Alumni

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The Alumni Association of The University of Western Ontario is proud to serve and represent more than a quarter million alumni around the world.

We are committed to delivering the finest alumni experience, in keeping with our continued number one ranking as "Canada's best student experience”.

Student Success Centre

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The Student Success Centre is here to help with each step of your journey to a successful future. Our mission is to facilitate the development of career, educational, and life competencies for students and alumni through programs and services that guide successful transitions, foster local and global citizenship, promote leadership opportunities, encourage personal growth, deliver career resources, and ignite active engagement.

Description

Chemical & Biological Engineering

Chemical and Biochemical Engineering is a versatile discipline broadly based upon physical and live sciences. Today, the world faces significant challenges due to increasing population, air, water and soil pollution, and world-wide energy and food shortages. Chemical Engineers are well positioned through their training to address and find solutions to these challenges. Intellectually, we span the many facets of the frontiers of our profession and culturally the Department is an amalgam of the East and the West. We draw the best students from Canada and the rest of the world. Our initiatives in education and research merge our strengths with those of the finest institutions around the globe. Our faculty members come from the best universities around the world. Our facilities are enviable by anyone’s standards. And our vision and ideas are as exciting as any you will find elsewhere.

Our programs educate engineers to design, develop and operate chemical processes to make useful products such as plastics, polymers, medicines, food, fuels, fertilizers, detergents, cosmetics, and consumer goods at minimum cost in a safe and environmentally sustainable way. Chemical Engineers also translate and scale-up processes developed by basic scientists into practical applications that benefit society and lead to economic development. In the third year, students have the option to emphasize their course of study in a Chemical Engineering option or Biochemical and Environmental Engineering option.

Skills

Discipline specific knowledge is only one of the many benefits of pursuing an undergraduate degree. However, this knowledge alone is not enough to prepare you for entering the world of work. You will discover that the content of your degree does not restrict your job opportunities.

Being aware of the transferable skills you've developed throughout your studies will better prepare you for entering the job market and allow you to articulate the skills that are so valued by employers.

Knowledge Skills

  • The ability to solve problems by using chemical engineering science, mathematics and I.T. knowledge

    The ability to conduct experimental laboratory work and simulations and analyse the results

Communication Skills

  • The ability to produce professional designs taking account of technical, environmental, ethical and commercial considerations

    Use a range of relevant software packages to retrieve, store, process, interpret and present information

Research Skills

  • An ability to design and conduct experiments, as well as to analyze and interpret data

    An ability to design a system, component, or process to meet desired needs

Critical Thinking Skills

  • The broad education necessary to understand the impact of engineering solutions in a global and societal context

    A recognition of the need for, and an ability to engage in life-long learning


For a more complete list of transferable skills click here.


Introduction

Did you know that there are over 2 million job titles and over 900 industries in Canada? That is a lot of possible career options! Understanding the Canadian economy and the types of jobs that are available is one of the best ways to begin your career search.

Students often report feeling limited by their degree choice and worry that they may not have many viable career options. Although your degree can point you in a career direction, it will not necessarily determine the type of job you can pursue. Unlike many college programs, your undergraduate degree is not intended to train you for one specific job. Some students may feel frustrated by this, but the great news is that your degree opens up many more opportunities than you may think!

Employers today are looking for graduates with transferable skills and people who have a sense of where they fit into the world of work. Because of this, it is really important to think beyond your degree when making a career decision. You want to consider all of your interests, the skills you would like to use, what fits with your personality, and the values that you have.

Determining your career path requires a lot of research, both personal and occupational. It's almost impossible to make a career decision if you haven't invested time in both of these things. This section will get you started and will showcase some popular industries and occupational areas related to your degree.

Business and Financial

This sector comprises establishments primarily engaged in financial transactions or in facilitating financial transactions. Included are:

* establishments that are primarily engaged in financial intermediation. They raise funds by taking deposits and/or issuing securities, and, in the process, incur liabilities, which they use to acquire financial assets by making loans and/or purchasing securities.

* establishments that are primarily engaged in the pooling of risk by underwriting annuities and insurance. They collect fees, build up reserves, invest those reserves and make contractual payments. Fees are based on the expected incidence of the insured risk and the expected return on investment.

Sample Job Titles:

Financial Analysts

Financial Controller

Investment Researcher

Management Analysts

Purchasing Managers

Risk Consultant

Educational Services

The Educational Services sector comprises establishments that provide instruction and training in a wide variety of subjects. This instruction and training is provided by specialized establishments, such as schools, colleges, universities, and training centers. These establishments may be privately owned and operated for profit or not for profit, or they may be publicly owned and operated. They may also offer food and/or accommodation services to their students.

Educational services are usually delivered by teachers or instructors that explain, tell, demonstrate, supervise, and direct learning. Instruction is imparted in diverse settings, such as educational institutions, the workplace, or the home, and through diverse means, such as correspondence, television, the Internet, or other electronic and distance-learning methods.

Sample Job Titles:

Archivist

Career and Technical Education Teacher

High School Teacher

Instructional Coordinator

Instructor

Librarian

Postsecondary Teacher

Preschool Teacher

Supply Teacher

Engineering

The engineering sector encompasses a bewildering array of possible roles, and touches virtually all other industry segments. The discipline of engineering is generally subdivided into mechanical, electrical, and chemical engineering on the macro scale. However, with its connotations of pragmatic manipulation, as in using a body of skill and techniques to achieve a designated impact in the real world, engineering as a term is now readily applied to fields as diverse as software, genetics, and finance.

Chemical and biochemical engineering techs help engineers design and operate equipment and processes that bring about a change to physical matter.

Sample Job Titles:

Electro-mechanical Technician

Health and Safety Engineers

Industrial Engineering Technician

Materials Engineer

Mechanical Engineer

Mining and Geological Engineer

Manufacturing

The branch of manufacture and trade based on the fabrication, processing, or preparation of products from raw materials and commodities. This includes all foods, chemicals, textiles, machines, and equipment. This includes all refined metals and minerals dirrived from extracted ores. This includes all lumber, wood, and pulp products.

The materials processed by manufacturing establishments include products of agriculture, forestry, fishing, mining, and quarrying as well as products of other manufacturing establishments. The new product of a manufacturing establishment may be finished in the sense that it is ready for utilization or consumption, or it may be semifinished to become a raw material for an establishment engaged in further manufacturing.

Sample Job Titles:

Chemical Analyst

Consulting Industrial Engineer

Food Technologist

Fuel Technician

Quality Assurance Engineer

Safety Engineer

Oil and Gas Extraction

Industries in the Oil and Gas Extraction subsector operate and/or develop oil and gas field properties. Such activities may include exploration for crude petroleum and natural gas; drilling, completing, and equipping wells; operating separators, emulsion breakers, desilting equipment, and field gathering lines for crude petroleum and natural gas; and all other activities in the preparation of oil and gas up to the point of shipment from the producing property. This subsector includes the production of crude petroleum, the mining and extraction of oil from oil shale and oil sands, and the production of natural gas, sulfur recovery from natural gas, and recovery of hydrocarbon liquids.

Some information about the Oil and Gas Extraction industries can be viewed here.

Sample Job Titles:

Production Engineer

Drilling Engineer

Natural Gas Engineer

Petroleum Chemist

Petroleum engineer

Subsea Engineer

Other Industries

This section has highlighted a number of popular industries and job titles that align with your academic program; however, it was by no means an exhaustive list of all the possible options available to you with the degree you possess. Access the resources below to learn about other industries and job titles that are a fit for you.

Canadian Industries: Browse through over 900 Canadian Industries.

LinkedIn: Search through thousands of Western Alumni by degree.

National Occupational Classification (NOC): The national reference on occupations - organizes over 40,000 job titles.

Informational Interviews: Find out about jobs and career paths you never knew existed.

CareerCruising: Peruse career & further educational options (visit the "Resources" section of CareerCentral for the username & password).

Working in Canada: The leading source for labour market information in Canada.

US Occupational Outlook Handbook: Browse hundreds of occupational profiles.

Featured Employers

Featured Alumni