Students receiving an RBI fellowship must complete an RBI minor, described by the course requirements below. 

Students completing the RBI minor must file the appropriate declaration routing form with the home school as well as the RBI executive director’s office prior to admission to Ph.D. candidacy.

The RBI minor consists of 9 credits of coursework including 6 hours of RBI core courses and 3 elective hours. 



RBI Core courses (each course is 3 credit hours)

Required of students in all home schools:


  • ChBE/ME  6741: Pulp and Paper Manufacture (Fall only) 
  • ChBE/ME 8803: Emerging Technologies in Forest Bioproducts (Every Spring)



It is suggested that RBI Fellows select an elective course from the list below. However, RBI Fellows and their advisors are allowed to select an alternate elective, as long as its inclusion is justified on the minor approval form. 

Suggested Electives

  • ME 6281: Mechanics of Paper Forming and Coating (Every Fall/Even Years)

  • ME  6601: Introduction to Fluid Mechanics (Every Fall)

  • MSE 6603: Natural Polymers

  • MSE 6406: Corrosion of Materials

  • ChBE/CHEM/MSE 6752: Polymer Characterization (Unavailable)

  • CHEM/ChBE 6760: Biocatalysis
  • ChBE/ME/MSE 6768: Polymer Structure, Physical Properties and Characterization (Unavailable)

  • ME 7301: Transport Phenomena in Multiphase Flow (Every Fall)

  • ChBE 6743: Fundamentals and Challenges for a Sustainable Chemical Enterprise
  • ChBE 8803: Colloids and Surfaces
  • CHEM 8853/ChBE 8803: Biorenewable and Sustainable Chemistry/Renewable Biochemistry (Every other Spring semester)

  • MSE/CHEM 6750: Preparation and Reactions of Polymers (Every Spring)