Stepping In

After gaining a better insight into the actual profession of chemical engineering, I began my research regarding the actual content of the field. One of the most surprising things about this first bit of research was that it delivered a wide breadth of knowledge that was, in all honesty, overwhelming. There were papers and articles that spread over so many different areas, from biomedical purposes to food production to materials to oil. There were so many facets of this field that I had never even thought about that were truly fascinating.

I found numerous, highly accredited, chemical engineering journals that contained all kinds of different subjects. There were research articles regarding the production and use of materials in processes that I found quite interesting. Other articles presented medical research which focused on the more biomedical side of the chemical engineering profession. While biology has never been a particular interest of mine I plan to explore the specialization. Another focus was petroleum, something I do not particularly think I will enjoy but is definitely something to look into.

I certainly have some questions regarding the different fields surrounding chemical engineering and what they all entail. Do I need to get some kind of degree in a specialization in order to be able to pursue it in my career? What exactly do each of these specializations do on a day to day basis? Is there room for movement from one specialization to another? I hope that these questions will not only be answered with my research but also future interviews that I am looking forward to conducting.

There were a couple of different times where I began to feel overwhelmed this week about the amount of content and research I could do. I seemed unable to pick a topic that interested me because everything I read was very interesting. Additionally I found myself slightly confused by some of the concepts simply because I do not have the knowledge yet to understand these higher level chemical engineering research papers. Once I started my research though, some of the doubts faded. I felt like I could piece together information to understand what I was reading and could really take in the purpose of the article. I am looking forward to further research in my fields of interest.