Conference Session

New Ideas for ChEs I (aka ChE Potpourri)

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Jason Keith, Michigan Technological University; H. Scott Fogler, University of Michigan; Valarie Thomas, University of Michigan; Don Chmielewski, Illinois Institute of Technology; Michael Gross, Bucknell University

Tagged Divisions

Chemical Engineering

open courseware site12 (http://ocw.mit.edu)and the Multimedia Educational Resource for Learning and Online Teaching site13(http://www.merlot.org).There are two example modules shown in the appendix at the end of this paper, for thematerial and energy balance course and for the transport phenomena course. Page 13.271.4Current modules are available for the courses, and topic areas as seen in table 2 below.These modules are currently under peer review from leading educators around the nationas well as industrial members of the CACHE Corporation.Chemical Engineering Core Course Module TitleMaterial and Energy Balances Application of

Conference Session

Developing Communication/Teamwork Skills in ChEs

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Joan Alabart, University Rovira i Virgili; Sibel Özgen, University Rovira i Virgili; Magda Medir, University Rovira i Virgili; Hans-Joerg Witt, Witt & Partner

Tagged Divisions

Chemical Engineering

the fourth year of the program, a new course that enabled fourth-year students to simulate thepractice of a project manager was thought to be a great idea. In this way, the idea of project Page 13.673.2teams formed by first-year students and led by a more experienced student, not a course peer,could be put into practice. This asymmetric team setup has eventually proved to be an excellentlaboratory to develop personal competences such as leadership.3Leadership development has ultimately come to our attention as a natural evolutionary step inour efforts to improve the effectiveness of PMP students. The education part of the PMP coursewas

Conference Session

New Ideas for ChEs I (aka ChE Potpourri)

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Jason Keith, Michigan Technological University; David Silverstein, University of Kentucky; Donald Visco, Tennessee Technological University

Tagged Divisions

Chemical Engineering

. Therefore, while afreshman chemical engineering course must (obviously) contain information about thefield of chemical engineering, it should also find ways to address non-chemicalengineering related issues as well. Here, ample use of guest speakers in CounselingServices or similar offices on campus should be explored.In addition to what has been discussed above, other ideas in freshman chemicalengineering courses exist as well. Roberts discusses a course that focuses on, amongother areas, communication skills13. Worcester Polytechnic Institute looks to mix writingwith first-year engineering in a course taught shared by a ChE faculty and Writing facultymember14. Vanderbilt University describes a course where students are introduced tochemical

Conference Session

ChE Poster Session

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

William Krantz, National University of Singapore

Tagged Divisions

Chemical Engineering

whom English is not their first language. As such, many of these students are more reticentand less outgoing than typical U.S. students. Interestingly, components of effective publicspeaking such as maintaining good eye contact, lightening up a talk with humor, or ‘dressing forthe occasion’ can be difficult to implement for students from some cultures.In writing this paper the author had some difficulty in deciding in which voice to write the paper;that is, whether to consider the reader to be a student, who might be taking this Workshop, or aneducator, who might be faced with coordinating a similar workshop. The end result was acompromise between the choices. Hence, parts of this paper that deal with the creation of thewebsite for this

Conference Session

Developing Communication/Teamwork Skills in ChEs

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Brian Lefebvre, Rowan University; Loren Connell, Rowan University; Kevin Dahm, Rowan University

Tagged Divisions

Chemical Engineering

- intrinsic: natural curiosity or interest in the activity itself - social: please the professor or peers - achievement: enhance position relative to others - instrumental: gain rewards beyond the activity itselfStudents motivated by intrinsic and social drivers will naturally engage in their education.Positive competition has been used in lecture settings to appeal to students motivated byachievement or instrumental drivers.13In the case of the protein production challenge: - In order to foster an inductive environment that mimics an “undergraduate research” experience, the project was given an open-ended structure in which students were challenged to develop their own optimized experimental procedure

Conference Session

New Ideas for ChEs II (aka ChE Potpourri)

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Michael Birnkrant, Drexel University; Matthew Cathell, Drexel University; Priscilla Blount, Martha Washington Elementary School; Jean Robinson, Martha Washington Elementary School; Adam Fontecchio, Drexel University; Eli Fromm, Drexel University

Tagged Divisions

Chemical Engineering

. Fontecchio is the recipient of a NASA New Investigator award, the International Liquid Crystal Society Multimedia Prize, and the Drexel ECE Outstanding Research Award. He has authored over 35 peer-review publications on Electro-Optics and Condensed Matter Physics. His current research projects include developing liquid crystal polymer technology for optical film applications including electro-optic virtual focusing optics, reflective displays, flexible displays, power generating MEMS arrays, and photonic crystal structures with tunable defects. Page 13.798.1Eli Fromm, Drexel University Eli Fromm is

Conference Session

The Latest in Improving Learning in ChE Students

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

William Kelly, Villanova University

Tagged Divisions

Chemical Engineering

would be told that they have 5-10minutes (depending on the problem) to think through the problem, write down the correctequations and begin the solution/calculation process. The instructor is available toanswer questions during this time. The instructor then concludes the exercise bypresenting the entire solution to the class and answers follow-up questions. Typically,the solution is presented when a few of the more advanced students have completelysolved the problem and performed all necessary calculations while the vats majority ofthe students have completed the problem set-up. The instructor believes that whilestudents can benefit from being helped or listening to a peer explain his/her thinking withregards to the setup or solving of a