This is the preliminary (or launch) version of the 2026-2027 VCU Bulletin. Courses that expose students to cutting-edge content and transformative learning may be added and notification of additional program approvals may be received prior to finalization. General education program content is also subject to change. The final edition and full PDF version will include these updates and will be available in August prior to the beginning of the fall semester.

PESC 505. Pharmaceutical Engineering Fundamentals I. 3 Hours.

Semester course; 3 lecture hours (delivered online or face-to-face). 3 credits. Enrollment is restricted to pharmaceutical engineering graduate students or by permission of the instructor. An introductory course designed to expose students to basic concepts in drug discovery as well as principles in pharmaceutics, biopharmaceutics and pharmacokinetics that are fundamental to the development of various dosage forms. Topics to be covered include a general survey from drug discovery to clinical trials; omics-guided drug target identification and strategies for the design of new drugs; the physicochemical characteristics of drugs and excipients; formulation, manufacturing and packaging of pharmaceutical dosage forms; drug and dosage form stability and degradation; physicochemical mechanisms of drug absorption, distribution, metabolism and elimination; and mathematical models and physiological principles used to describe ADME. Prior basic knowledge in chemistry, calculus and statistics is required. The course content is delivered through lectures, group discussions, in-class calculations, homework and online tools.

PESC 507. Pharmaceutical Engineering Fundamentals II. 3 Hours.

Semester course; 3 lecture hours (delivered online or face-to-face). 3 credits. Enrollment is restricted to graduate students or senior undergraduate students, or by permission of the instructor. An introductory course designed to expose the students to basic concepts in materials balance, thermodynamics, reaction kinetics and transport processes applied to pharmaceutical processes. Students will be exposed to common problem-solving strategies common to pharmaceutical engineering problems and various tools (software) used to enhance their ability to solve these problems. These introductory steps will provide students with the required tools to address mass balance and thermodynamic problems; tools to design reaction systems for the production of active pharmaceutical ingredients; and fundamental transport properties for the design systems for the purification and separation of active pharmaceutical ingredients.

PESC 515. Nanomedicine. 1 Hour.

Semester course; 1 lecture hour. 1 credit. Enrollment is restricted to students in pharmaceutical engineering or with permission of the instructor. This is an introductory course designed to expose students to basic concepts in nanomedicine. Topics to be covered include: introduction to nanocarrier-based drug delivery applications; design of nanocarriers for drug delivery applications; characterization of nanocarriers, including their spatial/temporal controlled-release properties and critical quality attributes; interaction of nanocarriers and the physiological environment; nanocarriers and their dosage forms; nanocarriers for pulmonary drug delivery; nanocarriers for ocular drug delivery; nanocarriers for systemic and lymphatic drug delivery; liposomal drug products; FDA guidance to industry.

PESC 605. Advanced Topics in Pharmaceutical Engineering I. 3 Hours.

Semester course; 3 lecture hours (delivered online or face-to-face). 3 credits. Enrollment is restricted to graduate students in the pharmaceutical engineering program or by permission of the instructor. An advanced course in pharmaceutical engineering covering relevant multidisciplinary topics that straddle the boundaries between pharmaceutics and engineering. Topics include process analytical technology with a focus on analytical techniques, including particle size analysis and IR and other in situ spectroscopic techniques; particle solid state characterization, with a focus on methods for characterization/quantification of polymorphs, crystallinity/amorphous ratio, size and size distribution, flowability; modeling, with a focus on modeling of pharmacokinetics, aerosol properties and omics; separations, with a focus on hardware and regulatory, including LC-MS, quality control; and advanced formulations, with a focus on nanomedicine, physiological barriers and sustained release.

PESC 607. Advanced Topics in Pharmaceutical Engineering II. 3 Hours.

Semester course; 3 lecture hours (delivered online of face-to-face). 3 credits. Enrollment is restricted to graduate students in the pharmaceutical engineering program, graduate students in other engineering or science programs or by permission of the instructor. An advanced course in pharmaceutical engineering covering relevant multidisciplinary topics that straddle the boundaries between pharmaceutics and engineering. Topics include crystallization, process analytical technology, particle formation and size control, with a focus on fundamentals of crystallization, size control operations and control of particle morphology; modeling, with a focus on fundamentals of crystallization kinetics, isolation and drying techniques, and formulation processing.

PESC 609. Pharmaceutical Engineering Laboratory I. 1 Hour.

Semester course; 3 laboratory hours. 1 credit. Enrollment is restricted to graduate students in the pharmaceutical engineering program or by permission of the instructor. Didactic laboratory in pharmaceutical engineering. Laboratory experiments will focus on three major themes based on the fundamentals of pharmaceutical manufacturing: upstream API synthesis (continuous reaction), downstream API purification/crystallization, drug product milling; formulation; and tableting. Experiments performed will focus on continuous synthesis of active pharmaceutical ingredient, API characterization and API pre-formulation and will provide the platform for manufacturing of drug product formulation in more open-ended experiments to be carried out on the same themes in PESC 709. In situ analytical tools (process analytical technology) will be used in the laboratory experiments to monitor API synthesis.

PESC 690. Pharmaceutical Engineering Seminar. 1 Hour.

Semester course; 3 lecture hours (delivered online or face-to-face). 3 credits. Enrollment is restricted to graduate students in the pharmaceutical engineering program or by permission of the instructor. An advanced course in pharmaceutical engineering covering relevant multidisciplinary topics that straddle the boundaries between pharmaceutics and engineering. Topics include process analytical technology with a focus on analytical techniques, including particle size analysis and IR and other in situ spectroscopic techniques; particle solid state characterization, with a focus on methods for characterization/quantification of polymorphs, crystallinity/amorphous ratio, size and size distribution, flowability; modeling, with a focus on modeling of pharmacokinetics, aerosol properties and omics; separations, with a focus on hardware and regulatory, including LC-MS, quality control; and advanced formulations, with a focus on nanomedicine, physiological barriers and sustained release.

PESC 691. Special Topics in Pharmaceutical Engineering. 1-5 Hours.

Semester course; 1-5 lecture hours (delivered face-to-face or hybrid). 1-5 credits. Presentation of subject matter is by lectures, tutorial studies and/or library assignments in selected areas of advanced study not available in other courses or as part of the training in research. Graded as Pass/Fail.

PESC 697. Directed Research in Pharmaceutical Engineering. 1-15 Hours.

Semester course; 1-15 laboratory hours. 1-15 credits. May be repeated for credit. Enrollment is restricted to students in the Ph.D. in Pharmaceutical Engineering program. Research leading to the Ph.D. in Pharmaceutical Engineering. Graded as Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory.

PESC 701. Post-candidacy Doctoral Research. 9 Hours.

Semester course; 9 research hours. 9 credits. May be repeated for credit. Enrollment is restricted to students who have been admitted to doctoral candidacy in the pharmaceutical engineering program and are graduate teaching assistants or graduate research assistants; registration requires approval from the student's current degree program coordinator. Students will participate in supervised discipline-specific research related to their dissertation topic. This course can be approved as a substitution for any post-candidacy degree requirement. Graded as Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory.

PESC 707. Process Analytical Technology. 3 Hours.

Semester course; 3 lecture hours. 3 credits. Prerequisite: Basic chemistry/instrumentation lab skills, basic statistics/programming. Enrollment is restricted to students in Ph.D. in Pharmaceutical Engineering. Students should have basic chemistry/instrumentation lab skills and be familiar with basic statistics/programming. Familiarizes students with process analytical instrumentation commonly used in industrial R&D and manufacturing for process monitoring and development and product quality control. Students will gain practical lab experience of important process analytical technology and develop a better understanding of technology principles and new perspectives on data collection, data comprehension and data analysis.

PESC 709. Pharmaceutical Engineering Laboratory II. 1 Hour.

Semester course; 1 laboratory hour. 1 credit. Prerequisite: PESC 609. Enrollment is restricted to students in the Ph.D. in Pharmaceutical Engineering program or with permission of the instructor. This course is the second in a sequence. Didactic laboratory in pharmaceutical engineering. Laboratory experiments will be focused on formulation development and characterization/testing in the three major themes based on the following routes of administration: pulmonary drug delivery (metered-dose and dry powder inhalers); oral drug delivery (tablets and capsules); parenteral drug delivery (sterile parenteral formulations).