Chemical, Biochemical & Environmental Engineering

Why Study Chemical, Biochemical & Environmental Engineering?

One of the few universities with Chemical Engineering and Environmental Engineering in the same department, students at UMBC can take advantage of the synergistic opportunities available between the two fields.

UMBC undergraduates in Chemical Engineering learn how to apply basic engineering principles and the basic sciences—mathematics, physics, and chemistry—to prepare students for graduate study or immediate industrial employment in a variety of fields, like chemical processing, food processing, environmental engineering, metallurgy, energy conversion, petroleum refining, and pharmaceutical production. Along with learning chemical engineering principles, you will also develop your critical thinking, cooperation, communication skills, and love of lifelong learning as well as have the opportunity for undergraduate research. Undergraduate students choose from three tracks: chemical engineering, biochemical engineering, and environmental engineering.

The department also offers graduate degrees at the doctoral and master’s levels in Chemical and Biochemical Engineering and in Environmental Engineering. These graduate degrees also emphasize engineering principles, critical thinking, cooperation, communication skills, and lifelong learning—and, for the doctoral program, the ability to create new knowledge. Master’s students can choose a thesis, a research-based project, or a course-only pathway. The doctoral program is even more research based. The department is also committed to justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion.