Chemical Forums

Specialty Chemistry Forums => Chemical Education and Careers => Topic started by: sopl50 on July 07, 2016, 05:57:50 AM

Title: Would specializing in sustainable chemical engineering be a good idea?
Post by: sopl50 on July 07, 2016, 05:57:50 AM
I was just hoping for a bit of advice from the experts that have experience in this field. I'm nearing the end of a bachelor's degree in chemistry and am interested in doing a masters in chemical engineering. I've seen a different masters program that focuses on sustainable chemical engineering though. This sounded interesting, but I was wondering how this may affect career prospects? My first assumption was that a focus in sustainable chemical engineering may be more future-proof with the increasing focus on things like renewable energies and environmental impact of industry.   But on the other hand, regular chemical engineering graduates might be much more sought after at the moment. I've done a bit of research but was hoping to get some opinions from people too, so any advice would be appreciated.
Title: Re: Would specializing in sustainable chemical engineering be a good idea?
Post by: curiouscat on July 07, 2016, 11:46:04 AM
My advice: Stay broad.

A regular Chemical Engineer can be very often hired to work on Renewables projects etc.

OTOH if you self label as a "sustainable ChE" people may (perhaps incorrectly) assume that you are unfit for (say) Pharma / Semiconductors / Oil etc.

My advice is stay broad unless you are very very sure that this is the only work you ever want to do. You can always choose coursework of the type you like.
Title: Re: Would specializing in sustainable chemical engineering be a good idea?
Post by: sopl50 on July 08, 2016, 04:06:38 AM
That makes sense, thanks for the advice.