National Institute of Technology, Tsuruoka College

_Chemical industry by consuming large amounts of energy (oil, coal and others) has produced chemical products which are indispensable to our daily lives like plastics, fi bers, gum, medical supplies, agricultural chemicals and so on. But in the future, the focus of chemical products needs to be changed into the substances of high-level functions such as : water-absorbing resin which absorbs several hundred times its volume (used in paper diapers), resin which changes color according with varying temperatures (used in skiwear), or ceramic which has zero resistance at room temperature (used in linear-motor cars). In addition, if we apply some biochemical reactions to ordinary chemical processes so as to prevent the warming of the earth or the environmental pollution, then chemical industry is expected to be in harmony with the earth.
_The “Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering” considers material chemistry and biotechnology to be the fundamentals of 21st century’s high-technology and aims at training engineers who have studied these fundamentals and can keep up with the new technologies. For this reason, our department adopts the 2 course system : the Material Engineering Course in which students study the technologies to develop and produce new materials, and the Biotechnolog y Course in which they study the basic applied technologies related to biotechnology.
_Students can select either course according to their aptitude and desire in the 4th year. Besides, emphasis is placed on laboratory work, and above all,on a graduation research project. In this
research, under the system of one theme per student, one professor gives instructions to his 4 or 5 students and they can obtain the knowledge and intuition needed to be chemical engineers.

Curriculum

Teaching Staff and Specialties