<p>Both these programs at my school claim to be applicable for pursuing electrochemical research for devices like fuel cells and batteries. My question is, which do you think would be the better bet? Or are there different aspects of fuel cell or battery design that either program looks into more? Also, with the push for fuel efficient vehicles, is it reasonable to expect future job opportunities in R&D areas with only a bachelors degree? Thanks</p>
<p>I don’t have an idea but I would probably go for Chem Engg as far as electrochemical research is concerned.</p>
<p>You’d probably see more wet electrochemistry within the chemistry or chemical engineering departments, though there’s plenty of work on electrochemical cells within materials science departments. Actually, one of my good friends here is working on solid acid fuel cells with his primary advisor being in the Materials Science department and his secondary one being in ChemE.</p>
<p>I’d say go with whichever undergrad curriculum you find more interesting. The classes each major takes can be completely different depending on the school.</p>
<p>I would say that there is enough work in electrochemistry that can be done in either chemistry or chemical engineering or materials science and engineering.
Chemistry and Materials are closer to the science of electrochemistry. The engineering undertone of Materials makes it a better match IMHO.</p>
<p>This is exactly what I had in mind going into Penn State as a freshman chemical engineer. I wanted to work on electrochemical research, which I found is done within both the chem e and matse fields (but with different emphasis). You can get a B.S. in either of these and then specialize in grad school, they will both prepare you equally well, you just have to decide which B.S. program you will be more interested in (look into them yourself). Also know that you won’t be able to do anything as specialized as echem research with a bachelor’s degree, which is a lot more general and broad than you may think…new graduates usually get jobs as process engineers working in plants and whatnot. To do the kind of work you have in mind you will need to get a Ph.D or a M.S., more likely a Ph.D. My advice is to look at the different research projects professors at your school are doing in the chem e and matse departments, find a couple projects you think you may want to work on and go contact those professors about joining their groups. And I repeat, a B.S. in chem e does not prepare you for specialized research, but as an undergrad you can get involved in these kinds of projects. As far as the R&D industry goes, getting a job as a researcher at an R&D company usually requires a Ph.D and 5-10 years of experience</p>