Dr. Laura Dietsche of Dow Speaks at Mid-Michigan Event



This post was written and submitted by Tim Frank, Chair of the Mid-Michigan AIChE local section.

On February 23, at a meeting of the Mid-Michigan Section of AIChE, Dr. Laura Dietsche presented a view of chemical engineering education programs in the U.S. She spoke from her perspective as a team leader and commissioner at ABET, the organization that reviews and accredits engineering programs at colleges in the U.S. I came away from her talk with two strong impressions:

  1. Dr. Dietsche and her colleagues at ABET are providing a very valuable service to the profession - and on a strictly volunteer basis!
  2. Unlike years ago when I was a student, today's chemical engineering programs can vary greatly from one institution to another and all are likely to be different from the programs of 20 or 30 years ago!

Dr. Laura Dietsche, Professor Eldon Graham, Bruce Holden, and Kip Mercure

Dr. Dietsche presented a brief history of chemical engineering education, from the very beginning in the late 1800s, up until the present day with 160 accredited programs. She then focused on the accreditation process and described a few of the current trends. She has graciously agreed to make her presentation available on the Mid-Michigan AIChE website or as a pdf download (by clicking on the image below), so take a look and see what you think about where chemical engineering education is headed.


Were you happy with the chemical engineering education you received?