Degree programs

Our department offers two undergraduate degrees: the Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering (BSChE) and Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree. The program leading to the Bachelor of Science degree in Chemical Engineering (B.S.Ch.E.) is accredited by the Engineering Accreditation Commission of ABET (http://www.abet.org).

Click here to download a flyer with information about our undergraduate programs.

Career Options

Many career paths are open to chemical engineering graduates. In today's rapidly changing business climate, industry sectors from petrochemicals to biotechnology and semiconductor manufacturing offer a wide variety of employment opportunities to our graduates.

As a result, chemical engineering graduates may get involved with (among others):

• product and process development for the chemical industry;
• exploration, production, and refining of oil & natural gas;
• design and optimization of fabrication facilities for semiconductors or magnetic storage devices;
• production of advanced materials - from plastics and fibers to catalysts and biomaterials;
• design of water and air pollution control devices;
• production of pharmaceuticals and biologic devices used for medical applications.

While industry employs the majority of chemical engineering students receiving a bachelor's degree, a large fraction of our graduates continue their education in:

• graduate schools to prepare for academic careers and industrial research jobs, or
• professional schools (medical, law or business).

Our Curriculum

What opens all these career options to our graduates is a broad education that encompasses both fundamentals and applications to give students a sound scientific and technical grounding for further development in a variety of professional environments.

Courses in mathematics, chemistry, physics and computational engineering provide the foundation for the chemical engineering core, which introduces students to chemical process fundamentals, fluid mechanics, heat and mass transfer, thermodynamics, kinetics, reactor design, process control and process design. Chemical engineering curricula place an emphasis on chemistry not found in other engineering disciplines. This background allows chemical engineers to tackle a wide variety of technical problems arising in the chemical, electronic and pharmaceuticals/biotechnology industries.

To complete their technical education, Rice students seeking a BSChE degree in chemical engineering take course electives in two or more other engineering disciplines to satisfy a "breadth" requirement. Or, they can use their course electives to create a focus area in one of the following four disciplines:

• bioengineering/biotechnology,
• computational engineering,
• environmental engineering, and
• materials science and engineering.

CHEMICAL & BIOMOLECULAR ENGINEERING DEPT. MS-362
Rice University PO Box 1892 Houston, Texas 77251-1892	E-mail: chbe@rice.edu	Phone: (713) 348-4902 FAX:(713) 348-5478