Targeted Infusion Project: Development of Bioengineering Concentration in the Department of Chemical Engineering at Prairie View A&M University

Prairie View A & M University, Prairie View TX

Investigators

Abstract

Prairie View A&M University will transform its chemical engineering program by establishing a bioengineering concentration within the department. Through this project, the department envisions three general areas of undergraduate education and research: (1) Bioprocess; (2) Bioseparations and (3) Biomedical Engineering. The overarching mission of the bioengineering concentration is to provide an intellectually rigorous undergraduate educational program that emphasizes fundamental engineering and life sciences and that will prepare students to pursue further education in bioengineering or successful careers in businesses related to various bioengineering industries. The intellectual merit of this project stems from its response to a current national focus and the emergence and growth of the field of bioengineering across the United States. Prairie View A&M has positioned itself to respond. The project will benefit from recent hires in the department of chemical engineering, from partnership with two NSF Educational Research Centers, and partnership with University of Kansas, the University of Iosan and Washington University in St. Louis in a Center for the Environmental Beneficial Catalysis. Prairie View A&M University, during its 130 year history, has been at the forefront of graduating African American engineers. It is one of eleven accredited engineering programs at an HBCU, and, through this project, will become only the second to offer an option of a chemical engineering degree with a biology focus. This project will broadly impact the engineering community, as 95% of the engineering students at Prairie View A&M are African American and 59% are women.