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Chemical Engineering

Create a Reaction

Chemical engineers combine engineering skills with physical sciences to develop new products and processes, as well as design, build and supervise facilities that convert raw materials into products and services needed in everyday life. With a degree in chemical engineering, the industries and jobs available to you are truly endless!

At UD, you can choose to focus on many different areas of chemical engineering. The most common minors or concentrations for chemical engineering students are:

  • Food Engineering – Create new foods and manage the mass production, handling and distribution of food products.
  • Energy Systems – Oversee energy distribution systems and discover new ways to use clean energy and make processes more energy efficient.
  • Bioengineering – Use engineering principles to improve disease prevention and treatment, medical devices and more to improve the lives of others.
  • Materials Engineering - Design, develop, produce and characterize specialized materials that are critical to new technologies in a wide range of industries. 
  • 98%

    student employment or placement rate within 3 months of graduation

  • 95%

    students participate in external experiential learning experiences including cooperative education or research internships

  • $72K

    average starting salaries after graduation

Classes

Chemical engineering students take a well-rounded group of courses to build their engineering skills and technical knowledge. 

Examples of courses:

  • Material and Energy Balance – The application of mass and energy conservation laws to solve problems typically encountered in chemical process industries.
  • Thermodynamics - Exploring the relationship between heat and other forms of energy and how these thermodynamic laws are applied in chemical industrial processes
  • Reaction Kinetics - The process through which chemical species transform into new substances and the design of reactors to effectively carry out these chemical reactions. 
  • Separation Techniques –  A study into numerous chemical engineering separation techniques and unit operations including equilibrium staged separations, distillation, extraction and absorption.
  • Transport Phenomena and Fluid Dynamics – Development of fundamental relationships in the area of fluid mechanics and how these apply to the transportation and metering of fluids in a variety of chemical engineering industries

View the full plan of study.

Exploring Inside and Outside the Classroom

Our curriculum includes three distinctive chemical engineering labs which allow you to put your coursework into practice, gain first-hand experience with industry-standard equipment and become familiar with the features and processes. These lab experiences occur in the last three semesters at UD and include a transport phenomena lab, unit operations lab and process control lab - highlighting three critical areas of chemical engineering.  

Outside the classroom, you can engage in cutting-edge research with a chemical engineering faculty member. We’re big enough to have significant research programs, but small enough to involve students in meaningful undergraduate research as early as their first year. Our faculty have active research projects in a wide range of chemical engineering specializations and welcome students to join their research programs. 

Students are highly engaged in professional societies that afford unique experiences including networking with working professionals, participating in national challenges and traveling to conferences. Some of the societies our students are most involved in include the American Institute of Chemical Engineering (AIChE), the Society for the Advancement of Material and Process Engineering (SAMPE), Tau Beta Pi Honor Society and the Society of Women Engineers (SWE).  

A High Quality Education

Minors The Ethos Center Bachelor's Plus Master's Program

Minors

Compliment your major or connect with your passion by adding a minor or concentration to your degree program. The School of Engineering offers more than 30 minors, or you can choose one outside of engineering.

Learn more about our minors

Engineering for the Common Good

The Ethos Center connects students to community partners around the world for community-engaged engineering education, research, partnerships and action. Many students go on immersions or breakouts inside and outside the U.S. for hands-on social impact engineering projects.

Learn more about The Ethos Center

Earn Your Master's Sooner

Students can also earn their master’s at UD at an accelerated rate through our Bachelor’s Plus Master’s Program. Earn up to six credits that count for both undergraduate and graduate degree requirements, and enjoy 30% off graduate tuition for the first year of the master’s program. On average, most students graduate with their master’s degree in two additional semesters.

Learn more about the Bachelor's Plus Master's Program

Careers

Because chemical engineering is broad, our graduates work in numerous different fields including biotechnology, energy, food and beverage industries, consumer goods and services, chemical and allied products, materials development and many more. Many of our students co-op and intern at these organizations, and accept full-time positions before graduation.

 Our graduates work at numerous organizations including:

  • Cargill
  • Johnson & Johnson
  • International Paper
  • Procter & Gamble
  • Sherwin-Williams
  • Givaudan

 

  • BP
  • Dow
  • Eastman
  • Honeywell
  • University of Dayton Research Institute

They also continue their education at schools including:

  • Carnegie Mellon University
  • Case Western University
  • Clemson University
  • New York University
  • Northwestern University
  • Ohio State University

 

  • University of California Davis
  • University of Michigan
  • University of Notre Dame
  • University of Wisconsin
  • University of Dayton

View our 2022-23 Final Destination Recent Graduate Survey.

Engineering Co-op and Internship

Explore Your Engineering Future

Take your engineering experience to the next level and find your passion with co-op and internship opportunities. Our Engineering Co-op and Internship office helps students find placements.

CONTACT

Undergraduate Chemical Engineering, Dr. Michael Elsass, Director

Kettering Laboratories, Room 524
300 College Park
Dayton, Ohio 45469 - 0256
937-229-2679
Email

Accreditation

Our undergraduate chemical engineering program is accredited by the Engineering Accreditation Commission of ABET.

Accreditation