What is Chemical and Biological Engineering?

Science can amuse and fascinate us all, but it is engineering that changes the world.

—Isaac Asimov

Chemical and Biological Engineering

Chemical and Biological Engineers apply their knowledge of chemistry, biology, and engineering principles to design and optimize processes and systems that involve chemical reactions, biochemical transformations, and the manipulation of biological systems. They work on developing new materials, designing and optimizing chemical reactors, developing sustainable energy sources, creating pharmaceutical drugs and vaccines, and improving the production of food and beverages.

Opportunities and challenges in CBE

  1. Sustainable Energy Production: Developing efficient and sustainable methods for energy production, including renewable energy sources and advanced fuel technologies, to reduce reliance on fossil fuels and mitigate climate change.

  2. Carbon Capture and Utilization: Developing technologies to capture and store carbon dioxide emissions from industrial processes and power plants, as well as finding innovative ways to convert captured carbon into valuable products.

  3. Water Resource Management: Addressing the scarcity of clean water resources by developing efficient and sustainable methods for water treatment, desalination, and wastewater management to ensure a reliable supply of clean water.

  4. Advanced Materials: Designing and developing new materials with enhanced properties and functionalities for various applications, such as lightweight and high-strength materials, advanced catalysts, biomaterials, and drug delivery systems.

  5. Bioprocess Engineering: Advancing the field of bioprocess engineering to enable large-scale production of biofuels, biopharmaceuticals, and other bio-based products, while optimizing process efficiency and reducing costs.

  6. Personalized Medicine and Healthcare: Integrating engineering principles with biology and medicine to develop personalized diagnostics, therapeutics, and medical devices that improve patient outcomes, including targeted drug delivery systems and regenerative medicine approaches.

  7. Systems Biology and Synthetic Biology: Advancing our understanding of complex biological systems through computational modeling and data-driven approaches, as well as engineering new biological systems for applications in healthcare, agriculture, and environmental sustainability.

  8. Process Intensification and Manufacturing Efficiency: Developing innovative techniques for process intensification to maximize efficiency and reduce the environmental impact of chemical and biological manufacturing processes, including miniaturization, continuous processing, and the use of advanced automation and control systems.

  9. Sustainable Food Production: Developing sustainable and efficient methods for food production, including precision agriculture, alternative protein sources, waste reduction, and optimizing the use of resources in food processing and preservation.

  10. Global Health and Disease Prevention: Applying chemical and biological engineering principles to address global health challenges, such as developing affordable and accessible vaccines, diagnostics, and treatments for infectious diseases, as well as improving sanitation and access to clean water in developing regions.

THIS IS AN EXCITING TIME TO BE A CHEMICAL AND BIOLOGICAL ENGINEER!

Exercise: Areas of interest in CBE

Based on the information presented, in what areas of Chemical and Biological Engineering do you have an interest?

Introduce yourself to the students sitting next to you and discuss with them three areas of CBE that seem interesting to you.

CBE course sequence at CSU

At a high level, these are the core CBE courses:

cbe course sequence

Now, let’s look at all of the CBE and required technical courses and see how they fit together.

In this graphic, progression through the sequence is from top to bottom (i.e., Year 1: Fall semester courses are shown in the uppermost row).

  • highlighted box: requires a C or better

  • solid lines: prerequisite

  • dashed lines: co-requisite

digraph cbe_course_sequence{ splines = ortho; bgcolor=transparent; ranksep = 0.5; /* rankdir = LR; */ node [shape=box, width=0.8, height=0.4, fontname="Arial", fontsize=8, color=darkolivegreen, penwidth="1.0"]; edge [color=black, arrowsize="0.6"]; /* create nodes for courses */ MATH160 [label="MATH 160\n(Calculus I)"]; MATH161 [label="MATH 161\n(Calculus II)"]; MATH261 [label="MATH 261\n(Calculus III)"]; MATH340 [label="MATH 340\n(Ord diff eqns)"]; PH141 [label="PH 141\n(Physics I)"]; PH142 [label="PH 142\n(Physics II)"]; LIFE102 [label="LIFE 102\n(Intro biology)"]; BC351 [label="BC 351\n(Biochemistry)"]; CHEM111 [label="CHEM 111/112\n(General chem I)"]; CHEM113 [label="CHEM 113/114\n(General chem II)"]; CHEM341 [label="CHEM 341\n(Organic chem I)"]; CHEM343 [label="CHEM 343/344\n(Organic chem I)"]; CBE101 [label="CBE 101\n(Intro CBE)"]; CBE160 [label="CBE 160\n(Intro MATLAB)"]; CBE201 [label="CBE 201\n(Mat/enrg bal)", style=filled, fillcolor=palegoldenrod]; CBE205 [label="CBE 205\n(Fund biol engr)", style=filled, fillcolor=palegoldenrod]; CBE210 [label="CBE 210\n(Thermodynamics)", style=filled, fillcolor=palegoldenrod]; CBE310 [label="CBE 310\n(Molec concepts)", style=filled, fillcolor=palegoldenrod]; CBE330 [label="CBE 330\n(Process sim)", style=filled, fillcolor=palegoldenrod]; CBE331 [label="CBE 331\n(Fluid mech)", style=filled, fillcolor=palegoldenrod]; CBE320 [label="CBE 320\n(Reactor design)", style=filled, fillcolor=palegoldenrod]; CBE332 [label="CBE 332\n(Heat/mass trans)", style=filled, fillcolor=palegoldenrod]; CBE333 [label="CBE 333\n(Unit ops lab I)"]; CBE430 [label="CBE 430\n(Process cntrl)"]; CBE442 [label="CBE 442\n(Separations)", style=filled, fillcolor=palegoldenrod]; CBE443 [label="CBE 443\n(Unit ops lab II)"]; CBE451 [label="CBE 451\n(CBE design I)", style=filled, fillcolor=palegoldenrod]; CBE452 [label="CBE 452\n(CBE design II)"]; CBE393 [label="CBE 393\n(Prof devel)"]; /* group the courses by semester*/ /*FA 1*/ {rank=same; MATH160 CHEM111 LIFE102} /*SP 1*/ {rank=same; MATH161 CHEM113 PH141 CBE101 CBE160} /*FA 2*/ {rank=same; MATH261 CHEM341 CBE201 CBE205 PH142} /*SP 2*/ {rank=same; MATH340 CHEM343 CBE210} /*FA 3*/ {rank=same; CBE310 CBE330 CBE331 BC351} /*SP 3*/ {rank=same; CBE320 CBE332 CBE393} /*FA 4*/ {rank=same; CBE333 CBE442 CBE451} /*SP 4*/ {rank=same; CBE430 CBE443 CBE452} /* connect the courses together */ /* pre-reqs */ MATH160 -> MATH161 [style="solid"]; MATH161 -> MATH261 [style="solid"]; MATH261 -> MATH340 [style="solid"]; CHEM111 -> CHEM113 [style="solid"]; CHEM113 -> CHEM341 [style="solid"]; CHEM341 -> CHEM343 [style="solid"]; PH141 -> PH142 [style="solid"]; MATH161 -> PH142 [style="solid"]; CHEM111 -> CBE201 [style="solid"]; PH141 -> CBE201 [style="solid"]; LIFE102 -> BC351 [style="solid"]; LIFE102 -> CBE205 [style="solid"]; CBE201 -> CBE210 [style="solid"]; CBE101 -> CBE205 [style="solid"]; CBE160 -> CBE205 [style="solid"]; MATH261 -> CBE210 [style="solid"]; MATH340 -> CBE310 [style="solid"]; MATH340 -> CBE330 [style="solid"]; CBE210 -> CBE330 [style="solid"]; MATH340 -> CBE331 [style="solid"]; CBE210 -> CBE331 [style="solid"]; CBE210 -> CBE310 [style="solid"]; CHEM341 -> BC351 [style="solid"]; CBE332 -> CBE442 [style="solid"]; CBE330 -> CBE320 [style="solid"]; CBE320 -> CBE430 [style="solid"]; CBE331 -> CBE332 [style="solid"]; CBE332 -> CBE333 [style="solid"]; CBE320 -> CBE451 [style="solid"]; CBE442 -> CBE443 [style="solid"]; CBE310 -> CBE320 [style="solid"]; CBE330 -> CBE332 [style="solid"]; CBE442 -> CBE430 [style="solid"]; CBE451 -> CBE452 [style="solid"]; /* co-reqs */ MATH160 -> PH141 [style="dashed"]; CBE442 -> CBE451 [style="dashed"]; LIFE102 -> CBE201 [style="dashed"]; CBE160 -> CBE201 [style="dashed"]; CBE101 -> CBE160 [style="dashed"]; /* soft pre-reqs */ /* CBE101 -> CBE201 [style="dotted"]; */ }

Opportunities outside of the classroom