A new set of metrics, produced by the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE), will help chart the changing skill-development and educational needs of chemical engineers, across industries and career stages.
The new Body of Knowledge (BOK) for Chemical Engineers was developed under the direction of AIChE’s Career and Education Operating Council (CEOC), and encompasses the range of knowledge, skills, and abilities required of chemical engineering professionals. The BOK is aimed at providers of chemical engineering professional training — in particular, the continuing education programs offered through the AIChE Academy, including instructor-led training courses, e-learning classes, and webinars. Individual engineers may use the BOK as a reference for their own career skills development.
The BOK is also designed to help educators and industries better prepare the chemical engineering workforce of the future in both traditional and evolving fields. Stakeholders in industry have underscored the importance of equipping engineers with the skills and professional attributes they’ll need to be effective in their varied and changing roles.
The resource employs a series of knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSA) matrices, which are cross referenced with metrics in key developmental domains (affective, cognitive, and psychomotor), and relates these variables to the attributes associated with effective performance in ten areas of chemical engineering practice: academia, chemical processing, foods, drugs, consumer products, high-tech industries, emerging markets, materials science, nuclear energy, and regulatory fields. Numeric rankings are applied to the various categories, denoting the recommended skill level or aptitudes needed for a spectrum of professional roles in the given field.
Further extending these analyses, the BOK’s metrics assess the competencies to be expected of chemical engineers at four discrete career stages. Stage 1 corresponds to the minimal experience of a recent graduate, and is characterized by possessing a collection of knowledge and skills with the ability to apply them under supervision. Stage 2 includes engineers with some experience, who are capable of applying knowledge and skills with some degree of independence, and corresponds to “minimal competence” as defined by most professional licensure jurisdictions. Stage 3 is characterized by mature technical competence with the addition of management skills, with the engineer often assuming supervisory and administrative roles. Stage 4 includes mature engineers who have achieved technical expertise or mastery in some subset of the KSA listings.
The BOK matrixes provide a cross-demographic view that can be filtered to determine which knowledge and skills need to be developed in a chemical engineer’s professional career, and which industry and job roles may benefit from additional education and training in those areas. The metrics show that skill and knowledge requirements differ significantly by industry and career path, as well as by level of experience.
In addition to its use as benchmarks against which chemical engineering educators and industries can assess training efforts, the metrics contained in the BOK may prove useful by organizations such as the National Council of Examiners for Engineering and Surveying (NCEES). Individual engineers may use the BOK for self-assessment and personal skills-development planning, such as in preparation for advanced studies or Professional Engineering (P.E.) licensure.
The Body of Knowledge for Chemical Engineers is now being used by AIChE’s Education Committee to guide its development of courses offered through the AIChE Academy. The resource will be available online at www.aiche.org/academy.
About AIChE:
AIChE is a professional society of more than 50,000 chemical engineers in 100 countries. Its members work in corporations, universities and government using their knowledge of chemical processes to develop safe and useful products for the benefit of society. Through its varied programs, AIChE continues to be a focal point for information exchange on the frontiers of chemical engineering research in such areas as energy, sustainability, biological and environmental engineering, nanotechnology and chemical plant safety and security. More information about AIChE is available at www.aiche.org.