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Session 1313

A Hands-On Multidisciplinary Design Course for Chemical Engineering Students

Jason M. Keith, Charu Dugar, Janelle Meyer, and Nakeya Norman Department of Chemical Engineering, Michigan Technological University, Houghton, MI 49931

Abstract

Team-based design projects have seen an increased place in the chemical engineering curriculum, especially with the advent of the new criteria set forth by the Accreditation Board of Engineering and Technology. However, even with these efforts, two areas that are in need of more attention for chemical engineers are hands-on and multidisciplinary projects. Because of this, a new elective chemical engineering course at Michigan Technological University has been developed, CM4900: Interdisciplinary Design, to fulfill these needs for students as well as for students in other disciplines. In this paper there will be a description of course goals, the course structure chosen to achieve these goals, results from the first semester of this course (taught in the fall 2000 semester), and plans for improving this course in future semesters.

I. Introduction

During the 2000-2001 academic year, two new, unique engineering programs have been developed within the College of Engineering at Michigan Technological University. One of these is the “Engineering Enterprise,” where students at the sophomore, junior, and senior level are combined into a business-like setting to work on a project. For example, the enterprise course taught by chemical engineering faculty is called “Consumer Product Manufacturing,” where students are working on developing a product concept and carrying it out to the production stages. The industry sponsor for this course is the Kimberly Clark Corporation. Other enterprise projects within the College of Engineering include the Formula SAE Car, Pavement Design, Wireless Communications, and Ground Water Supply Evaluation.

Another set of new courses being made available to students at Michigan Tech includes design projects in departments outside their major discipline of study. These courses open to any student with a senior academic standing, are all at the 4900 and 4910 level and involve one- or two- semester projects including the Future Truck (Department of Mechanical Engineering – Engineering Mechanics), Clean Snowmobile (Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering), and Power Engineering (Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering) design projects. All of these courses are open to students in other engineering majors. The design project offered within the Department of Chemical Engineering is called Interdisciplinary Design, and is intended to span across traditional discipline boundaries. The development and implementation of this new course is the focus of this paper.

Proceedings of the 2001 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition Copyright © 2001, American Society for Engineering Education

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Norman, N., & Meyer, J., & Dugar, C., & Keith, J. (2001, June), A Hands On Multidisciplinary Design Course For Chemical Engineering Students Paper presented at 2001 Annual Conference, Albuquerque, New Mexico. 10.18260/1-2--9325