Chemical Engineering.

A career for you

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UH Chem. Eng. Dept.

What is a Chemical Engineer?

A. B. C. D. E. An engineer who manufactures chemicals. A chemist who works in a factory. A glorified chemical lab technician. A and B. None of the above.

And the answer is

E
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UH Chem. Eng. Dept.

What is a Chemical Engineer?

A chemical engineer uses the sciences such as chemistry, physics, biology, and math to solve a wide range of problems. Chem. Es are an extremely versatile group of engineers who work in a wide range of fields.
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A Few Key Dates in History of Chemical Engineering

1880: 1888: George Davis proposed a "Society of Chemical Engineers" in England. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology began "Course X" (ten), the first four year chemical engineering program in the United States. The American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) was founded. The Unit Operations conceptthat a chemical process could be broken down into a series of steps that might include: heat transfer, transportation of solids and liquids, crystallization, distillation, evaporation, etc.was stated by Arthur Little. The AIChE began accrediting chemical engineering programs.

1908: 1915:

1925:

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10 Greatest Achievements of Chemical Engineering

The Atom, as Large as Life: Splitting the atom and isolating isotopes. Chem. E.s played prominent role in WWII effort; Technology applied in radioisotopes in medicine, radioactive tracing in archeology, etc. The Plastic Age: Mass production of synthetic polymers nylon, polyester, polyethylene, polystyrene, polytetrafluoroethylene (Teflon), polycarbonate (Lexan), . Nearly all aspects of our life are now impacted by plastics. The Human Reactor: Application of unit operations to the human body. Development of diagnostic and therapeutic devices, artificial organs.

(Reference: American Institute of Chemical Engineers)

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10 Greatest Achievements of Chemical Engineering

Wonder Drugs for the Masses: Application of chemical engineering principles to manufacture pharmaceuticals. First example was mass production of penicillin (discovered by Sir Arthur Fleming in 1929). Synthetic Fibers, a Sheeps Best Friend: Starting with nylon stockings in 1940s, synthetic fibers define textiles polyester (Dacron), nylon, spandex (Lycra), aromatic polyamides (Kevlar), etc. Liquefied Air, Yes Its Cool: Separation of nitrogen and oxygen from air via liquefaction. Nitrogen used as inert gas in many applications; oxygen used in medicine and industrial operations. (Reference: American Institute of Chemical Engineers)
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10 Greatest Achievements of Chemical Engineering

The Environment, We All Have to Live Here: Devising economical ways to clean up waste and new chemical technology to produce todays products. Examples: catalytic converters in cars, selective catalytic reduction to remove NOx in plant emissions, reformulated gasoline, etc. Food, Its Whats For Dinner: Development of synthetic fertilizers, herbicides, fungicides, pesticides to improve agriculture productivity; application of chemical engineering in food processing; advances in biotechnology to increase world-wide food production.

(Reference: American Institute of Chemical Engineers)

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10 Greatest Achievements of Chemical Engineering

Petrochemicals, Black Gold, Texas Tea: Development of processes to produce industrial chemicals and consumer products. Examples: petroleum processing to produce gasoline, heating oils, lubricating oils, etc.; chemical processes to produce building blocks for polymers methanol, ethylene, propylene, formaldehyde, ethylene oxide, Running on Synthetic Rubber: Development of process to make synthetic rubber to augment natural rubber tires, gaskets, hoses, conveyor belts, running shoes, etc.

(Reference: American Institute of Chemical Engineers)

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Where do Chem.Es Work?

Placement of Chemical Engineers
Chemicals Fuels Electronics Food & Consumer Products Materials Biotech. & Related Industries Pulp & Paper Engineering Services Design & Construction Research & Testing Environmental Other

B.S. Graduates

PhD Graduates

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Chemical Process Industry

Refineries Petrochemicals Plastics Polymers

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Design and Construction

Spanning the world to design and construct plants to manufacture materials, fuels and commodities from the smallest to the largest.

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Environment
Environmental studies Remediation Clean air and water Clean fuels Environmentally sound construction and operation

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Fuels
Oil Gas LNG Gasoline Jet fuel Hydrogen Electricity Fuel cells

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Advanced Materials
From fibers to plastics to composites Affecting all aspects of life and industry

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Electronics
Materials and processing for all electronics with a particular emphasis on micro-electronics Chemical vapor deposition Plasma processing Etching

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Food and Beverages

Food and beverage manufacturing Process engineering and control Optimization and streamlining of manufacturing

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Biotechnology & Pharmaceuticals

Biochemical engineering chemicals produced by fermentation and enzymes Biomedical engineering
Drug delivery systems Tissue engineering

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Research & Development

New problems Chemical engineering
Green chemistry Alternative energy

Bioengineering Materials engineering

New polymers & fibers Molecular design

Wallace Carothers

New tools Computational fluid dynamics & chemistry Microfluidics

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UH Department of Chemical Engineering: Mission

The Department of Chemical Engineering at the University of Houston is dedicated to producing graduates of the highest scholarship and with skills that will enable them not only to prosper in their career endeavors but also to adapt to a changing landscape.

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SALARY SURVEY WINTER 2011

Biomedical Engineering Chemical Engineering Electrical Engineering Computer Engineering Industrial Engineering Mechanical Engineering Petroleum Engineering $54,771 (16) $64,641 (85) $61,690 (43) $59,298 (17) $56,369 (28) $60,598 (148) $90,000 (1)

Source: National Association of Colleges and Employers (numbers in parenthesis next to salary is number of respondents)

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UH Chemical Engineering is Nationally Recognized

National Rankings
National Research Council UH Chem. Eng. ranked 17th Gourman Report (1995) - ranked UH 10th among Graduate Programs in Chem. Eng.:
RANKING 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
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INSTITUTION University of Minnesota-Minneapolis University of Wisconsin-Madison California Institute of Technology University of California-Berkeley Stanford University University of Delaware Massachusetts Institute of Technology University of Illinois-Urbana Princeton University University of Houston
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ChBE Research
Balakotaiah Epling Harold Luss Richardson Conrad Flumerfelt Krishnamoorti Holley

Environmental Reaction Engineering

Grabow Economou Willson Rimer

Cirino Doxastakis Rimer Varadarajan Vekilov Willson

Energy Engineering
Balakotaiah Epling Grabow Harold Luss Nikolaou Richardson Stein

ChBE

Biomolecular Engineering
Krishnamoorti Conrad

Conrad Donnelly Doxastakis Economou Flumerfelt Krishnamoorti

Materials

Harold Luss Richardson Rimer Robertson Vekilov Stein

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CHEMICAL ENGINEERING CURRICULUM 2011

UNIVERSITY CORE CURRICULUM
HIST 1377

CHEMISTRY

ENGINEERING
CHEE 1131
ChemEngChal

MATH

PHYSICS

SEM HR

FIRST YEAR

POLS 1336

ENGL 1303

CHEM 1111

CHEM 1331

MATH 1431

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ENGL 1304

CHEM 1112

CHEM 1332

MATH 1432

PHYS 1321

14

SECOND YEAR

POLS 1337

CHEM 3331

CHEE 2331 Chem Proc CHEE 2332 Thermo I

CHEE 1331 Comp/Engrs

MATH 2433

16
CHEE 3300
Mat Sci & Engr

ENGI 2304 Tech Com

CHEM 3221

CHEM 3332

CHEE 3321

17

THIRD YEAR

ECON 2304

Chemistry Elective *

CHEE 3333 Thermo II CHEE 3466

Bio&PhyChem

CHEE 3334
Stat/NumTech

CHEE 3363
Fluid Mech

PHYS 1322

18

CHEE 3462 Unit Ops

CHEE 3369 Transport

CHEE 3367 Proc Cont

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Pre-requisites For Design I

FOURTH YEAR
Humanities

HIST 1378

Vis Perform Arts Science Elective *

CHEE 4367 React Eng

CHEE 4361 Practices Technical Elective *

CHEE 4321 Design I CHEE 4322 Design II

CHEE 4366
Biomol Engr

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Technical Elective *

15 TOTAL 130

C A B

TAUGHT FALL ONLY 1. Arrow to top of box means C is a prerequisite for B 2. Arrow to side of box means credit or registration in A at the same time as B * From approved list published every Fall and Spring by the department TAUGHT SPRING ONLY TAUGHT FALL & SPRING Modified 05/2011

Undergraduate Program
Chemical Engineering students
Diverse group (30-40% female; 30-50% minority) Good feedback from employers

Undergraduate curriculum
130 credit hours Strong fundamentals core Involvement of industrial adjuncts Expanded offerings in emerging areas of specialization
Polymers, Bioengineering

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