The department's small class-sizes, engaging teaching practices, and hands-on learning in our state-of-the-art facilities empower our students to solve real-world problems.
The Department of Chemical Engineering is a vibrant center of collaborative research addressing some of the most pressing challenges in energy and materials. Our faculty members are engaged in a diverse array of research in areas such as machine learning and process systems engineering, CO2 capture and conversion, polymer engineering, renewable energy, synthetic biology, environmental remediation, and materials science that push the boundaries of innovation.
Find out more by exploring the programs, research and news stories on this site.
News
Milad Kamkar is recognized for his contributions to advanced manufacturing
The Department of Chemical Engineering is proud to announce that Professor Milad Kamkar is one of the recipients of the 2026 Outstanding Young Manufacturing Engineering Award from the Society of Manufacturing Engineering (SME).
This award recognizes early career engineers who have made exceptional contributions and accomplishments in the manufacturing industry.
“This award is deeply meaningful to me because my research group is focussed on fabricating advanced materials via novel manufacturing techniques. Manufacturing is the area where I hope my research will make a tangible real-life impact. Receiving this recognition from the most relevant society in the field affirms we are on the right track,” says Kamkar. “I was also humbled to be nominated by both my former supervisors, Professors Orlando Rojas and Uttandaraman Sundararaj.”
Kamkar’s group has developed several novel manufacturing techniques over the last several years. His research group has created the following novel manufacturing techniques: droplet templating, chaotic direct ink writing , Janus liquids/aerogels, liquid in liquid printing, and liquid streaming. In addition, his group also develops novel functional links for 3D printing.
Where ideas become impact: showcasing this year’s award winning Capstone innovations
Each year, the Capstone Design Symposium stands as a defining milestone for our graduating students, marking the moment when years of study, experimentation, and hands‑on learning culminate in original engineering solutions.
This year’s graduating class identified meaningful problems, developed innovative approaches, and created their projects under the guidance of instructors, mentors, and industry partners.
Students tackled challenges as diverse as designing environmentally friendly glitter for cosmetics that avoids the microplastics found in most commercial products to developing early fault detection systems for lithium‑ion batteries to improve safety and reliability.
This year there were eight winning teams. Group 1 won the Bhattacharyya Capstone Design Award, valued at up to $3,000. This award is made possible through the generosity of Dr. Dilip and Mrs. Manjusha Bhattacharyya.
Teaching tomorrow’s engineers in greener labs
The Department of Chemical Engineering continues to advance its role as leader in sustainability, pioneering innovative solutions to reduce its carbon footprint.
Demonstrating a steadfast commitment to sustainablility teaching and practice, the Department of Chemical Engineering achieves Green Lab Gold Certification of its undergraduate teaching labs in the Douglas Wright Engineering Building (DWE).
The labs earned Green Lab Gold Certification for the second year in a row, with a higher score than last year!
It’s clear that sustainability is more than a buzzword for the department; the certification demonstrates the department’s focus on sustainability as an integral part of how experiential learning is designed and delivered.
“I am thrilled to see the work from Chemical Engineering to integrate sustainability into labs. Labs are areas of high resource intensity and environmental impact, and the team has identified meaningful activities for operational improvement,” says Mat Thijssen, Director of Sustainability at the University of Waterloo.
Events
Seminar Speaker: Professor Lawrence Yoon Suk Lee
Abstract
Driven by the growing need for clean and sustainable energy sources, a number of carbon-neutral energy conversion technologies have been extensively explored over recent years, which include photo- and electrocatalytic water-splitting systems, fuel cells, and metal ion batteries. In particular, water electrolysis, consisting of hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and oxygen evolution reaction (OER), is considered a promising and efficient way to produce a clean energy carrier, hydrogen, to meet such energy demands. Green hydrogen produced by renewable-energy-powered water electrolysis could help resolve the energy crisis and cut our carbon footprint at the same time.