Prospective Student Information

Pilot Paper MachineCareer Opportunities in Chemical Engineering

Many career paths are open to chemical engineering graduates. In today's rapidly changing business climate, industrial sectors from petrochemicals to biotechnology and semiconductor manufacturing offer of wide variety of employment opportunities to our graduates. As a result, a new chemical engineer may get involved with:

  • the development of new processes and products for the chemical industry;
  • exploration, production, and refining of oil and natural gas;
  • design and optimization of fabrication facilities for semiconductors or magnetic storage devices;
  • production of advanced materials - from plastics and fibers to catalysts and biomaterials;
  • design of water and air pollution control devices;
  • production of pharmaceuticals and biologic devices used for medical applications.

While industry employs the majority of chemical engineering students receiving a bachelor's degree, many of our graduates continue their education in:

  • graduate schools to prepare for academic careers or research and development jobs in the industry, or
  • medical, law or business schools.

Undergraduate Curriculum

What opens all these career options to our graduates is a broad education that encompasses both fundamentals and applications to give students a sound scientific and technical grounding for further development in a variety of professional environments.

Courses in mathematics, chemistry, physics and computational engineering provide the foundation for the chemical engineering core, which introduces students to chemical process fundamentals, fluid mechanics, heat and mass transfer, thermodynamics, kinetics, reactor design, process control and process design. Chemical engineering curricula place an emphasis on chemistry not found in other engineering disciplines. This background allows chemical engineers to tackle a wide variety of technical problems arising in the chemical, electronic and pharmaceuticals/biotechnology industries.

To complete their technical education, students seeking a B.S. degree in chemical engineering take elective courses to provide a breadth of engineering experience. Alternately, students may select one of the program specializations (predefined technical elective offerings) that allow students to develop a technical focus in one of the following areas:

  • Biochemical engineering
  • Computer control engineering
  • Environmental chemical engineering
  • Pre-medicine biomedical engineering
  • Pulp, paper and bio-resource engineering

Exploring Our Program

Our web pages provide a wealth of information about our program and department. The links in the left sidebar provide information about our undergraduate program. We also provide links to other topics that should be of interest to those considering Auburn University Chemical Engineering.