The American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE), a professional society representing chemical engineers, commissions a new set of metrics that helps chart the changing skill development and educational needs of chemical engineers across industries and career stages.
The new Body of Knowledge (BOK) for Chemical Engineers was developed under the direction of AIChE’s Career and Education Operating Council (CEOC) and encompasses the range of knowledge, skills and abilities required of chemical engineering professionals. The BOK is aimed at providers of chemical engineering professional training — in particular, the continuing education programs offered through the AIChE Academy, including instructor-led training courses, e-learning classes and webinars. Engineers may also use the BOK as a reference for their own career skills development.
The BOK also helps educators and industries better prepare the chemical engineering workforce of the future in both traditional and evolving fields, according to AIChE. Stakeholders in industry have underscored the importance of equipping engineers with the skills and professional attributes they’ll need to be effective in their varied and changing roles.
The BOK employs a series of knowledge, skills, and abilities matrices, which are cross-referenced with metrics in key developmental domains (affective, cognitive, and psychomotor). These variables relate to the attributes associated with effective performance in ten areas of chemical engineering practice: academia, chemical processing, foods, drugs, consumer products, high-tech industries, emerging markets, materials science, nuclear energy and regulatory fields. Numeric rankings are applied to the various categories, denoting the recommended skill level or aptitudes needed for a spectrum of professional roles in the given field. The BOK’s metrics assess the competencies to be expected of chemical engineers at four discrete career stages.
For more information, visit: www.aiche.org/academy