Chemical Engineering Education.
Emergence & Growth
Chemical engineering education emerged from the American tradition in
industrial chemistry at the turn of the Century. However, the
coursework for these first programs varied greatly in substance and
emphasis. While all envisioned chemical engineering as bridging the gap
between mechanical engineers and chemists, this still allowed for wide
divergence.
In 1925 the AIChE attempted to rectify this situation by becoming the
first organization to use accreditation. This concept quickly spread to
other engineering fields. Today, ABET's audits strike fear and foreboding
across the country as it strives to raise the quality of higher education
higher and higher. Below we see the number of chemical engineering programs
that must undergo this scrutiny.
Enormous growth in chemical engineering education was seen in the
years just prior to, and the decades following, World War II.
Today, this growth has stagnated, and no new programs have been
accredited since 1992. Despite the stagnation, many feel there are still
too many new chemical engineers graduating (about 5000) each year. It is
therefor unlikely that many new University will seek accreditation in chemical
engineering.
Take a Look at the Original Programs (1925)
Carnegie-Mellon University (Pittsburgh, PA)
Case Western Reserve University (Cleveland, OH)
Columbia University (New York, NY)
Illinois Institute of Technology (Chicago, IL)
Iowa State University (Ames, IA)
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Cambridge, MA)
Ohio State University (Columbus, OH)
Polytechnic University (Brooklyn, NY)
Renssalaer Polytechnic Institute (Troy, NY)
University of Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH)
University of Michigan (Ann Arbor, MI)
University of Minnesota (Minneapolis, MN)
University of Wisconsin at Madison (Madison, WI)
Yale University (New Haven, CT)
The Geographic Trends in Chemical Engineering Education (1925 to the
Present)
Note: All dates are based upon the first year of accreditation. This is often
much later than the year in which a given chemical engineering program may have
begun.
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