Conference Session

Chemical Engineering Education: Upperclass Years

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Monica Cox, Purdue University; Angie Andriot, Purdue University; Stephen Beaudoin, Purdue University

Tagged Divisions

Chemical Engineering

, background noises, andpauses in conversation. Transcripts were then read and organized into coding categories using anemergent theme system.ResultsGeneral Student Responses to ProgramWhen asked to identify positive aspects of the research experience, students identified severalelements (Table 1). Responses given by the most students related to community (i.e., amongstudents and faculty) and beginning the process of research. All but two students felt theirresearch skills evolved during the summer. Students felt they gained valuable skills such asknowing how to work independently, to design and carry out a research project, and to thinkcritically. One of the two students who did not particularly like his research experience attributedthis to spending

Conference Session

Demonstration and Project Enhancements in Chemical Engineering Education

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Allen Yang, Cornell University; Kathryn Dimiduk, Cornell University; Susan Daniel, Cornell University

Tagged Divisions

Chemical Engineering

them. The remainingstudents indicated that they were attracted to this profession because of a specific interest inchemistry and mathematics, or other specialized interests.Free response question: What career path(s) are you interested in?Table 1 summarizes the student responses to this second question. Unlike the numbers in theabstract, which were rounded off percentages for the entire class, these numbers are percentagesof the respondents whose answer included a career in the category.Table 1. Student Career Interests(Totals exceed 100% as some students listed more than one career choice) Career Interests Percent of Respondents Biology related (pharmaceutical, biomedical

Conference Session

Chemical Engineering Education: Underclass Years

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Kwannin Kuo, Lunghwa University of Science and Technology; Pao-Chi Chen, Lunghwa University Science and Technology; Meei-Ruey Hsu, Ming-Chuan University

Tagged Divisions

Chemical Engineering

the assessment outcomes associated with theimportance index of fundamental chemistry knowledge could be applied in the evaluation of Page 15.1327.2current curriculum design for chemical engineering education as well as in the improvementof lecturers’ instructions by means of the Importance-Performance Analysis (IPA) methods. IPA was proposed by Martilla & James (1977). They plotted a two-axis figure with fourquadrants as illustrated as Figure 1. One dimension represents “importance,” another“performance.” The four quadrants are characterized as “Concentrate here” (high importance,low performance), “Keep up the good work” (high importance

Conference Session

Demonstration and Project Enhancements in Chemical Engineering Education

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Polly Piergiovanni, Lafayette College; J. Ronald Martin, Lafayette College

Tagged Divisions

Chemical Engineering

with the last sample. The finalconcentration of alcohol in the fermenting solution was measured with an ethanol sensormanufactured by Pasco Scientific. The sensor was calibrated so the students measured theconcentration in g alcohol/liter.Results from the experimentTypical experimental results are shown in Table 1. The cell concentrations were calculated fromthe turbidity using the following previously developed equation: g cells/liter = 0.0204*NTU -0.035 A plot of ln(cell concentration) vs. time is shown in Figure 1 along with the results of a linear Page 15.580.3regression.Table 1. Student results.Time

Conference Session

Chemical Engineering Education: Upperclass Years

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Lisa Bullard, North Carolina State University; David Ollis, North Carolina State University

Tagged Divisions

Chemical Engineering

used approach is toutilize a first year course, either within the department or at the college level. 1-5 Depending onthe resources available on campus, departments may choose to “outsource” this material byhaving students taking a technical writing, public speaking class, and/or engineering ethics classthrough the English or Communications Departments. Some departments choose to integratethis material within existing courses, such as senior design or labs, as evidenced by “writingacross the curriculum” efforts. 6 Finally, a few departments have a dedicated course later in thecurriculum, but this is not as common due to the demands of the curriculum. 7 (Add otherliterature from Dave’s folder)In this paper we describe a one unit junior/senior

Conference Session

Chemical Engineering Education: Upperclass Years

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Lisa Bullard, North Carolina State University

Tagged Divisions

Chemical Engineering

traditionallecture content as well as a capstone project. Academic content typically includesflowsheet synthesis and development, process simulation, process economics, andequipment design/heuristics. Depending on the background of the instructor and whetherthe course is one or two semesters, a laundry list of additional topics might includesustainability and “green design” concepts,1 process safety, 2 Good ManufacturingPractice, Six Sigma,3 optimization,4 selecting materials of construction, reading P&ID’s,heat exchanger network or reactor network synthesis, environmental regulations,engineering ethics, batch scheduling, and product design.5 Senior design is also the lastopportunity to reinforce “soft skills” such as teamwork6,7 and communication.8

Conference Session

Contemporary Issues in Chemical Engineering Education

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Richard Zollars, Washington State University; Christopher Hundhausen, Washington State University; Pawan agrawal, Washington State University

Tagged Divisions

Chemical Engineering

ranking from – 11 to 11. For example a ranking of -11 on the active/reflective Page 15.564.2scale would indicated a strong preference for an active learning style while a ranking of11 would indicate a strong preference for a reflective learning style. Felder andSilverman have found the majority of learners in engineering are visual learners. Asshown in Figure 1, the students in our material and energy balance are no different,showing a strong preference for a visual learning style (average score = - 5 on the Felder-Silverman scale). Visual/Verbal 25 20 20 15 15 12

Conference Session

Contemporary Issues in Chemical Engineering Education

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Milo Koretsky, Oregon State University

Tagged Divisions

Chemical Engineering

experience with the world, and views cognitive conflict as astimulus for learning.3 In addition, a social constructivist perspective views the socialinteractions and cultural context in which learning occurs as critical.4 Based on theseperspectives, it is believed that learning is facilitated when students (1) are engaged in solvingreal-world problems, (2) use existing knowledge as a foundation for new knowledge, (3) areimmersed in a community centered classroom culture, and (4) are prompted to usemetacognative skills and strategies.5 The course architecture is designed to match the teachingmodel of Kolb,6,7 and encourage the development of intellectual growth as modeled by Perry, inwhich students’ view of knowledge ascends from dualism, to

Conference Session

Chemical Engineering Education: Upperclass Years

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Randy Lewis, Brigham Young University; Thomas Knotts, Brigham Young University; W. Vincent Wilding, Brigham Young University; William Pitt, Brigham Young University; Morris Argyle, Brigham Young University

Tagged Divisions

Chemical Engineering

. In 1999, as a response to ABET’s EC2000 criterion, a list of specific competencieswas defined in the Chemical Engineering Program at Brigham Young University that, whentaken together, constituted each Program Outcome. When the competencies were firstdeveloped, it became clear that the level of mastery expected from students varied fromcompetency to competency. Exposure to the material was all that was required for somecompetencies. For others, it was our expectation that students should not graduate withoutdemonstrating a specified level of mastery. The expected level of mastery is intimatelyconnected to the types of practices, assessment, and feedback associated with a givencompetency. Consequently, a mastery level of 0, 1, 2, or 3 was

Conference Session

Contemporary Issues in Chemical Engineering Education

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Patrick Mills, Texas A&M-Kingsville; Anuradha Nagaraj, Texas A&M-Kingsville; Srivenu Seelam, Texas A& M University-kingsville; Ali Pilehvari, Texas A&M University-Kingsville

Tagged Divisions

Chemical Engineering

applications ranging from discovery research of new catalysts or materialsto small-scale manufacturing of high value-added products or toxic reagents where point-of-useis preferred over a large scale plant. The ICC module design follows a standardized protocol thatincludes four major sub-components: (1) pre-testing to quantitatively assess existing studentknowledge; (2) a set of topic notes so that students can perform a self-paced on-line review; (3) aseries of exercises and problems that allow the effect of various model parameters to be studiedin a conversational type of mode with graphical output; and (4) post-testing for quantitativeassessment of student knowledge progression for validation of the desired modules outcomes. Amodel library is

Conference Session

Chemical Engineering Education: Underclass Years

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Valerie Young, Ohio University-Athens

Tagged Divisions

Chemical Engineering

anEFLC. Also, the strategies resulting in high yields for EFLC participation and course evaluationparticipation should be investigated for marketing and evaluating other retention interventions.Table 1. Math / Chemistry enrollments of Russ College freshmenMath Course All Russ College freshmen Fall Course EnrollmentAlgebra 14 %Pre-Calculus 42 %Calculus I 23 %Calculus II 15 %Other / No Math 5%General Chemistry 52 %Self-reported enrollments of the electronic survey respondents are in similar proportions to thosetypical of all Russ College freshmen (Table 1), suggesting that this small sample is notnecessarily atypical of the population. The electronic survey’s self-reported

Conference Session

Learning By Doing in Chemical Engineering Education

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Paul Golter, Washington State University; Bernard Van Wie, Washington State University; Gary Brown, Washington State University; David Thiessen, Washington State University; Baba Abdul, Washington State University

Tagged Divisions

Chemical Engineering

group work on an open-ended fluid-flow and heat transferdesign project (such as the design of heated water showers at a local river beach), one period for projectpresentations, and one period for a midterm exam. This approach showed promising results in terms ofstudent engagement and enthusiasm.After the initial success, we determined that it would be necessary to address the issue of laboratoryspace if this pedagogy were to be implemented at other institutions. To this end we developed theDesktop Learning Module (DLM), figure 1 (Golter, Van Wie et al. 2006). The DLMs are a systemconsisting of an approximately one cubic foot base unit and a series of modular cartridges. The baseunit contains pumps, flowmeters, thermocouples, water tanks, and

Conference Session

Demonstration and Project Enhancements in Chemical Engineering Education

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Baba Abdul, Washington State University; David Thiessen, Washington State University; Gary Brown, Washington State University; Bernard Van Wie, Washington State University; Paul Golter, WSU

Tagged Divisions

Chemical Engineering

correlation between technical research and effectiveteaching [1-3], a few studies have found a positive correlation between the two [4]. Astin in hismonumental work reports that research-oriented universities in fact impact negatively on meas-ures of student cognitive and affective development [5]. Astin attributed this to a low prioritygiven to undergraduate teaching at such institutions. This low priority to teaching is also tied tofaculty hiring and reward structure which is heavily skewed towards research output because ofthe dependence of most universities on external research funding [6]. Interestingly, universitiesand community colleges which have teaching as their primary goal are striving for more researchoutput because they too want to

Conference Session

Learning By Doing in Chemical Engineering Education

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Peyton Richmond, Lamar University; John Gossage, Lamar University; Qiang Xu, Lamar University

Tagged Divisions

Chemical Engineering

students were also provided with the following table5 to help them determine theconsequence severity if the operator took no action when the potential alarm occurred:Category Consequence Consequence Consequence Severity: Severity: Severity: MINOR MAJOR SEVEREPersonnel Safety Slight injury (first aid) Injury affects work Lost time injury > 1 or health effect performance maximum week, or worker one week disabling or severe

Conference Session

Chemical Engineering Education: Upperclass Years

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Richard Turton, West Virginia University; Joseph Shaeiwitz, West Virginia University

Tagged Divisions

Chemical Engineering

processes follow specific procedures or recipes. Theserecipes may be very specific, as might be the case for a pharmaceutical processes in which strictadherence to good manufacturing practices (GMP) is required for all steps in the production ofthe product. On the other hand, the recipe might be less formalized and involve some “art” as inthe case of producing a batch of special colored glass. An example of a recipe to produce achemical product is shown in Table 1, where only details of the first two steps are given. The keyelements of a recipe are the time required for each step, the equipment used, and the rawmaterials and utilities required. Table 1: An example of a recipe for producing a chemical product2 Step

Conference Session

Contemporary Issues in Chemical Engineering Education

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Jason Keith, Michigan Technological University; Daniel Crowl, Michigan Technological University; David Caspary, Michigan Technological University; Jeffrey Allen, Michigan Technological University; Jeff Naber, Michigan Technological University; Dennis Meng, Michigan Technological University; Abhijit Mukherjee, Michigan Technological University; John Lukowski, Michigan Technological University; Jay Meldrum, Michigan Technological University; Barry Solomon, Michigan Technological University

Tagged Divisions

Chemical Engineering

. As such, the Energy Policy Act of 2005 was passed by the 109th Congress1 as Public Law109–58. This bill contained the Spark M. Matsunaga Hydrogen Act of 2005 (cf Sections 801-816)1. One aspect of this bill was to fund the development of university education programs.These programs are described in more detail in the Department of Energy Multi-Year Research,Development, and Demonstration Plan2.Michigan Technological University is receiving federal support under this act, with an emphasison new course development, development of an interdisciplinary minor, and development ofmodules that can be used to supplement the traditional curriculum with information abouthydrogen and fuel cell technology. The focus of this paper is on the courses and

Conference Session

Chemical Engineering Education: Underclass Years

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Sundararajan Madihally, Oklahoma State Univ.; Marcus Duffy, Oklahoma State University; Lynn Franzmann, Stillwater; Rebekah Reece, Stillwater; Karen High, Oklahoma State University

Tagged Divisions

Chemical Engineering

disinterest in engineering career by nearly 85% of 8 to 17 oldstudents [1]. A major reason cited by the students is the lack of awareness about engineering.As most students advance through middle school science classes, their attitude toward sciencebecome more negative and their interests decrease most in the seventh grade [2-5]. Thus, themiddle grades are a critical period for students, representing the period most beneficial toprovide engaging academic opportunities. With the increase in demand of qualified engineers,the lack of interest has been thought as future problem. There has been a significant increase in academies and workshops to provide an earlyexposure to engineering, which is recognized as a way to prepare K-12 for

Conference Session

Demonstration and Project Enhancements in Chemical Engineering Education

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Stephanie Farrell, Rowan University; Zenaida Otero Gephardt, Rowan University

Tagged Divisions

Chemical Engineering

results.Additionally, students learn teamwork skills and oral and written communications by working inteams throughout the semester, preparing frequent technical progress reports, and delivering oralpresentations based on the project.The introduction of statistical experimental design through laboratory experiences in upper levelengineering courses has been addressed previously 1, 2, 3, 4. Ludlow et al.2 address theimportance of the application of statistics as a skill needed by undergraduate engineers andpresent a simple gas chromatography experiment which allows students to develop statisticalskills without being bogged down by a complicated experiment. McCluskey et al. 5 describe asimple experiment that uses a factorial design to determine the best cup of

Conference Session

Chemical Engineering Education: Underclass Years

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Lisa Bullard, North Carolina State University; Donald Visco, Tennessee Technological University; David Silverstein, University of Kentucky; Jason Keith, Michigan Technological University

Tagged Divisions

Chemical Engineering

andinstitutionalize a culture of open government.”1 College campuses across the country talk(and act) to “create a culture of sustainability”2, as evidenced by eco-based residentialvillages. W.L. Gore CEO Terri Kelly speaks of creating a culture of “innovation” by“[creating] the right environment where collaboration happens naturally.”3 While it isclear the phrase “creating a culture” is fairly ubiquitous in modern society across variousplatforms, a standard connotation of this phrase is much less so. Accordingly, we definethe term culture in this work to mean “the relationships, interactions, activities, andevents involving the department, its faculty, and its undergraduate students.”As it relates to academia, culture within a department is experienced by

Conference Session

Learning By Doing in Chemical Engineering Education

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Larry Glasgow, Kansas State University; David Soldan, Kansas State University

Tagged Divisions

Chemical Engineering

consists of a question and actual student response from a recentTransport Phenomena 1 final exam (the student was a junior):Gasoline is being pumped 17 miles through nominal 3-inch, schedule-40 steel pipe at arate of 9500 gal/hr. What horsepower will be required if the pump’s efficiency is about75%? ≠ M/ τ The average velocity in the pipe: > V ≅? ρR 2 4571856 therefore, > V ≅? 2 ? 8.9 x107 ft/s. ρ (0.1278) d >V ≅ τ

Conference Session

Chemical Engineering Education: Underclass Years

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

David Silverstein, University of Kentucky; Margot Vigeant, Bucknell University; Donald Visco, Tennessee Technological University; Donald Woods, McMaster University

Tagged Divisions

Chemical Engineering

chemicalengineering courses are taught. The survey is now conducted by the AIChE Education Division.This year’s survey focuses on the freshman engineering courses and details how freshmen areintroduced to engineering, what topics are taught, in what environment they are taught, and howthey are assessed. Teaching methods and novel approaches are focus elements of this survey.While the survey focuses on courses specific to chemical engineers, innovative teaching methodsin general introduction to engineering courses are included as well.1. IntroductionThe former Education Projects Committee of AIChE conducted a series of surveys and studies ofhow chemical engineering is taught across Canada and the United States between 1957 and 1994.The topics covered by those

Conference Session

Learning By Doing in Chemical Engineering Education

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Shannon O'Brien, Manhattan College; J.Patrick Abulencia, Manhattan College

Tagged Divisions

Chemical Engineering

dissecting problems in this manner,through cognition of underlying principles and patterns used in working towards a solution.To this end, two student populations with similar GPAs were assessed over consecutive years.The first group (Group 1) participated in the standard curriculum, while the second group (Group2) participated in the standard curriculum with the addition of the Reverse Engineeringassignment. This assignment was executed between the second and third exams of the semester.To establish the “pretreatment” condition, scores from the second exam were compared betweenboth groups. Statistical hypothesis testing indicate that there is no significant difference betweenthem (i.e. Group #1 mean = 78.32, while Group #2 mean = 81.94). In