One of the most exciting developments is the new five-year program Chemical Engineering and Bioengineering,which provides the full chemical engineering undergraduate experience, combined with an additional year of study in the life sciences, anatomy, biochemistry and bioengineering electives. The program is intended to provide opportunities for students to broaden their knowledge beyond the traditional chemistry and physics based components of chemical engineering science with further study of the biological sciences. The first class started in September 2002 and we look forward to the growth of this program in parallel with the four year Chemical Engineering Orogram and the five-year Chemical engineering and Management and Chemical Engineering and Society programs.

The graduates from this new and unique programme will be qualified to make significant contributions to Canada’s expanding biotechnology industry. Canada current has the second highest number of biotechnology companies in the world, following the United States. This industry is currently concentrated in Ontario, Quebec and British Columbia and is currently poised for significant expansion with our aging population, need for better pharmaceutical products and our growing awareness of the importance of the environment and our desire to minimize the impact of current processes on the environment. Graduates from the programme will participate in the development of better, more biocompatible biomedical devices, more efficacious pharmaceuticals with fewer side effects, more efficient and improved environmental processes and better methods for the production of food and beverages. Since graduates from the programme will also have all of the core courses in Chemical Engineering, they will also be able to do traditional chemical engineering jobs in fields such as petrochemicals, polymers, process control and pulp and paper.