<p>What are the core courses in ChemE major, what do you do in these courses, and how difficult is this major?
How is the outlook for ChemE jobs in the future?
Benefits of getting a PhD in ChemE?
What schools in the northeast, primarily in new york, have great ChemE programs?</p>
<ol>
<li>fluids, thermo, heat transfer, mass transfer, design classes and experimental design labs (different than basic chemistry lab classes)</li>
<li>Good.</li>
<li>Good. but bad because of time investment. Faculty positions are rare. Industry PhDs are great.</li>
<li>Not sure.</li>
</ol>
<p>What are the core courses in ChemE major, what do you do in these courses, and how difficult is this major?</p>
<p>Thermodynamics: You study the concepts, applications and relations between entropy, enthalpy, gibbs free energy, work, internal energy, stability, phase composition, etc.</p>
<p>Fluid Dynamics: Application of thermodynamics concepts and conservation laws to gases and liquids in order to solve velocity and momentum profiles.</p>
<p>Heat and Transfer: Applications of thermodynamics, fluid dynamics and physical/chemical laws to solve problems on heat and mass transfer between different bodies, concentration gradients, interaction of two reacting fluids, etc.</p>
<p>The last three courses (Fluids, Hear and Mass) are known as ‘Transport Phenomena’.</p>
<p>Reactor Design: Application of the previous four (Transport and Thermodynamics) to the design and optimization of different types of chemical reactor. The course usually involves some basic kinetics topics. This is sometimes considered to be the hardest (yet most rewarding course) in the ChemE curriculum.</p>
<p>Process Dynamics and Control: Use of math to model different chemical engineering processes.</p>
<p>Product Design: Incorporation of all you’ve learned. It’s usually a cap course were you use all you’ve learned in the previous courses to create a physically and economically viable product.</p>
<p>Other courses in biochemical engineering, protein purification, biomaterials, advanced transport, advanced thermodynamics, separation processes, mathematical modeling, etc. are usually required and they add to your understanding of physical/chemical/biological phenomena and their applications to the engineering of novel products.</p>
<p>There is usually a senior year, two-semester long laboratory projects course. Additionally, many programs require other laboratory courses. You usually enroll in more labs if you want to do something related to biotech, since you probably need to learn some specific techniques that you’ll want to know when looking for a job/applying to grad school.</p>
<p>Many undergrads in ChemE also do research with a Professor or Grad Student, and many programs allow you to get Degree Credit for your research.</p>
<p>In many schools (obviously not all) it is regarded as the hardest major. Nevertheless, it is usually highly rewarding and chemical engineers are considered to be the most versatile engineers overall (you can work in any area you want, since your background is so strong in so many different areas).</p>
<p>How is the outlook for ChemE jobs in the future?</p>
<p>Very good. Very well paid, too.</p>
<p>Benefits of getting a PhD in ChemE?</p>
<p>Good (if not required) if you want to do advanced research in private/government labs, want to be a professor or do research at a University. Requires anywhere from 4-6 years so you really need to be sure that you need/want such a degree (and not a Master’s, which will take 2 years).</p>
<p>What schools in the northeast, primarily in new york, have great ChemE programs? </p>
<p>Columbia’s Fu Foundation has a pretty good program. The Cooper Union, in NYC, (undergraduate only) is known to be one of the best programs in the US (very competitive admissions, too) and they will pay all of your tuition without an exception. MIT is very good too, but the ChemE department doesn’t allow their undergrads to stay in the school for grad school, so if you want a grad degree from MIT, don’t go there for undergrad. Tufts also has a very good program, and it allows more room for liberal arts courses than most other schools, and it’s well-known for its undergraduate focus. Bucknell, Lehigh, RPI and Olin are all known for good undergraduate engineering programs as well.</p>
<p>Just my two cents. Hope this helps.</p>
<p>thank you!</p>
<ol>
<li>(in no particular order) U-Del, Penn, Cooper Union, Rowan, RPI, Lafayette, Lehigh. All have very good under grad ChemE programs.</li>
</ol>