International Benchmarking of U.S. Chemical Engineering Research Competitiveness (2007) / Chapter Skim
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1 Background
1 Background
Pages 16-23
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From page 16... ...
. to found a distinct branch of the Engineering Profession" that would address the problems facing industry, industrial chemists, and chemical manufacturers at the end of the 19th century, it was in the United States that the nascent concept of chemical engineering was put on firm ground through the groundbreaking introduction of the concept of "unit operations" by Arthur D
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From page 17... ...
As a result, as innovations have moved from macroscopic towards microscopic, and to the nano- and molecular scales, chemical engineering has continued to provide fresh and creative insights and breakthroughs. Furthermore, the historical dependence of industrial sectors on specific
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From page 18... ...
However, over the last 10-15 years, we have witnessed the following three developments, which have raised many discussions and concerns about the identity and future prospects of the chemical engineering enterprise �education, research, employment�: • drastic restructuring of the global chemical industry and its strategic business philosophy • continuous expansion of chemical engineering's research scope at the interfaces with several sciences and engineering disciplines • continuous narrowing of chemical engineering's ability to address important scientific and technological questions across all length scales -- its "dynamic range" -- as the field has evolved from the macroscopic to the molecular level
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From page 19... ...
Chemical companies have become more focused and purposeful in their business portfolio and R&D efforts. These developments have had multifaceted effects on chemical engineering research, such as increased efficiency of industrial R&D and new research directions.
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From page 20... ...
The intellectual challenge of scientific questions and technological problems at the interface with chemistry, materials science, biology, medicine, electrical engineering, and other disciplines is very attractive and has been drawing chemical engineering researchers in ever-increasing numbers, fueled and supported by accommodating governmental funding policies. In all these areas of interdisciplinary interest, chemical engineers bring a unique combination of analysis and engineering synthesis, which allows them to make contributions with impact far beyond their numbers.
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From page 21... ...
The discipline was then benchmarked by a Panel of 12 members, 9 from United States and 3 from abroad, with expertise in each of 9 selected areas and an appropriate balance from academia, industry, and national labs. In addition, all the Panel members have extended familiarity of and experience with chemical engineering research not only in Europe but also in Asian countries.
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From page 22... ...
• On the basis of current trends in the United States and abroad, what will be the relative future U.S. position in chemical engineering research?
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From page 23... ...
In the final step, the Panel attempted to predict the future U.S. position in chemical engineering at large and in each of the nine specific areas of research.
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