The School of Materials Science and Chemical Engineering was inaugurated in December 2005 by combining existing chemical engineering program with chemistry program of the former Ningbo Normal University. The School has 38 full-time faculty members, with total enrollment of 250 undergraduates and 130 graduate students. The school offers programs in chemistry, chemical engineering, and materials science.
  Dr. Zhong-Ren Chen, the Distinguished University Professor and dean, has joined the school since April 2011 by China Global Expert Recruitment Program. Dr. Chen received Ph.D. degree from California Institute of Technology in 1998. His research interest covers performance polymers, polymer-fiber composites, and bio-mimetic smart materials.
  The school has three major initiatives with multi-million dollar research budgets: polymers, inorganic materials, and biomedical materials. The polymer initiative emphasizes polymer research “from crate to grave”, i.e. from molecular design, catalysis and polymer synthesis, polymer characterization, polymer processing and rheology, and structure-property relationship, to polymer-fiber composite technology, and fatigue and ageing. The inorganic materials initiative explores inorganic functional materials such as photoelectric/magnetic materials and rare earth permanent magnetic materials. The biomedical materials initiative is working on marine biological resources, biological medical chips and other medical devices, and controlled release of drugs.
  The School of Materials Science and Chemical Engineering is under rapid expansion and currently has 28 open positions in the area of polymer science and engineering, chemical engineering, and materials chemistry.