Teaching Assistantships

Applications are being accepted for CHBE TA positions for the 2025W Academic year. 

Application Deadline:  May 18th at 8:00 am PDT

Teaching Assistants (TAs), contribute to the Chemical and Biological Engineering Department’s core mission of undergraduate teaching and learning. TA appointments for undergraduate courses also provides the opportunity for graduate students to experience and to develop skills in communication and university-level teaching, beneficial in any field of work and particularly valuable for those who aspire to careers in academia.

Application Criteria

Applicants will be evaluated based on the following criteria:
• mastery of the course academic material
• ability to help students actively learn
• ability to explain subject matter clearly and logically
• ability to effectively lead discussion groups that facilitate student learning
• ability to constructively evaluate student presentations
• ability to effectively assist student learning by enabling different sets of skills, including oral and verbal communications, problem solving, critical thinking, numeracy, teamwork, leadership, planning.
Undergraduate student experience and performance is the principal underlying driver for the appointment of Teaching Assistants. Financial need is not part of the evaluation criteria.

Qualifications

TA applicants must be:
 • Full-time UBC graduate students with preference to those currently registered or accepted (with no provisional acceptance) in the Department’s MEng, MSc, MASc, or PhD programs.
 • Priority is given to previous MSc, MASc or MEng TA’s who have not exceeded two and to PhD students who have not exceeded four teaching assistantship years.
•  Available on-campus.  All tutorial and labs are in person.

Duties

TA duties will vary depending on the course and will include duties from one or more of the following types:
• Laboratory TA – assisting in supervision of chemical, biological and/or computer laboratory experiments, marking of the laboratory reports.
• Tutorial TA – assisting in or taking charge of tutorial sessions, marking of assignments, preparing or written solutions, reviewing of assignments with undergraduates
• Marking – marking of assignments. NOTE: TA appointments may include invigilation of exams and invigilation assignments will be for CHBE or CHBE administered courses. 

Training (Mandatory)

New TAs and returning TAs who have not participated in the Faculty of Applied Science TA training program must participate in training. TAs assigned to a Lab Course must have UBC RMS Lab Chemical Safety certification, participate in CHBE Lab Specific trainings courses and have their own Personal Protective Equipment. TA training is designed to TAs to be successful in their roles. TAs are expected to be familiar with course content.

List of Available Courses

Review the courses that have Teaching Assistantships available below. To apply to a TA position, you can find the application link at the bottom of this page.

Estimated number of Teaching Assistant positions and hours (subject to change).

TERM 1

Course NumberCourse TitleLab CourseInvigilationEstimated HoursNumber of Positions
APSC 100Introduction to EngineeringNoYes652
APSC 182Matter and Energy IYesYes801
APSC 262Technology and Society IINoNo601
CHBE 220Founding Principles in Chem & Biol Eng INoYes522
CHBE 241Material & Energy BalanceNoYes504
CHBE 263Intro to Chem & Biol Eng Laboratory PracticeYesNo503
CHBE 344Unit Operations INoYes551
CHBE 346Chem and Biol. Eng. Thermodynamics IINoYes522
CHBE 352Transport Phenomena IINoYes522
CHBE 362Process & Environmental Eng. Lab.YesNo604
CHBE 362 & 364Process & Environmental Eng. Lab.YesNo251
CHBE 364Environmental Eng. Lab.YesNo454
CHBE 370Fundamentals of Sustainable EngineeringNoYes503
CHBE 373Water and Wastewater Technology and EngineeringNoYes352
CHBE 453/454Biological/Chemical Process and Product DesignNoNo801
CHBE 456Advanced Reactor DesignNoYes502
CHBE 464Chem. & Bio. Eng. Lab.YesNo4011
CHBE 471Process SynthesisNoYes502
CHBE 474Process Control Eng.NoNo251
CHBE 476Modelling and Optimization in Chemical EngineeringNoNo351
CHBE 481Biological Engineering and Bio-Manufacturing IINoYes351
CHBE 483/CHBE 583Energy EngineeringNoYes502
CHBE 485Air Pollution ControlNoNo402
ENVE 401Environmental Engineering Capstone ProjectNoNo551

TERM 2

Course NumberCourse TitleLab CourseInvigilationEstimated HoursNumber of Positions
APSC 101Introduction to Engineering IINoYes752
APSC 183Matter & Energy IIYesYes851
APSC 262Technology and Society IINoNo601
APSC 450Professional Engineering PracticeNoYes552
CHBE 221Founding Principles in Chem & Biol Eng IINoYes405
CHBE 230Computational MethodsNoYes653
CHBE 244Chemical & Biolongical Engingeering. Thermodynamics I NoYes703
CHBE 251Transport Phenomena INoYes652
CHBE 264Chem & Biol Eng LabYesNo404
CHBE 345Unit Operations IINoYes602
CHBE 355Kinetics & Reactor DesignNoYes522
CHBE 356Process Dynamics & ControlNoYes602
CHBE 365Biological Engineering LabYesNo702
CHBE 365/366Chem/Biol Eng LabYesNo601
CHBE 366Chemical Engineering LabYesNo313
CHBE 376Computer Flowsheeting and Unit Operation DesignNoYes702
CHBE 381/560Bioprocess Engineering INoYes501
CHBE 419/564Industrial Biotechnology LabYesNo502
CHBE 453/454Biological Process & Product DesignNoNo1001
CHBE 459Chem. & Bio. Eng. EconomicsNoNo451
CHBE 464Chem. & Bio. Eng. Lab.YesNo4011
CHBE 473Environmental Engineering and Sustainability LeadershipNoYes251
CHBE 477/577Fuel Cell & Electrochemical Engineering NoYes601
CHBE 486Waste Management for Resource RecoveryNoNo402
CHBE 488/588Carbon Capture, Conversion & SequestrationNoNo651
ENVE 201Technical Communications for Environmental EngineeringNoYes601
ENVE 202Environmental Engineering ScienceNoYes252
ENVE 203Environmental Engineering & SustainabilityNoNo451
ENVE 301Environmental Eng Intermediate Design ProjectNoNo451
ENVE 401Environmental Engineering Capstone ProjectNoNo601

Further Information

If you have any questions regarding the application process, please email the CHBE Graduate Student Office at chbe.gradoffice@ubc.ca.

Teaching Assistants at The University of British Columbia (UBC) are represented by the Canadian Union Of Public Employees Local 2278 (CUPE2278) and that a Collective Agreement between UBC and CUPE2278 is in effect. Note, not all applicants are offered Teaching Assistant positions. TA contracts are fixed hours and are based on course registration which varies from year to year. Applicants are invited to indicate course preferences but assignments may be courses not indicated as preferred by applicant. Most TA assignments are for lab courses.

Apply

Submit applications here.  Application Deadline:  May 18th at 8:00 am PDT

Applications will be accepted after the deadline until all positions are filled but, other considerations being equal, candidates who applied by the deadline will be preferred. New and returning graduate students wishing to be considered for a Teaching Assistant position will need to submit a new application and CV.

International Students: Student permits must be valid for the full term of any TA appointments. Apply for student permit renewals early to avoid problems.

Please contact the CHBE Grad Office for additional information.