One century of teaching, research, and innovation in chemical engineering in Mexico: The role of chemical engineering in the background and future of polymer science and industrial production in Mexico

Abstract One hundred years after the beginning of the teaching of Chemical Engineering in Mexico, which started in 1925 in the former National School of Chemical Sciences, currently Faculty of Chemistry (FQ) at National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), it is fair to narrate the beginnings of polymer science, engineering, and industry in Mexico, and acknowledge their strong ties with this career at FQ‐UNAM. From the first Chemical Engineering undergraduate theses related to the development of pilot plants for phenolic resins, the production of polymers from different biomasses, and the manufacture of vulcanized rubber to the most current work on biopolymers, composites and functional materials, sensors, pollution from microplastics, and simulation studies with a polymer reaction engineering perspective, this discipline has evolved enormously. Everything started at FQ‐UNAM and later expanded to other educational, research, and industrial centres, to give way to an industry that in Mexico represents around 3.1% of the manufacturing GDP and 0.5% of the national GDP. Thus, this contribution provides a historical view of the first works and groups which determined the focus of the present industries and shaped the trends for the future.