History and Chronological Outline

In Oct. 2005, we moved to the leading-edge campus from Hakozaki Campus–a heritage of Kyushu University.

The Function Class of Applied Chemistry Course is in Kyushu University's Faculty of Engineering Department of Materials Science and Engineering. The Function Class's origins date back to the Department of Applied Chemistry, which was established in 1911. It has the most extensive history and tradition as an engineering chemistry department, next to the University of Tokyo and Kyoto University.

With the surge of the petrochemical industry's high economic growth in 1957, the Department of Synthetic Chemistry (now Molecules Class), focusing on organic chemistry, was established based on the Department of Applied Chemistry as its matrix. Subsequently, with the emphasis on graduate school in the 1990s, the departments of Applied Chemistry and Synthetic Chemistry were unified to establish the Department of Applied Material Chemistry in 1991, and the two departments were renamed the Functional Materials Science Course and Molecular System Engineering Course within the department.

Furthermore, in 1997, the Department of Applied Material Chemistry and two other departments were put together to establish the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, which consists of three courses. At that time, the traditional name of applied chemistry was revived for the Functional Materials Course and Molecular System Engineering Course to organize the Applied Chemistry Course. Function and Molecules were taught in two classes in the same course (Functional Materials Course and Molecular System Engineering Course) today. In 2005, the department moved from the historical Hakozaki Campus to the Ito Campus, equipped with the latest facilities, which serve as the center of materials science studies that leads academia and industry in the 21st century, where research and education activities are actively pursued.

The Applied Chemistry Course has been turning out many brilliant human resources and producing remarkable results in education and research. It has also beenader of applied chemistry research in each era throughout its 100 years of history. The graduates of the Function Class are active in top positions in the scenes of research and development in industries, academia, and government, as well as in various quarters as leading figures of the business community and as presidents of top universities.

The Function Class's academic research has continued to lead the world from before World War II to today. Many of the results produced in the research laboratories of the class have been published in the texts used in the lectures for undergraduate schools and graduate schools as essential academic foundations and have often become the basic knowledge of students, researchers, and engineers worldwide today. Currently, the Function Class and Molecules Class are conducting top-level research in their respective disciplines while maintaining a relationship of "friendly competition." Regarding education, the instructors form the nucleus of both classes under close liaison who strive to establish a center of research and education that would lead the world centered on the 21st Century COE and Global COE programs. Furthermore, they continue tremendously impacting the industrial world through collaborative research and venture creation.