This essay set outs some speculations about the changing role of Chemical Engineer inginthe21st century. To this end, I first look back — well beyond my own under graduate experiences of Chemical Engineering at Sydney University in the 1950’s —to the earlier shape and traditions of the subject. I then sketch a personal vision of how ever-accelerating advances in our understanding of the molecular machin ery of life, and the consequent biotechnological applications, are likely to affect us, bringing both new benefits and new problems. Chemical Engineering, defined more broadly than most current practitioners can imagine and shading into biomedicine, will be at the heart of delivering the benefits, and caught up in most of the problems. Specifically, I will touch on: implications for curricula, and the linked question of attracting adequate numbers of able students; patterns of partnership between acad emia and industry; questions of intellectual property, and what should and should not be patentable. I will conclude with thoughts about the interplay between sci ence/engineering and society