Miniature Low-Cost Desktop Learning Modules for Multi-Disciplinary Engineering Process Applications
- Conference
- Location
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Seattle, Washington
- Publication Date
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June 14, 2015
- Start Date
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June 14, 2015
- End Date
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June 17, 2015
- ISBN
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978-0-692-50180-1
- ISSN
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2153-5965
- Conference Session
- Tagged Topic
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NSF Grantees Poster Session
- Page Count
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12
- Page Numbers
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26.1155.1 - 26.1155.12
- DOI
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10.18260/p.24492
- Permanent URL
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https://peer.asee.org/24492
- Download Count
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479
Paper Authors
Serah Wambui Njau
Serah is an undergraduate student at Washington State University in the school of Chemical Engineering. She is involved in research regarding the design of low-cost DLM to enable the cleanup of syngas from a gasification reactor.
Bernard J. Van Wie Washington State University
Prof. Bernard J. Van Wie did his B.S., M.S. and Ph.D., and postdoctoral work at the University of Oklahoma where he also taught as a visiting lecturer. He has been on the Washington State University faculty for 32 years and for the past 18 years has focused on innovative pedagogy research and technical research in biotechnology. His 2007-2008 Fulbright exchange to Nigeria set the stage for him to receive the Marian Smith Award given annually to the most innovative teacher at Washington State University.
Jacqueline Gartner Ph.D. Washington State University
Jacqueline Burgher is a graduate student at Washington State University in the Chemical Engineering Department. She received her bachelor's degree from Anderson University, worked in industry, received an MBA from Anderson University and is currently working with Prof. Bernard J. Van Wie on fabricating, optimizing, and implementing a miniaturized gasification system for use in the engineering classroom.
Paul B Golter
Washington State University
orcid.org/0000-0001-8959-6899
Paul B. Golter obtained an MS and PhD Washington State University and made the switch from Instructional Laboratory Supervisor to Post-Doctoral Research Associate on an engineering education project. His research area has been engineering education, specifically around the development and assessment of technologies to bring fluid mechanics and heat transfer laboratory experiences into the classroom.
Robert F. Richards Washington State University
Dr. Robert Richards received the PhD in Engineering from the University of California, Irvine. He then worked in the Building and Fire Research Laboratory at NIST as a Post-Doctoral Researcher before joining the faculty of the School of Mechanical and Materials Engineering at Washington State University. His research is in thermodynamics and heat and mass transfer. Over the last five years he has become involved in developing and disseminating research based learning methods. He was a participant in the NSF Virtual Communities of Practice (VCP) program in Spring, 2013, learning research based methods to instruct thermodynamics. More recently he introduced the concept of fabricating very low cost thermal fluid experiments using 3-D printing and vacuum forming at the National Academy of Engineering’s Frontiers of Engineering Education in October, 2013.
He is presently a co PI on the NSF IUSE: Affordable Desktop Learning Modules to Facilitate Transformation in Undergrad¬uate Engineering Classes, High School Recruitment and Retention.
Cecilia Dianne Richards Washington State University
Dr. Cecilia Richards is a professor in the School of Mechanical and Materials Engineering at Washington State University. Dr. Richards received her B.S. and M.S. degrees in Mechanical Engineering from the University of British Columbia, Canada. She earned her Ph.D. in Engineering from the University of California at Irvine. She has authored over 100 technical papers and proceedings and holds two patents. She has supervised the research of 26 graduate students.
Fanhe Shamus Meng
Olusola O Adesope Washington State University-Pullman
Dr. Olusola O. Adesope is an Assistant Professor of Educational Psychology at Washington State University, Pullman. His research is at the intersection of educational psychology, learning sciences, and instructional design and technology. His recent research focuses on the cognitive and pedagogical underpinnings of learning with computer-based multimedia resources; knowledge representation through interactive concept maps; meta-analysis of empirical research, and investigation of instructional principles and assessments in STEM.
Nathaniel Hunsu
Nathaniel Hunsu is currently a PhD candidate of Educational Psychology at the Washington State University. He received a B.Sc. in Electronics and Computer Engineering from the Lagos State University, Nigeria and a M.Sc. in Project Management from University of Sunderland. He is interested in the conceptual change research in science learning. His research emphasis at the time is about how students process textual information for conceptual change in STEM education. He can be reached at nat.hunsu@wsu.edu.
Negar Beheshtipour WSU
Ms. Negar Beheshtipour did her BS at Tehran University where she also taught as a teacher assistant. Now she is a PhD student in chemical engineering at Washington State University.
Prashanta Dutta
Washington State University
orcid.org/0000-0001-5082-3994
Prof. Prashanta Dutta has received his PhD degree in Mechanical Engineering from the Texas A&M University in 2001. Since then he has been working as an Assistant Professor at the School of Mechanical and Materials Engineering at Washington State University. He was promoted to the rank of Associate and Full Professor in 2007 and 2013, respectively. Prof. Dutta is an elected Fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME). He current serves as an Associate Editor for the ASME Journal of Fluids Engineering.
David B. Thiessen
Washington State University
orcid.org/0000-0003-4283-5914
Amber DeAnn Graviet Washington State University
Amber Graviet is an undergraduate Chemical Engineering student at Washington State University. Over the past year she has been working with Jacqueline Burgher, Professor Van Wie, and Dr. Paul Golter to create a biomass conversion module for student learning.
Arshan Nazempour Washington State University
Arshan Nazempour completed his undergraduate study at University of Tehran in Tehran, Iran in Chemical Engineering. Currently, he is a PhD candidate in Chemical Engineering at Washington State University and working under Professor Van Wie's supervision on two projects, synergistic influences of oscillating pressure and growth factor on chondrogenesis in a novel centrifugal bioreactor and hands-on learning solution for students.
Abstract
To transform the STEM learning environment and make it more effective, exciting andexperimental, hands on learning needs to be implemented in the classroom. This is the long termgoal in a set of NSF projects, one a new IUSE project and a continuing TUES/CCLI enhancedthrough a USAID/NSF PEER and TUES supplement. The objectives are to build anddisseminate light weight, low-cost Desktop Learning Modules (DLMs), with interchangeablefluid mechanics, heat transfer and biomass conversion cartridges. Studying the impact of theseDLMs is crucial to the success of this research to determine educational effectiveness. TheTUES laid a foundation resulting in a marketed technology while the IUSE seeks to extend thetechnology to an ultra-low-cost format through design for manufacture with 3D printing andvacuforming. Assessment strategies are being refined, from pre-/posttest written explanationsand a more subjective grading rubric, to a clicker-based short answer assessment. The DLMs arebeing implemented at universities, community colleges and high schools.DLM cartridge options are being expanded to include biofuels options. However, gasification ishighly exothermic resulting in high temperatures that can create high pressure if gases areconfined in small spaces. Therefore the biogasifier DLM design requires special considerationsand safety specifications so class demonstrations do not pose risks for students and instructors.Considerations include gasifier placement into a polycarbonate shielded container for easyvisualization, reducing reactor size to mm-diameter quartz tubes to limit total thermal energy,directed thermal heating through electrical resistance wires, and providing unique conversionmeasurement means such as a small syringe cylinder unit that expands to read volumes ofreaction gases while holding pressures at near atmospheric levels. Syngas cleanup will beaccomplished by passing products through a fiberglass filter to reduce tar, bubbling through oliveoil to remove remaining tar and cool the gas stream, absorption of acidic CO2 and H2S gases inmono-ethanol amine, and collecting final product gas in the syringe. Gas production fromspecified products will be pre-determined through GC analysis and relating conversion to finalgas volumes, after knowing reaction conditions, and nature of side-product removal processes.To make such systems relevant to educating students about gasifier design in resource limitedenvironments the team is working with a Nigerian university and Nigerian national researchinstitute. This enhances the education of US students by providing experiences with atransnational collaborative team.
Njau, S. W., & Van Wie, B. J., & Gartner, J., & Golter, P. B., & Richards, R. F., & Richards, C. D., & Meng, F. S., & Adesope, O. O., & Hunsu, N., & Beheshtipour, N., & Dutta, P., & Thiessen, D. B., & Graviet, A. D., & Nazempour, A. (2015, June), Miniature Low-Cost Desktop Learning Modules for Multi-Disciplinary Engineering Process Applications Paper presented at 2015 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Seattle, Washington. 10.18260/p.24492
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