Programs

Chemical engineering students visited the degussa plant, located in Waterford, NY, only 15 minutes from the Rensselaer campus.

The Student Chapter of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) recently competed in the "Chem-E-Car" competition. Above, Rensselaer's winning car — "The RPI Bullet" — was made of Legos and powered by a Proton Exchange Membrane (PEM) fuel cell Rensselear's American Institute of Chemical Engineers Student Website »

The major educational objective in the Howard P. Isermann Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering is to prepare students to enter their engineering practice dealing with chemical as well as physical processes to meet the challenges for the future.

Curriculum

The curriculum, which builds on chemistry, biology, mathematics, basic sciences, and engineering science, culminates in professional applications in which theory is tempered by engineering art and economic principles.

Through this curriculum, graduates are prepared equally well for professional practice or for advanced study.

Opportunities for creative and satisfying practice in chemical and biological engineering can be found in conception, design, control, or management of processes involving chemical and/or biochemical transformations.

These processes range from the more conventional conversion of crude oil into petrochemicals and plastics, to the development of novel processes for the production of biopharmaceuticals, to the creation of lab on chip devices using nanomaterials.

An undergraduate degree that works!

Our chemical engineering graduates are well prepared for advanced graduate study and for professional practice. The companies employing Rensselaer chemical engineering graduates during the past decade are;

• Amgen (biopharmaceuticals),
• BioGen-IDG (biopharmaceuticals),
• Centocor (biopharmaceuticals),
• ExxonMobil (oil and chemicals),
• General Electric (plastics),
• Human Genome Sciences (biopharmaceuticals),
• IBM (semiconductors),
• Intel (semiconductors),
• Millipore (biopharmaceuticals),
• Merck (pharmaceuticals), and
• Procter & Gamble (consumer products)

Chemical engineering also provides an excellent background for entering medical school and law school.

Diverse career choices

Diverse career choices exist not only in the chemical industry, but in virtually all processing industries, including agricultural, biotechnology, biomedical, chemical, food, nuclear, semiconductor processing, and environmental operations.

By emphasizing basic principles, the program prepares its graduates for positions spanning the spectrum of activities from research and development, to process and project engineering, to production, or to technical marketing.