Integration of Design Project and Aspen Plus Process Simulator Through 4-Year Undergraduate Chemical Engineering Curriculum

该项目的主要目标是通过以下方式提高本科工程课程：1)开发一个综合本科化学工程设计项目，并在各个课程之间建立强大的联系；2)在整个化学工程课程中集成asppenplus仿真软件——从大一到大四的课程。一个完整的综合设计项目的早期介绍将使新生了解“大图景”，帮助他们理解化学工程的本质，同时帮助他们理解为什么数学、化学和物理的基础课程是重要的。大一新生从简单的主题开始项目。随着学生在课程中的进步，他们继续在设计的适当方面工作，不断地建立在以前课程中教授的概念上。增加了四年的本科设计项目是并行引入AspenPlus过程模拟器。通过早期使用这个强大的设计工具，学生将获得更多的知识和专业知识，以便在他们的大四时能够设计和优化复杂的顶点设计项目。学生将使用AspenPlus来提高他们的综合设计能力，并加强对工程课程材料的学习和理解。这个项目的一个补充目标是鼓励和提高大学预科生、新生和弱势群体的工程职业期望。这些努力旨在扩展和加强我们以前成功的外展经验。我们的重点是首先提高大一新生的学习体验。与此同时，我们还向周边的中学和部落学院伸出了援助之手，目的是提高学生，特别是印第安人和妇女，对工程和科学项目的认识和参与。这个项目的成功实施和完成将通过期刊文章和一个活跃的万维网网站与全国其他工程和科学大学分享。

The main objective of this project is to enhance the undergraduate engineering curriculum by i) the development of an integrated undergraduate chemical engineering design project with a strong linkage between the individual courses, and ii) the integration of AspenPlus simulation software throughout the chemical engineering curriculum --- from freshman through senior level courses. The early introduction of a complete and integrated design project will expose freshman to the "big picture", aiding in their comprehension of the nature of chemical engineering while helping them to understand why the underlying foundation courses in mathematics, chemistry, and physics are important. Freshman begin the project with simple topics. As the students progress through the curriculum they continue to work on appropriate aspects of the design, continually building on the concepts taught in previous courses. Augmenting the four year undergraduate design project is the parallel introduction of the AspenPlus process simulator. With the early use of this powerful design tool, students will gain increased knowledge and expertise so that by their senior year they will be able to design and optimize complex capstone design projects. Students will use AspenPlus to enhance their integrated design efforts, as well as reinforce learning and understanding of their engineering course material. A complementary objective of this project is the encouragement and enhancement of the engineering career expectations of pre-college, freshman, and disadvantaged groups of people. These efforts are designed to extend and enhance our previous successful outreach experiences. Our focus is on enhanced learning experiences for freshman first. This is coupled with outreach to surrounding secondary schools and tribal colleges, with the goal of increasing the awareness and participation of students, especially Native Americans and women, in engineering and science programs. The successful implementation and completion of this project will be shared nationwide with other engineering and science universities, through journal articles and an active World Wide Web site.