Importance of Human Capital: Why Major in Chemical Engineering?

Innovation is driven by people who are smart, creative and assertive.  One strategy for innovation in the chemical enterprise is to attract people like this to chemical engineering and chemical sciences.  Opportunities for careers in technical fields are much different for today’s students than five decades ago when I chose a major.  Compounding the challenge is that engineering in general has lost market share of students at universities.  This presentation attempts to stimulate thinking about steps that higher education and industry can take to attract future innovators to the chemical enterprise and meet their educational objectives.