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The link below provides guidance for requesting course overrides from different departments. Before requesting an override, you must look at the course description in the online catalog and ensure you have met the necessary course pre-requisites and course co-requisites.
The Chemical Engineering program has three concentrations, which enable you to customize your elective choices to target specific post-graduation career goals. All three concentrations require all core chemical engineering courses, which will allow you to choose a career path in industry (or otherwise). This is important to recognize for the situations where you might begin your study toward a particular career path and choose at the end to change to something else. These concentrations were designed to facilitate one direction or another — not to limit career choice.
The links below provide information about the required courses and elective choices for each concentration, as well as the recommended placement of those courses in a 4-year plan of study to meet pre-requisite requirements and to provide a balanced course load. Please be sure to consult your assigned faculty advisor to make sure you remain on track for your degree.
This concentration is our “traditional” curriculum and is particularly aimed at students considering an industrial career after graduation. There are five electives (1 Chemical Engineering, 2 Chemistry, and 2 Technical Electives), which allow you to add depth to your studies by focusing on particular area or breadth by sampling many topics. Students in this concentration are especially encouraged to secure an internship or co-op to augment their coursework. Be sure to visit with the staff in the MSU Co-op Office for assistance in identifying these experiential learning opportunities. Typically, transfer students and students who go on co-op rotations choose this concentration for the flexibility it provides.
This concentration is recommended for those planning to pursue a graduate engineering degree. The five electives have been specified with courses such as Statistics and Transport Phenomena that will prepare you for graduate coursework. If you are interested in graduate work, then it is recommended that you consider applying to the Accelerated BS/MS program in your junior year. You may also want to pursue an undergraduate research experience – either with an MSU faculty member or during a summer REU program at another institution. Your assigned faculty advisor can give you advice on how to identify research opportunities.
This concentration is recommended for students planning to pursue a professional degree, such as in medicine, dentistry, pharmacy, or veterinary. It is the only Chemical Engineering concentration that allows BIO 1134 and BIO 1144 to fulfill B.S. degree requirements. If you are interested in this pathway after graduation, it would be good for you to touch base with the professional track advisors on campus: Dr. Reese handles pre-medicine and pre-dental advising. The MSU Health Professions Resource Center also offers support for preparing for these medical careers. In addition, this concentration provides the biological background for students wanting to pursue industrial careers in biochemical engineering (e.g., Cargill or Zoetis) or pharmaceutical engineering (e.g., Merck or AbbVie).
