The guidelines for obtaining an honors thesis allow a student to obtain the notation of honors in any deparment of their choice in which they find a thesis supervisor willing to supervise their honors thesis (and other thesis requirements set forth by that department are met).
e.g. Graduate with a B.S. in Chemical Engineering, with honors in ... Chemistry, French, Polymer Science, Food Science, ...

This sometimes causes confusion for students who feel that they should receive honors in the major in which they obtain their degree; however, it is important to note that there is no requirement of any honors course material within Chemical Engineering. Therefore, the thesis becomes the defining activity for receipt of the honors notation.
This approach permits a student to identify an area of specilization of honors study that may or may not be related to their department affiliation.

Under some circumstances, it may be approproite for the student to receive honors in Chemical Engineering even if the thesis is supervised by a faculty member in a different department. This is possible if the following (4) provisions are met:

1. A Chemical Engineering faculty member must be identified that is willing to act as a co-advisor at the time the thesis proposal is submitted to the honors program. Please refer to the the honors thesis process on the SHC web page.
2. The student will enroll in ChE 494, and the grade will be assigned by the co-advising faculty member in consultation with the thesis supervisor. Accordingly, a written end of semester report on thesis progress must be submitted to the co-advisor and the secondary reader during finals week. (Consult with co-advisor to assure adequate time to review and ask for clarifications.) The honors student should make an effort to involve the co-advisor in research updates such as lab meeting presentations with the thesis advisors research group.
3. A thesis draft must be submitted AT LEAST 2 weeks prior to final week of classes in the semester the student will graduate to permit adequate review by chemical engineering. Current guidelines specify a second reader in the major giving honors. This second reader should also be identified at the time of thesis proposal submission and can be either the students honors advisor or the Department Head.
4. The student must meet any other ChE requirements of the honors thesis that are developed (such as "defense" via oral presentation, participation in undergraduate research fair, etc. ).