Chemical Engineering McGill University

Overview

The Chemical Engineering Department's faculty at McGill University have been well supported by government programs (e.g., NSERC, FRQNT, CIHR, CFI, and CRC) and industry through research partnerships and contracts. Our laboratories are equipped with state-of-the-art equipment, and we attract outstanding graduate students from all over the world. Our main current research areas are briefly described below.

Advanced materials and polymers – The Department has an internationally recognized research program in structural, functional, and biological materials, spanning synthesis, characterization, processing, and modelling activities, with strong links to academic, government, and industrial research centres. Areas include plasma processing (e.g., nanofluids, carbon nanotubes, advanced coatings) and polymeric or “soft” materials research (e.g., self-assembling or structured materials; complex fluids; liquid crystals; colloids and soft composites; and novel polymerization methods). Applications of the research are targeted toward the development of next-generation, high-density storage media, functional coatings, electronic devices, composite fluids and “smart” materials, to name but a few.

Key facts

Biomedical engineering and biotechnology – The majority of professors in the Department are involved with biological engineering. This is a very broad research area that includes biotechnology and biomedical engineering. Biotechnology is an integrated approach of combining life sciences (e.g., biochemistry and cell biology) with process engineering, design, and scale-up principles. This is the use of biological systems or living organisms to do practical things and manufacture valuable products such as biohydrogen, drugs, therapeutics, polymers, and surfactants. Biomedical engineering combines the principles of engineering with medicine as well as life sciences and biology. Examples of this include:

• drug delivery methods;

• biomedical devices;

• cardiovascular and other biomechanics;

• biomaterials for applications such as artificial implants;

• products such as bacteriophages for alternative treatment techniques.