A t
STAFF REPORT
N e w and fast-growing industries are emerging which call for the special combination of skills, formerly considérée! arts, found in the chemical engineer- with bacteriological training, or in the "mechanically inclined" research biochemist
"Learn b y doing" is the philosophy in bio-engineering projects laboratory at University of Illinois
Bio-Engineering: Subdivision or N e w Science? w
iTHiN the past 2 5 years, and particularly within t h e past decade, the increasing commercialization of biochemical processes has created demand for specialists; gradually these specialists have come to be known as biochemical engineers. They are still f e w in number, and widely varied in educational background. While they all have the same professional objectives in view—the application of engineering principles to t h e handling of biochemical materials and processes on an industrial scale—they differ widely in training and in experience. From the mechanical engineer with a side interest in biochemistry, through the chemical engineer with a minor in bacteriology, to the research biochemist who is "mechanically inclined," they join ranks to create new industries and to rejuvenate old industries through science. There may be some disagreement as to the best way t o train bio-engineers, or even as t o what these specialists should be called. There is little argument, however, as to what services they should be able to provide; the chemical process industries know that more such engineers—by any name—are needed. Dire shortages of all types of engineers have been predicted for the next several years, and the scarcity of bio-engineers may easily prove to be relatively the most severe shortage of all. Those segments of the chemical processing industries which require bio-engineers are probably the fastest-growing in the entire field.
Crystallizing pots for Dihydrostreptomycin
Bio-Engineering Replacing an Art The bio-engineer is just getting his start toward helping industry replace outmoded art with progressive science. Paradoxically, some of the industries which have the greatest need for these new specialists are among the oldest industries known to mankind. For decades in many cases, and e v e n for centuries in some,
Laboratory equipment for study of fermentation processes on a small scale at Abbott Laboratories
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