Carnegie-Mellon Univ. studying/researching for PhD in ChemE...research bridges CS, applied math, and ChemE
As an aside, I think the guy who choose Univ. Washington over MIT et al did the right thing...get your undergrad degree for peanuts, have fun, and then go to grad school on the university's ticket. Chances are the actual education is better at UW than it is at MIT or Stanford.
When you choose a school, you can't just look at the reputation of the school -- U.S. News and World Report rankings are a pile of crap, Fiske's Guide is a little better. Look at the average class size, professor office hour requirements (i.e. will you be talking to a prof or a 1st year grad student when you have questions), dedicated computing facilities, quality of undergrad lab equipment, undergrad summer research opportunites, etc...that tells you a lot about how geared the school is to undergrad education.
I get paid to study/research for my PhD and almost everyone in our department is the same...research grants pay their bills. My entire undergrad education, including books, was about $10,000 at Cal Poly Pomona... a little Cal State school east of L.A.
Anyhow...
and Univ. of Wisconsin rocks...I applied to their ChemE PhD program too but didn't get accepted.