(516c) Chemical Engineering and the Development of the the Doctoral Portfolio Program at the University of Texas at Austin

The Doctoral Portfolio Program in Nanoscience and Nanotechnology is a graduate certificate program offered through the Graduate School's Doctoral Portfolio Program at The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin). The Chemical Engineering Department played a vital role to the formation of the program and continues to play a significant leadership role. The program was approved by the Provost and began accepting admissions to the program in Fall, 2004. 49 PhD students have graduated from the program and currently there are 76 students enrolled in the program. The students are pursuing their PhD degree in one of eight different departments, including the Departments of Biomedical Engineering, Chemical Engineering, Chemistry and Biochemistry, Electrical and Computer Engineering, Engineering Mechanics, Materials Science and Engineering, Mechanical Engineering and Physics. The Portfolio students that have been enrolled in the program have been supervised by 47 different advisors! This presentation will describe the program, its successes and pitfalls, how it is supported at UT Austin and the role of the Chemical Engineering Department in its continued success.