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Career Center for Science and Engineering


What can I do with a major in Bio-based Products Engineering?

What Activities Could Bio-based Products Engineering Majors Do?

Bio-based product engineers apply the principles of engineering, chemistry, and biology, and select the appropriate renewable resources – wood, agricultural residues, fiber crops and other biomass – to produce a wide range of “green” materials, including wood products, paper, chemicals, industrial feedstocks, plastics, building materials, and energy.

Bio-based products engineers also develop energy-efficient, environmentally friendly processes for manufacturing these products and methods for effective end-use applications. They consider the ethical and safety issues surrounding bio-based products as well as their economic and environmental impacts. With the bio-economy taking flight, the future is bright for bio-based products engineers with career opportunities in wide ranging conventional and emerging bio-products industries.

What Industries Could I Explore as a Bio-based Products Engineering Major?

Alternative Energy Law Pulp & Paper Products Research
Building Products/Materials Government Public Health Wood Products
Ecology/Environmental Research Manufacturing Renewable Plastics Marketing
Higher Education

What Employers Hire Bio-based Products Engineering Majors?

3M Cargill Dow LLC Hercules Potlach Corporation
Andersen Windows CIBA Specialty Chemicals Domtar Stora Enso
Appleton Papers International Paper Corporation Dow Chemical Tenneco Corporation
BASF James Hardie Building Products Liberty Paper Voith
Boise Cascade Corporation Oxygen for Thin Air Consulting Group Dupont H. B. Fuller
Buckman Laboratories Georgia Pacific Corporation Mead-Westvaco
Cargill Weyerhaeuser Corporation National Starch

What Are Some Full-Time Job Titles For Bio-based Products Engineering Majors?

Process Engineer Project Engineer Technical Service Manager Production Manager

What Are Some Websites for Bio-based Products Engineering Majors?

Biomass Research and Development Initiative www.brdisolutions.com
New Uses Council www.newuses.org
Pulp and Paper www.pulpandpaper.net
U.S. Department of Energy, BioMass Program www1.eere.energy.gov/biomas