We are a community of faculty, staff, graduate students and post-doctoral fellows working together to solve important, emerging challenges in medicine, energy, environmental science and more. And, we’re like a family here. We love our faculty and student get-togethers, from our summer student seminar series to happy hours and trivia nights, adventures to local attractions or our annual holiday dinner. We invite you to keep exploring this page to get to know us better!
Mark Your Calendars
Meet our faculty and students! Please join us at any of our upcoming virtual events this fall:
Nov. 19 │ 3-5 p.m.
CHE Ph.D. Program Admissions Info │ Register here
You can also contact us any time at cheadmis@virginia.edu with questions, or complete this form to receive information about our graduate program. We can’t wait to see you!
NOTE: The GRE is waived for fall 2021 admission.
The Ph.D. Student Perspective
Erica Hui, fifth-year Ph.D. student from Lenexa, KS
Undergraduate institution: University of Kansas
UVA CHE faculty advisor/lab: Assistant Professor Steven Caliari
Favorite things about chemical engineering at UVA: Close-knit community, social events like department happy hours (with events like pumpkin-carving contests, department bake-off, tie-dying, and themed happy hour food), supportive advisor, open-door policy for many faculty, seminar food, recruitment weekends, ability to network via the Chemical Engineering Research Symposium (CHEERS) and meetings with the ChE Advisory Board
Favorite wineries: King Family, Mount Ida, Glass House Favorite breweries: Pro Re Nata, Blue Mountain, Devils Backbone Favorite coffee shop: Mudhouse Favorite restaurant: Al Carbon Favorite entertainment venue: Jefferson Theater
Mark Bannon, second-year Ph.D. student from Woodcliff Lake, N.J.
Undergraduate institution: New Jersey Institute of Technology
UVA CHE faculty advisor/lab: Assstant Professor Rachel Letteri
Favorite things about chemical engineering at UVA: Really tight-knit department, you get to go to work with your friends every day; very collaborative environment, can learn something from everyone; really great seminars, excellent researchers are brought in to give useful and relevant information every week.
Favorite local cidery: Bold Rock at Carter Mountain, best view in Charlottesville Favorite local restaurant: Burger Bach Favorite things to do around Cville: UVA lacrosse games (when they’re playing) Favorite entertainment: Listening to live music downtown. The Whiskey Jar always has amazing local bands, and even busking musicians are always very talented.
Sean Bannon, first-year Ph.D. student from Woodcliff Lake, N.J.
Undergraduate institution: New Jersey Institute of Technology
UVA CHE faculty advisor/lab: Associate Professor Geoff Geise Lab
Favorite things about chemical engineering at UVA: Coming into a graduate program amidst a pandemic can be daunting, but between virtual happy hours, zoom homework meetings and socially distanced get-togethers, doing so in the UVA ChE department has still been a lot of fun!
Favorite things to do in Charlottesville: C’ville has great options for hiking in the Blue Ridge Mountains, country roads for bike rides, and music/food downtown. Still, nothing I’ve seen in Charlottesville so far has managed to surpass Thursday night Pizza Hut karaoke.
Ashley Conley, fourth-year Ph.D. student from Columbus, Ohio
Undergraduate institution: The Ohio State University
UVA CHE faculty advisor/lab: Associate ProfessorJoshua Choi and Assistant Professor Gaurav Giri
Favorite things about chemical engineering at UVA: As it turns out, the people around you greatly influence your experience as you get your Ph.D. That’s why I came to UVA. Our department is highly collaborative and is a socially tight-knit community. The faculty and graduate students you get to work with are brilliant, bright and encouraging. From my visit up to now, Charlottesville is my home away from home.
Favorite Charlottesville-area hangouts and things to do: Basic City Brewing, Sedona Taphouse or Cava;- Shenandoah National Park with my doggo, Rutherford; hiking and finding new places to eat.
I recently went on a long hike with multiple beautiful waterfalls and swimming holes, complete with smushed sandwiches, grapes and chips. Plus, I got to break in my new fancy hiking boots! Then we visited a nearby brewery to have a beer next to a warm, cozy firepit with cows grazing in the open pastures nearby as the sun went down. Another noteworthy event, I just carved pumpkins with a few close ChE friends, which we do each year together. Pre-COVID, right about now I would be looking forward to the ChE grad student holiday events, such as our Friendsgiving potluck and Christmas parties with gift exchanges.
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Workshops provide personal and professional tools to complement academic training
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Nisha Sosale, a researcher in Associate Professor Matt Lazzara’s cell signaling lab, has received an individual postdoctoral fellowship from the National Cancer Institute.
