Is it wise to major in chemical engineering in 2016?
Chemical engineering is the most misunderstood discipline of all time. Most people think that chemical engineering is just chemistry; in fact, chemical engineering is a lot more than that. Chemical engineers turn raw materials into everyday, useful products the food we eat, the water we drink, the fuel we use to drive our cars, the electricity we use to power our homes, the medicine we use to cure disease. This means that youll find chemical engineers working in a wide variety of industries: energy, chemicals, pharmaceutical, food, and environmental. The challenge is to design processes sustainably and cost-effectively, with minimal consumption of material and production of waste. One of the grand challenges this century is the provision of sustainable energy that meets the demands of a rising global population. There is a growing need to replace crude oil with more sustainable sources of energy; so much research is on-going in harvesting energy from natural sources such as biomass to produce fuels and chemicals that are environmentally friendly. Other grand challenges include the provision of water, healthcare and food all being tackled by chemical engineers through innovative research and design. In short, there are many challenges that humanity is currently facing and will continue to face in the future, and chemical engineers will play a central role in tackling them. This is the chemical engineering era.