Undergraduates

Graduates from the Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering Department have readily been accepted into industry, both in Australia and world wide. Graduate Chemical Engineering starting salaries are higher than for any other engineering discipline.

Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering is concerned with developing and analysing process systems, which are strongly dependent upon chemistry and involve physical changes. Graduates find employment in the biochemical industry, the food industry, the minerals industry, the metallurgical industry and the pharmaceutical industry, as well as in the traditional chemical industry.

Chemical engineers are well suited for environment-related engineering positions given their strong background in process systems and in chemical and biological processes in particular.

The Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering undergraduate program has been designed to allow the students to gain knowledge in Chemical Engineering and give them excellent grounding for work in industry world wide. In the program, chemistry and mathematics are taken through the first two years of the course. In the Semester 2 of first year, a major Chemical Engineering subject is taken. Students may also take a Semester 1 unit, Introduction to Chemical Engineering, which provides a comprehensive introduction to the discipline, its role in the modern world and the challenges that lie ahead.

In second year, students are introduced to further specific Chemical Engineering subjects that build on the first year core subject. These in turn are built on in subsequent years and culminate in final year design and research projects, which bring together all that the student has learnt in the preceding years. Provision is also made for students to broaden their education by taking a number of elective subjects during their course.

Commencing in 2005 we will be offering a new course which will have a strong Biomolecular feel. Students will not be able to transfer into this course, and it will not be able to be combined with Science, Arts, Commerce or Law. The new course will be called Bachelor of Engineering (Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering), and will cover topics such as Biomolecular Process Principles, Metabolic Engineering and in later years, Bionanoengineering and Tissue Engineering.

First year students enrolled in the Chemical Engineering and the Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering will attend the same classes, except the Chemical and Biomolecular students will not have an elective. Going into second year is where the two courses will begin to specialise, although there will be co-hesion within the two courses.