Timeline of The Department of Chemical Engineering at Howard University
Leadership Chronology
| Period | Leader/Role |
|---|---|
| 1969-1974 | Dr. Herbert M. Katz, Chair |
| 1974-1994 | Dr. Joseph Cannon, Chair |
| 1994-2002 | Dr. Mobolaji E. Aluko, Chair |
| 2002-2005 | Dr. John P. Tharakan, Chair |
| 2005-2019 | Dr. Ramesh C. Chawla, Chair |
| 2019-2023 | Dr. Patrick Ymele-Leki, Interim Chair |
| 2023-current | Dr. Patrick Ymele-Leki, Chair |
Origins and Establishment, 1962-1979
| 1962–63 | An early proposal for a Chemical Engineering Program in the Dean’s Annual Recommended Budget to President James M. Nabrit. |
| Spring 1968 | Dr. Herbert M. Katz joined the Mechanical Engineering faculty with an assignment to plan an undergraduate chemical engineering program. |
| 1969 | Howard University’s Department of Chemical Engineering was approved by the Board of Trustees and established. Dr. Herbert M. Katz became its first chair. The first chemical engineering majors entered as freshmen and sophomore-level transfers. |
| 1970 | Esso Education Foundation (now ExxonMobil) provided grant of $600,000 to Howard University at December Grant Ceremony for construction of a Chemical Engineering Building (new wing to Downing Hall). Dr. Pradeep Deshpande appointed to faculty as Assistant Professor |
| 1971 | Dr. Joseph N. Cannon joined Howard as an Assistant Professor to help build the newly launched chemical engineering program (was promoted to Associate Professor in 1973, became chair in 1974, and became full professor in 1979). |
| 1972 | The department awarded its first BSChE degrees (Ronald Haynes, Edmund Watson, and three others). All five were offered positions with the DuPont Company. Howard is the first HBCU to produce chemical engineering graduates. Dr. Deshpande resigns. Dr. Franklin King appointed to faculty as Associate Professor The Department formed a Chemical Engineering Club as first step in obtaining a charter as a Student Chapter of the AIChE. |
| 1973 | Dr. Anthony Ukanwa joined the faculty as Assistant Professor. Dr. Joseph N. Cannon was promoted to Associate professor. |
| 1974 | Dr. Herbert Katz stepped down as chair and continued as Professor. Dr. Joseph N. Cannon was appointed as chair of chemical engineering in June. Exxon provided $35,000 grant for the design, creation, and installation of an original sculpture for the chemical engineering wing of Downing Hall. |
| 1975 | The Department moved into its new facility. Dr. M. Gopala Rao was appointed Visiting Professor. Dr. A. O. Ukanwa resigned in December. Christine Williams Stubbs (BSChE ’75) became the first woman to graduate from the department. |
| 1976 | Dr. M. Gopala Rao appointed as Professor (tenured). Dedication of the Chemical Engineering Wing (designed by Leroy Brown) of Lewis K. Downing Hall. The Department received its first accreditation by ECPD (now ABET) |
| 1977 | Dr. Ramesh C. Chawla appointed Assistant Professor. The first Chemical Engineering Alumni Reunion was held at Howard. |
| 1979 | Dr. Joseph N. Cannon was promoted to Professor. |
Graduate Education, Research Support, and Faculty Expansion, 1980-1999
| 1980 | ARCO provided a $500,000 unrestricted grant to the department. |
| 1982 | The Board of Trustees approved the new Master of Science in Chemical Engineering (MSChE) program. DuPont Company provided start-up support for the MSChE program. |
| 1983 | The first MSChE class was admitted. Ms. Eula M. Clark, the first secretary of the department, retires in July. Ms. Donya Twyman hired as Departmental Secretary. Dr. Franklin G. King was promoted to Professor in October. |
| 1984 | Dr. Mobolaji E. Aluko appointed to faculty as Assistant Professor. |
| 1985 | Ms. Magdalin Ukachi Emeruwu was the first MSChE graduate. Dr. Franklin King resigned and accepted a position as the founding Chairman of the Chemical Engineering Department at North Carolina A&T State University (NC A&T). |
| 1986 | Dr. Herbert M. Katz retired to status of Professor Emeritus. |
| 1987 | Establishment of the Howard’s student chapter of the Omega Chi Epsilon chemical engineering society(?). |
| 1989 | Monsanto Corporation began a major multi-year grant program for the Chemistry and Chemical Engineering departments. Howard participated with the University of Michigan and Michigan State University in a Great Lakes and Mid-Atlantic Hazardous Substance Research Center consortium established in 1989 under an EPA Region III-V Pair Hazardous Substance Research Center grant. The initial research focus was biodegradation of hazardous substances. |
| 1990 | Dr. John P. Tharakan joined the Chemical Engineering faculty as Assistant Professor. |
| 1993 | Dr. William M. Collins joined the Chemical Engineering faculty as Assistant Professor. |
| 1994 | Dr. Joseph N. Cannon resigned as Chair and continued as Professor of Chemical Engineering. Dr. Mobolaji E. Aluko appointed Chair of Chemical Engineering. |
| 1998 | Dr. Joseph N. Cannon became Interim Assistant Dean of Student Services, CEACS. |
Leadership, Strategic Planning, and Institutional Recognition, 2002-2019
| 2002 | Dr. John P. Tharakan appointed Chair of Chemical Engineering. |
| 2003 | Dr. M. Gopala Rao retired to status of Professor Emeritus. |
| 2004 | Dr. Jason Ganley was appointed to faculty as Assistant Professor. |
| 2005 | Dr. Ramesh C. Chawla appointed Chair of Chemical Engineering. |
| 2007 | Dr. William M. Collins left the faculty at Howard University and transitioned to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) Center for Devices and Radiological Health (CDRH) as a Senior Biomedical Engineer and expert reviewer. |
| 2008 | Dr. Herbert M. Katz passed away. |
| 2010 | Celebration of the 40th-anniversary of the Department of Chemical Engineering, with an alumni reunion. The Herbert M. Katz Scholarship Award for Academic Excellence was established, with partial support from Katz’s children: Joel and Susan. |
| 2011 | The Board of Trustees approved a recommendation for the department to develop a plan for the existence and growth of the Chemical Engineering graduate program. |
| 2012 | Drs. Preethi Chandran and Patrick Ymele-Leki joined the faculty as Assistant Professor. |
| 2013 | Dr. Ramesh C. Chawla was elected a Fellow of AIChE. |
| 2015 | Dr. John Tharakan was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship to conduct bioenvironmental and bioprocess engineering research and service-learning work. |
| 2016 | Dr. Solmaz Tabtabaei joined the faculty as Assistant Professor. Dr. Ramesh C. Chawla was invited to serve on the U.S. EPA’s National Advisory Council for Environmental Policy and Technology for a two-year term. Chemical engineering students achieved national recognition at the AIChE Annual Student Conference: Simone Stanley won first place in the General Engineering and Engineering Education poster category, and Mahtab Waseem won second place in an ASM student competition. |
| 2017 | Dr. Tao Wei joined the faculty as Assistant Professor. |
| 2019 | Dr. Ramesh C. Chawla stepped down as Chair and continued as Professor. Dr. Preethi Chandran was promoted to Associate Professor. Dr. Patrick Ymele-Leki was promoted to Associate Professor and appointed as Interim Chair of Chemical Engineering. 50th-anniversary celebration of the Department of Chemical Engineering, with an alumni reunion. |
Interdisciplinary Research, Industry Partnerships, and Program Expansion, 2020-2026
| 2020 | Dr. Tao Wei received an NSF CAREER Award for research on multiscale simulations of metal oxide nanoparticle–protein electron transfer. Dr. Preethi Chandran received a $500,000 NSF Excellence in Research award for biological research involving pathogen glycans. |
| 2021 | The Department of Chemical Engineering and Integrated Project Services (IPS) introduced a multidisciplinary Biopharmaceutical Facility Design course for juniors, seniors, and graduate students, with IPS project manager Theodore Cohen serving as adjunct lecturer and lead instructor. Howard and Amgen established an academia–biotech educational fellowship for master’s-level chemical engineering students, including training in Amgen laboratories. The inaugural fellows were Eunice Ngata and Pilar O’Neal. Alumnus Dr. Jamel Ali (FAMU) and Dr. Patrick Ymele-Leki were both awarded the 2021 C&EN Black Trailblazers in the Chemical Sciences and Engineering. Dr. Tao Wei received a $400,000 NSF award for CyberMAGICS, a multi-institutional project with an overall $1 million award involving Howard and USC, focused on computational materials training. |
| 2022 | Establishment of the Howard University-Dow Scholars Undergraduate Research Experience (SURE) program in Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, with Dr. Patrick Ymele-Leki as Director of the Chemical Engineering program. Chemical engineering seniors Olabisi Bello and Dominic Davis received the 2022 AIChE National Capital Section’s Outstanding Student Award. Chemical engineering senior Olabisi Bello received a 2022-2023 Tau Beta Pi national scholarship. |
| 2023 | Dr. Patrick Ymele-Leki was appointed as Chair of the department. Howard alumnus and Department Advisory Committee (DAC) member, Dr. Andre Palmer (BSChE ’95) was recognized by Ohio State as an AIChE Fellow. Chemical engineering junior Gabrielle Wood won first place in the Materials and Science Poster Competition at the 2023 AIChE Annual Meeting. |
| 2024 | Establishment of the Doctoral Program in Biomedical and Chemical Engineering, approved by The Board of Trustees. Drs. Anqi Ji and Cristiano Rodrigues Reis joined the faculty as Assistant Professor. Dr. Preethi L. Chandran, Associate Professor and Director of Graduate Studies, received the 2024 President’s Lifetime Achievement Award for her exceptional service through the Heart of Tabitha Foundation. Guerodye Joseph (senior, BSChE ’24) awarded as the first recipient of the Joseph N. Cannon Endowed Scholarship in Chemical Engineering. Oluchi Emenike (sophomore) was awarded first-place in the NSBE 50 Generative AI debate competition. Chinwe Kamma (MS student) received a 2024 STEMNoire Outstanding Research Poster Presentation Award. |
| 2025 | Dr. Patrick Ymele-Leki was appointed as Interim Associate Dean of Academic Affairs for the College of Engineering and Architecture and continued to serve as Chair of the Department of Chemical Engineering. Robert Russum (senior), Kaedan Hendrix (sophomore), and Quentin Taylor (senior) placed in the top three of their respective thematic tracks at the 2025 AIChE Annual Student Conference. Sama Ghadiri Gargari (PhD student) was selected as a 2025 AIChE Women in Chemical Engineering (WIC) Travel Award recipient. Howard’s Engineers Without Borders (EWB) chapter adopted a water-insecurity project in Kenya led by chemical engineering senior Monica Maya, with Dr. John Tharakan as faculty advisor. |
| 2026 | Dr. James Mitchell retired to status of Professor Emeritus. Dr. DeMarkus Hodge joined the department as Lab Supervisor and CEA Safety Officer. Alumnus Dr. Tafadzwa Chigumira joined the faculty as Lecturer Howard EWB’s Kenya Water Supply Project received the 2026 Engineering Education Award from the National Council of Examiners for Engineering and Surveying. The project had entered its second of three phases and was led by recent chemical engineering graduate Monica Maya with faculty advisor Dr. John Tharakan. Drs. Cristiano Reis (PI), Anqi Ji (co-PI), John Tharakan (co-PI), and Patrick Ymele-Leki (co-PI) were awarded nearly $1 million from the U.S. Department of Defense for bioindustrial manufacturing and biorefinery research and education. |