A Perspective on Chemical Engineering Education

Chemical Engineering education faces new challenges that need to be addressed by chemical engineering educators. The dynamically changing learning environment and that of teaching require the teacher to relax and contemplate. Among all community sectors, educators must be number one in sniffing the smell of change, be willing to adapt, and later be capable to adopt new pedagogical findings, methods and techniques, and means. In brief, the notion of revolutionizing chemical engineering education does not necessarily mean that we should ignore the pillars of it. On the contrary, we should expand in a way to also tackle the latest critical socio-technical issues both on the stem (roots) and branches level. The tree of chemical engineering education has to grow in height (chance to explore new areas and also see the sun) above the ground and have more branches (industrial applications to be tailored to chemical engineering), as well. A strong tree with green leaves and fruits emanates from well-irrigated roots. On the one hand, we need to contemplate about our ancestors in terms of re-visiting fundamental science topics. On the other hand, we need to stay updated amid “continuously changing” learning and teaching environment as far as the latest pedagogical findings, domain knowledge, technology for teaching (i.e., means of dissemination and communication), web-based online resources, lab equipment and tools, relevant software, computational techniques, and programing languages are concerned. Topics like public awareness, soft skill, and innovation and entrepreneurship were also highlighted.

Keywords: Chemical engineering; Education; Trends; Soft skills; Environment; Society; Challenges; Awareness; Innovation; Entrepreneurship