This project will identify and develop steps to align the undergraduate and graduate education of chemical engineers with career needs in industry, using a survey, an industry-academia workshop, and analysis and communication of the findings. Chemical engineering's domain of expertise continues to expand as new fields of research arise, but a core of its application is processes for manufacturing. Chemical engineers continue to be leaders in the traditional chemical process industries (CPI), making fuels, chemicals, and polymers, but they also work in foods, microelectronics, pharmaceuticals, and in horizon areas such as nanotechnology. With this ever-expanding scope, the proposed two-day workshop aims to identify potential enhancements to the chemical engineering curriculum that would favorably impact student preparedness for the industrial sector. Prior to the workshop, a formal survey will be conducted to identify industry needs and any gaps that need to be filled in the chemical engineering curricula with respect to those needs. The survey results will be discussed and analyzed at the workshop with an invited group of attendees from academia and industry. The expected outputs of the workshop are a report and recommended course of action on further aligning the chemical engineering curriculum with industry needs. The results of the workshop will be presented at a national AIChE meeting, as well as posted on the AIChE website.
Intellectual Merit : The principal intellectual merits of the project are identification of undergraduate and graduate education needed for career success in industry, examination of how faculty expertise and approaches align with these needs, and recommendation of steps to improve this alignment.
Broader Impacts : Broader impacts of the workshop include improved education for undergraduates, graduate students, and faculty and improved effectiveness of chemical engineering graduates for a diverse range of careers.
