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Pages 1-12

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From page 1...
... Unfortunately, the discoveries of chemical engineers have also been responsible for the production of chemicals that will persist in the environment indefinitely, greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to climate change, plastic materials that accumulate in landfills and the oceans, and the chemicals of war that have inflicted long-term or permanent damage on humans and the environment. Thus the field of chemical engineering today faces opportunities and challenges not only to innovate for the future, but also to innovate in ways that repair the unintended consequences of the past.
From page 2...
... The field of chemical engineering continues to make important contributions to the scalability, delivery, systems integration, and optimization of the mix of energy carriers that will meet energy needs across different regions and sectors of society with lower carbon emissions and costs. Chemical engineers will enable technological advances at every point in the energy value chain, from sources to end uses, and bring to bear the systems-level thinking necessary to balance the economic and environmental trade-offs that will be necessary to transition to a low-carbon energy system.
From page 3...
... SUSTAINABLE ENGINEERING SOLUTIONS FOR ENVIRONMENTAL SYSTEMS Chemical engineers have historically played a central role in the energy sector, but their contributions have been more modest in solving problems in the interconnected space of water, food, and air quality. Yet while water, food, and air have historically been the focus of other disciplines, chemical engineers bring both molecular- and systems-level thinking to pioneering efforts in this highly interconnected space.
From page 4...
... Global pressures associated with climate change and population growth will require substantial changes in the world's food sources, a need that chemical engineers can help address through enabling technologies. Specific opportunities for chemical engineers include precision agriculture, non–animal-based food and low-carbon-intensity food production, and reduction or elimination of food waste.
From page 5...
... Since the first attempts to isolate small molecules from biological organisms and control and reengineer cell behavior, the development of biologically derived products has increased, with major advances resulting from recombinant DNA technology, the sequencing of genomes, the development of polymerase chain reaction, the discovery of induced pluripotent stem cells, and the discovery and implementation of gene editing. All of these challenges present opportunities for chemical engineers to apply systems-level approaches at scales ranging from molecules to manufacturing facilities, and to coordinate and collaborate across disciplines.
From page 6...
... In the transition from a linear to a circular economy, specific opportunities for chemical engineers include redesigning processes and products to reduce or eliminate pollution, developing new ways to reduce and utilize waste, designing products to be used longer and to be recyclable, and designing processes and products using sustainable feedstocks. Recommendation 6-1: Federal research funding should be directed to both basic and applied research to advance distributed manufacturing and process intensification, as well as the innovative technologies, including improved product designs and recycling processes, necessary to transition to a circular economy.
From page 7...
... Chemical engineering expertise around reactor design, separations, and process intensification is critical to the success and growth of the electronic materials industry. Recommendation 7-1: Federal and industry research investments in materials should be directed to  polymer science and engineering, with a focus on life-cycle considera tions, multiscale simulation, artificial intelligence, and structure/ property/processing approaches;  basic research to build new knowledge in complex fluids and soft matter;  nanoparticle synthesis and assembly, with the goal of creating new materials by self- or directed assembly, as well as improvements in the safety and efficacy of nanoparticle therapies; and  discovery and design of new reaction schemes and purification processes, with a steady focus on process intensification, especially for applications in electronic materials.
From page 8...
... It is easy to imagine a not-too-distant future characterized by data-on-demand -- where data on anything, at any level of granularity, will be readily and instantly accessible. Such a future suggests profound and exciting opportunities for chemical engineers, who are trained in process integration and systems-level thinking -- skills that will be required to synthesize disparate data streams into information and knowledge.
From page 9...
... Graduate research increasingly encompasses a diverse range of topics that do not all require the same level of traditionally curated knowledge currently delivered in graduate chemical engineering curricula, and so graduate curricula may need to be adjusted. Internships for graduate students are currently rare, and new models will need to address issues of equity and inclusion, suitable compensation, intellectual property considerations, and adequate intern mentoring.
From page 10...
... To provide more opportunities for BIPOC students, departments should consider redesigning their undergraduate curricula to allow students from 2-year colleges and those who change their major to chemical engineering to complete their degree without extending their time to degree, and provide the support structures necessary to ensure the retention and success of transfer students. Recommendation 9-4: To increase the recruitment of students from historically excluded communities into graduate programs, chemical engineering departments should consider revising their admissions criteria to remove barriers faced by, for example, students who attended less prestigious universities or did not participate in undergraduate research.
From page 11...
... INTERNATIONAL LEADERSHIP America's scholarly leadership in chemical engineering with respect to both the quantity of research, as measured by numbers of publications, and the quality of research, as measured by citation impact, has decreased significantly in the past 15 years, losing ground to international competitors, particularly China. The United States is in a leadership position in some areas of chemical engineering technology, but lags in many niches compared with various other countries.
From page 12...
... 12 New Directions for Chemical Engineering areas of energy; water, food, and air; health and medicine; manufacturing; materials research; tools development; and beyond, with the goal of connecting U.S. research to points of strength in other countries.


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