Increasing Curricula Content Through "Lecture-Laboratory" Experiments

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This project answers the question, How can additional material be added to the undergraduate curricula without the addition or subtraction of courses? The thesis is that the inclusion of lecture-laboratories is one way of accomplishing this goal. To evaluate this thesis, the project teaches catalysis at more than a cursory degree at the undergraduate level by including a related set of laboratory-based homework assignments as part of the senior-level chemical engineering kinetics course. However, for this goal to be achieved, it is absolutely necessary that the laboratory apparatus be user-friendly, have the capability of demonstrating the important concepts in catalysis, and be compatible with short, focused assignments. All of these attributes are features of the compact, flexible apparatus being used here. Not only can students be exposed to basic catalysis background in the lecture-laboratories, but the equipment is also totally compatible with the open-ended 6- to 8-week laboratory assignments that characterize the Unit Operations Laboratory course. This project serves as a potential model for addressing similar problems in other engineering disciplines. Finally, it should be pointed out that this particular project is totally compatible with the recent commitment on the part of the Chemical Engineering Department to totally rethink and refurbish its undergraduate laboratories.