The CBE Advising Office will have walk in hours from the beginning of each term, through the add/drop deadline. These appointments are for addressing issues regarding the current term courses only. If you need to be seen for an issue outside of that current term, please email your advisor so that an appointment can be scheduled.

Once the add/drop deadline has passed, students will be seen by appointment. For students who have required advising during the fall or spring terms, you will receive an email from your Academic Advisor containing a link to schedule your advising appointment. All appointments are made through Vol Academic Connect (Navigate), available via MyUTK.

If you believe that you have required advising and did not receive a link to schedule an appointment, first review the Advising Policy for UT to see if you match the criteria for a required appointment. If you do, then please contact your advisor so that a link to make an appointment can be sent to you.

Note that advising appointments will be conducted in person or through Zoom. View the advising webpage for more details.

1. Print off and review your DARS report and Academic History, making notes of any questions you may have.
2. Bring any forms with you that you may need completed during your appointment. While appointments are being conducted through Zoom, you will need to email any forms you have to your advisor at least 24 hours prior to your appointment. Co-op students need to fill out a Degree Plan and email it to your Academic Advisor for review. These plans can take a few days to review, and your advisor will contact you when the form is ready for you. At that time, if an appointment is needed, the advisor will work with you to set up a time and date.

Progression of CBE students to departmental upper division courses is competitive and is based on capacity. Factors considered include overall grade point average, performance in selected lower division courses, and evidence of satisfactory and orderly progress through the prescribed curriculum.

Upper Division Status: A lower-division student may apply for progression to Upper Division Status after completing CBE 201, 235, 240, and 250 with a grade of C- or better in each course and an overall GPA of 2.3.

Provisional Status: Students who have completed CBE 201, 235, 240, and 250 with an overall GPA of at least 2.1 may apply for provisional status. The granting of Provisional Upper Division Status is based on the availability of space in the departmental programs after Upper Division Status students have been accommodated. Provisional students are required to demonstrate the ability to perform satisfactorily in upper division courses by completing a total of seven departmental courses with a grade of C or better in each course (including the four required for Upper Division Status). Permission to continue with upper-division classes depends on this minimum level of performance.

Any student with an overall GPA below 2.1 will not be admitted to upper division CBE courses. Students who have not been admitted to Upper Division or Provisional Status will be dropped from upper-division departmental class rolls.

Transfer students at the upper division level are admitted on a Provisional Status basis only.

View the Upper Division Application

A lower division student must apply for progression to Upper Division Status after completing CBE 201, CBE 235, CBE 240, and CBE 250. These course must be completed with a grade of C- or better in each course and an overall GPA of 2.3 or better.
View the Upper Division Application

You must fill out an Academic Plan for the remainder of your time at UT and have CBE Master Advisor Kerri Cline sign off on it. Your Academic Plan must be prepared prior to your advising appointment. It is strongly recommended that you visit the Engineering Professional Practice website for additional information regarding co-op and other internship opportunities and make an appointment with Engineering Professional Practice staff.

If you are approaching graduation, please visit the Office of the Registrar’s webpage for information about its Graduation Application Processes and Deadlines.

Remember that you must check your student profile for accuracy and make any necessary changes prior to applying to graduate.

If you’re a student seeking research opportunities, we suggest you visit our faculty page to find a professor that specializes in your research interests. Email the faculty member(s) that is conducting research in the area you’re interested in. Attach a resume that includes your current GPA in your emailed inquiry. If you don’t hear back from them within a week, feel free to stop by their office.

Read about the HOPE (Lottery) Scholarship

Any changes from the published curriculum in the catalog must be approved by the department and the Tickle College of Engineering dean. Download the form.

Please note the following when requesting a substitution:

• All deviations from the catalog must be approved before graduation. Absolutely no exceptions are allowed.
• All general education courses must be approved on the Engineering course substitution form. DARS doesn’t accept any courses not previously approved.
• Any electives not on the list must be approved on the same substitution form.

Electives in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering

There is considerable flexibility in the choice of technical electives, subject to the two restrictions noted below. Any course which might be relevant to your professional career can fulfill the technical elective requirement if approved by the department. Usually, however, technical electives are chosen from the areas of engineering, the physical sciences, the biological sciences, the natural sciences, mathematics and business-related areas. The restrictions are listed below:

1. At least one course must be taken in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering.
2. No more than one course may be taken in business-related areas unless you are getting a business minor.
3. Any courses transferred from another school will need to be approved for substitution if they appear on your transcript with LD or UD instead of course numbers.
4. The two chemistry option courses should be approved to prevent possible problems at graduation.
5. These substitutions should be completed at least two semesters before the term graduation is expected.
6. Students are urged to have any substitutions approved before the course is taken (if possible).

View the Engineering Course Substitution Form

Each student is required to take 11 hours of technical electives from the below list. At least one of the electives must be a CBE course.

BCMB 415, CBE 394, CBE 408, CBE 425, CBE 447, CBE 458, CBE 473, CBE 475, CBE 408, CBE 481, CBE 483, CBE 484, CBE 494, CBE 498, CBE 506, CBE 531, CE 486, CHEM 230, CHEM 369, ECE 301, ECE 471, ECE 472, EF 230, GEOL 485, IE 405, IE 495, MATH 200, MSE 201, MSE 207, MSE 302, MSE 320, MSE 350, MSE 360, MSE 470, MSE 474, NE 483, NE 484, PHYS 221.

Chemistry Option I:

Any three-hour course taken in Chem, Biochem, or Microbio at the 200 level or above may be taken to satisfy “Chemistry Option I” in the Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering curriculum. MSE 322, MSE 340, MSE 360, MSE 470, ENVE 562, or ENVE 554 will also satisfy this requirement. Extra credit hours from labs not required in the curriculum may be combined to meet the three hours total for this option.

Chemistry Option II:

Any three-hour course taken in Chem, Biochem, or Microbio at the 300 level or above may be taken to satisfy “Chemistry Option II” in the Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering curriculum. MSE 322, MSE 340, MSE 360, MSE 470, ENVE 562, or ENVE 554 will also satisfy this requirement.

Note that other courses may also satisfy either of these requirements but should be approved on an Engineering Course Substitution Form before registering for the course.

If you choose Bio Option I, any of the below classes are acceptable. If you choose Bio Option II, any of the below classes level 300 or greater are acceptable.

• BIOL 240 General Genetics
• BIOL 250 General Ecology
• MICR 210 General Microbiology
• BIOL 250 General Ecology
• MICR 310 Introduction to Microbiology
• BCMB 230 Human Physiology
• BCMB 310 Physiological Chemistry
• BCMB 321 Introductory Plant Physiology
• BCMB 401 Biochemistry-Molecular Biology I
• BCMB 402 Biochemistry-Molecular Biology II

Note that other courses may also satisfy either of these requirements but should be approved on an Engineering Course Substitution Form before you register for the course.

CBE 415 Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering Laboratory fulfills the university general education WC requirement.

View the 2024-25 Volunteer Core Curriculum

The following minors can be earned by taking only a few extra classes with the proper selection of general education and technical electives:

Students who have achieved upper division status in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering with an overall GPA of at least 3.7 and a GPA of 3.5 in CBE classes may elect to participate in an enrichment program involving small seminars and research in the department.

Students are required to register for at least one credit hour of CBE 407 Honors Seminar, which involves attendance at seminars on various topics of interest to chemical and biomolecular Engineers.

The research component may be met by registering for CBE 467, CBE 488, or CBE 498 under the direction of a faculty member. Note that CBE 488 also fulfills the senior design requirement.

An overall GPA of 3.5 must be maintained throughout matriculation to continue in the honors program. Interested students should consult the honors coordinator for details about participation.

In order to have your degree titled “BSE CBE Honors” you should use the “Honors” form of the Degree Audit Reporting System (DARS).

Specific information regarding these programs can be found at the below links:

• Honors Concentration in Chemical Engineering
• Honors Concentration in Chemical Engineering with Biomolecular Concentration

The following statement on American History is taken from the undergraduate catalog:

Effective July 1, 1978 and afterwards, all students receiving a bachelor’s degree must have completed one unit of American history on the high school level or six semester hours of collegiate American history in order to receive a bachelor’s degree as required by the General Assembly of the State of Tennessee (Tennessee Code Annotated Section 49-3253).

This means that students who graduated from a high school that did not require American history must take two courses in US history at the university in order to receive their BS degree. This usually applies to international students since they frequently do not have any previous US history courses but some US students may also fall into this classification.

It is possible to obtain course credit to count against technical elective requirements for multiple co-op assignments. To do so, a student should sign up for one credit-hour of CBE 394 the semester after the co-op term was completed. This course may be repeated twice for up to 3 credit-hours of technical elective credit, thus eliminating one course from the curriculum.