What is a Chemical Engineer?
It is true that chemical engineers are comfortable with chemistry, but they do much more with this knowledge than just make chemicals. In fact, the term “chemical engineer” is not even intended to describe the type of work a chemical engineer performs. Instead it is meant to reveal what makes the field different from the other branches of engineering.
All engineers employ mathematics, physics, and the engineering art to overcome technical problems in a safe and economical fashion. Yet, it is the chemical engineer alone that draws upon the vast and powerful science of chemistry to solve a wide range of problems. The strong technical and social ties that bind chemistry and chemical engineering are unique in the fields of science and technology. This marriage between chemists and chemical engineers has been beneficial to both sides and has rightfully brought the envy of the other engineering fields.
The breadth of scientific and technical knowledge inherent in the profession has caused some to describe the chemical engineer as the “universal engineer.” Yes, you are hearing me correctly; despite a title that suggests a profession composed of narrow specialists, chemical engineers are actually extremely versatile and able to handle a wide range of technical problems.
Chemical Engineering Today & Tomorrow
The “Big Four” engineering fields consist of civil, mechanical, electrical, and chemical engineers. Of these, chemical engineers are numerically the smallest group. However, this relatively small group holds a very prominent position in many industries, and chemical engineers are, on average, the highest paid of the “Big Four” (see WAGES). Additionally, many chemical engineers have found their way into upper management. A chemical engineer is either currently, or has previously, occupied the CEO position for: 3M, Du Pont, General Electric, Union Carbide, Dow Chemical, Exxon, BASF, Gulf Oil, Texaco, and B.F. Goodrich. Even a former director of the CIA, John M. Deutch, was a chemical engineer by training.
More typically, chemical engineers concern themselves with the chemical processes that turn raw materials into valuable products. The necessary skills encompass all aspects of design, testing, scale-up, operation, control, and optimization, and require a detailed understanding of the various “unit operations”, such as distillation, mixing, and biological processes, which make these conversions possible. Chemical engineering science utilizes mass, momentum, and energy transfer along with thermodynamics and chemical kinetics to analyze and improve on these “unit operations.”
Today there are around 70,000 practicing chemical engineers in the United States (57,000 of these are AIChE members) (see AIChE MEMBERSHIP). During the entire history of the profession there have been only about 135,000 American chemical engineers (including those alive today). This means that more than a half of all the chemical engineers who have ever existed are contributing to society right now! Chemical engineering is not a profession that has to dwell on the achievements of the past for comfort, for its greatest accomplishments are yet to come.