University of Southampton celebrate graduation of first chemical engineering students

CONGRATULATIONS are in order for seven chemical engineering students from the University of Southampton, the first cohort to graduate since the launch of the course in 2021.

Six master’s and one bachelor’s student received their degree certificates yesterday, along with chemistry graduates from Southampton’s the combined chemistry and chemical engineering school.

The students were buzzing with pride and relief, as they recounted how “fast” the last four years have passed by and what they have planned for the future.

Richard Vinny, a graduate who did a four-year integrated master’s course, said: “Southampton is part of the Russell Group and a highly reputable university, so I was confident that they would do a good job with this new course.”

Unique teaching

It was a “conscious choice” to put chemistry and chemical engineering in one school, according to Nuno Bimbo, an associate professor of chemical engineering who built the bachelor’s course along with Mohamed Galal Hassan Sayed, an associate professor of chemical and sustainable engineering.

Bimbo said: “The idea was always to build a course that had more chemistry, students do a lot of practical tests which I do not think they would do in other chemical engineering courses.

“For example, they use analytical tools like NMR or high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), and they do electrochemical experiments. We thought this was a niche, and the university had conducted market research showing that employers would prefer chemical engineers to have better preparation in chemistry.”

As well as one chemical engineering lab, students have access to two chemistry labs which they share with chemistry students, who they get to work with on experiments in their first year.

Annette Fiona Taylor, a professor on the course who has a background in chemistry, said that doing practicals together in the labs gives “chemists and chemical engineers an opportunity to learn each others language.”

Kit Narito, a student graduate from the four-year integrated master’s course, said: “The chemistry emphasis in the first two years really helped down the line with my research project.”

Narito’s project looked at the use of MXenes, a two-dimensional metal carbide or nitride material, for hydrogen storage.

Industrial prospects

The school has partnered with industry including Honeywell, AstraZeneca, and GSK to help with teaching.

Professors of the faculty say they are keen to have more collaboration with industry for placement opportunities and guest lectures.

ExxonMobil has been a big collaborator for the chemical engineering students, with its Fawley refinery, the largest in the UK, within site of the university.

Matthew Berry, also a graduate from the integrated masters, had completed a summer placement at the refinery and said it was “very beneficial” in giving him hands on experience in industry.

He said: “It was a great experience for learning what chemical engineers do on a daily basis and how they apply their expertise in real processes.”

Berry has secured a graduate job at process safety consultancy, Engineering Safety Limited, similar to Narito who has secured a graduate job in nuclear safety. They will both be starting in August and September respectively.

The chemical engineering course at Southampton is set to grow, with their cohorts expected to reach between 50 and 60 students a year.

Bimbo said: “Our applications have been increasing year-on-year, and with student outreach we will become more known and boost our reputation as a school for chemical engineering.”