The Chemical Engineering Major
Chemical Engineers Make Stuff!
Chemical engineering is an extremely diverse discipline in which chemical engineers use chemistry, mathematics, physics, biology, and economics to solve technical problems. In short, we design ways to convert raw material into valuable products. Modern day chemical engineers may work on making a chemical process more cost effective, efficient, and environmentally friendly, designing a process that mass produces a pharmaceutical based off a recent drug discovery, turning barley and hops into beer, or maybe even a process that uses bacteria and waste to make biofuel (to name a few examples)!
Chemical Engineers Have Impact
Chemical engineers have impacted all of our lives via the processes and products that they have helped create. Our discipline is well poised to help solve some of the biggest challenges facing society today including making solar energy more economical, developing carbon sequestration methods, and providing access to clean water to name a few examples. What Do Chemical Engineers Do? details the many areas of impact that chemical engineers have, as well as specific job functions of chemical engineers.
Our Graduates Are in Demand
In the chemical engineering program at UC Davis, students are exposed to a rich experience that includes research opportunities with the integration of engineering fundamentals and engineering design to industrial applications. Our graduates work in diverse industries, including the petroleum-based or petrochemical industries (i.e. Chevron, Conoco-Philips, Marathon), the consumer-products industry (i.e. Proctor & Gamble, L'Oréal, Clorox), biotechnology companies (i.e. Genentech, BioMarin, Bayer), the food industry (i.e. General Mills, E.&J. Gallo, Anheuser-Busch, Pepsi), and in state agencies (i.e. California Air Resources Board, California Energy Commission) or attend graduate school at universities such as MIT, Princeton, Stanford, UC Berkeley and other top universities.