Undergraduate Degree in Chemical Engineering

What Is Chemical Engineering?

Most students choose chemical engineering because they love chemistry, and are being encouraged to major in engineering because of their mathematical abilities, but they don’t really know what chemical engineers actually do. Chemical engineering, of all branches of engineering, is the one most strongly and broadly based upon physical and life sciences. It has been defined by the Directors of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers as "the profession in which a knowledge of mathematics, chemistry, and other natural sciences gained by study, experience, and practice is applied with judgment to develop economical ways of using materials and energy for the benefit of mankind."

In short, one way to think of us is that we make the chemistry happen. At the undergraduate level we learn how to design the reactors where the chemistry happens, the pipes, pumps, to get materials to and from the reactors, the separation processes, based on equilibrium processes or mass transfer, to purify the desired materials and to ensure that the materials we dispose of are environmentally sound. We design the heat transfer equipment necessary to get materials to the right temperature, or make sure that reactors maintain desired temperatures. We understand the thermodynamics to determine if reactions will take place, and we design the control systems to see to it that the plant runs smoothly.

Now this might seem like all we do is design and run manufacturing plants, but that’s not the case. The principles listed above are also applied to a broad range of applications, such as biological applications. If we understand diffusion through a system, we can work on tissue engineering, determining how far apart blood vessels need to be to make sure that oxygen can diffuse to all parts of a tissue. If we understand flow though pipes we can understand the flow of blood through a blood vessel. If we understand the quantitative techniques to follow competing reactions, we can apply them to the competition between an allergen and allergy medicine for a particular receptor in a cell in your body. We bring a quantitative aspect to biology that allows us to make unique contributions to that field.

Requirements

Candidates for the Bachelor of Science degree in Engineering (Chemical Engineering)--B.S.E. (Ch.E.)--must complete the program described in this sample schedule(PDF). The schedule is an example of one leading to graduation in eight terms.

Note: Transfer students may find that it is necessary to extend their schedule to eight and one-half or nine terms. They may require a program different from the sample schedule described above. Details of such programs are not shown here, but may be obtained from the program advisor.

see also: Open-Ended Problems, Use of Computers, Engineering Honor Code