This information is for students at the Department of Chemical Engineering.

Information in Norwegian.

General information for students at NTNU

Study plan

• Study plan for 2-year master program in Sustainable Chemical and Biochemical Engineering (MSCHEMBI)

Student advisor

Anacleta Venturin Andersen is the student advisor for the Master’s programme in Sustainable Chemical and Biochemical Engineering (MSCHEMBI) at the Department of Chemical Engineering. You can ask here about:

• General student counseling
• Study plan and choice of courses
• Approval of external courses
• Exam results and appeals on grades
• Change of specialization
• Approval of practice
• Study rooms
• Student exchange
• Specialization project
• Agreement for Master thesis
• Diploma

Specialization at IKP

In the autumn of the last year of the 2-year master program, you can chose one specialization course of 7.5 ECTS and one specialization project of 15 ECTS, or one specialization course of 7.5 ECTS, a smaller specialization project of 7.5 ECTS and an ordinary course of 7.5 ECTS. The size of the project is decided in cooperation with the supervisor for the project.

The specialization project (TKP4580 - 15 ECTS /TKP4581 - 7.5 ECTS) is usually carried out individually and includes a presentation of the project. Each presentation is 15 min + 5 min for questions. The supervisor organizes the schedule and date of the presentations.

• April: Project proposals are made available to students, and all IKP students will receive a message that contains a link to a form to be filled out about topic selection.
• Mid-May: Deadline for sending in the form for selection of topic.
• Late May: The deputy of education or the student advisor will connect the students and the supervisors.
• June 1st: Deadline for choosing both specialization courses and project in Studentweb.
• Mid-December: Deadline for delivering the project report in INSPERA.

The master's thesis (TKP4900/TKP4901 - 30 ECTS) is carried out in the last spring semester of your studies and you have 20 weeks to submit your thesis. The thesis work is usually given in relation to current research projects at the department or to industrial projects in cooperation with industrial partners.

Specialization courses

Specialization courses are offered within the following areas:

• Catalysis (TKP4515)
• Colloid and Polymer Chemistry (TKP4525)
• Environmental Engineering and Reactor Technology (TKP4535)
• Process Systems Engineering (TKP4555)

The specialization course is often selected based on the research group you'll be working with. Your supervisor can help you with the selection of modules. Often, there is good flexibility and you can choose modules based on your interest.

The exams in the modules will be in end of November / beginning of December.

Specialization project and master's thesis

There are typical three ways to find specialization projects and master's thesis topics:

1) Choose a topic proposed by the supervisors at IKP (most students do this). In this case, you should:

• Check the list of available projects: Project and thesis proposals at the Faculty of Natural Sciences. New proposals are added to the list in the beginning of April every year.
• Sort the proposals for the “Department of Chemical Engineering”.
• You don't need to contact the supervisors before choosing. However, if you want to know more about the topics, contact the supervisor(s) to discuss the topics further.

2) Work with an external company. In this case, you should:

• Established contact with a company and agree on the overall topic and who could be your supervisor and contact person at the company.
• Before Mid-May: Find a professor at IKP who has the background and capacity to be the main supervisor for the project. To find a potential supervisor, you can contact professors directly or the research group leaders.
• Organize a meeting with all parties involved and ensure that a collaboration agreement between the company, student and IKP is signed before the start of the project. The meeting and signing of the collaboration agreement can happen after the selection of project proposals in mid-May.

3) Work on an idea you have yourself. In this case, you should:

• Before Mid-May: Find a professor at IKP who has the background and capacity to be the main supervisor for the project. To find a potential supervisor, you can contact professors directly or the research group leaders.
• Organize a meeting with the professor to discuss the possibilities and develop the idea further. Agree about the topic and the supervision.

FAQ related to specialization project and master's thesis

1) What happens if two students prioritize the same project proposal from the list(Project and thesis proposals at the Faculty of Natural Sciences)?

Answer: There are several steps the department will take:

• We'll contact the supervisor and ask for the possibility of creating two topics focusing on the same application/developing similar skill sets (assuming the professor has the capacity to supervise all students interested in working with him/her).
• We contact the student and propose another topic with the same professor.
• Sometimes, it is possible to work with the selected topic or something similar but with another supervisor. We'll also investigate this option.
• If nothing else, the student will be offered to work with the professor (s)he has provided as option two in the form.

Based on the last 5 years, all students could work with one of the two supervisors the student has prioritized. So, this usually works out.

2) I want to choose a topic from the list of project proposals from another department. What do I need to do?

Answer: Writing a master's thesis at IKP requires that your work is related to chemical engineering; thus, the main supervisor must be from IKP and (s)he must approve and ensure the topic is relevant to chemical engineering. A scentific employee from another department can be responsible for the daily supervision. If this is interesting, you should ask the supervisor offering the topic if they can consider collaborating with IKP and if they know someone at IKP who can be a relevant main supervisor. Then, the two supervisors should discuss and agree on the practicalities of this type of collaboration.

3) I want to work with a specific professor, but (s)he has no proposal on the list. Can I contact the professor and ask if we can develop a proposal?

Answer: Yes.

4) What happens if I, during the summer, figure out that I would like to work with something else?

Answer:

• If you want to change the topic but keep the supervisor, contact the supervisor to discuss options.
• If what you want to work on requires another supervisor, you need to find and agree with a professor at IKP who can your superviser and inform the previous supervisor that you'll not start specialization with him/her.

5) I'm starting my specialization project in the spring instead of autumn. Should I choose a supervisor at the same time as those taking in the autumn?

Answer: Yes, if possible. Alternatively, you can identify potential supervisors and contact them in autumn to find one with capacity.

Risk assessment of specialization project and master thesis

Before starting work on your specialization project and master thesis you shall do a risk assessment (this applies also for work that is purely theoretical). The risk assessment should be done in cooperation with your supervisor/co-supervisors, and be approved by them as well.

Questions on how to perform the risk assessment can be directed to the HSE coordinator at the department.

All risk assessments at IKP must be registered in NTNU's digital risk assessment system. Log in with your NTNU profile and fill in.

Useful information concerning risk assessment:

• NV faculty's guidance for risk assessment of master thesis
• Database for datasheets for chemicals and substances

• HSE at IKP
• General information about HSE at the NV faculty (in Norwegian)
• HSE for students at NTNU

Writing the master's thesis

Relevant information about writing a master's thesis at the Department of Chemical Engineering:

• Information page about writing and submitting a master's thesis at NTNU (including template for master's thesis)
• Information about master's theses for graduate engineer programs (sivilingeniør)
• Guidelines for intellectual property rights (IPR) for students
• Published Master's thesis from IKP (NTNU Open)

Student Exchange

If you want to study abroad as part of your studies at the Department of Chemical Engineering, you can find information about studying abroad here.

You must take the full study load (30 ECTS per semester), as well as choose subjects that in content and scope correspond to the compulsory courses you miss while you are abroad. If you are wondering how many credits / units you must have at the various universities to get the full study load - contact Anacleta Venturin Andersen who is the study supervisor on the study program MSCHEMBI or Hege Johannessen for MTKJ and MTKMB students.