The school of Chemistry and Environmental Engineering was founded in 2014 through the merger of signature disciplines from the former School of Chemical Engineering and Pharmacy and the former School of Environment and Urban Construction at Wuhan Institute of Technology. Positioned as a high-level, high-starting-point unit, the school takes “integration of chemistry and environmental science” within the broad-chemical-industry strategy as its hallmark and pursues the mission of “building discipline clusters with greater development potential and competitiveness.” After years of sustained development, it has become an institution with strong influence in chemistry, chemical engineering and environmental protection.

Faculty

The school currently has 131 faculty and staff, including 106 full-time teachers: 35 professors, 37 associate professors, 10 doctoral supervisors, and 67 master’s supervisors. Thirty-one teachers have been honored as recipients of the State Council Special Allowance, candidates in the Ministry of Education’s Program for New Century Excellent Talents, Young and Middle-aged Experts with Outstanding Contributions of Hubei Province, candidates in Hubei High-Level Talent Projects, National Outstanding Teachers, National Petroleum and Chemical Education Masters, or Hubei Provincial Teaching Masters. More than ten teachers serve as training experts for environmental enforcement under the Ministry of Ecology and Environment and the Hubei Provincial Department of Ecology and Environment, national environmental inspectors, national certified environmental-protection engineers, or environmental-impact-assessment engineers.

Talent cultivation

The school currently enrolls 1,043 full-time undergraduates, 431 master's students, and 35 doctoral candidates. Committed to cultivating high-caliber talent as its foundational mission, the school focuses on developing well-rounded, innovative professionals with strong moral character, solid specialized knowledge, and robust practical skills. It maintains a comprehensive, first-class talent development system encompassing undergraduate, master's, and doctoral programs. The school offers a doctoral program in Applied Chemistry (secondary discipline), master's programs in Chemistry and Environmental Science and Engineering (primary disciplines), a master's program in Applied Chemistry (secondary discipline), and professional master's degrees in Chemical Engineering and Environmental Engineering. It provides two undergraduate programs: Applied Chemistry and Environmental Engineering. The school operates two teaching platforms: the National Experimental Teaching Demonstration Center for Environmental and Chemical Engineering Clean Production and the Hubei Provincial Experimental Teaching Center for Basic Chemistry Courses.

The Applied Chemistry program was established in 1999. It was designated as a Hubei Provincial Brand Program in 2006, recognized as a National Characteristic Program in 2010, approved as a Hubei Provincial Comprehensive Reform Pilot Program in 2015, and designated as a National First-Class Undergraduate Program Construction Site in 2019. The Environmental Engineering program was established in 1997. It is the first provincial-level brand program in environmental studies among Hubei provincial universities. In 2020, it was approved as a Hubei Provincial First-Class Undergraduate Program Construction Site. In 2022, it was approved as a National First-Class Undergraduate Program Construction Site. That same year, it completed an on-site review by engineering education accreditation experts and achieved engineering accreditation in 2023.

Undergraduate Education and Teaching

The school distinguishes itself through its “Distinguished Faculty Leadership and Holistic Education” brand, leveraging the “One Mentor per Student” system as its cornerstone. It employs “Monthly Themed Activities” as its platform and prioritizes the “One Student, One Support” mechanism to foster a comprehensive educational framework encompassing all members, all stages, and all dimensions. This approach has yielded remarkable educational outcomes. In recent years, the school has submitted two applications for national-level first-class courses, secured approval for eight provincial-level first-class courses and one provincial-level ideological and political course; Three provincial teaching research projects were approved; one provincial teaching team was recognized; one provincial outstanding teaching grassroots organization was honored; five awards were received at the Fifth China Petroleum and Chemical Education Teaching Achievement Awards; two university-level undergraduate education major reform projects were approved; 16 teaching research papers were published in core journals; one second prize was awarded at the university's 14th Young Teachers Competition; one second prize and three third prizes were won at the university's Teaching Innovation Design Competition. In recent years, the school has secured 30 awards in Category A competitions, including 19 national-level honors such as the Internet Plus Competition, National College Students Energy Conservation and Emission Reduction Competition, and National College Students Life Science Competition. It has launched 16 undergraduate innovation and entrepreneurship training projects, 6 of which are nationally funded. Undergraduates have published over 20 SCI papers as first authors. The school has hosted over 150 signature events, including the “Top Ten Role Models” and May Fourth Commendation Ceremony, the “Fruitful Cup” Speech Contest, the “Strategic Dialectics” Debate Competition, the Dormitory Culture Festival, the Fun Sports Meet, the “Dynamic Chemistry and Environmental Science” Faculty-Student Badminton Exchange Tournament, the “King of Runners” Large-Scale Faculty-Student Outdoor Team-Building Event, the CEE Forum, and the inaugural Study Abroad Exchange Salon.

Discipline Development

The first-level disciplines of Chemistry and Environmental Science and Engineering have both entered the top 1% globally in the ESI rankings. With Environmental Science and Engineering as the core first-level discipline and Chemistry as the supporting first-level discipline, the “Pollution Prevention and Ecological Restoration” discipline cluster has been recognized as a provincial-level advantageous and distinctive discipline cluster in Hubei Province. In the fifth round of discipline evaluations, the Chemistry discipline achieved an upgrade, with its evaluation result rising from C- to C.

Graduate School Entrance Exam and Employment

The school fosters a positive learning environment by strengthening academic and teaching standards, providing comprehensive guidance and services in areas such as academics, daily life, and career planning. Third-party surveys indicate high graduate satisfaction with their alma mater. The college's postgraduate admission rate has risen from 32.9% in 2019 to 54.26% in 2024, marking an increase of nearly 22%. Notably, the 2020 Applied Chemistry Science Base Class achieved a 100% postgraduate admission rate—the highest in history—with related achievements featured on the front page of People's Daily and reported by Xinhua News Agency and other national mainstream media. Over the past five years, the employment rate has remained stable above 96%.

Graduate Education

The school places high importance on graduate student process management and strengthens the cultivation of their innovative capabilities. In recent years, faculty and students have published over 1,000 SCI-indexed papers, secured one provincial-level teaching research project and ten university-level projects, obtained approval for more than ten graduate course programs, established one provincial-level graduate workstation and 15 university-level ones, and created ten high-quality graduate employment bases. The graduate employment rate exceeds 96%, with over 10% of graduates pursuing doctoral studies.

Scientific Research

The school houses research institutions such as the Institute of Pharmaceutical Chemistry and the Institute of Environmental Chemistry, leveraging national and provincial-level research platforms including the National Engineering Research Center for Phosphorus Resource Development and Utilization, the Key Laboratory of Green Chemical Processes under the Ministry of Education, the Hubei Provincial Center for Cleaner Production in Chemical Industry, and the Hubei Provincial Engineering Research Center for Chemical Environmental Pollution Control. Over the past five years, faculty and students have published over 1,000 SCI-indexed papers, ranking first among all schools; secured more than 100 authorized patents; and transferred over 50 research achievements. The school has undertaken 7 National Key Research and Development Projects and sub-projects, 22 National Natural Science Foundation grants, 25 projects from the Hubei Provincial Science and Technology Department and Education Department, and over 700 other horizontal and vertical projects. Research revenue increased from 13.9 million RMB in 2019 to 19.2 million RMB in 2023, with total receipts nearing 80 million RMB. It has participated in formulating 3 standards and received 8 provincial/ministerial-level or higher awards. Successively approved as the Hubei Provincial Engineering Research Center for Novel Catalytic Materials and the Key Laboratory of Biomass Environment and Energy New Materials for the Petroleum and Chemical Industry. Established the Wuhan Institute of Technology-Jingmen Industrial Technology Research Institute and the ZaoYang Industry-Academia-Research Technology Research Institute. Over 100 academic exchanges were hosted with experts from the United States, Germany, France, the United Kingdom, South Korea, Australia, and other countries. The institute successfully organized the WILEY-Yellow Crane Tower Advanced Nanomaterials High-Level Forum International Conference, hosted the Fourth Annual Conference on Applied Chemistry of the Hubei Society of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, and organized the National Conference on New Technologies and Equipment for Comprehensive Utilization of Phosphogypsum. It also secured five projects under the Hubei Provincial Department of Education's “World-Renowned Scientists Lecture Program in Hubei.”