The Chemical Engineering program (B.S.) is accredited by the Engineering Accreditation Commission of ABET, www.abet.org.
Every course (except CENG 4 and CENG 199) must be taken for a letter grade. All CENG courses must have a grade of C- or above as a passing grade.
All CENG core courses are taught only once per year and are scheduled to be consistent with the curriculum shown below.
The courses listed here other than CENG are under the control of other departments. They may not be offered in the quarter shown here. Each student is responsible for determining the prerequisites, when the courses are to be offered and making a schedule of taking the courses that fits into his or her own graduation plan.
Tentative NANO and CENG course offerings for 2023-2024 can be found here.
To view the current and past catalog information, please click here.
Taking additional courses beyond twelve quarters (students entering in fall 2019 or thereafter): A student who enrolls as a first-year student is allowed to enroll for twelve quarters to complete all requirements for a bachelor's degree. If a student reaches the twelve-quarter limit and needs more time beyond twelve quarters to complete those requirements, they will be required to submit an academic plan and have it approved by their college prior to enrolling for additional quarters to continue work towards the degree. (Summer session, as well as quarters during which students are approved for part-time status or have withdrawn from all courses, will not count toward the allowable number of quarters.) More information can be found in the UC San Diego Catalog.
Curriculum for Incoming Students
All courses are 4-units unless stated below
| FRESHMEN YEAR | ||
|---|---|---|
| FALL | WINTER | SPRING |
| MATH 20A | MATH 20B | MATH 20C |
| CENG 4 (1-unit)1 | CHEM 6B | CHEM 6C + 7L |
| CENG 152 | PHYS 2A | PHYS 2B |
| CHEM 6A | G.E.³ | G.E. |
| SOPHOMORE YEAR | ||
| FALL | WINTER | SPRING |
| MATH 20D | MATH 18⁴ | MATH 20E |
| CENG 100 | CENG 102 | CENG 113 |
| PHYS 2C + 2CL (2-units) | Adv. Chem. (1)⁵ | Adv. Chem. (2) |
| G.E. | G.E. | G.E. |
| JUNIOR YEAR | ||
| FALL | WINTER | SPRING |
| CENG 101A | CENG 101B | CENG 101C |
| CENG 170⁶ | CENG 114 | A.S./T.E. (1)⁷ |
| Adv. Chem. (3) | G.E. | G.E. |
| G.E. | ||
| SENIOR YEAR | ||
| SENIOR YEAR | ||
| FALL | WINTER | SPRING |
| CENG 122 | CENG 124A | CENG 124B |
| CENG 1208 | CENG 176A | CENG 176B |
| A.S./T.E. (2) | A.S./T.E. (3) | G.E. |
| G.E. | G.E. | |
1CENG 4: This course should be taken in the first Fall Quarter at UC San Diego. Students will not graduate without taking CENG 4.
2CENG 15: This course will be offered in the Fall Quarter and may be offered in the Winter. If you cannot register for CENG 15 in the Fall, you may enroll in CENG 15 in Winter, or MAE 8 in Winter or Spring Quarter, if it is being offered.
3General Education (G.E.) Requirements: The 48 units shown are for Warren College students as an example to fulfill the general education requirements. Students in other colleges need to adjust the plan to match their own college requirements. To meet program requirements, students must have up to twenty-four units in the arts, humanities, and social sciences, not including subjects such as accounting, industrial management, finance, and personnel administration.
4MATH 18: This course was formerly MATH 20F
5Advanced Chemistry Requirements: Three advanced chemistry electives must be selected from among the pre-approved list: CHEM 41A, 41B, 41C, 43A, 114A (or BIBC 100), 114B (or BIBC 102), 120A, 120B, 130, 131, or 132. (Note: Students may not receive credit for both BIBC 100 and CHEM 114A, or BIBC 102 and CHEM 114B).
Effective for Fall 2022, the CHEM 40 series was being phased out, and effective FA23, the focus has changed, and will no longer satisfy Engineering needs. There is a new CHEM 41 series being offered beginning Fall 2022. The CHEM 41 series is a modified and improved version to better accommodate the needs of chemistry, biochemistry and engineering students.
- If you haven't started either advanced chemistry series (CHEM 40A-C or CHEM 41A-C), then take the new improved CHEM 41 series.
- If you have started the CHEM 40 series (CHEM 40A-B), you should continue on with the CHEM 40 courses if you wish to use these as electives. If you are unsure if you are allowed to continue in the CHEM 40 series, check your degree audit. CHEM 40 A-C must be listed as an approved course on your degree audit to be used towards your advanced chemistry degree.
Simply stated, the focus of CHEM 40 is being changed and will not align with Engineering needs. If you have already completed 40A or 40B, then finish up with the Chem 40 series. If you are starting out - take CHEM 41A-C. CHEM 41 courses will now fulfill the advanced chemistry requirement.
6 CENG 170 has replaced MAE170 for the Chemical Engineering major requirements. Students will not be given credit for both MAE 170 and CENG 170.
7Area of Specialization (AS)/ Technical Electives (TE): The three required technical electives must be upper-division or graduate courses in engineering, based on the pre-approved courses. Otherwise, the selections must receive prior approval of the department. Pre-approved courses are listed here. If students wish to follow an area of specialization, they must take all 3 electives from the same category. An area of specialization will not be noted on students' degree audits.
8 Process Dynamics and Control: If a student chooses the Process Dynamics and Control as the area of specialization, CENG 120 can be replaced by MAE 143B within the approved set of courses for specialization in process control.