<p>What other chemical engineering career prospects exist, if one doesn't want to work in a plant?
Also, if one is interested in becoming a professor, hard is this career path? I know that it takes many years to do the MS + phd, but how much exactly? And how is the job market for engineering phd's looking to teach? Is it really a "publish or die" sort of super-competitive environment?</p>
<p>You can work in Research & Development, where work takes place in an office and a lab that could be like a chemistry lab, or could be a mini-plant. You would sometimes visit plants for full-scale tests, but much of the work is conceptual and math/computer modeling and working in teams to develop new products/processes/materials.</p>