As you may recall, my father is an emeritus professor of Chemical Engineering at Penn State University. For the past couple of years, he has taught an Introduction to Chemical Engineering seminar for the freshmen. I recently gave a guest lecture for the seminar entitled, “What a Chemical Engineer Actually Does.” Preparing for and giving the lecture this year led me to reflect on some educational issues, engineering and otherwise, that I would like to share with you.

If you are not familiar with chemical engineering, you may have the impression that it is a narrowly-focused degree intended to train you to design and operate equipment that you might find in chemical plants, such as pumps, reactors, and distillation towers. While chemical engineers are certainly taught these things, the foundation of the degree is a much broader study of the application of chemistry and physics to real world phenomena. Thus it can be and is used by graduates in many non-chemical industry jobs. There is also a strong emphasis on data analysis and problem solving. As a result, chemical engineers tend to have quite varied careers.

I highlight the flexibility of a chemical engineering degree to the freshmen by reviewing my diverse job responsibilities over the past 26 years and explaining how I have been able to apply my skills in different circumstances. Here is partial list to give you an idea. I have:

  • designed spray dryers in Denmark to make products like powered milk and laundry detergent;
  • studied the chemical reactions which occur during the manufacture of microelectronic devices at the University of Pennsylvania;
  • executed yield improvement projects for a staggeringly large chemical plant in Houston which produced billions of pounds per year of styrene and propylene oxide (used in foam cushions);
  • supervised construction of a new chemical plant in Mexico;
  • investigated a chemical plant fire in Brazil;
  • designed and tested equipment for the separation and purification of human blood plasma proteins in Clayton, NC; and
  • managed an international commercial operations department across the globe.

It’s been a pretty good ride so far.

While walking the students through my resume, I also emphasize that even though most of my jobs have all had a technical focus, my ability to communicate persuasively, learn new material quickly, and bring projects to closure have been equally, or perhaps even more, important than my engineering skills.

For the past five decades, chemical engineering has been ranked either first or second among four-year degrees for the highest starting salaries. Given the importance of starting salary to being able to pay back college loans and to long-term financial security, I believe that it is important to try to understand why chemical engineers have been so highly valued over such a long period of time. There are a couple of factors which I think are relatively clear. Engineers tend to have careers in the manufacturing sector, which generally pay better salaries than those in the service sector. Also, due to the nature of the job, engineers (even those fresh out of school) usually supervise lab technicians and/or plant operators. Having supervisory responsibility nearly always comes with a higher salary. There is a third factor, which I believe is more subtle and may also answer the seemingly unrelated question of why we teach calculus in high school.

I am the veteran of many calculus tutoring sessions. Calculus is a very difficult subject and, in my experience, tired and frustrated students are often moved to exclaim such things as “why do we have to learn this?” or “when am I ever going to need to use the chain rule in real life?” I usually answer that learning calculus teaches them to break down difficult problems in a structured way, and that this is part of a solid and well-rounded education. While I believe this answer to be true, it has been nearly universally regarded as being totally unsatisfactory. On my drive home from Penn State the other day, it occurred to me that there is another reason that we teach calculus in high school, one which is less ennobling.

One lesson that we drill into our high schoolers, whether we intend to or not, is that life is about competition for scarce rewards, be they acceptance into prestigious universities or high paying jobs after they graduate. As a society, we need a way to allocate those scarce rewards. So we use calculus in high school as a sorting process. Those who can survive and prosper in Advanced Placement B/C Calculus win the prizes.

In my opinion, chemical engineering serves as the Advanced Placement B/C Calculus of college majors. It is very technically challenging and requires both dedication and endurance. If you can successfully navigate the meat grinder of partial differential equations and thermodynamics while simultaneously taking advanced chemistry and physics classes, the world takes notice. As a result, chemical engineering graduates are sought out by a broad array of employers and institutions rather than just chemical and petrochemical companies. Furthermore, chemical engineers have high acceptance rates in medical, law, and business schools.

I would be remiss if I did not include a special message for any young women who are in the “good at science and math” category and contemplating a college major. I strongly, strongly, strongly recommend considering engineering. In addition to all of the points I raised above, women are significantly underrepresented in engineering and are consequently highly sought after when they graduate. Further, one of the reasons that women make less money than men in science and technology fields is the tendency for female students to either select or be steered into science rather than engineering as a career path.

If we look just at the chemistry versus chemical engineering choice, we find that current starting salaries for chemical engineers are $65,000 versus $40,000 for chemists, and this disparity only grows over time. While money isn’t everything, it often comes in rather handy. Furthermore, while I anticipate that I may receive some dissenting views on this, if two people are applying for the same job, one with a chemical engineering degree and one with a chemistry degree, the engineer is going to get the job almost every time.

In case it is not obvious already, I enjoy mentoring young science and technology minded students, and would be happy to correspond with readers or aspiring students about considering engineering as a major. My email address is listed below.

Have a comment or question? Use the interface below or send me an email to commonscience@chapelboro.com. Think that this column includes important points that others should consider? Send out a link on Facebook or Twitter. Want more Common Science? Follow me on Twitter on @Commonscience.

Related Stories
'Girls Talk Math' Encourages Young Women to Pursue Careers in Mathematics
New Report Shows CH-Durham Best Area for Equal Pay