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Department History - From World War II to the Present1941-1945 : The first M.S. degrees in Chemical Engineering are granted:
1942-1945: Enrollment decreases as Karl ten Brink and many of the students leave Rice to take part in the war effort. 1947: The Chemical Engineering Department receives a mandate from President Houston to start a full-scale graduate program. At the same time, the GI Bill encourages many veterans to return to school. The department now has 44 seniors, 60 juniors and 9 graduate students. Karl ten Brink leaves to go to work in the industry and is replaced by Bill Akers. Construction begins on the Abercrombie Laboratory building. 1948: Construction of the Abercrombie laboratory is completed
and the formal dedication of the new building is held on November
20, 1948. 1950 - 1960: Undergraduate enrollment drops to 25-30 per
class (as the veterans graduate), the graduate enrollment steadily
increases to 45-50 and several new faculty members are hired to
bring the total number to 7. This is a most active time:
1970 - 1996: The Institute of Biosciences and Bioengineering is created in 1986 in recognition of the revolutionary advances in biotechnology. The George R. Brown Hall is built in 1992 to house the Institute and chemical engineering faculty associated with the institute move their offices and laboratories to the new facility. In 1996, the Department of Bioengineering is created with funding assistance from the Whitaker Foundation and four chemical engineering faculty transfer their primary appointments to the new department. 1997 - 2004: The department formulates a strategic plan and begins its implementation with the help of a select Advisory Board and the full support of the Rice Administration. Five new faculty members are hired in the areas of materials and biosystems.; more than 14,000 sq. ft. of laboratory and office space are renovated to house state-of-the-art facilities for research on complex fluids, catalysis and nanomaterials; successful fundraising campaigns for endowed graduate student fellowships are carried out; and the undergraduate and graduate curricula are restructured to meet the changing requirements of the industrial and academic employers of our graduates. 2005: The department changes its name to Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering to reflect our firm belief that the integration of biological sciences with chemical engineering will lead to unique and powerful scientific and technological advances.
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The
building cost $1,038,157.62 to construct and is named in honor of
the Abercrombie family. The undergraduate chemical engineering program
and Professor Hartsook remain in the Chemistry Building, while the
graduate students and other faculty occupy the center wing of Abercrombie.
1960-1970:
With the appointment of Fritz Horn and Roy Jackson, coupled with
new strong young faculty, the department is acknowledged to be one
of the very best in the country. During this period, the Biomedical
Engineering Laboratory is established with the help of a large federal
grant. This laboratory produces the first successful left
ventricular heart bypass in cooperation with the Department of Surgery at Baylor.
It also develops an implantable artificial lens for the eye with
Dr. Louis Girard which restores sight to hundreds of patients. Several
faculty leave the department to start the Environmental Science
and Engineering department. 
