Chemical Engineering -> synthetic biology - please educate me

College Majors Engineering Majors
1

Hello,

Recently, my son has decide that he’d like to end up doing research into synthetic biology and find work “hacking DNA”.

He loves learning, especially all STEM subjects and is stellar at chemistry and computers. Reading up on synthetic biology, it appears to me that the field is still so nascent that there is no standard path. In interviews I’ve read, many of the scientists talk about how being a jack of all trades is a good thing in that field. That would fit my son well. He is very excited about S.B. Competitions like the International Genetically Engineered Machine (iGEM) Competition (https://www.igem.org/Main_Page)

So what degree provides the best foundation for synthetic biology?

We’re trying to avoid BME. Wary that if his interests change, he’d be locked into grad work since BME BS aren’t worth that much.

Instead, we think a ChemE degree still positions him well to continue onwards with synthetic biology, while providing a good “escape” route if he wants to take a break from school. This flexibility might be useful.

His stats are pretty good, what schools should he visit fifth this goal? Rice is only a few hours away and looks active in this field.

My questions to you:

  1. Is ChemE a good undergrad degree for S.B?
  2. What is the best degree for this goal?
  3. What schools might have good undergrad S.B. research opportunities?

We truly appreciate your thoughts and perspectives!

-psy

2

Chemical engineering is certainly a practical and versatile degree, but the majority of your son’s education will have little to do with “hacking DNA” and more about designing processes that will mass produce biologics. Topics like distillation, heat transfer, ChemE laboratories, process design, etc. may not interest him at all. The ideal major would be something related to biology or genetics, even if it closes the door on a lot of practical engineering opportunities.

There are some “bioengineering” programs that are a bit of a hybrid between ChemE and BME. Something you could look into. Some even have concentrations in synthetic biology.

I’m just thinking that if my goal was to go into synthetic biology, most of the ChemE courses I took would have seemed so useless.

3

Yeah, Chemistry would be better, but you’re really going to want some of that process engineering stuff, too.

Don’t forget your computer science, either. You probably couldn’t learn enough about algorithms.

4

Google synthetic biology and see which schools are doing research in that field. Look specifically at various related majors, such as chem E, bioE, the dread Biomed, biochem, biology, etc and see which major at which school matches interests. I think a visit, a few emails to the department, etc, in an appropriate HS level (i.e. don’t pretend you have a PhD, just say you are fascinated in this field and read that they do xyz … actually this could make his acceptance into a program much easier, not harder).

Really any hacking of DNA is going to involve a PhD, no other way, so I am not sure why getting a job with a BS excludes BiomedE … most of the bio, chem majors also have poor, actually far poorer, job prospects than BiomedE.

And, most of the top BME programs are now set up that you concentrate in a specified subset related to a traditional E discipline, whether BioEE, BioCH, BioMatSci, BioCS, etc.

Chem E classes mentioned like process engineering may not be interesting to someone who wants to either work in chemistry or biochemistry …

I can’t quite picture big vats of synthetic bio quite yet, but maybe someday. But if you son wants to be looking at test tubes, ChemE is not really the way, unless a specific school has a specific program or a very open minded approach to Eng majors or a large research program.

Escape routes can become a crutch or temptation and keep people from really pursuing their muse… Everyone is sick of school at 22 and that $60-70-80K salary can be really tempting. but if hacking DNA is your thing … and maybe the muse will change or fade … but if it is still there … well, we need people to do that with love and interest … maybe not so much another ChemE staring at his chem plant every day wondering how he ended up there.

5

Um, process engineering isn’t only about “big vats of synthetic bio”.

6

wikipedia sort of matches my recollection … but it was 30 years ago … so certainly would be good to update that

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Process_engineering

small batch and test tubes don’t always really involve lots of BS ChemEs … lots of PhDs in various bio, biochem specialties, yes.

The chem E department chair at my D’s school stated clearly “Do not go into ChemE to work in Chemistry” so there you go … sort of wish someone had told me that …

Biomolecular engineering or Bioengineering is often a more biology-based ChemE, but … still leaning toward production not R&D (esp with a BS) and really not R.

7

@Pancaked @JustOneDad @PickOne1 Thanks for this discussion, today we have been visiting various lab webpages, tons of activity at Rice, Duke, Stanford. Starting an iGem club for Hign School seems like a possibility for next year.

<<bioee, bioch,="" biomatsci,="" biocs,="" etc.="">> very confusing, but very exciting!</bioee,>

Cheers,
Psy

8

Definitely add some matches and safeties, those are tough schools to get into - for anyone, regardless of their credentials.

9

@PickOne1 great advice! Stanford, Dule and Rice are far from certain for most kids.

He is applying to UT Austin and Texas A&M, for both schools he is an auto-admit. He’ll also apply to the University of Alabama and OU where he is an auto-admit and both are offering a comprehensive 5 year scholarship for National Merit kids. He’ll probably roll the dice on Princeton and Olin, just for fun.

Thank you again for your thoughts,
Psy

10

http://bioeng.berkeley.edu/undergrad/program/synbio

11

Biochemistry and biomedical engineering may not be as bad for jobs as people currently think. The Bureau of Labor Statistics (http://www.bls.gov/emp/ep_table_102.htm) projects actually more job openings for biomedical engineers than for chemical engineers during 2012-2022 (10,100 vs. 9,200, respectively). It also paints a surprisingly rosy picture for biochemists and biophysicists (18.6% job growth, while the average of all occupations is ~10%, and 13,700 openings 2012-2022.)

12

^There is no doubt that the job market is strong for PhD level biomedical engineers, but the OP needs to know if that translates to people with just at Bachelor’s. Most BMEs go on to grad school because they cannot actually practice biomedial engineering without advanced degrees. ChemEs, on the other hand, are readily hired out of undergrad.