This blog post explores how much more inconvenient our lives and industries would become without chemical engineering, highlighting its importance.
Chemical engineering is a vital discipline that has fundamentally transformed human life and industry. While “what-if” scenarios hold little meaning in history, how would our lives have changed if the field of chemical engineering never existed? Since most of the clothes we wear are made from synthetic fibers like polyester, without chemical engineering, we would have had to make clothes only from natural fibers like silk, cotton, and hemp. The cases for everyday electronic devices would also have been made from heavy metals instead of polymer materials or plastics, making it difficult to expect the lightweight portability we enjoy today. Furthermore, numerous products derived from natural gas and crude oil would likely vanish. PET bottles, asphalt, and various chemical products might disappear from our surroundings. Chemical engineering and its products permeate every corner of our lives, influencing aspects we scarcely notice. This is why imagining a society without chemical engineering is difficult.
Chemical engineering has evolved through interdisciplinary collaboration with fields like biology, electrical engineering, and mechanical engineering. This integration has enabled the development of pharmaceuticals and beneficial substances, driven process innovations, and unlocked boundless application possibilities. Thus, chemical engineering was essential in the past and will remain indispensable in the future.
So, what do we learn in our department, and what paths might we pursue? The undergraduate curriculum is designed to build a solid foundation from the ground up. In the first year, students establish their foundation as science and engineering students through fundamental courses like physics and chemistry. From the second to third year, they learn the principles of core chemical engineering subjects such as fluid mechanics and heat transfer, and through undergraduate experiments, they learn how theory is applied in practice. From the latter part of the third year, students take elective major courses tailored to their career paths, preparing for research or employment. This process can be likened to constructing a high-rise building. Just as building a tall structure is impossible without a solid foundation, the undergraduate curriculum is structured to build a strong foundation from the early years, enabling students to easily grasp applied subjects in their senior years.
After completing this undergraduate program, students can advance to graduate school for in-depth research in their field of interest or enter employment at research institutes or related industries. Upon undergraduate graduation, many enter major chemical and refining corporations like SK Energy and Honam Petrochemical, taking on diverse roles such as plant management, R&D, and production process management. Additionally, graduates contribute to practical work in various companies by leveraging their chemical engineering expertise. At the graduate level, laboratories primarily operate across five research domains: Process Development Research, which manages chemical plant operations and product manufacturing processes; Nano-Inorganic Materials and Catalytic Process Research, focusing on catalysts and nanomaterials to enhance reaction rates; Semiconductor and Electrochemical Research, studying fuel cells and semiconductors; Biological and Environmental Research, developing environmentally and biocompatible materials; and Organic Polymer Materials Research, investigating organic substances and polymeric materials. Through this research, many alumni have achieved outstanding accomplishments in diverse industrial fields, contributing significantly to society.
Currently, our department’s research also plays a major role in solving global issues such as environmental problems and resource depletion. Pollution problems caused by increasingly scarce fossil fuels like petroleum and natural gas have reached a critical state, and chemical engineering research is actively underway to address these challenges. Research is underway to develop secondary batteries like fuel cells that emit no pollutants, create eco-friendly catalysts in the biological and environmental fields, and synthesize compounds harmless to the human body. Internationally, failure to meet environmental standards can lead to economic sanctions, driving a daily increase in demand for eco-friendly technologies. Consequently, research and investment are flourishing not only in traditional chemical engineering but also in environmental, biological, and alternative energy fields.
Our department is equipped with an environment that actively promotes research for an eco-friendly society through diverse academic connections and collaborations. Laboratories in diverse fields such as biology and environmental science are located within the same department, providing ideal conditions for collaboration and joint research. This not only advances traditional chemical engineering research to create superior chemical engineering products but also offers opportunities to effectively prepare for the impending energy crisis and environmental challenges.
Therefore, our department takes pride in being an academic space ready to meet today’s societal demands and, furthermore, to solve the diverse problems of the future.
