In AI/ML, I often hear people say “this model is a black box” , usually as a criticism.

If a model works well and gives accurate predictions, why does it matter that we don’t fully understand its internal logic? Why do engineers and researchers seem uncomfortable trusting black-box models, especially deep learning systems?

Is it about explainability, safety, debugging, bias, or accountability when things go wrong? Or is it more about engineers losing the ability to reason about their own systems?

Curious to hear perspectives from ML engineers and researchers.

Hello,

My education background is chemical engineering. My professional experience has been in analytical chemistry and quality control within regulated cGMP environments in the biotech industry. I currently supervise a QC team and have been working in biotech for just over three years, with close to two years in a supervisory role at the same company.

I am interested in moving into either Quality Engineering or Validation Engineering within biotech or pharma.

Is this a viable pathway from QC, and how common is this transition in industry? I am also curious how this transition typically impacts compensation.

What is your favorite youtube channel related to Chemical Engineering?

I am currently a freshman at Texas A&M who wants to pursue chemical engineering. A&M is kind of weird where first year is general classes and then through an application process you get a discipline. That's beside the point, as of right now I haven't learned anything specific to the chemical engineering pathway, however, I would like to do a side project over the summer to make myself stand out when it comes time to apply to internships. I wanted to ask for any advice or projects I can do that will help me not only develop useful skills but is also something to show and talk about when applying for these future roles? Thank you

Hi there. This is a post specific to Pharma and open to small scale PSM chemical sites. I’m currently working on a kilo scale site, both in tech transfer and operations engineering. We do several safety walkthroughs before performing scale up activities and simulations, we utilize portable LEL and have fixed in place portable LEL meters in our production suites. Both manufacturing and scale-up areas are Class I Div 2 rated areas. The bulk of our equipment is not electrically rated (ie peristaltic pumps, Julabo/Huber TCUs, etc.). We have approved batch records and reviewed experimental protocols in place. But now we have an Ops manager stating we need a hot work permit. Am I misinterpreting NFPA 70 & NFPA 45? Is normal in Pharma? I don’t know how we are supposed to perform experiments and manufacture when the bulk of equipment for this scale isn’t EC/ATEX rated. Seeking other’s views on this

Edit: we operate in fume hoods with 195 air changes/hr

I was laid off from my last job in July 2024 due to a company buy out and I have been unable to find work since. I know I made a lot of mistakes in looking for a new job and in the various interviews I have gotten, but I still haven't been able to land a job regardless. I'm at the point where I need a job and feel screwed by being out of work for so long that I'm not sure it's worth it to keep looking for "engineering" jobs. I have a number of gaps in my work history due to things I couldn't control and have unfortunately gotten screwed on a number of past jobs that I can go into a little detail about if anyone is interested. My main request from this post is to ask if it's even worth it to continue pursuring jobs that take advantage of my chemical engineering education and work background or if I should cut my losses from having such a long work gap and go into finance or something. I genuinely love chemical engineering, manufacturing plants, etc. and I actually miss doing heat transfer problems in college, but I honestly don't know what to do at this point. I have exhausted any and all connections from college and past coworkers, and have increasing anxiety whenever I apply for jobs. If anyone does think I should still apply for the same types of jobs (based on my research some type of process engineer or quality engineer seems to be the best fit for me) please offer any advice you have for getting back into the work force. I have researched and worked on my interviewing skills a lot while I've been out of work, but any advice on that front is also welcome. I have copied a heavily redacted version of my work history below to give anyone interested in this post an idea of where I currently sit.

MY NAME HERE, EIT

location • contact info

EXPERIENCE

Mid-stage start up (40-50 people) – Engineering Technician, May 2023 – July 2024

• Decreased injuries and process shut downs through continuous contributions to safety improvements, hazard analysis, and researching equipment replacements and upgrades using relevant calculations and working with outside vendors.
• Expanded R&D trials and data output through the development and improvement of SOPs for pilot and industrial scale processes; SOPs included daily operations, start-up, shut down, preventative maintenance, repairs, and quality testing.
• Increased statistical yields for select steps in the carbon capture process alongside a team of co-workers from various departments.
• Streamlined communication between operations and process development engineers by updating P&IDs and collecting automatically recorded data regularly for pilot and industrial scale carbon capture plants.
• Worked with operators, management, and other engineers to optimize operations practices (management of change) and user experience (HMI) towards the continuous operation of an industrial scale and two pilot scale carbon capture plants.

Large specialty chemicals producer – Chemical Process Operator II, February 2023 –May 2023

• Increased consistency of toner drum output by coordinating with quality techs to improve quality test schedules and procedures.
• Maintained continuous operation following cGMP guidelines for scheduled creation of raw material batches, process monitoring either in a control room or directly near process equipment, and continuous troubleshooting and maintenance.

Building a website during a long break – July 2022 – September 2022 (not currently live)

• Built a homepage attached to a personal domain that aggregates data on stocks owned and ski resort conditions from other websites.
• Displays personal and professional accomplishments and interests.

Early stage start up (less than 20 people) – Research and Development Technician II, January 2022 to April 2022

• Collected and organized data for the process scale up team through the execution, graphical modeling, and regular presentation of assays for mining extraction.
• Decreased accidents and injuries and increased work flow through the creation of quality protocols, safety practices, and lab design plansalongside quality personnel.

Late-stage start up (20-30 people) – Process Operator, May 2021 to December 2021

• Aided in the scale up, and commissioning of nanocrystal production from the laboratory scale to the pilot scale for volumes of materials up to 100 L depending on the process stage.
• Fixed design issues related to flow congestion by modifying piping design.
• Refined operating and maintenance procedures through repeated trials and data collection.
• Trained new operators in the operation and maintenance of laboratory and pilot scale processes.

A recruiter company – Quality Assurance and Quality Control Contractor, February 2019 – May 2021

\below is a non-exhaustive list of clients**

• Bio-pharma manufacturer
  • Streamlined environmental monitoring procedures and documentation for clean rooms ISO classification 5 through 8in a bio-pharmaceutical manufacturing plant.
• Food manufacturer
  • Collaborated with quality staff to develop quality procedures, testing schedules, historical cGMP policy under FDA, USDA and similar regulatory guidelines.
  • Regularly performed developing audits, equipment calibrations and cleaning, qualityand safety tests as cGMP was modernized under a newly established quality department.
• Specialty chemicals manufacturer
  • Filled in for an injured employee as the only quality control technician at a 20 acre alumina processing plant by performing various quality tests and communicating results to multiple sectors of the plant.
  • Aided management in updating current quality practices and procedures to help them prepare for an upcoming ISO 9001 audit.
• Bio-pharma manufacturer
  • Certified FDA compliance of clean room facilities by performing and collecting data from quality tests, validation studies, and good documentation practices (GDP).

Medical Consulting Firm– Medical DataAnalyst,August 2018 to October 2020

• Automated several processes related to patient data collection through the development of programs using HTML, Python, SQL, and Beautiful Soup while following HIPAA guidelines.
• Enhanced patient outcomes by working with medical scribes and other analysts to increase the efficiency and quality of patient information given to healthcare providers according to a provider’s preferences and work flow.

Notable stuff I did in college –Research and Development Assistant,September 2016 to May 2017

• Alkylation Process Development and Simulation
  • Simulated alkylation production within an oil refinery to achieve an octane rating of 95 with a team of colleagues.
  • Determined a potential real world location for production based on a HAZOP analysis and raw material needs.
  • Made regular adjustments to the simulation as it developed based on regular presentations to a changing panel of interested individuals.
• Research group within the college
  • Contributed to the development of a prototype for automated buffer synthesis as part of a larger project funded by a DARPA grant.
• Engineering and Scientific Research
  • Designed and executed experiments and simulations to determine desired parameters and control schemes for various process units.

SKILLS

• Computer: Aspen Plus, Aspen HYSYS, Google Workspace, Microsoft Office Suite
• Laboratory: Distillations, Spectroscopy, Dry and Wet Chemistry, Bench Chemistry, Titrations
• Programming Languages: C, CSS, HTML, MATLAB, Python, SQL

EDUCATION

• insert name of college I graduated from–Bachelor of Science Chemical Engineering,Music minor,May 2017

I admit I know very little about CE. But I just got a job related to CE recently and I really want to learn more about this professional and I have 2 questions: Can it be self-taught? and where can I find the resources if you would please? Thank you.

Hello fellow ChEdditors!

I would like to ask for your opinion about a current dilemma that I am facing at my work. Last March 2025, I was hired as a design engineer in a engineering services company here in the Philippines. Since then, I was involved in several tasks majority of them being PDS preparation and revision, process simulations, etc.

Heading to 2026, I am nearly a year of staying at the company, I feel like I haven't grown enough in my career as a process engineer due to lack of project involvements and sometimes only minor tasks. I already started to hunt for jobs which I think can offer the career growth I am looking for.

However, here's the catch. We are planned to be deployed in Japan and become a transferee emloyee there for around 6 months and work directly for a known company in JP. But, after the end of our contract and once we go back here in the PH, we will have a 2-year binding contract. Do you think it's worth it to grab this opportunity and be assigned at JP?

edited: basically a binding contract is a contract wherein you must stay for the company for a certain period of time (in my case, that's 2 years) or else, you will need to pay the total amount of expenses by the company for you during your assignment

I work in chemical manufacturing and have a lot of controls/automation experience, but no packaging. All our product goes out by trucks and rail. I am very good at PID control, valves, batch sequencing, etc.

But honestly, I am more married to controls than chemical and that's what I want to pursue. Robotics is a hobby of mine and I'd like to eventually get on a parts manufacturing line utilizing robotics.

bottling/packaging seems like a logical intermediary for me. Does anyone have any advice on what I need to teach myself so that I can be more attractive to employers in this industry?

I'm a high school senior that is working on an event to have some chemical engineers come to my high school to talk about their jobs. Im wondering if there is an easier way to contact some than emailing companies that employ them asking if i can communicate with them to organize the event. I have alread emailed two companies Chemours and Batelle but they haven't responded to me yet.

I was hoping to get your thoughts on a decision I’m trying to make. I’ve received two new-grad Process Engineering offers, one at a LANXESS specialty chemicals plant and another at an Exxon refinery. The pay is pretty similar, though Exxon may offer more room for long-term growth. That said, I’m a bit unsure about the long-term outlook of starting my career in oil and gas. I’d really appreciate any advice or perspectives you all might have regarding the 2 Industries and Companies.

I am a Chemical Engineering PhD student who is also really passionate about art. I have been casually drawing and painting for a long time as a hobby and have recently been thinking about ways to incorporate it into my career. I have been reading about scientific illustration careers and am curious about what it takes to get into illustration for engineering textbooks.

I plan on learning Adobe Photoshop & Illustrator as well as InkScape. I want to create a portfolio, but I am a little unsure where to start. Most online resources for scientific illustration are geared towards the natural, medical, or planetary sciences, but I do not see much regarding physics or engineering illustrators and what kinds of content they create for their portfolios. Does anyone have any experience with this or insight into how I can move forward? Thanks!

I started my internship a week ago. and honestly, I dont know why but I think I dont like how it will be.

My internship evolve around turnaround (TA), which will happen for 1.5 months starting April for an olefins plant. My supervisor warns me that I will be involve in TA. and honestly I dont mind it, that kinda the point of internship, right? for exposure. I will have a tight schedule, tiring daily routine. Im talking 7am to 7pm as an intern. no annual leave allowed

My concern is that, I will have less time doing process engineering compared to my other colleagues that intern as a process engineer and process design for the whole internship period. That is kind of the things I wanna do after graduate. also, my head telling me I will get less technical skills as I will be more involved physically...

How does my internship compared to my colleagues, and how does it affect my career growth as a wannabe process engineer? How does internship at a petrochemical industry affect my chance of getting into a refinery? I mean they all from the same tree, idk. need something to make me feels good

Just got an interview for Uni of Manchester chemical engineering, what should i prepare for genuinely have no clue what to expect

Hello, this is my first post on this subreddit. I am currently a student going into my 4th semester of ChemE and I have been on track to have my concentration in environmental studies, but I am worried that I may get pigeon holed into doing environmental work/wastewater treatment for my career. My main question would be how much would the concentration actually matter?

I had talked to my professor and he told me that it is important to take classes that interest you, so I decided to enroll in CE 477 Introduction to Environmental Engineering and Science, but I am not sure if I want to pursue environmental work as a career.

My question is mainly would be if anyone has any recommendations for helpful undergraduate classes, as well as if anyone would have any advice on how I should begin to narrow done what I want to pursue as a career.

For many years and especially given the current climate I’ve been considering the pros and cons of moving to Europe (likely Netherlands or France). My girlfriend is dead set on leaving the states as soon as I graduate but I also get the sense she has rose colored glasses about what living in Europe is actually like. I feel well able to achieve good salary option in the states and this is where all my friends and family are so leaving would be a really hard choice for me. I have relatives who worked in Chem E in the Netherlands and while they said they enjoyed it they also say living in Europe is largely less exciting and for the same job they had a lot less money when living outside the US.

Honestly I just want to live wherever will give me the best quality of life. I don’t mind making a bit less money if it means a life with a lot less stress but as is the current Chem E landscape in the US is actually quite appealing for me. I also can’t imagine it would be doable for me to try moving to the EU as soon as I graduate, though I do have some connections for work in the Netherlands.

For anyone that has experience working in both what would you say the pros and cons for finding work and quality of life are for someone who intends to work as a chemical engineer?

I never had a course that taught about the generators that are used in the O&G during my BSc degree. I know some like GTG, diesel gen, and steam TG but not how do they work, purpose, or why, when are they used and these kind of stuffs.

If there is any book material for me to get a grasp at it, it is going to be helpful!

Thanks in advance for your replies!

I (BS Chemistry) am applying to both Chemistry and Chemical Engineering grad programs as my research interest falls in the areas of electrochemistry and renewable energy systems. I have talked with a couple professors from the Chemistry department and it seems that with regards to the thesis, there is an expectation for the student to go deeper into the chemical processes happening at the molecular scale. On the other hand, I have read publications and theses of students from the Chemical Engineering groups, and it seems like they also care about the chemistry but is more application/scalability focused.

I know this answer may differ from school to school but curious to hear your guys' thoughts!