Bureau of Labor Statistics, Essay Example

Introduction

Students that decide to get into the field of chemical engineering do so because they know that they are universal engineers due their ability to have a broad mastery on a range of technical and scientific fields. For students that have keen interest in math, science, practical problem solving, and physics then chemical engineering is the field for them. I chose the field of chemical engineering because I have a solid foundation for problem solving as well as the process in which it takes to find a solution to a problem. The salary is another aspect, as well as job security, which within this economy is paramount for developing a family. The projected salary for chemical engineers is between $50, 060 to $118,670, and college graduates on their first jobs typically make high salaries. The chemical engineering field is one of the most profitable fields in the United States with a projected growth in the next decade.This is include their increasing role in being the leader in developing new techniques and materials, such as biomedical engineering, fuel cells, and nontechnology. The work of a chemical engineer is involved in the operation, construction, development, and design of the industrial processes for the development of a different range of specialty chemicals, commodity, and products. The role of a chemical engineer is ever expanding as they are focusing on new product research through managing processes for scale up from small to manufacturing on the industrial scale. Chemical engineers focus on product line improvement, processing plant modifications that develops new products, and commissioning and designing new plants.

Chemical engineering offers a diverse discipline in which that are infinite possibilities for jobs to pursue. Chemical engineers work in several fields in which people are not aware of and help solve problems that deal with the economy, law, the environment, education, merchandising, biochemical, business, and publishing, just to name a few.     In getting a better understanding for the field of chemical engineering I need a clear understanding of the types of courses, the communication, technical, and academic skills, and guide to developing a successful career in chemical engineering. So I approached Mary Childs who works as Process Engineer at Shell Chemical Company in Texas for an interview, to provide me with more information and tips for being successful in this field.

Interview Summary

Background and Career Path

Mary Childs was born in Texas and attended the University of Texas at Austin, earning a Bachelor’s of Science in Chemical Engineering. She first began her love of chemical engineering when she was a child and had an infinite love of math and science. She excelled throughout her school career, as she graduated at the top of her high school. She wasn’t sure where she would fit in when she decided to go to college, but she knew that she wanted to work where she was able to solve problems in which would also protect the environment. She enrolled and was accepted into the University of Texas at Austin. She pursued several avenues in which would help her in her current role. Throughout her undergraduate career she pursued jobs that would give her practical work experience, and jobs that helped her hone in on what type of field she would like, and excel in.

As a student, one of my prime questions was on the importance of choosing which courses to pursue.  She informed me that as an undergraduate she pursued several field courses at the University of Texas in which she pursued courses in Chemistry, Physics, Mathematics, Computer Science, and several other fields in which help with getting the core foundation in Chemical Engineer. Childs believes that graduate education is significant in preparing for the field of chemical engineering, not only did it teach her to solve analyze problems, but also help her in testing her assumptions, and go through the process of solving the problem to come up with the correct solution. Childs participated in several activities throughout her college career that she felt prepared for her current position. Another question was the type of activities outside the school did she pursue? Childs said that having extracurricular activities develops important skills such as working with other people, learning to balance various roles, creating relationships with other companies, and learning to schedule meetings, priorities, etc. Her activities include working as a student recruiter, American Institute of Chemical Engineers Officer, Society of Women Engineers officers, and worked in several honor societies throughout her campus. In not only honing in on her skills of communication, she also worked on skills with helping others. She volunteered at the children’s hospital, food bank, and several other volunteer efforts.  Her studies at the University of Texas helped offer several different types of programs, where Childs was a part of two different intern programs for two different types of companies. Each role including working in a lab, during research, designing lab equipment, and working in offshore drilling production for an oil company. She felt in developing her skills to solve problems, develop skills, and have the correct academic experience by working for internships helped Childs gain practical experience as working as an engineer, and finding out what you like in the field of chemical engineering.

After she had received her Bachelors of Science in Chemical Engineering, she took her E.I.T exam, Engineer in Training, in which she is currently pursuing her P.E, Professional Engineer license. She also informed that she has saw others pursued different avenues that including going to law school to learn patent law, others pursued medical school, obtained their masters in biomedical engineering, as well as those that received their Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering. She reiterated that it is important to utilize the resources of undergraduate career in which you pursued educational courses directed at something you liked, getting work and practical experience through internships, and take up extracurricular activities in which you gain skills working with others, volunteering, and being a leader in your field.

Roles and Responsibility

Mary Childs works as a Process Engineer at the Shell Chemical Company in Texas. Her main role and responsibility are to provide her unit with daily support. She is involved heavily in providing troubleshooting for problems that arise in the plant, and find out solutions that help the plant run better. Her other responsibility is to improve the plant’s safety continually, and more importantly to meet the strict increasing environmental regulations that not only improve the profitability of the organization and the unit. She is in charge of finding ways in which her unit would use less raw materials, use less steam, and use less energy, in order for production to have the same output, without bottlenecking her units’ productivity. Another responsibility is to perform process hazard reviews in which she goes through each line in each process step and to tell what could go wrong increasing or decreasing the flow. As well she implements safeguards in the systems to prevent any problems with safety.

Her overall background she feels helps her tremendously in her profession. Her job helps her implement safety protocols that not only protect her units, her organization, and the environment that her company deals with. As a process engineer, she does a lot of projects that help make the plant run better. She helps her company meet the safety standards, as well as adhere to the environmental regulations, find ways to increase profitability, and ways to increase production in the plant. She creates programs and projects that help in saving the plant millions on their raw material feeds and finding ways to cut out components that will meet with the environmental problems that Shell Company has to deal with. People that obtained a degree in Chemical Engineering can go to several other fields, but the most responsible part is to follow safety protocols, while also making sure that you do what you can to protect the environment.

Communication Skills

As a process engineer, Childs has to work with several different people not only in her plant and units, but also work with other companies. As a leader in her unit she must have professional skills that adequately communicate what she wants to be done, but also make sure they understand her instructions because safety is an essential factor in her role. Working at Shell, her company deals with offshore drilling, and producing raw materials and products, she is on call 24 hours, and has to quickly respond to her higher ups, as well as her unit if any problems arise. She stresses the importance of communication skills because you need to be able to write clearly and well. She gives a lot of presentations, and more importantly technical presentations where she has to develop discussions. I ask her how did she developed her communication skills, and she said it through working in several organizations where she took the leadership positions, internships, she took technical communication class that helped prepared her. As well as jobs working at other oil companies where she comes into contact with people with different backgrounds, professionals that come from different countries, and working in a profession where they are not a lot of women. She feels that being a woman

Conclusion

There is a large demand of chemical engineering is in relation to the increase in industries for various manufacturing, as the increase for emerging technologies will allow chemical engineers to stay on the forefront of technological discoveries. Childs provides oversight that being a woman it is even harder, although more and more women are being accepted in the technical fields of engineering. She feels that those that get into chemical engineering is to be motivated, have dedication and courage to stick it out. Her main advice to get into internships that help to answer what typed of engineer you want to be. You must be happy with your job, and happy with the compensated. When you are happy, you feel that you are reaching our goals, and feel like you can provide the company with something that make them more successful. Before the interview, I didn’t know all that went into developing your skills in the field, but after the interview Childs gave me insight on what could help get further in the field, as well as helping to work with others, and accept the role as a leader in a company.

Works Cited

“Chemical Engineers”. Bureau of Labor Statistics. 2014. Web. 8 October 2014. http://www.bls.gov/ooh/architecture-and-engineering/chemical-engineers.htm#tab-6

Helmenstine, Anne Marie. “What Do Chemical Engineers Do and How Much Do They Make?”About Education. 2014. Web. 8 October 2014. http://chemistry.about.com/od/chemicalengineerin1/a/chemicalengineer.htm

Kokemueller, Neil. “The Role of Chemical Engineers.”Chron.2014. Web. 8 October 2014. http://work.chron.com/role-chemical-engineers-3641.html