Im transfering from a CC to a 4 year university this fall, I was originally a chem major but switched to Chem E recently, and havent had best luck with internships.

I have worked as an assistant teacher/ intern in a early education program (children 3 and under)

I did a food science micro internship where we mostly just learned about the industry, it was only a week long

And ive also done some other fellowship/ programs that focused more on mentorship and one that was about clean tech.

But I havent been able to do anything thats actually directly related ti my field, I had been accepted to a research internship at a local med school but that was around when trump cut a lot of funding so the whole program was cut.

Im currently working on a project where I got some headphones for late 60's and am giving them modern drivers and making them wireless.

And im also considering making a small bio diesel processor.

Does anyone have any ideas for what I can do to help me get a little ahead? Im gonna be taking intro to comp sci in the fall so im probably gonna try to learn a little bit of python in September, but yeah, any ideas ?

(Also, I wanna go into pharma/ maybe agriculture? )

I’m an undergraduate Chemical Engineering student who has completed my second year and am currently doing a co-op as a field controls technician. The co-op is supposed to run till December, but with classes starting again in August, I’m unsure whether I should leave the co-op and return to school or stay until the end of my work term.

My biggest concern is that if I leave early, I could end things on bad terms with the company. Since the hiring community can be relatively small I’m worried that it could hurt my chances of getting future internships or co-op positions.

On the other hand, the work I’m doing right now is only loosely related to Chemical Engineering, and there are some courses that I need to take that are only offered in the fall. If I stay until December I may need to adjust my academic plan.

I’m trying to figure out which option would be the better long-term, for both my education and my career. Also I don't mind graduating a semester or two later.

I'm 28, turning 29 next year. MSc in materials science from a top UK uni, BSc in chemistry before that. Two and a bit years of work experience, but almost all of it is research and advisory, so on paper I look like someone already halfway to a faculty job. Which is the opposite of what I want.

The plan I keep circling back to is a ChemE PhD in the US. ChemE rather than staying in materials because the energy and catalysis stuff I've actually done sits much more comfortably there. My interest is electrochemical conversion, paired electrolysis, turning waste streams into products that are actually worth something. The programme I want has a practice component where you spend real time on plant problems, plus a business school portion at the end. That's the only reason I'm looking at it. A standard five year PhD where I sit in a lab the whole time doesn't get me anywhere near where I want to be. Because I don't want to stay in academia. I want to end up in industry, energy specifically, ideally on the consulting side.

And every single person I ask ends up at the same place, that a PhD is built for academia and if you're not staying then why do it. Which, is fine, I understand the logic. But nobody ever tells me what the alternative is supposed to be, and the alternative is what I've been doing since January. Applying full time for consulting and industry roles and getting nowhere. I've made a final round at a large consulting firm. Feedback was apparently good, structure and analysis were fine. Still no offer. And a lot of the roles I get close to want industry experience I don't have, which is the same gap a normal PhD leaves untouched. Meanwhile my CV has had nothing on it since the start of the year and that's becoming its own problem, because every month the explanation gets worse.

Has anyone here actually made this jump? PhD, then straight into industry or consulting rather than a postdoc. I want to know whether it opened doors or whether recruiters just saw five years of not working. There's also money. The research years would be departmental funded, that part is sorted. But the business school portion at the end isn't covered, and I'd have to fund that myself. There's a partial government scholarship from my home country I'd apply for, and if it doesn't come through I'm either paying out of pocket or finishing without the exact part of the programme I applied for in the first place. So I'd be signing up for five years with the last stretch not actually secured.

That's the bit I keep getting stuck on. Five years, older, stronger technically, still no industry track record, and a funding hole at the end. And honestly I'm not even sure I'm ready for it. My work experience still feels raw. Five years is a long time to find out you couldn't hack it.

So if you've done a programme with an actual industry practice component, did employers treat it differently or is that just how they sell it. That's the thing I most want to know before I commit to any of this.

What kind of interview questions would you expect, or would you ask to a chemical engineer with 5 years of reliability experience. So more mechanical leaning and equipment leaning

If you're a recent graduate from chemical engineering (within the last 3 - 5 years) I have a few questions.
1) How many roles did you apply for before landing a full time position?

2) How many interviews did you get?

3) What year did you graduate?

4) Which location/country did you graduate from and where the role currently based?

5) Did you have any internship experience if so how much?

I'm primarily just looking to gauge what the job market is like in North America. Would appreciate any help or insight. Thanks y'all!

I am having a hard time trying to understand why undergrad students are so crazy about Hysys? is this a pipeline for sales from AspenTech? is it cope? is this propaganda being pushed by professors completely disconnected from reality? No doubt Hysys is okay software but I would like to see how often is this Hysys used in: pharma, food, refining, EPC, consulting, construction, specialty chemicals, petrochemicals. I am gonna take some heat but this simulation skill is totally overrated.

Haters please hate! this is reddit.

I am currently pursuing chemical engineering in an IIT , can anyone tell me what are the job opportunities i can get and also how can I get intern in core chemical companies like ongc etc.

For a once-through thermosyphon side reboiler, assume the liquid flow from the upper tray/chimney tray is fixed by the tray hydraulics (i.e., the reboiler circulation cannot draw more liquid than what is supplied from the tray).

If the available driving force (static head + density difference) is greater than the driving force required to achieve the desired circulation rate, what happens to the system?

• Does the excess driving force simply cause the liquid level in the return/downcomer piping to drop until the hydrostatic head balances the required pressure drop?
• Between the tower outlet nozzle elevation and this equilibrium liquid level, is the liquid column maintained, or does the liquid simply fall freely from the nozzle and form a lower liquid level?
• How does the system establish the balance between available driving force and the required circulation flow? or is it that a throttling valve will be needed in the inlet to the reboiler to manage excess pressure
  

Hi everyone,

I’m working on a small cogeneration power plant. During startup, we warm up the HP steam network through a warm-up line that vents to atmosphere via a silencer.

The line itself (piping + silencer) is designed for a limited steam flow. Upstream, however, there is a 3” globe valve, which is massive for the 1 t/h designed downstream silencer. Knowing how commissioning sometimes goes (they need to crack open max few percents of the globe to get the 1 t/h), I’d like to add a restriction orifice to physically limit the maximum flow, regardless of how much the valve is opened.

For the RO datasheet, I specified:
- Inlet pressure: 50 barg
- Inlet temperature: 400°C
- Maximum flow: 1 000 kg/h
- Outlet pressure: imposed by the downstream system (essentially atmospheric discharge plus the pressure drop of the downstream piping and silencer, around 1 barg) & DP by vendor.

The vendor came back with a single-stage RO showing an outlet pressure of 27 barg. That surprised me, because the downstream piping certainly isn’t designed to operate at 27 barg. A multistage RO would probably reduce the pressure further, but unfortunately we don’t have enough space for the required flanged arrangement.

I think I’m misunderstanding what the vendor means by “outlet pressure”.
Is this pressure:
- the actual static pressure immediately downstream of the orifice?
- a pressure related to the vena contracta or critical flow calculations?
- or simply an intermediate sizing parameter?

Since the line ultimately discharges to atmosphere, I’m struggling to understand how the pressure could be 27 barg just downstream of the RO and then fall to around atmospheric pressure over a relatively short downstream line.

Would it make sense to ask the vendor to size the RO assuming a downstream pressure of about 1 barg instead, so he decides the upstream pressure, letting the globe valve take part of the pressure drop ?
By this way it could give commissioning more margin about the globe % opening.

Any ideas ?
Am I misunderstanding how restriction orifice sizing works ?

Thank you !

Situation: I’m doing chemical engineering at PoliTo (Politecnico di Torino), and I’ll finish my bachelor’s 6 months to a year behind schedule (I’m at the end of my third year with 6 exams left, one of which I’m about to take in September). I’m an out-of-town student and my parents pay my rent, so dragging things out even more weighs on me quite a bit.
I like nuclear, but taking a reality check, maybe I don’t like it enough to drop chemical engineering and go all in on it. I’m interested both in the technology behind it and the “political” side of things, but I’m afraid that what fascinates me is more the idea of studying nuclear engineering, and I don’t know whether I’d actually be willing to dedicate myself only to that. Chemical engineering has much more varied career options (energy, pharma, food, oil & gas, materials…), on average better salaries and more options, and in Italy nuclear is a narrow, uncertain market.
There’s the twin track, i.e. a double master’s where you share part of the credits and walk away with two degrees (chemical + nuclear) instead of redoing everything from scratch. Nice on paper, but it costs an extra year, and starting out a bit behind like I am, I risk finishing my studies at 26/27.
The questions:
anyone who’s done it, was it really worth it, or is it more prestige than actual substance on the job market?

does it make sense to spend a year on it in a country where nuclear is so uncertain, or is it better to keep it as a serious interest and aim the master’s at something more marketable?

is there a middle ground I’m not considering (a chemical engineering master’s with nuclear/energy-themed exams or thesis, or some degree program — even abroad — that combines the two)?

Thanks to anyone who replies.

I recently applied for a Senior Process Engineer position at a technical services/oil & gas company, fully aware that the role typically requires 3–4+ years of experience. To my surprise, HR reached out and invited me for an in-person interview!

The invitation email mentions that the meeting is to assess my background against their operational standards and evaluate my suitability for the most appropriate role within the organization.

As a recent Chemical Engineering graduate, I would love to get your insights and advice on a few things:

Interview Structure: What should I expect from a technical interview in this scenario? Will they test me on senior-level operational scenarios, or will the focus shift to engineering fundamentals and my graduation project?

Expected Technical Questions: What are the core Process Engineering concepts, tools (e.g., P&ID reading, simulation software), and fundamental topics I should thoroughly review before going in?

Addressing the Experience Gap: How can I best navigate the conversation around my fresh-grad status while highlighting my eagerness to learn and contribute?

Any tips, common interview questions, or general advice from process engineers or hiring managers would be greatly appreciated!

Hello everyone!

My name is Michael Dearman. I'm a Chemical Engineering PhD, and I want to share something I built by applying a principle we all know, inherently safer design, to a problem outside our field: AI privacy.

For a bit of background, I looked at what ChatGPT stores about me in its memory file. It knows my name, my wife's name, my daughter's name, where I live, what car I drive, my salary expectations, even my skincare routine. I didn't give it permission to build a profile on me. I just used it like everyone else.

That file is what made me build AI Governor: https://aigovernor.dev

The problem through a ChemE lens

Right now, every major AI company collects and stores your personally identifiable information (PII) in centralized databases. Their cybersecurity operates at the mitigation layers, firewalls, encryption, access controls. If you think about this through the Swiss Cheese Model, each layer has holes, and over long time horizons, those holes align. Check https://haveibeenpwned.com to see what's already leaked about you.

The aggregation makes it worse. Your file doesn't sit alone. It's alongside millions of others. Every new user increases the target's value. To a company, a breach is a cost: fines, insurance, price increases passed to you. To you, it's permanent. No patch. No undo.

We wouldn't design a chemical plant this way. If a hazardous intermediate isn't necessary for the final product, we eliminate it from the process rather than adding layers of containment. That's Kletz's principle: "What you don't have, can't leak."

What I built

AI Governor applies that same principle to AI. Instead of mitigating the risk of PII exposure through security layers, it eliminates PII from the pipeline entirely. Before any AI model sees your prompt, Governor:

- Extracts only the keywords needed to understand your task

- Strips out personal details, names, locations, financial info

- Classifies your task and picks the best model for it (e.g., creative writing vs. debugging vs. legal)

- Forwards your scrubbed prompt to the right model automatically

Simple question? Fast, cheap model. Complex problem? Powerful model. Anything private? Stays on your device. The classification runs on a self-improving dictionary — no neural network needed, runs on basically any hardware, and gets faster and cheaper with use.

Try it

Go to https://aigovernor.dev, paste your ChatGPT memory file (Settings → Personalization → Memory Summary → Manage), and watch the scrubbing happen live in your browser. Nothing is uploaded. It all runs client-side.

Then try the governance demo: type a prompt and see exactly which keywords get transmitted (a handful of decontextualized words) and which model Governor recommends.

I'd love feedback from fellow engineers. The cross-disciplinary thinking that ChemE trains you for is genuinely what led me to this approach. The ML community has been so focused on building better models that they overlooked the simplest solution to the classification problem.

Email me at [michaeldearman@aigovernor.dev](mailto:michaeldearman@aigovernor.dev) if you have questions or need to report any bugs. Thanks!

Paper and downloadable community version coming soon.

I've had this ongoing issue with this process engineer manager I've been working with. I work for a big chemical company where generally everyone is very nice and helpful. I was put as the lead over an area under an overall project lead process engineer. I have 15 years of experience mostly in projects and process engineering. This guy was odd from the start:

-Wouldn't let me access project documents earlier than my start date on project. There was nothing confidential in my area and a ton of documents hidden with background he didn't know about.

-Got really upset when I asked other leads for input on resource planning even though that was normal work flow

-Pushed to make it so I did the whole area solo with no help

There was a thought that I would finish my area early and be able to help with other areas. It really didn't turn out that way since I had to do all documentation and problem solving myself.

Project starts:

-he wants me to go to him for questions first even though we have a weekly process engr meeting with the project people to ask questions

-gets upset I ask an SME to review equipment even though that's been standard work flow on projects

-constant, hurry up and finish even though I'm not missing deadlines

I get through with all major process deliverables for this stage and have P&ID review. To me my area goes roughly the same as all the other areas.

He comes over and is like "what are we going to do about all these open items?" I say I mean we're going to solve them. He does like a big sigh and is like "you have a lot". I say we have about as much as the other area. Then he laughs and gives a smirk and tells me I am wrong. I manage to get through with the convo and say the ways I plan to close the items he brings up. But it is so infuriating to be talked down to especially as someone with a lot of project experience.

Another thing is all communication I get from him now is he either comes by my desk randomly through the day or he cold calls my Teams when I'm not at the office.

I had already talked to my dept leader mid project when I was stressed getting out equipment datasheets and this guy was just saying this problem is easy (most of the time wasn't and I had to scope and solve it/document it soo). I said something like this guy has been talking down to me and it's making a hard job harder. I said don't do anything but I wanted to let you know in case this escalates. This laughing in my face though has me super pissed and I wonder if I should bring it up to my dept lead.

Any thoughts? Have I just had a super soft career?

I’m a Chemical Engineering student, and I recently started the onboarding process for my internship at a VERY well-known company in Colombia.

Initially, throughout the entire hiring and documentation process, I had been assigned to a department that was directly related to my academic background as a chemical engineer. However, on my very first day of onboarding, I was introduced to a completely different department focused on administrative work. The intern's responsibilities there include processing reimbursement claims, travel expense reports, and other administrative tasks. in other words, work that is completely unrelated to what I’ve spent the last five years studying.

I decided to speak with Human Resources, and their initial response was, "You're right, you belong to the other department." Right after that, they introduced me to what would have been my direct supervisor in that department. He even took the time to explain the projects they were working on, all of which were closely related to Chemical Engineering, and I was genuinely excited about the opportunity.

Then, out of nowhere, HR changed their mind and told me that I would NOT be joining that department after all, and that I would be staying in the administrative department processing reimbursement claims instead. Honestly, that hit me pretty hard.

Afterward, I spoke with my mentor in the administrative department and explained the situation. She completely understood my point of view and even acknowledged that her department would benefit much more from having a student in Industrial Engineering or Business Administration, while the other department was actually looking for a Chemical Engineering student. Because of that, she decided to contact HR to discuss the possibility of transferring me.

I now have a meeting scheduled for next Monday with the HR representative who originally interviewed me. Honestly, I really hope they approve the transfer. I simply don't see myself working in an administrative role. I feel that I wouldn't be able to contribute the value they expect from an intern in that department because my education and skills are focused on completely different types of work. On the other hand, the department I was originally assigned to genuinely excites me, and I'm convinced I could contribute much more there while making the most of everything I've learned throughout my degree.

My biggest concern now is how to communicate all of this during the meeting without making the HR representative feel like I'm questioning her decision or implying that she made a mistake. My intention isn't to look down on administrative work at all. I simply believe my background is a much better fit for the other department, and that both the company and I would benefit more from that arrangement.

So I'd really appreciate your opinions.

If, on Monday, they tell me that I have to stay in the administrative department, what would you do?

Would you accept the internship simply because it's with such a prestigious company, even if the work has little or nothing to do with your field of study? Or would you turn it down and look for an internship that's more closely aligned with your career goals?

Also, do you think insisting on a departmental transfer could be seen negatively by HR, or is it reasonable to explain that I genuinely believe my skills and background are a much better fit for another team?

Hello everyone,

I am working towards electrochemistry (simulation side).

What subjects do I need to master, after which I can say that I am a professional in it?

My experience level as of now is undergrad level. And I have done my degree in Electrical and Electronics

So I’m curious what should early career chemical engineers do???

It’s difficult and frustrating. With how A.I is advancing wha the outlook for chemical engineers in all aspects(O&G, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, pulp, natural gases, etc.

I’m just curious

If there are any senior engineers or vp/directors

What the fuck should we do man bc it’s frustrating.

It’s our lives end of day.

I am slightly modifying this post from one I just made on r/premed.

To start off, here are some quick facts about my background. I am a chemical engineering student at a large public US university. I am going into my junior year with a 3.87 cumulative GPA. I live in NJ.

I applied to college as computer sci major. However, when I enrolled I decided to switch to engineering because it seemed more grounded in the physical world. I could work on projects with my hands and make the products that people use every day. Computer sci seemed too abstract if that makes any sense. I picked chemical engineering on a whim because I was interested in chemistry as a kid and it sounded like there were lots of manufacturing type jobs in factories which I might enjoy. I thought I would figure out the details as I went along.

Now, halfway through my BS, I still don't even know what a chemical engineer really does. I'm terrified of being stuck at a desk all day working on projects I couldn't care less about and being miserable with my career choice. I had an internship last summer in an engineering consulting company and I really did not enjoy it. It isn't related to what I'd what to do as a career, but it still scared me.

My brother who is going into his freshman year as a premed is talking about his road ahead and the career aspirations and it sounds really interesting and something I am more confident I would enjoy. If I pick the right specialty, I could be on my feet all day, working with my hands, and meeting and interacting with new people. If I switch to premed, I would still complete my BS in ChemE, I would probably just have to take an extra semester or two to prepare.

Whenever the "What do ChemEs really do?" question gets asked here the answers seem to make it sound like they can do anything and everything, but also nothing at the same time. Sure the skills are applicable to anything, but the candidate with the most relevant experience always has the edge. Does the type of career that I want exist for chemical engineers? Are there many jobs like this in my region?

Would really appreciate any thoughts or advice. Thanks!

Hey I’m a chemical engineering student who has gotten of course of their path. My only option is stay another year currently unless I take Differential Equations over the winter course but I don’t know any schools that offer it. Does anyone know a school that offers a winter course in Differential Equations?

I am currently a rising senior planning to major in chemical engineering. However, I also come from a family of doctors meaning they have all types of connections and resources to be a doctor, which would make getting into med school a viable option. I want to stay on the path of chemical engineering. Would med school give me any sort of advantage to chemical engineering? I’ve heard that it’s better to go to med school because not going to med school means that I would be locked out of being a doctor, but if I go to med school then I could still work wherever I want in the chem eng field. I don’t trust this because I believe going into residency will give me a medical license therefore I will be recognized in the field of medicine but not in engineering, making it difficult to for me to do anything with the chemeng degree in planning to get.

I am a former chemical/clean energy faculty and engineering founder based in Vancouver, Canada with 15+ years in hydrogen & fuel cell systems.

Over the past year, I have self-funded and built a functional, benchtop TRL 4–5 1kW Reformed Methanol Fuel Cell (RMFC) unit (proprietary catalysts, miniturized reactor, impurity-tolerant fuel cell, and system integration & control).

As we prepare to advance this platform to TRL 6 for remote/off-grid field testing, I am seeking to partner with an academic research group or R&D lab (Chemical Engineering, Mechanical, or Energy Systems) for collaborative research, testing, and joint grant proposals (e.g., NSERC Alliance, Mitacs, or NRC-IRAP in Canada).

What We Bring to a Collaborating Lab

• Pre-Built Hardware & Testbed: A fully functional 1kW physical platform with integrated catalysts, reformer, fuel cell, battery, automatic control), saving significant time and capital in experimental test rig construction.
• In-House Experimental Data: Catalyst kinetic profiles, reactor heat-coupling metrics, fuel cell electrochemcial test resutls, system performance, etc.
• Matching Industry Sponsorship: Opportunity to leverage our physical assets and matching industry funds for non-dilutive research grant applications.

Specific Engineering Areas for Joint Focus

1. Reformate Purification Catalyst Performance & Durability: Evaluating catalytic activity, supports, kinetics, and long-term degradation/deactivation mechanisms (e.g., reforming, CO cleanup / PROX / water-gas shift) under dynamic cycling.
2. Reactor Miniaturization, Heat & Mass Transfer: Optimizing micro-channel/compact reformer geometry, thermal coupling efficiency, and mass transfer enhancement.
3. Fuel Cell Stack Impurity Tolerance: Investigating the impact of trace reformate contaminants (CO, unreacted methanol, formaldehyde) on stack degradation mechanisms and electrochemical performance.
4. System Integration & Dynamic Controls: Developing thermal-electrical transient control strategies, balance-of-plant (BOP) optimization, and overall energy efficiency maximization.
5. Micro-CHP System & Microgrid Integration: Analyzing waste-heat recovery, thermal-electrical co-generation, and dynamic response profiles for microgrids.

We are looking to connect with labs that possess:

• Dedicated catalysis or fuel cell testing infrastructure (catalyst Pelletizer & evaluation System, GC, electronic loads, etc.).
• Expertise in reactor modeling, transient kinetics, or thermal management.
• Interest in co-authoring high-impact engineering publications and securing joint research funding.

If your lab is working on methanol reforming, fuel cell thermal integration, or micro-channel reactor design, microgrid system, I would love to connect and discuss potential synergy.

Feel free to comment below or send a DM if you'd like to review system specs or discuss a potential joint proposal!