Chemical Engineering Bachelor's Degree

Save lives, clean up the planet, and make everyday life safer and easier. Join the community of professionals who combine engineering and chemistry to make the world a better place. It will be the most rewarding decision you ever make.

Would you like to become a "universal" engineer, with the ability, versatility, and knowledge to solve difficult problems for a wide range of industries? If so, chemical engineering is the degree for you. Countless fields rely on chemical engineers, from environmental to energy to medical.

Literally everything around us is made up of chemicals. With your love of engineering, chemistry, and math, along with a desire to make a difference, you will transform chemicals and raw materials into useful, valuable, and often lifesaving forms.

The Department's Unit Operations Laboratory (UO Lab) is one of the best in the nation, with two pilot-plant set-ups, numerous bench-scale processes, and a state-of-the-art process simulation and control facility. With the UO Lab, students have the opportunity to learn in a real-world chemical-processing work environment. Get access to two fully automated pilot plants: a three-story distillation column (solvent recovery unit) and a two-story batch reactor.

At Michigan Tech, the student chapter of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers is a great way to get involved. Check out the chapter's activities, which bring together undergraduate and graduate students, plus faculty, staff, and industry leaders.

Undergraduate research opportunities are plentiful. As early as your sophomore year, you can gain valuable experience working with a faculty mentor in diverse research thrust areas such as:

  • Sustainable Construction Materials and Resource Recovery
  • Alternative and Renewable Energy
  • Bioprocessing and Biomanufacturing
  • Food, Water, and Air Quality and Security
  • Medical Sensors and Diagnostics
  • Pharmaceuticals and Vaccine Manufacturing
  • Sustainable Chemistry and Manufacturing
  • Advanced Materials and Polymers
  • Waste Recovery and Recycling
  • 90%
    student participation in co-ops, internships, or Enterprise
  • 3
    semesters of student experience in our state-of-the-art UO Lab
  • many
    bench and pilot-plant-scale unit operations experiments

Tomorrow Needs Versatile Chemical Engineers

With a bachelor's degree in chemical engineering, you could design processes that involve chemical or biological transformation in large-scale manufacturing plants, ensuring those processes are operated safely, sustainably, and economically.

You could also play an important role in protecting the environment—inventing cleaner technologies, calculating environmental impacts, and studying the fates of chemicals in the natural world.

Chemical engineers have contributed to major scientific breakthroughs, including the following:

  • Chemotherapy with reduced side effects
  • Vaccines that ward off epidemics
  • Cleaner sources of energy
  • Earth-friendly plastics
  • Greener chemical processes
  • Innovative consumer goods
  • Rapid blood-typing
  • Medical microdevices
  • Rechargeable batteries
  • Seawater desalination

Chemical engineers enjoy an average starting salary that is consistently among the highest in the nation. Regional, national, and global corporations recruit our graduates, with a 98-percent placement rate within six months of graduation.

Be Career-Ready

Students who graduate with a BS in Chemical Engineering are prepared to transition directly to entry-level jobs in industry; however, an advanced degree is desirable for research positions. Students interested in progressive career options should explore our graduate education to work in academia, research, medical school, or advanced industry.

Career Opportunities for Multifaceted Chemical Engineers

  • Chemical production or manufacturing
  • Mineral processing and mining
  • Pharmaceuticals
  • Biotechnology and bioprocessing
  • Sustainable engineering
  • Food production
  • Consumer goods
  • Alternative energy
  • Process safety
  • Environmental cleanup
  • Design engineering
  • Consulting
  • Medical school
  • Law school

Engineering Enterprise Concentration

Pursue an Enterprise concentration as part of your degree by taking part in Michigan Tech's award-winning Enterprise Program. It's a great way to enhance your undergraduate degree with client-based teamwork. Enterprise is when students work in teams on real projects, with real clients, in an environment that's more like a business than a classroom. Choose any one of 20-plus Enterprise teams on campus to invent products, provide services, and pioneer solutions. Apply the skills learned in your major and gain some valuable new skills. Tackle real-world design projects for industry sponsors or take part in a national competition (or both). This concentration adds courses in business and entrepreneurship.

Ready to take the next step?

Learn more about studying chemical engineering at Michigan's flagship technological university.

 

"The Unit Operations Laboratory was something that set Michigan Tech apart from a lot of other schools."Jake Voss, undergraduate chemical engineering student

Earn an ABET Accredited Engineering Degree

Our program is accredited by the Engineering Accreditation Commission of ABET, https://www.abet.org. With ABET accreditation, you can be sure that your Michigan Tech degree meets the quality standards that prepares you to enter a global workforce.

And, because it requires comprehensive, periodic evaluations, ABET accreditation demonstrates our continuing commitment to the quality of your program—both now and in the future.

Sought Worldwide

ABET's voluntary peer-review process is highly respected. Its criteria are developed by technical professionals and focuses on what you, as a student, experience and learn. It adds critical value to academic programs in technical disciplines—where quality, precision, and safety are of the utmost importance.

Chemical Engineering Program Criteria

The curriculum includes:

  1. Applications of mathematics, including differential equations and statistics to engineering problems.
  2. College-level chemistry and physics courses, with some at an advanced level.
  3. Engineering application of these sciences to the design, analysis, and control of processes, including the hazards associated with these processes.

Read more about chemical engineering accreditation, educational objectives, and student outcomes.

ABET logo

Accredited by the Engineering Accreditation Commission of ABET, https://www.abet.org.

The Chem Eng Department

In the Department of Chemical Engineering, we offer the tools, hands-on experiences, and a nurturing environment to help you realize your goals and dreams. We provide a high-quality learning experience—one that will prepare you to assume a leadership position as a chemical engineer. You'll receive our personalized attention to support your academic success.

  • Our state-of-the-art facilities support our undergraduate curriculum by allowing students to experiment with real-world applications of classroom theory. Our world-class Unit Operations Lab will provide you with a unique opportunity for hands-on experience in chemical processing.
  • Our Chemical Engineering Learning Commons, a space dedicated to undergraduates, hosts peer-tutoring and peer-mentoring services, and other student gatherings. We offer the tools and a nurturing environment to help you realize your goals.
  • Get ready to contribute on the job from day one. Our students benefit from hands-on chemical engineering experiences ranging from Enterprise and Senior Design to industry internships and co-ops and Study Abroad programs.
  • We also offer a technical communication course designed especially for undergraduate chemical engineering curriculum—specifically in response to industry's great need for effective communicators.

MTU engineering

Real Engineering. Meaningful Work.

We are committed to inspiring students, advancing knowledge, and innovating technological solutions to create a sustainable, just, and prosperous world. With an entering engineering class of about 1,000 students, 17 degrees to choose from, and 160 faculty in the College of Engineering alone, we provide a world-class education with the trusted reputation of Michigan Tech.

As a student at Michigan Tech you’ll work closely with faculty mentors, immerse yourself in experience-powered learning, and gain a thorough understanding of engineering practice. Collaborate and innovate in laboratories, coursework, Enterprise, and Senior Design—you'll work with industry partners on real engineering projects and develop strong skill sets for your future.

You could study abroad, with engineering opportunities ranging from a few weeks to one full year. Or focus on problems facing disadvantaged communities in countries around the world. Michigan Tech’s D80 program offers you a range of options.

More than 400 employers regularly recruit our students for internships, co-ops, and full-time employment. Engineering students average seven interviews, and 98 percent are employed within their field of study, enlist in the military, or enroll in a graduate school within six months of graduation. A degree in engineering from Michigan Tech can take you anywhere.

Tomorrow Needs You

Engineers do a lot of things, but there's one thing we do first and foremost: we help people. We use creative ideas and technologies to solve problems in health care, energy, transportation, hunger, space exploration, climate change, and more—much more. Become an engineer who is ready for what tomorrow needs.

Student Stories