The Chemical Engineering Discipline

I received my basic training in forty-five months at the oldest continuously operating degree-granting chemical engineering program in the United States at the University of Pennsylvania (since 1893). I was interested in the fundamental science behind chemical engineering: I was obsessed with
classical and statistical thermodynamics and how materials work explained by quantum and electromagnetic theories. took advanced coursework in quantum mechanics, condensed matter physics, polymer physics, electrodynamics, and chemical processes. I got lucky that Penn is the
leader in materials research. My plan from the beginning was to pursue a PhD after completing my undergraduate work but in short, I got frustrated by the disconnect I perceived between academics and real-world applications. So, instead I sought employment as a process engineer, designing chemical plants. So far, I have worked on designs for a cryogenic hydrogen liquefaction process and a novel ‘blue’ hydrogen production technology.

I am still interested in engineering and science education, and the relationship between academics and industry.
In chemical engineering university departments, researchers develop advanced techniques to design new molecules (products) and chemical processes (plants that produce products). These days the fundamental science is so well understood that you will find many physics, chemistry, and math backgrounds in these departments. It is the responsibility of the engineer to think about how this more precise and thoughtful work will end up in the working engineer’s design workflow. In industry, chemical engineers employ these techniques to design real world chemical plants to convert raw materials into useful products and must consider political and economic constraints, not only engineering principles. The companies we work for then build these plants and operate them, bringing our ideas into reality. But only once we convince them that there is a profit to be made.

The trajectory of the chemical engineering discipline in my observation has been to develop more advanced process technologies using general overarching principles from math, physics, and chemistry. The application of these principles lags the establishment of these principles by up to 100 years. In other words, when the working engineer understands deeper principles, he or she ‘unlocks’ new technologies. So now we are at about the point where eccentric university professors want to convince you that understanding Noether’s theorem is essential to designing a solar cell. My dream is that we are entering the next phase of chemical engineering, in which advances in data utilization, cleverer algorithms, and more powerful computing will usher in a new paradigm in process design based on a supremely fundamental approach, one on the molecular level that maintains the accuracy needed for the purposes of large-scale plant design, which has traditionally been achieved by empirical methods and lab and pilot-scale learnings.

For this reason, I would like to remain in tune with developments in both academics and industry throughout my career.