Chemical Engineering
Every day, my colleagues and I work to address some of the most pressing issues facing our world. I am proud of the work we do here at Northeastern and sincerely grateful for your generosity. Your support powers our work and allows us to pursue groundbreaking research, create a welcoming space for all learners, and strive for excellence every day. On behalf of our students, faculty, and staff, thank you for your dedication.
-- Rebecca Willets, Chair of Chemical Engineering
Click the button below to contact my colleagues and request an on-campus visit.
2025 AiCHe Annual Meeting
We are thrilled that this year’s American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AiCHe) Annual Meeting will be held in Boston from November 2 to November 6, 2025. This conference brings together academic and industry experts from around the world to discuss cutting edge research, new technologies, and emerging growth areas in chemical engineering. Having the conference in Boston allows our chemical engineering students to more easily access this valuable resource, while also giving the department an opportunity to host esteemed colleagues from around the world on our Boston campus. We plan to schedule events in concert with the conference, so stay tuned for details!
AiCHe at Northeastern
Last fall, Northeastern’s student chapter of AiCHe was selected as an Outstanding Student Chapter for the 2023-2024 academic year. In addition, Courtney Pfluger, the longtime faculty advisor to the chapter, received the Outstanding Student Chapter Advisor Award. These recognitions serve as validation for what Northeastern students have long known – their chapter of AiCHe is special. The chapter offers a sense of community to its members, providing them with valuable resources like early notice about research opportunities, opportunities to meet industry experts and NU alumni who can serve as mentors, and social events where they can get to know their fellow students. The chapter also focuses on giving back, and students regularly volunteer to teach STEM concepts to students in the Boston community.
Chemical Engineering Labs with Kate Honda
Kate Honda, Director of Chemical Engineering Laboratories, kindly answered a few questions about the lab space at Northeastern.
Why does it matter to have this lab space within Northeastern?
The chemical engineering teaching laboratories provide experiential learning opportunities for students to deepen their knowledge of chemical engineering principles through experimentation, testing, and simulation. We currently have three spaces for use: Unit Operations Laboratory, Chemical Engineering Innovation and Discovery Studio Laboratory, and the Chemical Engineering Collaboration Laboratory. Our laboratories provide both pilot scale and bench scale equipment to explore in a safe and controlled laboratory environment under the supervision of instructors, teaching assistants, and staff. The department prioritizes the laboratories because the hands-on, active learning experience is invaluable to our students as they build necessary skills to enter their careers.
Right: Graduate student teaching assistants learning the gas stripper equipment to properly guide undergraduates through their experiments during class.
How long have we had the labs at Northeastern?
The labs have been here for at least 79 years. Our equipment is maintained by the department. Some older pieces are still in use today, while other pieces of process equipment such as Liquid-Liquid Extraction are much newer. We are always looking for areas to expand our capabilities. Today, the chemical engineering workforce includes jobs in bioprocessing, electrochemistry, water quality, environmental remediation, among others - we strive to continuously assess our laboratories to include equipment that will support skillset development for current chemical engineering graduates.
How often are the labs used by students?
The Pharmaceutical Engineering Lab course is required for pharmaceutical engineering graduate students. This laboratory is twice per week and focuses on both upstream and downstream bio processing unit operations, including using bioreactors and fast protein liquid chromatography separation equipment.
The Unit Operations Laboratory course is required for all undergraduate chemical engineers and offered every semester. This means during each semester we hold class 3 to 4 times per week. The lab is overseen by a professor and teaching assistants who have been trained on the pilot-scale equipment that students are using for their experiments. During the course, the students practice safe equipment operating principles, teamwork, communication, and leadership.
We also offer opportunities to use the equipment outside of class time. Senior students conducting experiments for capstone projects, as well as AIChE undergraduate competition teams (ChemE Car, ChemE Cube, and ChemE Sports), can request use of either the main Unit Operations Laboratory or the Chemical Engineering Innovation and Discovery Studio Laboratory after specific trainings and with supervision.
Is there anything else we should know about the impact of the labs on the educational experience within the Chemical Engineering department?
A core tenet of a chemical engineering education is to be able to understand the integration of unit operations into a process resulting in a systems level perspective. The laboratories are in the unique position to bring together many chemical engineer concepts applied to hands-on experiments for students.
Unit Operations Lab In Use
Top left: Capstone team experimenting with wool to make a prototype of wool insulation.
Top right: Unit operations distillation team posing near the distillation column during experimental set-up.
Bottom left: First day of Unit Operations Lab for the semester includes a scavenger hunt to find safety equipment in the Unit Operations Lab.
Bottom right: Transport I class visiting the Unit Operations Lab to experiment with fluid flow through pipes.
Departmental Highlights
Professor Rebecca Carrier is investigating how mucus is shaping drug discovery and medical research.
Madeline Szoo, an undergraduate student who graduated in May, has leveraged scholarships and awards to gain valuable research experience.
Professor Luke Landherr is studying the effectiveness of using comics to teach STEM topics.
Thank You
This has been another exciting year in the Department of Chemical Engineering at Northeastern University. Our faculty are conducting groundbreaking research while creating opportunities for student involvement and discovery. Our students have the resources they need to pursue their passions and gain invaluable experience through immersive co-ops, hands-on research, and transformative global opportunities. The work we do is possible thanks to your philanthropic support. Your generosity supports the whole Northeastern ecosystem, and we are deeply grateful for your investment in our department.
On behalf of the whole Chemical Engineering Department, including our faculty, staff, and students, thank you!
Contact Us
Brian Brookey
Director, Major Gifts
College of Engineering
857-407-5559
b.brookey@northeastern.edu