Chemical Engineering

The chemical engineering option is designed to educate students who will engage in professional practice at the forefront of chemical engineering or excel graduate school, and, ultimately, become leaders in engineering, science, academia, business, and public service in a continually changing world. It accomplishes this by providing a broad and rigorous training in the fundamentals of chemical engineering while maintaining a balance between classroom lectures and laboratory experience. The program also strives to develop in each student self-reliance, creativity, professional ethics, an appreciation of the societal impact of chemical engineering, and the importance of continuing intellectual growth.

An important outcome of a chemical engineering education is to prepare a student to synthesize the many subjects studied into the design of a system, component, process, or experiment. Problems illustrating the design process are integrated into the core courses. The nature and scope of these will depend on the focus of the course. In keeping with the philosophy of using tracks to ensure depth in each student's selected area of focus, and recognizing that many Caltech students go on to graduate study or pursue careers in research and development at the frontiers of chemical engineering, Caltech Chemical Engineering offers several opportunities to satisfy the design requirement.

During the junior and senior years, students diversify into one of four tracks (biomolecular, environmental, materials, or process systems), where they pursue concentrated study in their chosen area of chemical engineering. An optional senior thesis provides an opportunity to pursue independent research and design in lieu of one of the senior laboratories.

While all groups start with the same basic toolkit, each group undertakes design to achieve a different objective, and then builds and evaluates their system. In addition, students in the Process Systems track undertake a project in integrated chemical process design using chemical process simulation tools. All students have the opportunity to substitute for the second laboratory course a senior thesis (two terms) that contains a significant component of design in the sense that the original problem is open ended and requires identifying solutions subject to constraints. To ensure that the thesis project will satisfy the design requirement, students must submit a thesis proposal at the time of their preregistration that describes the project and its design component, as well as the first term progress report and final thesis, to the department senior thesis coordinator.

Second Year

• Ma 2 ab - Sophomore Mathematics
• Ph 2 ab - Sophomore Physics
• Ch/ChE 9 - Chemical Synthesis and Characterization for Chemical Engineering
• ChE 15 – Introduction to Chemical Engineering Computation
• Ch 41 abc - Organic Chemistry
• ChE 62 - Separation Processes
• ChE 63 ab - Chemical Engineering Thermodynamics
• ACM 95 abc - Introduction to the Methods of Applied Mathematics
• PE – Physical Education
• HSS electives

Third Year

• ChE 103 abc - Transport Phenomena
• ChE 101 - Chemical Reaction Engineering
• ChE 105 - Dynamics and Control of Chemical Systems
• Ch/ChE 91 - Scientific Writing
• ChE, Ch, track courses, and electives
• Ec 11, BEM 102, or BEM 103
• HSS electives

Fourth Year

• ChE 126 - Chemical Engineering Lab
• ChE, Ch, track courses, and electives
• Ch 21 ab1 - Physical Chemistry
• HSS electives
• 1 Ch 24 can be substituted for Ch 21 b

Requirements

• Common Application or the Coalition Application with Caltech Questions - Caltech does not have a preference between the Common Application or the Coalition Application. We advise that you use the best platform for your application process.
  • Note: Caltech is also a QuestBridge Partner. Students may apply for Caltech through the QuestBridge College Match Program.
• $75 application fee or fee waiver (Common App waiver, Coalition Application waiver, or Caltech-specific waiver)
• SAT with Optional Essay or ACT with Writing (official scores from testing agency)
• SAT Subject Test in Mathematics Level 2 (official scores from testing agency)
• 1 SAT science subject test: biology (ecological), biology (molecular), chemistry, or physics (official scores from testing agency)
• 1 math or science teacher evaluation
• 1 humanities or social sciences teacher evaluation
• Secondary School Report
• Academic transcripts
• TOEFL scores - Required of all international citizens unless 1) your native language is English; or 2) you have had school instruction for two or more years in English. The two years of school instruction must be completed prior to the application deadline). We do not accept the IELTS or any other substitute for the TOEFL requirement.
• International Financial Aid Statement of Intent - When an international citizen applies for freshman admission, the application prompts questions to confirm his/her understanding of our financial aid policy and thus confirm his/her financial aid intent towards Caltech. Caltech is need-sensitive for international citizens because the total amount of financial aid funds is limited for these students, and we remain committed to meeting the demonstrated need of all admitted students.

Scholarships

• Need-based scholarships 
• Caltech Scholarships