How To Become A Chemical Engineering Internship: What It Is and Career Path

What is a chemical engineering internship and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

4 min read

Quoted experts

Dr. Sanchari Chowdhury Ph.D.,

Anthony Butterfield

If you're interested in applying the principles of chemistry, biology, physics, and math to solve problems, then you should look into becoming a chemical engineer. One of the first steps to get into this role is to find a chemical engineering internship. As a chemical engineering intern, you'll get to perform chemical analysis and physical property testing of materials and products.

For your internship, you'll have the potential of working in a wide variety of industries, including manufacturing, pharmaceuticals, healthcare, design, or construction. In a chemical engineering internship, you may also get a chance to assist with a variety of processes, including fermentation, separation, crystallization, evaporation, filtration, polymerization, and isomerization.

As a chemical engineering intern, you'll be expected to work closely with chemical and process engineers and designers, analyze data from processes and experiments, and assist in the basic interpretation and verifying compliance with engineering standards and practices.

If you're hoping to be accepted into a chemical engineering internship, you'll need to pursue a Bachelor's or Master's degree in chemical engineering. You'll also need a safety-conscious mindset and have great analytical and problem-solving skills.

What general advice would you give to a chemical engineering internship?

Dr. Sanchari Chowdhury Ph.D.

Assistant Professor, New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology

Chemical engineers are sought after by a wide range of companies, petrochemical, pharmaceutical, biomedical, food, nuclear and other power generation industries, delicate and heavy chemicals, and environmental protection, to name a few. It will help if you are looking to work for a company that allows them to narrow your focus on the area of chemical engineering that interests you the most. During this uncertain time of the pandemic, we may not be seeing as many as job opportunities as we would like to see. However, it is also true that local recruiters are looking to hire people from within the state to avoid any complications due to travel. So, looking for opportunities within the country is a good option. When it comes to job applications, persistence is the key. Don't get discouraged if you don't hear back after five applications; sometimes, it takes more than fifty applications before you land a job. If your plan includes graduate studies, this may also be a good time to do that.

ScoreChemical Engineering InternshipUS Average

Salary

5.9

Avg. Salary $76,041

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

6.8

Growth rate 14%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

7.3

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.38%

Asian 20.62%

Black or African American 3.61%

Hispanic or Latino 9.32%

Unknown 5.61%

White 60.46%

Gender

female 41.95%

male 58.05%

Age - 39

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 39

Stress level

6.8

Stress level is high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

8.3

Complexity level is challenging

7 - challenging

Work life balance

5.3

Work life balance is fair

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a chemical engineering internship

Explore chemical engineering internship education requirements

Most common chemical engineering internship degrees

Bachelor's

76.3 %

Master's

9.7 %

Associate

8.4 %

Start to develop specific chemical engineering internship skills

Skills	Percentages
Chemical Engineering	37.62%
Flow Diagrams	5.24%
Process Improvement	4.81%
Safety Procedures	4.63%
Instrumentation Diagrams	4.27%

Complete relevant chemical engineering internship training and internships

Accountants spend an average of Less than 1 month on post-employment, on-the-job training. New chemical engineering interns learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a chemical engineering internship based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real chemical engineering internship resumes.

Research chemical engineering internship duties and responsibilities

Lead investigation of plant malfunction for submission to EPA.
Programme VBA tool to organize and manage operator-supply production data into a comprehensive data set.
Assist with chemical etching and electro-polishing (EP) processes.
Plan and coordinate work with different agencies for installing and commissioning of the HVAC systems.

Prepare your chemical engineering internship resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your chemical engineering internship resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a chemical engineering internship resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable chemical engineering internship resume templates

Build a professional chemical engineering internship resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your chemical engineering internship resume.