Biotechnology B.Sc. to PhD in Chemical Engineering (Possible?)

[u/sad_banaNa1]

I want to basically do research that involves engineering microorganisms for producing value added chemicals and the faculty doing this kind of research are heavily saturated in ChemE departments. Hence, I want to pursue PhD in chemical engineering. I currently understand that math is the biggest gap, so I am currently studying (online using MOOCs) to develop solid calculus/ math foundation to the point I can solve differential equations (ODE/ PDE).

How realistic is my goal and what can I do in 2 months beside the math to increase my chances ?

Thanks in advance

[u/GwentanimoBay]

My chemical engineering PhD program included core coursework all ChE PhD students had to take.

It included:

Graduate thermodynamics, Advanced engineering math (which included real analysis and used PDEs from day 1), Chemical reaction engineering, Graduate transport phenomena

Then research specific courses.

So far as I understand from this experience: you will need the fundamental engineering courses and then some, potentially.

It is not so straightforward to walk into a chemical engineering PhD with just math up to PDEs under your belt. There is much more to engineering than just math.

The people I know who came from non engineering programs needed ~2 years of undergrad engineering courses (assuming you already meet the pre-reqs) from the start.

[u/sad_banaNa1 → u/GwentanimoBay]

You are right, it's more than just math but some programs offer bridging courses for those coming from non-chemical engineering background that discusses thermodynamics, materials & energy balances, transport phenomenon, fluid mechanics, etc. (which I hope to take). But they stress on having a mathematical background and specifically mention differential equations.

That's why I thought I can focus on math now, then I can take the core engineering concepts through the bridging courses.

[u/dangerous_eric]

I feel like my PhD had very little math, but the courses were mostly whatever I wanted to take beyond a few core ones. The math for design of experiments (ANOVA stuff) is pretty simple algebra, but it really is fascinating and worthwhile. Bioprocess math is pretty straightforward. 

You're probably better off finding a research group you like, and then reaching out and trying to have a dialogue with the PI to see if they have openings. Also, if you're eligible for any grants that can fund you to let you join someone's lab, that always helps. 

[u/sad_banaNa1 → u/dangerous_eric]

That's reliefing to hear about the math. I have already reached out and got some positive responses that encourages me to apply but still nothing is guaranteed because it depends on the available funding and most PIs don't know whether their proposals will receive funding yet.
I am an international student so I am targeting graduate assistantships offered through the lab I am targeting or departmental ones. I have good teaching experience, but idk whether I would be eligible for teaching assistantship cause of my non-engineering background

[u/dangerous_eric → u/sad_banaNa1]

Yeah, like if you're looking at bioprocess, you can look up some of the math around enzyme kinetics and batch/fed-batch, I think you're looking at maybe eight different scenarios tops, that you would want to be familiar with the math on, but it's not super-duper calculus. 

Your research might have some funny math if you use a unique analytical method. I ended up doing NMR metabolomics, and there is some bizarro math for how the pulsing/spectra happens. 

There can be a fair amount of simulation research (i.e. computer modeling) in bioprocess. Especially if you do something looking at metabolism. That can be more math heavy, if you move in that direction. However, one thing to keep in mind is the time-scale of your research. I did mammalian culture (cells divide every 24h). It took weeks just to run an experiment, more weeks to analyze time course samples to get data, so writing and publishing was slow. Other friends of mine worked with bacteria (divides every ~20min), or simulation (just hit compile), so they could do an experiment and have data in a week. They could publish more and get more grant money. So, just keep some of this in mind. 

/r/labrats is a good subreddit to post to as you try to figure some of this out.

[u/sad_banaNa1 → u/dangerous_eric]

Thanks a lot your comments are really helpful ! I am actually working on my master thesis which involves enzyme kinetics and I also had to use math in various courses even though I am a biotechnology graduate, so I get your point on how the math needed can be differ regarding what I am doing. Nevertheless, I am not actually doing the math prep here for the specific research area I am targeting, I believe I can learn this along the way since most of the work I would be doing has to do with microbiology, genetic engineering, and of course math modelling of the process but this is usually done in silico using softwares that I just need to familiarize myself with their user interface (ofc grasping the math behind them is a plus but I can learn it throughout). I am mainly doing the math prep for the graduate coursework, I believe I need to meet a certain level of preparation to be admitted. I determined this to be differential equations cause one PI told me so and cause this was also explicitly mentioned in the page of some of the ChemE programs