Programming skills in the industry 4.0: are chemical engineering students able to face new problems?

A reflection on teaching programming at undergraduate level using advanced tools is presented. Advanced digital tools and computational evolution have shaped different areas, such as industrial process, communications, education and innovation. New technologies, such as the Internet of Things-IoT, cloud computing and artificial intelligence, have boosted software development and computational skills in different areas. The chemical engineering knowledge acquired by senior students and programming skills can be integrated to develop computational tools, favoring chemical engineers to take advantage of new opportunities in digital area. Normally, programming courses are offered at the beginning of chemical engineering program, with examples not related to chemical engineering problems. To fill this gap, an elective discipline was created for final year undergraduate students in the Department of Chemical Engineering at University of Sao Paulo (Brazil). This paper discusses the main motivations for a new programming course, presents the structure of the course and shows some outcomes from a students' survey about what they have learned. (C) 2018 Institution of Chemical Engineers. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.