The College of Materials Science and Chemical Engineering of Harbin Engineering University was founded in June 2006, with its predecessors being the Department of Heat Treatment of Metal Materials established in 1978 and the Department of Chemistry established in 1979. Through over ten years of efforts, the college has achieved excellent results in the field of applied research and has become one of the important colleges supporting the basic research of the university.

The college is based on grassroots academic organizations to carry out teaching and research work. There are currently 6 grassroots academic organizations, including the Institute of New Materials and Advanced Manufacturing Technology, the Institute of Surface and Interface Science and Technology, the Institute of New Energy Materials and Chemical Engineering, the Institute of Marine Resources and Environmental Chemical Engineering, the Institute of Biomedical Materials and Devices, and the Experimental Teaching and Analytical and Testing Center.

The college has a first-level doctoral program in Materials Science and Engineering, which has been rated as a National Defense Characteristic Discipline and a Key Discipline of Heilongjiang Province during the 12th Five-Year period. It has four first-level master degree programs in Materials Science and Engineering, Chemical Engineering and Technology, Environmental Science and Engineering and Biomedical Engineering, and has a second-level master degree program in Medical Materials and Engineering, and a professional master degree program in Materials and Chemical Engineering. It has 4 undergraduate majors: Chemical Engineering and Technology, Materials Science and Engineering, Materials Physics (Chinese-foreign cooperative education) and New Energy Materials and Devices. It also has two post-doctoral research stations in Materials Science and Engineering and Biomedical Materials and Engineering Research Center.

The college currently has 146 faculty members and 129 full-time teachers. Among them, there are 36 senior professional technicians and 55 associate senior professional technicians. There are 116 teachers with doctoral degrees, accounting for 90% of the total number of full-time teachers. There are over 70 doctoral supervisors and nearly 50 postdoctoral researchers. There are 1946 students of all phases of studying, including 1067 undergraduates, 333 postgraduates, 536 doctoral students, and 10 international students. The college has more than 10 national and provincial level talents, including experts enjoying special government allowances of the State Council, New Century Excellent Talents, Longjiang Scholars Program Distinguished Professor, grantees of Excellent Youth Foundation of Heilongjiang Province and leaders of Leading Personnel of Heilongjiang Province.

The college has eight innovative research platforms at provincial and ministerial-level, including Key Laboratory of Ultralight Materials and Surface Technology of Ministry of Education, Key Laboratory of Marine Special Materials of Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, Key Laboratory of Shipbuilding and Oceanographical Advanced Materials and Manufacturing Technology of Heilongjiang Province, Collaborative Innovation Center of Advanced Marine Materials of Heilongjiang Province, New Marine Energy Resources and Protective Materials Engineering Technology Research Center of Heilongjiang Province, Key Laboratory of Biomedical Materials and Devices of Heilongjiang Province, Key Laboratory of Advanced Carbon Materials and Energy Storage Technology of Heilongjiang Province, and Joint Laboratory of Advanced Nanomaterials of Heilongjiang Province.

The college focuses on international frontier areas of materials and chemical engineering disciplines, closely combines national major needs with the university-running characteristics of “Three Marine-Related Disciplines and Nuclear Science and Technology”, and emphasizes interdisciplinary research. In the past five years, it has undertaken various projects such as the National Key Research and Development Program and the National Natural Science Foundation of China, with an average annual research expenditure of over 50 million yuan. It has received over 10 provincial and ministerial-level awards, including 1 first prize and 1 third prize of National Defense Science and Technology Progress Award, and 6 first prizes of Science and Technology Award of Heilongjiang Province. The college continues encouraging and supporting high-level scientific research achievements, and has published over 800 SCI papers on top journals such as Science, Nature Communications, Chemical Reviews, Advanced Materials, and Angewandte Chemie-International Edition. It is the first time for the university to publish academic achievements on Science. Three disciplines of chemistry, materials science and engineering science are among Top 1% of ESI, and materials science among Top 200.

The college extensively strengthens and vigorously expands international exchanges and cooperation. It has signed a bilateral cooperation agreement with Hokkaido University in Japan to jointly cultivate and exchange students. The college has established stable relationship in scientific and technological cooperation and talent cultivation with multiple well-known universities, research institutions, or enterprises in the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, Sweden, South Korea, and other countries, which promotes the high-level and internationalized process of college running.

The college will base itself on the new stage of development, apply the new development philosophy, create a new pattern of development, endeavor to serve the national defense strategy, adhere to the overall layout of the university, and focus on the connotative development of disciplines. The faculty members will firmly establish innovative thinking of “Adventurous Confidence, Determined Belief in Success, Broad Horizon and Collaborative Tolerance”, and contribute to serving the needs of national defense and the economic development of Heilongjiang Province, as well as the construction of the Double First-Class university.