A Degree Project Approach to Engineering Education

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Engineering - Chemical (53)Chemical Engineering education is facing a growing disconnect between a curriculum focused primarily on unit operations and faculty research that has increasingly emphasized nano- and bio-technology. This discrepancy has been recognized by an NSF-sponsored Frontiers in Chemical Engineering Education initiative, recommending a move from the macroscopic, unit-operations educational approach to one in which teaching is done from the molecular point of view in a bottom-up fashion. The challenge, however, is to continue to serve the more conventional chemical and petroleum industries while instituting this change. This project team is developing a two-pronged approach of utilizing (1) a recently-created nanotechnology course-work emphasis within the Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, and (2) vertically- and horizontally-integrated degree projects. The degree projects consist of emphasis-specific laboratory modules in successive Chemical Engineering courses that build upon a student's growing knowledge in their chosen emphasis, while at the same time relate the degree project to traditional areas of Chemical Engineering. Students in the Nanotechnology Emphasis, for example, synthesize nanoparticles in the Mass Balance course, examine nanoparticle interactions in Thermodynamics, fractionate nanoparticles in Separations, investigate nanoparticle catalysts in Kinetics, and examine the thermal conductivity of nanocolloids in Heat Transfer, all culminating with an independent research project in the senior year. A comprehensive assessment strategy, including an observation rubric, an efficacy scale, and a success scale, allows evaluation of how the merger of traditional Chemical Engineering subjects with advanced nanotechnology and biotechnology topics may better prepare students for today's increasingly molecular-oriented workplace.