact is the number of times papers written by our faculty members are cited by their peers.

•The number of graduate students in Chemical Engineering at McMaster has grown to in 2018 from 59 in 2001.

•McMaster placed 1st in the world to win the prestigious Global Teaching Excellence Award in 2018.

•In 2019, McMaster placed 2nd in the world in a new Global Impact ranking from the U.K.-based Times Higher Education.

•McMaster is now one of only four Canadian universities to place in the top 75 in the world.

•McMaster has been named Canada’s most research-intensive university for 3 years in a row (2017, 2018, 2019).

•McMaster Chemical Engineering has the highest average number of citations per paper among all Departments of Chemical Engineering in Canada at (using Web of Science). 28

6th in Canada

•In October 2019, McMaster Engineering rose to in the annual “Canada's best university engineering programs” rankings published by Maclean's magazine (rising from #8 two years ago and #7 one year ago).

Stories of impact

A “smart” solution

A McMaster team has created a new coating to prevent clotting and infection in synthetic vascular grafts, while also accelerating the body’s own process for integrating the grafted vessels. Chemical Engineering Assistant Professor Zeinab Hosseini-Doust tested the new material in lab experiments using human tissue.

Small materials for big problems

Charles de Lannoy, chemical engineering assistant professor, works with nanomaterials to search for solutions to environmental challenges. He’s part of an interdisciplinary group of McMaster researchers co-developing solutions to the ongoing issues of water quality at Six Nations of the Grand River.

Is your food safe to eat?

McMaster chemical engineers collaborated with mechanical engineers and biochemists to develop a transparent test patch, printed with harmless molecules, that can signal contamination as it happens.

A different kind of anti-bacterial gel

Chemical engineer, Zeinab Hosseini-Doust and her team of researchers have found a way to use friendly viruses to make an anti-bacterial gel that can heal itself and you. The gel, which can be targeted to attack speci c forms of bacteria, holds promise for numerous bene cial applications in medicine and environmental protection. Among many possibilities, it could be used as an antibacterial coating for implants and arti cial joints, as a sterile growth scaffold for human tissue, or in environmental cleanup operations.

A special delivery

McMaster chemical engineers, working with mechanical-biomedical engineers and biochemists, have invented a new storage method that can transport life-saving vaccines to previously inaccessible parts of the world. They invented a stable, affordable way to store fragile vaccines for weeks at a time at temperatures up to 40C, opening the way for life-saving anti-viral vaccines to reach remote and impoverished regions of the world.

A Vanier Scholar dives into water research

Ryan LaRue, a Vanier Scholar and PhD student in the chemical engineering, is pursuing research in water and wastewater treatment, creating novel membrane technologies for areas where water is hard to treat. LaRue is working to develop membranes to remove toxins such as heavy metals that could be discharged into water and consumed.

A proud history

Senate establishes the Faculty of Engineering. The University names its rst Director of Engineering Studies, chemical engineer Dr. John W. Hodgins. Five departments are established in the rst two years: chemical, civil, electrical, mechanical, and metallurgical. Chemical engineer Terrence Hoffman is hired.

The engineering building of cially opens in October. Chemical engineer Dr. Cameron Crowe is hired. John Hodgins becomes the rst Chair of the Department of Chemical Engineering. A graduate program in Chemical Engineering is launched.

The rst class (25 students) graduates with their Bachelor of Engineering. The Ph.D. degree in Chemical Engineering is approved by the Senate.

1958 1959 1961 1964 1988 1991 1992 2001

Don Woods starts his career at McMaster. The late chemical engineering professor emeritus' career spanned over three decades. He was one of McMaster's most highly regarded educators and is recognized for creating the McMaster Problem Solving approach to learning.

1964 also marks the year that McMaster establishes a Computer Centre and purchases an IBM 7040.

John W. Hodgins Memorial Lecture Series is initiated.

The JHE Building Annex is completed.The Engineering and Society Program is launched. McMaster Manufacturing Research Institute is established.

1970 1971 1978 1982 2006 2009 2017 2018

10,000 undergraduate student graduates from the Faculty of Engineering.

A new engineering building opens on the 50th anniversary of the original building.

Gerald Hatch Centre for Engineering Experiential Learning opens.

The Faculty of Engineering celebrates 60 years.

McMaster’s Department of Chemical Engineering is the rst Canadian department to be featured in the journal “Chemical Engineering Education.”

The Engineering and Management Program is launched.

The Faculty of Engineering celebrates its 20th anniversary. The building is renamed the John W. Hodgins Engineering Building (JHE).

McMaster Institute for Polymer Production Technology is established.

Get involved

We are tremendously proud of our wonderful community of alumni, friends, students, faculty and staff. We invite you to get involved and make a difference!

•Attend an event

•Volunteer

•Mentor

•Create your legacy

Over the years, our students have been supported in their academic pursuits in meaningful ways by our alumni, friends and faculty who have given their time and nancial support.

Philanthropic investments in the areas of scholarships and undergraduate research experiences have truly enriched the student experience in recent years.

We would like to acknowledge special donors (from left to right) Robert J. Kulperger ’63, and his wife, Arlene Price McKay, Professor Emeritus Cameron Crowe and his wife, Jean who have established signi cant family legacies in support of our students.

The Department is also the proud home of two named lectureships (Don Woods and Les Shemilt), supported with donations from alumni as well as former and current faculty members.