Accreditation and Assessment
The BS degree in Chemical Engineering is accredited by the Engineering Accreditation Commission of ABET, https://www.abet.org. ABET accreditation provides assurance that a college or university program meets the quality standards of the profession for which that program prepares graduates.
Why Accreditation Matters
To ensure that our students are well prepared for success in their future careers, the department follows a formal procedure of continuous assessment and improvement of our curriculum. Our process is structured around two sets of goals, termed Program Educational Objectives and Student Outcomes.
Program Educational Objectives
Program Educational Objectives are broad statements that describe the abilities and accomplishments that our graduates are expected to have within a few years of obtaining the BS degree from our program. They paint a picture of what a successful and effective chemical engineer should look like after finishing our program and spending a few years on the job.
Within a few years of obtaining a bachelor's degree in chemical engineering from the University at Buffalo, the recent graduate:
- Demonstrates engineering competence, broadly defined.
Demonstrates engineering competence, via promotions and/or advancement to positions of increasing responsibility; via satisfactory progress towards completion of an advanced degree; or via a successful transition from the "traditional" chemical engineering career path into medicine, business, government, education, etc. - Applies engineering and science to bring value to an organization and society.
Shows proficiency in the application of engineering and science in the presence of practical and economic constraints to solve problems or generate improvements while demonstrating excellence in ethical standards. - Interacts well with a broad range of people.
Grows continuously in the range of people with whom they interact professionally, demonstrating the ability to communicate effectively with and relate well to co-workers at all levels, inside or outside the organization, perhaps involving difficult circumstances. Provides input that enables others to do their job better.
The Program Educational Objectives are reviewed and updated approximately every five years. They are formulated and revised in this manner through consultation with our constituencies, which comprise (1) alumni, (2) employers of our graduates, and (3) graduate and professional schools where our students pursue further study.
Student Outcomes
Student Outcomes are concrete goals of our undergraduate program in support of the Program Education Objectives. In other words, by meeting the goals embodied in the Student Outcomes, and subsequently engaging in engineering practice or advanced (graduate) study for several years, graduates of our BS program should achieve the Program Education Objectives. Student Outcomes are specific statements of the knowledge and abilities that students are expected to have by the time of graduation.
By the completion of their undergraduate studies, students are expected to demonstrate:
(1) an ability to identify, formulate, and solve complex engineering problems by applying principles of engineering, science, and mathematics,
(2) an ability to apply engineering design to produce solutions that meet specified needs with consideration of public health, safety, and welfare, as well as global, cultural, social, environmental, and economic factors,
(3) an ability to communicate effectively with a range of audiences,
(4) an ability to recognize ethical and professional responsibilities in engineering situations and make informed judgments, which must consider the impact of engineering solutions in global, economic, environmental, and societal contexts,
(5) an ability to function effectively on a team whose members together provide leadership, create a collaborative and inclusive environment, establish goals, plan tasks, and meet objectives,
(6) an ability to develop and conduct appropriate experimentation, analyze and interpret data, and use engineering judgment to draw conclusions,
(7) an ability to acquire and apply new knowledge as needed, using appropriate learning strategies.
The process of assessment and continuous improvement of our program revolves around the Student Outcomes. Each semester, instructors of key courses are tasked with collecting student performance data and evaluating it against the Student Outcomes. Their evaluation is conducted in reference to rubrics that attempt to remove subjective elements from the process. The rubrics are a set of formal written statements that objectively define various levels of achievement or ability for specific performance indicators associated with each Student Outcome.
Every two years, faculty meet to examine the comprehensive assessment data, and consider what it says about our how well our students are achieving the targeted Student Outcomes. This analysis informs decisions on steps to take to improve the program. Significant changes, such as the addition or removal of a required course, are taken in consultation with the program constituencies. Continuous improvement is informed also by other channels of feedback, such as senior exit surveys, Lunch with the Chair events, course evaluations, and suggestions from industrial participants involved in teaching our courses.
Our continuous improvement process is itself reviewed every six years by an external evaluator from ABET, and forms a major component of decisions regarding continued accreditation of our BS program in Chemical Engineering.