SUNY- ESF Confused about ABET accreditation

Parents Forum
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Hi. One of the things I’ve learned from these forums is to check to see that any engineering program is ABET accredited. I am confused about the engineering programs at SUNY-ESF.

They offer a B.S. in Chemical engineering that does NOT appear to be accredited by ABET. But they have a B.S. in Bioprocess Engineering which IS accredited by ABET but the way the ABET accreditation reads is:

Bioprocess Engineering (B.S.)

Accredited: Oct 1, 2010 – Present

Accredited Locations: Main Campus

Date of Next Comprehensive Review: 2024–2025

Accredited By: Engineering Accreditation Commission

Program Criteria: Chemical, Biochemical, Biomolecular Engineering

International Mutual Recognition Agreement: Washington Accord | Bilateral Engineers Canada

I am not sure what that means? The school’s website says this:

Our undergraduate program in Bioprocess Engineering is accredited by the Engineering Accreditation Commission (EAC) of ABET under criteria for Chemical Engineering programs, demonstrating we meet academic engineering standards in preparing our graduates for success by providing a strong educational foundation.

Can someone please explain what this means? Thanks.

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Looks like they have a couple of majors that are ABET accredited: APS

My understanding from old posts on this site that the school renamed their chem E major to be called bioprocess engineering.

My D is a chem E from another school and the plan of study for bioprocess engineering is very very similar.

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Yes, it looks like SUNY ESF bioprocess engineering is ABET accredited under chemical engineering criteria, but SUNY ESF chemical engineering is not.

You may want to ask SUNY ESF if it is seeking ABET accreditation for chemical engineering. If it is a new program seeking ABET accreditation from the start, it cannot receive ABET accreditation until after the first students have graduated, but then the ABET accreditation is retroactive to them.

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And I believe students at ESF can cross register at Syracuse.

Also, for chem E, ABET isn’t really necessary for employers.

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You are ten steps ahead of me. :grinning: I did reach out. The Bioprocess Engineering program focuses on one aspect of Chemical engineering. They are in the process of getting accredited this year for the chemical engineering major which would cover other industries besides those covered in Bioprocess Engineering. Which leads me to another question. Should teen consider applying to a newly accredited chemical engineering program or is it better for the program to have been around a bit?

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I reached out to the school and you are right. They said the curriculum is similar.

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ESF has had their other accreditations for over a decade and there is so much overlap between these two majors. If your student likes ESF, I wouldn’t hesitate about the new accreditation for chem E.

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Thanks.

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