Chemical engineers are NOT chemists, they are "process and systems engineers" also involved with chemistry -- to a degree. It takes a chemical engineer to produce by the ton what perhaps a chemist developed in a test tube: plastics, chemicals, rubber, gasoline, pharmaceuticals, paper, fertilizers, etc. Nowadays it is not just chemistry, it is also: biochemistry, biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, biosystems; food, milk, beverage processing; environment, detoxification, clean process development, environmental systems; new product/process development; management of production, manufacturing and corporations; new materials development, introduction and manufacturing; computers, electronic systems, and systems in general!

Careers and jobs Where are Chemical Engineers employed, what do they do? Their careers are widely distributed due to their flexibility and desirable background training. They become good employees or bold enterpreneurs, sometimes successful even in fields unrelated to engineering. We find Chemical Engineers mainly in: manufacturing plant process design; product/process development; middle and even top management positions; engineering consulting practice, environmental consulting; mathematical modeling and computer simulation of systems - many different systems; insurance risk assessment; and diversifying their careers into the practice of Law: patent law, corporate law, etc.