Looking Ahead at Chemical Engineering:
25 Years, 25 Visions
Phillip R. Westmoreland
U.S. National Science Foundation, Engineering Directorate: Chemical, Bioengineering, Environmental, and Transport Systems Division, and University of Massachusetts Amherst, Department of Chemical Engineering
Visions from Industry
Visions of Faculty
Visions of Post-Docs and Students
Collected Visions
Analysis
In 2008, the American Institute of Chemical Engineers celebrated the 100th anniversary of its founding. The profession itself began earlier, taking shape from different sources like industrial chemistry, electrochemistry, oil processing, and food processing. To honor that history, AIChE's Centennial Celebration Committee has compiled (and CEP has published throughout the year) lists of achievements, of pioneers, and of texts that show the evolution and notable highlights of chemical engineering.
Here, we present a collection of 25 visions and an analysis of them which journeys in the other direction – to the future of the chemical engineering profession. Just as with looking backward, efforts to look forward are limited by the vision and experience of the participants. However, it is further hampered by our simple inability to imagine what advances will have the most impact.
We asked three small groups of chemical engineers to offer their visions. First, we approached department heads of the U.S.’s largest ChE graduate programs to identify a particularly visionary and articulate post-doc or senior graduate student to respond. There were no instructions or restrictions on what topics should be represented, so in some measure, they represent what the department heads consider to be the hottest research areas. These individuals are truly at the cutting edge of chemical-engineering advances, and they are sufficiently experienced to have developed independent viewpoints.
Second, chief technology officers and other industry leaders were asked to respond or to nominate a responder. These chemical engineers were sought from a range of industries to elicit diverse viewpoints.
Finally, U.S. and international faculty were contacted, again seeking a diverse set of topics. This group includes respected educators and researchers, many of whom have extensive consulting and entrepreneurial experience.
We asked for brief responses to our questions. The questions were posed in the context of responses for the responder’s industrial sector in order to solicit specific visions, still leaving room for generalizations. For academics engaged in fundamental science that might be tied to a present or future industrial sector, we asked for responses that would address the most relevant sector.
The four questions asked for extrapolation, new impacts on existing sectors, new sectors, and an optional, more open-ended comment on the future of the profession as a whole. They are re-stated with each response.