Biochemistry vs. Chemical Engineering

[joeyrox4life]

i'm not exactly sure what i want my future career to be (my interests keep changing) but right now I'm set on engineering. i did a little research and I've narrowed it down to either chemical or systems design engineering.

if there are any chemical engineers out there, why did u choose this career? do u have to apply a lot of stoichiometry or wut u learned in school in ur work?

as for systems design, I'm not exactly sure how this is applied into our daily lives. I've been told it's like general engineering but it seems like all the other types of engineering cover everything. correct me if I'm wrong.

THANKS!

 

[Null_]

Here's the thing. I love chemistry/math/physics/design, and I love space. If I could combine these things, I would have my perfect job. I'm entering my first year of chemE this fall, but all first years in engineering take the same classes. I read this article (http://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q...rlVYBU&sig=AHIEtbRrEstvswtPnkNxUrtdjJmBv-hhMg) and have some hope that I could do some type of work in this industry. I know that I may be doing similar things in the space industry vs. in a plant, but it would be much more exciting for me to have a part in.

Can anyone give me any guidance? My school has a good Aerospace/mechanical and chemE program. I'm not really interested in airplanes, but I am interested in rocketry. However, I find myself more fascinated with the propulsion aspects and especially utilizing chemicals in the atmosphere for navigating a craft.

I've heard that the space industry (NASA) is now a joke, but that the future lies in private sector companies. I'd appreciate it if someone could expand on this for how it relates to the future of jobs available.

If I'm not able to get a job in the space industry, then I'll probably want to work with future energy sources-i.e. perfecting the hydrogen fuel cell. It's my understanding that these two jobs would be fairly similar, so a master's in chemical engineering should be enough to gain me one of these jobs. Is that the recommended level of education for my goals?I apologize for the jumbled questions. If anything needs more clarity, just ask. :)

Edit- I'm thinking of minoring in Physics, which is just 3 more classes than what's required for chemE. I could take PY 328 (Introduction to Stellar Astrophysics (3 cr) and PY 341 Space time Physics (3 cr). Aside from those, I wouldn't really have much room in my schedule to take AeroE classes since I'm in an honors program which makes us take seminars each semester, which take up elective spaces.

Edit2- http://www.docstoc.com/docs/1084013/Chemical-Engineering-at-NASA Interesting. I'm thinking of doing a CoOp..my school has a nice program, but there's no Space place near me. Should I think of doing it in a different field? How would this look?

 

[sol66]

I am at the cross roads of choosing a career. On one hand I could get an electrical engineering masters and do that for a career, however I could also go into the Ph.D. program for chemical physics at my school. I'm a physics undergrad and I've been doing biophysics research for about a year and I truly enjoy it. I will be publishing my first paper this summer.

I am however more guided by the economy right now, however if it is possible to make a career out of chemical physics then I would rather do so. However I'm not sure what sort of industry jobs would accept such a degree, or rather what kind of jobs I could get. If you know what I can do with a physical chemistry degree please let me know.

 

[absurdist]

Is there anyway I can satisfy my thirst for discovering something about nature (anything as long as it raw origins from nature, a fluid counts; regardless of its real-world applications) by researching or pursuing a phd in ChemE for instance integrating it with its 'physics-based' roots. It could be a natural phenomenon, behaviour, phase , you name something from ChemE.
Statistical Mechanics, Fluid Dynamics, etc are topics both physics graduates and chemical engineers pursue. Correct me if I am wrong.
Also please suggest any other interesting grey areas between ChemE and Natural Science that could be a reasonable target for an industry (oil perhaps).
Does anyone here have any advice for someone aiming for a phd in ChemE.
Im a sophmore and am willing to work my brains out if ChemE can provide this dose of satisfaction for me.

 

[Icskatingqn]

For the past two weeks, I have stressed over whether to major in Cheme or Bioc. Right now I am double majored in both and I plan on doing 5 years anyways, but I'm not sure what to do.

My dream job is to be a virologist. I want to work with the CDC someday and cure the virus responsible for the zombie apocalypse (little immature of me-I've actually been interested in this career for 6 years since my 7th grade had a huge unit over viruses).

But, it is my understanding that unless you get into med school, a biochemistry degree will do little for you. I am afraid of leaving school to find no job (we all are, aren't we?). There are some students who go to medschool after getting a Cheme degree, so I could always go that path in a Cheme degree too. Plus a Cheme degree can guarantee many different opportunities and jobs, and I would like to try to get into medschool too.

I am very interested in viruses, but I find Cheme sort of interesting too, not near as much though. I haven't done any internships or co-ops yet (I'm in 2nd semester of Freshman year), but I plan on trying to get one soon or Sophomore year. My school (Uni of Neb-Lincoln) is big on getting students co-ops and internships.

If I can get into medschool with a Cheme or a Bioc, should I take the Cheme route since I have a better possibility of a job if medschool doesn't work out? I think I am capable of Cheme-I'm struggling in my classes right now with B's, but I will improve.

Thank you for any responses-try not to be too biased please :)

 

[AKwolfeEng]

Ok the title doesn't communicate my question very well. I'm striving to one day earn a degree in Chemical engineering, although cat food and plastic aren't really what I prefer to do for field work. I'm more interested in development of alternate energy advancements, and better fuel/gas, electrical efficiency from an atomic level to industrial transformers. Yes, i haven't left out the possibility of mechanical engineering, or electrical engineering, but i have this desire for improving the way energy is used, not wasting it.

On another note, i feel as the technology is here, oil companies simply buy out the ideas and rarely are they given publicly. Haha so, fuel and gas a good option?

 

[mrund3rd09]

I'm one semester away from finishing my bachelor's degree in chemical engineering at Iowa State. There are two main things on my mind right now: finding a job and relocating.

I have a 3.5 cum GPA (major GPA is like 3.7). But I have no internship experience, which is bad. For a long time, I've thought about extending my education through a masters/phd, but that's a big commitment, especially for a phd. I would rather get some experience in the field and figure out what I really like. Out of all the possible career paths in chem e, R&D seems the most appealing to me. What's the best, least stressful way to get there?

Also, I really want to relocate. I've thought about going to california, texas, or new england. So far, Austin seems like a really good place to live. But I can't get any job offers from there if I live in Iowa. And if I move there in a leap of faith and come out empty handed, I'd be SOL. One thing I've though about is getting a Masters from UT-Austin, but that school is ridiculously competitive for chem e (It's top 10).

any advice?

 

[KingKai]

I am a student at the University of Waterloo, and thinking of transferring into chemical engineering.
I am very interested in the emerging field of BCI technology (Brain-Computer Interfaces) and would hope that a degree in chemical engineering would eventually get me a job working on a project involving BCIs.

Technology is obviously developing at an increasing rate, and by the time I graduate in 5 years, job markets will likely have changed beyond what they were like when I started my undergrad. I want a degree that is not employable now, but employable 5 years into the future.

^^I know it is very hard to predict the future of job employ-ability, but we can make inferences based on the direction technology is taking us, correct?

I also love nanotechnology, and my school has a nanotechnology engineering discipline, but it is also the hardest program to get into and I do not possesses the academic record to grant me access to it. Also, I don't know how employable a nanotech engineering degree is, since it is relatively new.

The brain is obviously a complex chemical system of neurotransmitters, hormones, and electrical signals based on sodium and potassium voltage gradients. I believe that the first real AI systems (if you could call them that) will be a fusion of bio-intelligence with computer technology.

Brain-Computer Interfaces, being such a interdisciplinary technology, involves neuroscience, computer science, signal processing, biochemistry, and circuits/computer engineering. I can also see software engineering playing a role in the future of this field, as augmented reality systems become available to consumers (many people in the field of science, such as Ray Kurzweil, have predicted this)

^^Some of you may hate on Ray Kurzweil and think his predictions are fantasy, but you must admit that he is brilliant and has been fairly accurate in his predictions thus far.

If this field is not becoming well established by 2018, I would venture into the petroleum field of chemical engineering instead, which I also hold a great interest in, although not nearly as much as BCIs.

^Since Canada is largely a resource based economy, largely in part to Alberta's petroleum industry, it is definitely a way to make a great salary, as petroleum engineers usually do, according to statistics.



I know this is somewhat of a complicated question, but UWaterloo is considered to be one of the best chemical engineering programs in Canada, tied with UofT. I want this to launch me into the career I want to build for myself.



Thanks for Reading,


- Ryan
University of Waterloo Engineering