Chemical & Materials Engineering

Current Students

See below for a list of key resources to graduate on time and answers to frequently asked questions.

Course Descriptions

Student Resources:

Employment Opportunities

Research Opportunities

Scholarship Opportunities

Minor in Materials Engineering

In order to add minors, drop minors, identify course electives for their minor, and/or petition for minor course substitutions, students may use the Minor Request Form.

Students DROPPING a minor: Check the box for “Drop a Minor” and fill out the personal info at the top, then write the “Minor to be dropped” and sign and date. Once completed, send it to the Registrar’s Office. The minor coordinator signature is not required for dropping a minor. Do not fill out the courses at the bottom.

Students ADDING a minor: Check the box for “Add a Minor” and fill out the personal info at the top, then write the “Minor to be added” and sign and date. Once completed, please send it to Alice Tokunaga (aitokunaga@cpp.edu). Do not fill out the courses at the bottom. After it is approved by the minor coordinator, I will send it back to you, and you will need to send it to the Registrar’s Office.

For all other students: Check the appropriate box and fill out the personal info at the top, then write the appropriate courses in the “Minor Course Elective(s) Selection or Minor Course Substitution(s)” section. Once completed, please send it to Alice Tokunaga (aitokunaga@cpp.edu). After it is approved by the minor coordinator, I will send it back to you, and you will need to send it to the Registrar’s Office.

Here is the link to the minor requirements from the catalog:  Materials Minor

Chemical Engineering Senior Project

The EGR 4810/4820/4830 and CHE 4631 classes are the project classes that you need to take after you have completed all your 2000-level classes in CHE and MTE.

For Chemical Engineering students, EGR 4810/4820 are offered only in Fall, and EGE 4830 and CHE 4631 are offered only in the Spring. You need to take the project classes ONLY with CHE faculty – Even though other sections of the classes are offered, those are for other majors in Engineering.

You should have completed and passed all the 2000-level classes for CHE and MTE by the end of Spring semester and have gotten a C- or better in CHE 2021 to be eligible to take the project classes, beginning in Fall semester. Those students who are not eligible by this time will need to take the classes next year. You may not start the project classes in Spring, only in Fall.

There will be a project class info session sometime in Spring so you can decide which professor to work with the following year. We will let you know the details in Spring semester.

How to Sign up and Complete Senior Project Classes

  • You must identify a faculty advisor in mutual agreement prior to registering for the courses.
  • You can learn about faculty research interests at the info session and make an appointment with them to discuss potential interest. OR you can contact faculty on your own before the info session and discuss potential interest. It’s advisable to get in touch with faculty as early as possible.
  • When selected, you would be required to complete several forms, including: 1. Project Form 2. Room Access Form 3. Safety Training Certificates, etc.
  • Faculty advisor should request the department office to create Senior Project Classes. If you met the prerequisite requirements, you should receive permission numbers from your advisor to enroll.
  • Expect to work in a team with individuals of diverse backgrounds, skills, or perspective to complete your project.
  • You should work with the faculty advisor throughout the academic year to setup a project goal and a proper meeting schedule. For each unit taken, you are expected to complete a minimum of 4 hours service each week or 60 hours per semester.
  • By the end of the academic year, you are expected to: 1. Submit a written group report to your advisor, 2. An individual Executive Summary report to the College of Engineering, and 3. Make a group presentation at the College of Engineering Symposium. Please consult your faculty advisor for the requirements of the report and submission mechanism.
  • Grading is based on evaluations from the faculty advisor.
  • Senior projects will not be offered in Summer.

lmportant Information for CME Students

The information below is to assist students in the Chemical & Materials Engineering Department in becoming more proactive in their academic career planning and to answer some of the most frequently asked questions. Please take the time to read this and familiarize yourself with the information, which should save you time in searching for answers. Suggestions on topics to add here are welcome, just let Ms. Alice Tokunaga know either by stopping by the department office (17-2124) or by e-mail to aitokunaga@cpp.edu.

Email

Your Cal Poly Pomona email address is where all information related to university policies, procedure, news, deadlines etc., is sent. In addition, Alice sends out regular emails regarding department and student club information as well as job opportunities with companies that are looking for chemical engineering students, including part-time and internship positions. Please get into the habit of checking your Cal Poly Pomona email account on a regular basis, at least two or three times a week. Although you can forward your Cal Poly email to a personal email account, this is not recommended as if for some reason it does not forward, saying you did not receive the information is not considered an excuse.

Advising

Freshmen entering the program are assigned to an advisor in the Engineering Advising Center. In the sophomore year, they will be assigned an advisor in the CME department who typically monitors their progress until they graduate. During the first week of the Fall semester, a list of students and their advisors are posted in the display case outside the Department Office. Advisor‘s office hours are posted outside each advisor‘s office and outside the department office along with their room number, phone number and email address. If your advisor‘s office hours conflict with your class schedule, please either call or email them to set up an appointment at another time.

Students are considered to be on academic probation whenever their overall grade-point average (GPA) or Cal Poly Pomona GPA falls below 2.0. In order to provide more proactive advising, PeopleSoft automatically places an advising hold on all students whose overall or Cal Poly Pomona GPA is less than 2.2. Students with a GPA between 2.0 and 2.2 are considered “at-risk”.

Such students cannot register for classes unless they first see their academic advisor. Prior to seeing your advisor, you should have your advising form filled out. After counseling, the student fills out a special form that outlines a plan to raise his/her GPA. These may be found in the department office. Once you meet with your advisor, bring your signed advising form to Alice (17-2124) to have your hold removed. Make sure that you see your advisor in plenty of time prior to your registration time. Once the advising hold from the department is removed, it is a good idea for you to periodically check your hold screen in BroncoDirect as holds are placed by other offices on campus (Financial Aid, Registrar, Student Health Center, Financial Services etc.) for various reasons and at different times throughout the semester. You will also need to clear those up in order to either register for classes or to pay fees.

If you have questions on which GE classes to take, refer to your curriculum sheet or the university catalog for your curriculum year where courses are listed under General Education.

Forms

Many forms you need (general academic petition, grad check, petition to drop, transcript requests etc.,) are available for you online to print out. Visit the university forms and services web page to familiarize yourself with the forms available.

For grad check info, go here.

Reimbursement for Expenses

Occasionally the department will assist students with the cost of supplies and/or materials needed for a project they are working on, or help with travel funds to present a paper or attend a conference. If your faculty project advisor indicates that the department will pay some or all of the cost, please see Alice before purchasing anything. The department can order these items for you, or in some cases the student can purchase the materials themselves and be reimbursed.

If you are being reimbursed for an item authorized by the department the following is necessary.

  1. You must have a receipt for all purchases. For cash purchases the store receipt is adequate. For credit/debit card purchases you need the store receipt and your credit/debit card statement showing the transaction has been posted to your account.
  2. On credit/debit card statements you may cross out all personal information related to your credit/debit account except for your name and address, the portion of your card number shown on your statement, and the information on the purchase you are requesting reimbursement form. Bring everything to Alice and she will show you where to access the appropriate form to fill out along with a detailed handout on how to fill it out. Return the completed and signed form to her and she will obtain the proper signatures and submit the forms to the appropriate office. Allow at least two weeks before you receive your check. The check will be mailed to you.

If you are traveling with departmental approval, you must fill out an Authorization to Travel (1A) form prior to your trip. This should be filled out as soon as you know the travel has been authorized. See Alice for this form.