M.S. in Chemical Engineering

The M.S. in Chemical Engineering at The University of Toledo gives students a strong opportunity to combine graduate coursework with hands-on research, advanced experimentation, modeling, and project work. Students in the thesis track can conduct independent research in areas such as advanced materials, polymers, composites, membranes, nanotechnology, process engineering, environmental sustainability, and renewable chemicals, while non-thesis students can pursue coursework and a chemical engineering project. The department also provides access to specialized research laboratories and university-wide characterization facilities, giving students experience with sophisticated tools used in materials and chemical engineering research.

Students can build practical and research experience through:

• Graduate research laboratories: Faculty research labs support work in polymers and composites, sustainability, membranes, nanotechnology, process engineering, air and water purification, and biomedical engineering.
• Center for Materials and Sensor Characterization (CMSC): M.S. students have access to advanced materials-characterization resources, including an FEI Quanta 3D FEG Environmental Scanning Electron Microscope and Focused Ion Beam system.
• Chemical Engineering laboratories: Department facilities include equipment for batch and continuous distillation, shell-and-tube and compact heat exchangers, dialysis, air separation, packed-bed gas absorption, packed-bed reactors, and continuous stirred-tank reactors.
• Advanced research tools: Graduate students receive training with experimental and modeling tools through the department's state-of-the-art research environment.
• Polymer Institute: Students interested in polymer science can engage with the UToledo Polymer Institute, which supports polymer and plastics research and development and offers graduate research opportunities.
• Industry projects and internships: UToledo College of Engineering states that graduate students can participate in applied research projects with industry and industry internships, including opportunities for international graduate students because internships are part of the curriculum.
• Entrepreneurship and commercialization: Graduate students can work with business faculty and UToledo's technology transfer office to explore commercialization of inventions and research innovations.
• Research themes: Current departmental research includes additive manufacturing, artificial intelligence/machine learning, biomedical engineering, interfacial phenomena, membranes, polymers, process engineering, air and water purification, and nanotechnology.
• Engineering computing: The College of Engineering maintains centralized instructional computing laboratories, file servers, and departmental instructional and research computing facilities.
• Collaborative research environment: Chemical Engineering faculty specifically encourage graduate students to collaborate on research, while the department balances theory and practice, coursework and research, entrepreneurship, and environmental sustainability.

The M.S. in Chemical Engineering at The University of Toledo prepares graduates for advanced technical and research-oriented careers through graduate coursework, research, and project options. UToledo reports that more than 90% of its Chemical Engineering graduates with advanced degrees have jobs upon graduation, while M.S. graduates have also progressed to doctoral programs at universities including NC State, Ohio State, Penn State, UToledo, and Notre Dame.

Typical career roles: Chemical Process Engineer, Process Development Engineer, R&D Engineer, Materials Engineer.

Students can build their professional pathway through:

• Career development: UToledo's Rocket Career Center provides job and internship searches through Handshake, interview preparation through Big Interview, global employment information through GoinGlobal, micro-internships through Parker Dewey, and networking through Rocket Connect.
• Engineering career opportunities: Graduate engineering students can attend UToledo's Career EXPO, where hundreds of employers recruit for full-time positions; the university states that more than 300 employers can be reached through its career events.
• Industry experience: UToledo Engineering graduate students can participate in applied research projects with industry, industry internships, and research through industry-connected facilities and consortia. The university specifically notes that internships are part of the graduate engineering curriculum, allowing international graduate students to participate as well.
• Industry partnerships: UToledo Engineering works with corporate partners including Dana, Owens Corning, and Marathon, while industry partners participate in panels and mock interviews and recruit students through career events.
• Employment outcomes: The Chemical Engineering graduate program reports 90%+ employment upon graduation for advanced-degree graduates. The department also lists alumni employment at organizations including Chevron, Coca-Cola Global, Eaton, Honeywell, Intel, Koch Membrane Systems, National Energy Technology Laboratory, Praxair, and Samsung; these examples include Ph.D. graduates and are not presented as M.S.-specific placement data.
• Salary information: UToledo reports a $26.12 median hourly co-op salary for Chemical Engineering and a $73,397 average full-time starting salary for UToledo engineering graduates in 2025. These figures are engineering/co-op or undergraduate-level figures rather than M.S.-specific salary data, so they should not be interpreted as the expected M.S. salary.
• Accreditation value: UToledo's B.S. in Chemical Engineering is ABET-accredited under the Engineering Accreditation Commission. The M.S. itself is not separately identified as ABET-accredited; therefore, the graduate degree's value comes primarily from advanced specialization, research experience, and professional preparation rather than separate graduate ABET accreditation.
• Graduate outcomes: Beyond direct employment, UToledo's M.S. graduates have continued into Ph.D. programs at institutions such as North Carolina State University, Ohio State University, Penn State, UToledo, and the University of Notre Dame.

Further Academic Progression: After completing the M.S., students can continue into a Ph.D. in Engineering with a Chemical Engineering focus at UToledo or pursue doctoral study at another university. The department's research environment covers areas such as biomass-to-fuels conversion, polymers, membrane separations, materials sustainability, and other advanced chemical engineering topics, providing a strong foundation for research-focused doctoral study.