The University of Waterloo offers a Bachelor of Applied Science (BASc) degree program in chemical engineering. All students participate in the co-op work/study program, where you alternate between study and work terms. Students graduate with valuable job experience and a degree from Canada’s largest and best engineering school for undergraduate studies. In a world where population growth, economic development, and increased demands for energy, food, and healthcare all exert increasing pressures on natural resources, common development needs have to be met in a sustainable manner, without compromising the functioning of ecosystems. No single discipline is better poised to confront these third-millennium challenges than chemical engineering. Chemical engineers apply scientific and engineering principles to develop processes or systems for the economic production and distribution of useful and value-added materials through the physical, chemical, or biochemical transformation of matter. This must be accomplished with attention paid to economics, health and safety, and environmental impact. Chemical engineers combine a sound background in the fundamental understanding of science and mathematics with highly-developed problem-solving skills to improve existing processes or methods, or to implement new ones. Chemical engineers are distinguished from physical scientists, such as chemists, by their training in the "engineering method": the use of heuristics to cause the best change in a poorly understood situation, within the available resources. Chemical engineers design, analyze, optimize, and control processing operations, or guide others who perform these functions, in industry, government, universities, or private practice. Most materials encountered in daily life have been impacted by chemical engineering at some stage. Chemical engineers will continue to be in demand as chemical engineering evolves from its origins in the petrochemical and nuclear industries, to its current wide range of application in industries such as fine chemicals, pharmaceuticals, advanced materials and manufacturing, alternative energy, software, and cybernetics. Current and future activity areas include: Energy: conservation; renewable and non-renewable resources; fuel cells and batteries; hydrogen economy. Materials: petrochemicals; biochemicals and foods; nanomaterials; consumer goods; pulp and paper; plastics and polymers; pharmaceuticals; etc. Environment: pollution prevention; pollution control; climate change mitigation; recycling; environmental safety and regulations; etc.

Chemical engineering deals with the use and transformation of materials and energy. Almost everything we encounter in our daily lives has involved chemical engineering at some stage, whether we realize it or not. The following links, provide insight on chemical engineering, from a variety of perspectives: American Institute of Chemical Engineers: lots of info on various job descriptions, typical careers. The focus is American, but the material is largely applicable to Canadian circumstances. Ontario Job Futures: Information is more locally relevant, however, the salary information may be dated. It's not so easy to find recent Canadian data, but Professional Engineers Ontario has a salary survey from 2000 with a breakdown by discipline. On average, chemical engineering is among the highest-paid of the engineering disciplines. Recent U.S. data suggests that starting salaries for chemical engineers are now about equivalent to computer engineering. Chemical engineers earn around 40% to 60% more than chemists at graduation, according to data from the American Chemical Society. Remember, salary isn't everything. As the above links point out, chemical engineering is also a satisfying and challenging career path leading to senior level technical and managerial positions.