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An easily observable proof of this is to simply look at department names pre 2000 and post 2000. Only a handful of departments (in USA) still hold the name Chemical Engineering. Nearly all departments have changed names to the effect of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Chemical and Bio-molecular Engineering, Chemical Engineering and Nanoscience etc. The biggest science players in ChemE are biological sciences.
Biotechnology, and the subsea sector seem to be a key area over the last few years
I apologize for the answer, I leave the answer to experts specialists in this field that's not my specialty field