Conference Session

Inclusive and Interdisciplinary Approaches in Labs and Research

Collection

2025 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Laila Abu-Lail, Worcester Polytechnic Institute; Andrew R Teixeira, Worcester Polytechnic Institute

Tagged Divisions

Chemical Engineering Division (ChED)

to achieve this is byintegrating biochemical engineering experiments into the undergraduate chemical engineeringlaboratory curriculum. However, biochemical processes are complex, involving strict handlingprotocols and long times linked to biological activity to convert raw materials into products. Inaddition, preparation steps and downstream separations differ significantly from those found inconventional chemical processing.The Chemical Engineering program at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) offers a biologicalconcentration for students who choose to focus their studies on biological processes. In addition,to reach a larger percentage of our graduates and to capture the complexity of biochemicalprocesses, a biochemical and

Conference Session

Safety and Sustainability in the ChE Classroom

Collection

2024 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Heather L. Walker, University of Arkansas ; Edgar C Clausen, University of Arkansas

Tagged Divisions

Chemical Engineering Division (ChED)

of the course showed that the course was well-received (“Overall, I wouldrate this course as:” 4.60/5.0), and the students appreciated the discussion-based learning andexperiential components. Two of the 20 students accepted jobs in sustainability-related fieldsupon graduation. Some suggestions for future courses were to have fewer guest speakers andmore quantitative analysis in the course to balance the conceptual learning.In 2023, the Ralph E. Martin Department of Chemical Engineering received a BiggadikeInnovation Grant for the establishment of an engineering sustainability focus area in thedepartment. The purpose was to strengthen the current Introduction to Sustainable Engineeringcourse by developing lab components which allowed

Conference Session

Inclusive and Interdisciplinary Approaches in Labs and Research

Collection

2025 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Jennifer L. Cole, Northwestern University; Chris Barr, University of Michigan; Jamie Clark, University of Washington; Alexis N Prybutok, University of Washington

Tagged Topics

Diversity

Tagged Divisions

Chemical Engineering Division (ChED)

, including faculty and staff with disabilities who teach or work in thelaboratory setting, graduate students whose research is performed in a laboratory setting,students and teachers with disabilities in the K-12 laboratory setting, and employees engaged inother workplace laboratory settings outside of academia.METHODSFaculty in chemical engineering departments across the world were surveyed todetermine the current state of accessibility in unit operations lab spaces andcourses.To assess the current state of unit operations lab space and course accessibility acrosschemical engineering departments, we developed a survey, shown in Table 1, based on theUniversity of Washington (UW) Disabilities, Opportunities, Internetworking, and Technology(DO-IT