(119b) Tuning the Chemical Engineering Curriculum to Meet New Challenges and the Demand of the Job Market

Chemical Engineering graduates are exposed to widely diversified employment opportunities in the job market as a result of changing industrial trends, continuously growing research fields and a globalized job market. A classical chemical engineering curriculum is not enough to equip chemical engineers with the knowledge and tools needed to face the challenges and demands of the new market. As a result, many chemical engineering departments have decided to upgrade their curriculum by integrating new courses, labs or tools to meet the contemporary needs and challenges. In this paper the changes and improvements to the curriculum in the Department of Chemical Engineering at Tuskegee University will be presented. These include the additions of environmental, biochemical, and pre-med options. In addition more focus is made to equip the students with interdisciplinary team experience in the labs, improve oral and written communication skills during the senior design project weekly presentations, incorporate chemical engineering software applications in most of the chemical engineering courses and the inclusion of engineering ethics through an engineering ethics course that is mandatory for all students.