Growing and Surviving

Amanda Jasi visits the University of Greenwich, where a new lab has opened to support chemeng student learning

THIS academic year the Faculty of Engineering and Science at the University of Greenwich, UK opened a new chemical engineering laboratory at the university’s Medway Campus in Kent.

The University of Greenwich has a history that stretches back to 1890 when it was first established as Woolwich Polytechnic. Given this, you might be surprised to learn that the university only recently created a programme of studies for chemical engineering – a profession which became established in the UK in 1887 when a precursor of the University of Manchester offered the first chemical engineering course.

Greenwich’s new chemical engineering lab was opened last year to complement the new chemical engineering programme. The lab is located in the Hawke building, a multidisciplinary facility belonging to the Faculty of Engineering and Science.

I met Pablo García-Triñanes, Head of the Chemical Engineering Division, and Secretary of IChemE’s London & South East Coast Members Group. He explained that the new lab is fitted with equipment to facilitate student learning and give them hands-on experience to complement their theoretical studies and prepare them for careers in industry.