March 21, 2003
A: FROM MENTOR DEBORAH GRUBBE IN DE/PA
Chemical Engineering is very flexible, Sharmila. And, starting Chemical
Engineers this year are starting over $50,000. per year. As a chemical
engineer, you can work for food companies, because baking a cake is a
series of chemical reactions. You can work for oil companies, and find
oil, refine oil, make gasoline, jet fuel and heating oil, as well as
natural gas. You can work for pharmaceutical companies and make drugs.
You can work for chemical companies, and make paints, artificial fibers,
carpets, clothes, shoes, windows, bullet proof vests and helmets, and the
list goes on and on and on. You can work for a paper company, too. You
can work in Agriculture and apply fertilizers, insecticides, herbicides,
and fungicides to help our food plants grow faster, better, cheaper, and
not hurt anyone! Chemical engineers have helped to make 23 of the 25
layers of the Space Suit that an astronaut wears. Chemical engineers help
to make the chips that go into computers and cell phones. Also, every
plastic piece that you see , and all the colors you see, are made by
chemical engineers. You can work building chemical plants, too! I did
that and it is really fun! Plus, engineering pays lots of money, as I am
sure you have heard!