Overview

USC was among the first few institutions to provide formal chemical engineering education in the country in the early 1950’s. Our department started with six students enrolled in a four-year program and it graduated in 1956 all six, one of whom was Charito Manuel Blase who would later become the department chair from 1982 to 1995.

In the early years, the function of the department centered on teaching with the immediate aim of making students perform well in the board examinations and eventually in industrial practice. Thus in 1960, Vicente Bendanillo became our first graduate to place and to rank No. 1 in the chemical engineering board examination. With him started the long list of alumni who kept the tradition of placing USC’s name, year after year, in the board’s top ten. Many of our graduates likewise showed leadership in the industrial practice and news of their success have always been a source of pride for us.

Over the years, the measures of quality in education became more stringent and required the department to go beyond mere teaching. This challenge we took seriously and luck was thankfully on our side. In late 1995, the period of major change began. Then was the start of the eight-year development project to which millions of funds were poured in by the Dutch government through the Netherlands University Foundation for International Cooperation in Higher Education (NUFFIC). The department braved and toiled towards development together with the Department of Biotechnology of the Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands. We worked on the rational review and development of the BSChE and MSChE curricula, on the development of faculty through advanced studies, and on the building up of the research infrastructure. On the whole, the project’s fortuitous intervention created in the department a more global and progressive outlook regarding our role in the training of future chemical engineers, and also in the application and generation of knowledge through research. It also created in us the confidence to extend our services beyond the academic community.

The department now offers one undergraduate program (BS Chemical Engineering) and two graduate programs (MS Chemical Engineering and MEngg major in Chemical Engineering).

Our research works focus on three interrelated areas of biochemical engineering, namely, bioconversion, bioseparation and biotreatment. We adopted the term BIO+ to encompass these three focus areas.

Our extension services include trainings and consultancy, laboratory services, contract projects, and active participation in professional organizations.

We maintain formal ties with other universities through visiting professorships and research collaboration. We have active links with Delft University of Technology through its Department of Biotechnology, National Taiwan University of Science and Technology through its Department of Chemical Engineering, and Leyte State University through the Philippine Rootcrops Research and Training Center. Likewise, we have links with many industrial companies who continue to accommodate our students as on-the-job trainees.

With all the fundamentals well in place, the department is more poised than ever to carry out with clear determination its three knowledge-based functions of teaching, research and community service.