Throughout 2026, Georgia Tech School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering (ChBE@GT) is celebrating its 125th anniversary.
Established in 1901, ChBE@GT is also one of the oldest and largest programs in chemical engineering.
ChBE@GT's prestige has grown through the years, and the School is consistently ranked among the Top 5 engineering programs in the nation for both its graduate and undergraduate programs.
The School's faculty members are now involved in a comprehensive range of topics in education, research, and commercialization with a strategic focus on energy and sustainability, biotechnology, materials and nanotechnology, and complex systems.
Learn more about the School's rich history in the timeline below and keep up with special events commemorating this anniversary year.
Key Milestones
On October 13, 1885 Governor Henry D. McDaniel signs into law the enabling legislation establishing the Georgia School of Technology.
1901: Professor William Henry Emerson proposed a degree program in “Commercial Chemistry” at the meeting of the Board of Trustees on January 2. The program was approved and implemented as Engineering Chemistry.
1905: The Lyman Hall Laboratory of Chemistry, home to Georgia Tech’s Engineering Chemistry program and named in honor of the late President Lyman Hall, is dedicated.
Double effect vaporator from 1930s
School of Chemical Engineering faculty, 1949
Operations Lab, 1955
1930: The program in Engineering Chemistry at Georgia Tech was reorganized into Chemical Engineering.
1930: The Department awarded its first master’s degrees in chemical engineering.
1932: The Department of Chemistry was renamed the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering.
1938: Georgia Tech’s Chemical Engineering program received accreditation by the Engineers’ Council for Professional Development and the American Institute of Chemical Engineers.
1941: The Department of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering was formally separated into independent units.
1948: The Department of Chemical Engineering was renamed the School of Chemical Engineering.
1950: The School of Chemical Engineering awarded the first PhD at Georgia Tech to Dr. Lloyd Carter.
1952: General Raymond Davis (ChE 1938), then a lieutenant colonel, was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor.
General Raymond Davis (ChBE 1938)
1964: Chemical Engineering moved into the newly-constructed Bunger-Henry Building.
1969: Chemical Engineering hired its first female faculty member, Dr. Helen Grenga, a metallurgist.
Student in biofluidics lab, 1986
1974: Donna Jean Smith, a dual-degree student from Spelman College, became the first Black female undergraduate from Georgia Tech to graduate with a chemical engineering degree.
1975: Chemical Engineering established its first summer study-abroad program, in conjunction with University College at London.
1980: Undergraduate enrollment in the School of Chemical Engineering exceeded 1,000 students.
1983: Chemical Engineering graduated the first African-American female PhD at Georgia Tech, Dr. Adesola Kujore.
1986: School director Gary Poehlein was appointed as the first associate vice president for research at Georgia Tech.
1989: The Institute of Paper Chemistry (IPC), now the Renewable Bioproducts Institute, moved to Georgia Tech.
1994: The Phillips 66/Silas Program in Ethics and Leadership was established by the School of Chemical Engineering.
2003: Chemical Engineering moved into its new home, the Ford Environmental Sciences and Technology Building.
2003: The School of Chemical Engineering was renamed the School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering (ChBE@GT).
2007: ChBE@GT entered the Top 10 of U.S. News & World Report’s Undergraduate Program Rankings for the first time.
2013: ChBE@GT entered the Top 10 of U.S. News & World Report’s Graduate Program Rankings for the first time.
125th Anniversary Symposia
Naechul Shin, Dun-Yen Kang, and Adriana San Miguel (left to right)
ChBE@GT got an early start commemorating our 125th Anniversary with two symposia in Fall 2025.
The first symposium, held September 27, honored alumni pursuing academic careers. Three alumni presented their research:
- Naechul Shin (PhD 2013), Associate Professor, Department of Chemical Engineering, Inha University — “Dimensional Engineering of van der Waals nanostructures”
- Dun-Yen Kang (PhD 2012), Professor, National Taiwan University — “MOF Membranes for Gas Separation: Achievements and Unresolved Challenges”
- Adriana San Miguel (PhD 2011/Postdoc 2015), Associate Professor & Director of Graduate Programs, Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, North Carolina State University — “Shedding light on neurodegeneration through AI-aided neuron structure analysis in C. elegans.”
A second 125th anniversary symposium on December 3 celebrated Deans of Engineering with ties to ChBE (alumni and/or former faculty):
- Professor Clifford L. Henderson (BS CHE@GT 1994), Dean, Styslinger College of Engineering University of Alabama = Former Professor in ChBE@GT
- Professor Jim Pfaendtner (BS CHE@GT 2001), Dean, College of Engineering North Carolina State University
- Professor Mary Rezac, Dean, School of Engineering University of Kansas Former Associate Professor in ChBE@GT
Cliff Henderson, Jim Pfaendtner, and Mary Rezac (left to right)