Who May Apply: US Citizens
In order to qualify, you must meet the education and or expereicne requirements described below. Experience refers to paid and unpaid experience, including volunteer work done through National Service programs (e.g., Peace Corps, AmeriCorps) and other organizations (e.g., professional; philanthropic; religious; spiritual; community; student; social). You will receive credit for all qualifying experience, including volunteer experience. Your resume must clearly describe your relevant experience; if qualifying based on education, your transcripts will be required as part of your application. Additional information about transcripts is
in this document.
Basic Requirement for Chemical Engineer:
A. Degree: Bachelor's degree (or higher degree) in engineering. To be acceptable, the program
must: (1) lead to a bachelor's degree (or higher degree) in a school of engineering with at least
one program accredited by the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET);
OR (2) include di??erential and integral calculus and courses (more advanced than first-year
physics and chemistry) in five of the following seven areas of engineering science or physics:
(a) statics, dynamics; (b) strength of materials (stress-strain relationships); (c) fluid mechanics,
hydraulics; (d) thermodynamics; (e) electrical fields and circuits; (f) nature and properties of
materials (relating particle and aggregate structure to properties); and (g) any other comparable
area of fundamental engineering science or physics, such as optics, heat transfer, soil
mechanics, or electronics. (Degree must be completed by May 2025)
OR
B. Combination of Education and Experience: College-level education, training, and/or
technical experience that furnished (1) a thorough knowledge of the physical and mathematical
sciences underlying engineering, and (2) a good understanding, both theoretical and practical,
of the engineering sciences and techniques and their applications to one of the branches of
engineering. The adequacy of such background must be demonstrated by one of the following:
1. Professional registration or licensure - Current registration as an Engineer Intern (EI),
Engineer in Training (EIT), or licensure as a Professional Engineer (PE) by any State, the
District of Columbia, Guam, or Puerto Rico. Absent other means of qualifying under this
standard, those applicants who achieved such registration by means other than written test
(e.g., State grandfather or eminence provisions) are eligible only for positions that are within or
closely related to the specialty field of their registration. For example, an applicant who attains
registration through a State Board's eminence provision as a manufacturing engineer typically
would be rated eligible only for manufacturing engineering positions.
2. Written Test - Evidence of having successfully passed the Fundamentals of Engineering (FE)
examination, or any other written test required for professional registration, by an engineering
licensure board in the various States, the District of Columbia, Guam, or Puerto Rico.
3. Specified academic courses - Successful completion of at least 60 semester hours of courses
in the physical, mathematical, and engineering sciences and that included the courses specified
in A above. The courses must be fully acceptable toward meeting the requirements of an
engineering program.
4. Related curriculum - Successful completion of a curriculum leading to a bachelor's degree in
an appropriate scientific field, e.g., engineering technology, physics, chemistry, architecture,
computer science, mathematics, hydrology, or geology, may be accepted in lieu of a degree in
engineering, provided the applicant has had at least 1 year of professional engineering
experience acquired under professional engineering supervision and guidance. Ordinarily there
should be either an established plan of intensive training to develop professional engineering
competence, or several years of prior professional engineering-type experience, e.g., in
interdisciplinary positions.
In addition to meeting the basic requirement above, to qualify for this position you must
also meet the qualification requirements listed below:
Specialized Experience: One year of specialized experience which includes assisting in the design
and development of chemical engineered devices, equipment or systems using established criteria
or specifications; or, assisting in the inspection and evaluation of chemical engineered projects and
resources; or, assisting in identifying chemical engineering problems and recommending corrective
action. This definition of specialized experience is typical of work performed at the next lower
grade/level position in the federal service (GS-05).
OR
Education: One full year of graduate level education in a field which demonstrates the
knowledge, skills, and abilities necessary to do the work of the position, such as: Engineering.
OR
Superior Academic Achievement: Successful completion (or completion no later than
May 2025) of all the requirements for a bachelor's degree with Superior Academic
Achievement (S.A.A.). In order to be creditable under this provision, Superior Academic
Achievement must have been gained in a curriculum that is qualifying for the position to be
filled, such as that identified in Education above. Superior Academic Achievement is based on:
(1) Class Standing - Applicants must be in the upper third of the graduating class in the college,
university, or major subdivision, such as the College of Liberal Arts or the School of Business
Administration, based on completed courses; OR
(2) Grade-Point Average (G.P.A.) - Applicants must have a grade-point average of either (a) 3.0
or higher out of a possible 4.0 ("B" or better) as recorded on your o??icial transcript, or as
computed based on 4 years of education, or as computed based on courses completed during
the final 2 years of the curriculum; or (b) 3.5 or higher out of a possible 4.0 ("B+" or better)
based on the average of the required courses completed in the major field or the required
courses in the major field completed during the final 2 years of the curriculum.; OR
(3) Honor Society Membership - Applicants may be considered eligible based on membership in
one of the approved national scholastic honor societies listed by the Association of College
Honor Societies (https://www.achsnatl.org/).
NOTE: Grade point averages will be rounded to one decimal point. For example, 2.95 will round
to 3.0, and 2.94 will round to 2.9.
NOTE: If more than 10 percent of your undergraduate course work (credit hours) was taken on
a pass/fail or similar basis, your S.A.A. claim must be based on class standing or membership in
an honor society and you must provide evidence of your class standing or honor society
membership with your application.
OR
5-Year Engineering Program: Successful completion (or completion by May 2025) of a
5-year program of study (i.e., one designed to be completed in no less than 5 years) of at least
160 semester hours leading to a bachelor's degree in engineering in an ABET accredited
college or university.
OR
Combination of Education and Experience: A combination of education and experience may
be used to qualify for this position as long as the computed percentage of the requirements is at
least 100%. To compute the percentage of the requirements, divide your total months of
experience by 12. Then divide the total number of completed graduate semester hours (or
equivalent) by 18. Add the two percentages.