A Message from the Chair, Dr. Michael Mann
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Message from the Chair

As I am sure most of you know, John Erjavec retired this summer. I assumed the chair duties July 15. I have been involved in department activities since 1979 when I started in the Master's program and have always been thankful for the opportunities that the department has offered me first as a student, then as a faculty member, and now as the chair. The department's commitment to excellence, a trademark of Dr. Owens, and the support from the dean make my new job exciting. We have been lucky to hire excellent faculty which has resulted in a very strong department that is poised to enhance an already strong tradition. Some of the goals that I have for the next decade include:

Continue UND ChE's strong tradition of excellence in undergraduate education.
•  Maintain full ABET accreditation;
•  Add at least two additional faculty members to allow us to continue our commitment to excellence in undergraduate education while enhancing our efforts to develop high quality research programs. If a well qualified candidate can be recruited, at least one of these faculty members will be female. Note: with your help, we expect to add the first of these additional faculty in the next couple years;
•  Expand our offering of technical electives allowing our students to be educated in the technologies of the future;
•  Revise the contents of the core courses we offer to ensure that the topics we cover are the most relevant and appropriate for the ChE's of the future;
•  Stabilize undergraduate enrollment at a level of 20 undergraduate students per faculty member, a size that will allow us to maintain our good faculty-student interactions;
•  Retain faculty members through tenure to provide stability for the department and our students; and
•  Gradually modernize our laboratories, both the physical facilities themselves and the teaching/experimental equipment.

Continue UND ChE's growth and reputation for high quality research and graduate education.
•  Use research as teaching tool to enhance our student's ability to solve problems and to introduce undergraduate students to research as a potential career;
•  Retain our collaborative relationships with other researchers and establish new collaborative relationships with departments within UND, with NDSU and other ND colleges, other universities, industry, and government agencies.;
•  Retain our excellent collaborative and mutually supportive relationship with the UND Energy & Environmental Research Center;
•  Be the leading department in the development of a multi-disciplinary Center of Excellence in Sustainable Energy;
•  Ensure our Ph.D. and M.S programs grow into strong, viable, nationally recognized programs for graduate study; and
•  Stabilize graduate enrollment at a level of 3-4 graduate students per faculty member with a ratio of 50% Ph.D. and 50% M.S. seeking students.

Partner with our alumni to help improve an already excellent program.
•  Fully fund the Tom Owens Endowed Chair in Chemical Engineering;
•  Enhance job opportunities for our graduates, co-op/interns and alumni by expanding our job network;
•  Develop a clearinghouse helping alumni match up with other alumni with specialized experience;
•  Enhance links with alumni through activities both on and off campus;
•  Invite alumni to speak to ChE classes exposing current students to aspects of the "real world" and to enhance the thirst for life-long learning;
•  Establish a link with alumni to facilitate the donation of used equipment to enhance our teaching and research laboratories;
•  Develop network between faculty and alumni through company visits to identify common research interests; and
•  Continue to utilize monetary donations responsibly and effectively.

Speaking for my fellow faculty members as well as myself, I want to assure you that it is our goal to take an already excellent program and to improve it. We want to ensure that we are cognizant of future trends so that we can produce graduates who will always be respected and in demand. We recognize our alumni as being very important in helping us reach these goals, and always welcome your comments and feedback. I look forward to working with you as the chair.

Dr. Michael Mann