Professor Emeritus F. Joseph Schork (Associate Chair of the Undergraduate Program, 1994–2006)
Professor Emeritus Pradeep Agrawal (Associate Chair of Undergraduate Program, 2006-2017)
Professor Victor Breedveld (Associate Chair of the Undergraduate Program, 2017-2026)
Principal Lecturer Yonathan Thio (Associate Chair of the Undergraduate Program, 2026 to present)
Decades ago, incoming Georgia Tech students often received a sobering message from faculty: “Look to your left. Look to your right. Only one of you will graduate.”
But over time, student retention has become a much higher priority across the Institute. For example, the first-year retention rate in the Georgia Tech School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering (ChBE@GT) is now around 98.4 percent and the four- and five-year graduation rates are now above 70 and 90 percent, respectively.
That emphasis on student success reflects a broader transformation in ChBE's undergraduate program, where expanded advising, mentoring, student support, and curricular innovations have helped reshape the student experience.
As part of the School's 125th anniversary celebration in 2026, three former associate chairs for the undergraduate program — F. Joseph Schork (1994–2006), Pradeep Agrawal (2006–2017), and Victor Breedveld (2017–2026) — gathered for a panel discussion reflecting on that evolution.
Together, they represent 32 consecutive years of undergraduate program leadership and 47 consecutive years on the chemical engineering faculty, noted Breedveld, who recently handed over his associate chair responsibilities to Yonathan Thio.
“Students today don’t realize how the undergraduate program has changed,” said Agrawal, a professor emeritus. “When I first joined the School, there simply weren’t many organized support systems.”
“Today there are mentoring programs, ambassadors, advising staff, peer networks, outreach activities, and numerous opportunities for students to become involved outside the classroom. Those changes didn't happen overnight. They were built gradually over many years.”
Schork said the old “look left and right” philosophy wasn’t a good model. “From the state's perspective, it made no sense to admit students only to fail large numbers of them during the freshman year,” he said. “That wasted state resources, and it certainly wasn't good for Georgia Tech.”
Building the Undergraduate Program
Agrawal joined the faculty of the School in 1979, a year after Gary Poehlein began his tenure as School Chair.
“Gary came with a mission to build the undergraduate program. At the time, Georgia Tech simply wasn’t on the radar as a leading undergraduate chemical engineering program,” Agrawal remembered. “It was, however, an excellent source of chemical engineers for industry.”
Soon after becoming associate chair in 2006, Agrawal saw a report from the University System of Georgia on student success when students transferred into Georgia Tech: They experienced a one-point drop in their GPA.
“It really underscored how different the academic environment at Georgia Tech is,” he said.
That finding prompted greater emphasis on supporting transfer students, including the development of a transition course and eventually the creation of the Chemical Engineering Transfer Student Association.
Spearheaded by former academic advising manager Ami Waller-Ivanecky, the association became a model and was eventually expanded to the Georgia Tech level, Breedveld said.
“As a state institution, we have an obligation to make the transfer pathway work,” Schork said.
“Absolutely,” Agrawal added. “We can't necessarily make it easier, but we can certainly make it smoother.”
When Poehlein started, the School had approximately 15 faculty members and 15 graduate students to serve as teaching assistants for undergraduates, and he set out to expand those numbers. Today there are 45 academic faculty, ~750 undergraduates, and ~250 graduate students.
Poehlein recruited Schork to the School in 1982, and Breedveld joined the faculty in 2003 under the leadership of former School Chair Ronald Rousseau.
“I came to Georgia Tech because of Gary, and it’s been a magnificent ride,” said Schork, a professor emeritus.
Supporting Transfer Students
An important change in the undergraduate program involved recognizing the particular challenges faced by transfer students.
Expanding Advising and Mentoring
Beginning with Waller-Ivanecky’s arrival in 2012 (she retired in 2023), undergraduate advising expanded to improve the educational experience for all ChBE majors.
“We eventually expanded the advising team to three professional advisors, and over time, ChBE became known across campus as a model for strong undergraduate advising,” Breedveld said.
“It wasn't about handholding. It was about providing thoughtful, effective advising that still expected students to meet high standards.”
The advising team also established the ChBE Ambassadors program, which enlists undergraduate students to assist with recruiting and outreach efforts, and the Peer Mentoring Program, which places incoming students in mentoring groups led by more senior students.
A Changing Student Population
The composition of Georgia Tech’s student body has also changed considerably since Agrawal joined the faculty. In 1979, women only represented about eight percent of the overall student population at Georgia Tech.
“Chemical engineering, however, was considered exceptional because roughly 22 percent of our students were women,” he said. “By the time I retired in 2017, that figure had risen to approximately 40 percent.”
Breedveld added that over the last five years, that percentage has consistently exceeded 50 percent. “Today, both our enrollment and the degrees we award are essentially split evenly between men and women,” he said.
The international student population has also expanded. Agrawal recalled that relatively few international students attended Georgia Tech in the late 1970s, but over the past two decades, growing numbers have arrived from China, India, and other countries.
At the same time, the Institute’s growing national reputation has made undergraduate admission increasingly competitive.
Student in lab, 1986
“For the most recent admission cycles, our acceptance rate for chemical engineering applicants has dropped to roughly 15 percent,” he said. “We're attracting applicants from a much larger pool, particularly outside Georgia. Admission is certainly competitive for Georgia residents, but for out-of-state applicants it has become extremely difficult.”
An Evolving Curriculum
Changes in the undergraduate program have extended well beyond student services and enrollment.
In 2003, the School changed its name from Chemical Engineering to Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, reflecting the growing importance of biological applications in the discipline.
“One of the goals was to introduce biological examples and concepts throughout the curriculum—not just in a handful of elective courses, but across the core chemical engineering sequence,” Agrawal said.
The transformation unfolded gradually, supported in part by the addition of faculty members through the years, Breedveld said.
Learn more about the School's rich history in a featured timeline and keep up with special events and other content commemorating this anniversary year.
“As we've hired younger faculty members, we've brought in many researchers whose work naturally spans biology and chemical engineering. They introduce biological examples into their courses almost automatically. We've also strengthened the biotechnology curriculum itself.”
He added: “I think our students today—whether they’re in the standard curriculum or the biotechnology option—receive much stronger exposure to biological applications than they did twenty years ago.”
Expanding Safety and Communication
Agrawal identified two other areas where Georgia Tech was ahead of other chemical engineering departments across the country: process safety and technical communication.
“We introduced a dedicated safety course in the mid-1990s, when ABET (the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology) didn’t even require a separate emphasis on safety,” he said.
The initiative grew out of recommendations from the School’s External Advisory Board. “Board members from industry told us very clearly that graduates needed stronger preparation in safety,” he said.
The School also took an innovative approach to technical communication compared to many universities, where the subject has been taught as a separate course in English departments, often with little emphasis on engineering practice.
“Students took it because it was required, but it rarely had much impact on how they communicated as engineers,” he said.
Starting in the 1990s, ChBE (then ChE) developed the in-house Technical Communications Program to supplement Georgia Tech’s required freshman composition courses and place a greater emphasis on industry-specific communication practices and standards.
Led by Principal Lecturer Jacqueline Mohalley Snedeker since 2002, the program integrates communication into the core ChBE curriculum.
“Even today, very few chemical engineering programs in the country have communication skills so thoroughly integrated,” Agrawal said.
A Culture of Collaboration
Despite significant changes in the undergraduate program over the years, some of the School’s defining qualities have remained consistent.
During the panel discussion, Breedveld asked his colleagues what they considered the most enduring characteristic of the School throughout their years on the faculty.
“For me, it’s the people,” Agrawal said. “The faculty have always cared deeply about the students. The methods have changed. The curriculum has changed. The technology has changed. But the commitment to educating outstanding chemical engineers has remained remarkably consistent. I think that's what has allowed the School to continue improving over time.”
Schork pointed to the School’s collegial atmosphere and its tradition of faculty collaboration.
Breedveld agreed that the collaborative culture has become one of ChBE’s greatest strengths, creating an environment in which students, faculty, and staff work closely together.
Preparing for Future Challenges
As the School celebrates 125 years, the panelists also considered how undergraduate education will continue to evolve, particularly with the rapid emergence of artificial intelligence.
“In just the last few years, our students have acquired tools that fundamentally change how they approach problem-solving,” Breedveld said. “Chemical engineers certainly aren't being replaced by computers, but they now work differently, and we have to adapt our teaching accordingly.”
He emphasized that the challenge extends beyond teaching students how to use new technology. “We have to teach students not only how to use AI, but also how to question it. Engineering has always depended on professional judgment,” he said. “AI doesn't eliminate that responsibility; it probably makes it even more important.”
Agrawal raised a related concern about evaluating student learning in an era when sophisticated tools can generate solutions almost instantly.
“The real question is no longer whether students can solve problems,” he said. “It's how we evaluate what they actually know. Today you can assign a homework problem, and a student can obtain a complete solution in five minutes.”
Schork returned to a fundamental principle of engineering education. ar“Engineering has never been about simply obtaining an answer,” he said. “It's about deciding whether the answer makes sense. That's the habit we have to continue teaching, regardless of how powerful the tools become.”