Team Work

EDITORIAL AND BUSINESS ADDRESS:
Chemical Engineering Education

Department of Chemical Engineering
University of Florida Gainesville, FL 32611
Volume 43
Number 3
Summer 2009
PHONE and FAX : 352-392-0861

e-mail: cee@che.ufl.edu
EDITOR
Tim Anderson
ASSOCIATE EDITOR
Phillip C. Wankat
MANAGING EDITOR
Lynn Heasley
PROBLEM EDITOR
Daina Briedis, Michigan State
LEARNING IN INDUSTRY EDITOR
William J. Koros, Georgia Institute of Technology
TEACHING TIPS EDITOR
Susan Montgomery, University of Michigan
PUBLICATIONS BOARD

CHAIRMAN
John P. OConnell
University of Virginia
VICE CHAIRMAN
C. Stewart Slater
Rowan University
MEMBERS
Lisa Bullard
North Carolina State
Jennifer Curtis
University of Florida
Rob Davis
University of Colorado
Pablo Debenedetti
Princeton University
Dianne Dorland
Rowan
Stephanie Farrell
Rowan University
Jim Henry
University of Tennessee, Chattanooga
Jason Keith
Michigan Technological University
Suzanne Kresta
University of Alberta
Steve LeBlanc
University of Toledo
Ron Miller
Colorado School of Mines
Lorenzo Saliceti
University of Puerto Rico
Stan Sandler
University of Delaware
Margot Vigeant
Bucknell University
Vol. 43, No. 3, Summer 2009
Department
179 Chemical Engineering at The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Edmund G. Seebauer, Paul J.A. Kenis, and Marina Miletic
Educator
170 Nicholas A. Peppas of the University of Texas at Austin

Jennifer Sinclair Curtis and Christopher N. Bowman
Random Thoughts
241 Priorities in Hard Times
Richard M. Felder
SPECIAL SECTION: AIChE CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION

186 Introduction

David L. Silverstein and Phillip C. Wankat

187 Implementing Concepts of Pharmaceutical Engineering Into High School

Science Classrooms
Howard Kimmel, Linda S. Hirsch, Laurent Simon, Levelle Burr-Alexander,
and Rajesh Dave
194 Wiki Technology as a Design Tool for a Capstone Design Course
Kevin R. Hadley and Kenneth A. Debelak
201 Design Course for Micropower Generation Devices
Alexander Mitsos
207 Ideas to Consider for New Chemical Engineering Educators, Part 1. Courses
Offered Earlier in the Curriculum
Jason M. Keith, David L. Silverstein, and Donald P. Visco, Jr.
216 The History of Chemical Engineering and Pedagogy: The Paradox of Tradition
and Innovation
Phillip C. Wankat
225 NANOLAB at The University of Texas at Austin: A Model for Interdisciplinary

Undergraduate Science and Engineering Education
Andrew T. Heitsch, John G. Ekerdt, and Brian A. Korgel

laboratory
232 Student Lab-on-a-Chip: Integrating Low-Cost Microfluidics Into
Undergraduate Teaching Labs to Study Multiphase Flow Phenomena in
Small Vessels

Edmond W.K. Young and Craig A. Simmons
class and home problems
243 Biokinetic Modeling of Imperfect Mixing in a Chemostat: An Example of

Multiscale Modeling

Michael B. Cutlip, Neima Brauner, and Mordechai Shacham
CHEMICAL ENGINEERING EDUCATION (ISSN 0009-2479) is published quarterly by the Chemical Engineering
Division, American Society for Engineering Education, and is edited at the University of Florida. Correspondence regarding
editorial matter, circulation, and changes of address should be sent to CEE, Chemical Engineering Department, University
of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611-6005. Copyright 2008 by the Chemical Engineering Division, American Society for
Engineering Education. The statements and opinions expressed in this periodical are those of the writers and not necessarily
those of the ChE Division, ASEE, which body assumes no responsibility for them. Defective copies replaced if notified within
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Send address changes to Chemical Engineering Education, Chemical Engineering Department., University of Florida,
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169
ChE educator
Nicholas A. Peppas
of the University of Texas at Austin
Jennifer Sinclair Curtis

and Christopher N. Bowman
t is quite rare to encounter a person

with a commitment to excellence that
spans the personal and the professional, education and research, science
and engineering, fundamentals and applications, chemical engineering and the
broader academic fields, and language and
culture. Nicholas A. Peppas is just such
an individual, having made exceptional
contributions with breadth and depth that
span the chemical engineering field. Were
one to write an article that described each
award and recognition that he has received
in even the briefest manner, it would readily fill this issue of Chemical Engineering
Education. While if one allowed each of
Nicholas poses above the Peppas-Merrill equation for the analysis of gels,
the undergraduate and graduate students
which is engraved in an entry of the atrium of the new BME Building at the
whose lives he has touched to write briefly
University of Texas.
about Nicholass influence on their careers,
it would span numerous issues. By committing himself to
developing a passionate interest in opera. While in high school
quality and strongly supporting those who come into his
he studied Byzantine music in the Hellenic Conservatory of
sphere of influence, Nicholas Peppas shines in every aspect
Music, and he also began his studies of Greek and Byzantine
of his life.
history. His interest in history was initiated through the influence of several family members who were archaeologists or
The Early Years
historians, including his father.
Nicholas A. Peppas was born on Aug. 25, 1948, in Athens,

Greece. He was the eldest of two children born to Athanasios
and Aliki Peppas. His parents were educated in economics
and classics and taught him at an early age to appreciate
classical education as well as learning and discovery. They
stressed balance in life and also modeled perseverance, hard
work, and dedication to life goals that remain hallmarks of
his personal traits to this day.
Early on, Nicholas was fascinated with medicine and the inventions of the pioneers in engineering, while simultaneously
170
Knowing that he did not want to practice medicine, Nicholas

decided to pursue engineering and he received his Dipl. Eng.
degree in chemical engineering at the National Technical University of Athens in 1971. Although he worked in industry for
all three summers during his undergraduate days (including a
stint with Shell in Rotterdam, the Netherlands), he chose an
academic career. His family has a rich history of academicians
with professors of chemistry, history, and plant physiology, as
well as archaeologygoing back to Gttingen, Heidelberg,
Copyright ChE Division of ASEE 2009
Left, in the summer of 1954, 6-year-old Nicholas rides his favorite American bicyclesent
from New York by his aunt. Right, in 1959,
standing amid confetti from Carnival in Athens. Above, with his father, Nassos, and sister,
Louiza, in the summer of 1970, Athens.
and Knigsbergso this was a very

natural path for him. Before he left
Greece in 1971, he knew he wanted
to do something novel and unusual
in his career, and to practice it as a pioneer in the field. He
emigrated to the United States at the age of 22 and continued
on for graduate work in chemical engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He chose to work in the
research group of Edward W. Merrill, a great role model,
AIChE Founders Award recipient, and pioneer in the field
of bioengineeringa field that combined Nicholass love of
both engineering and medicine, as well as his strong desire
for the novel and unusual. For his research, Nicholas worked
on developing a series of nonthrombogenic biomaterials that
could be used for artificial organs.
Nicholas continued with his balanced interests during his

graduate school days and pursued a minor in comparative
linguistics with studies of French, German, Italian, Spanish,
Dutch, and Russian. Nicholas spent a little over two years
in graduate school, receiving his Sc.D. degree in chemical
engineering in October 1973. The highly remarkable speed
with which he completed his Ph.D. was just one of the early
indications of the amazing productivity and impact that
characterizes his entire career. While at MIT, he became
best friends with classmates Mike Sefton (a fellow Ph.D.
student in Merrills group, now a professor at the University
of Toronto) and Bob Langer (a Ph.D. student in Professor
Clark Coltons labs and now a professor at MIT). Along with
sharing lofty research interests, in their down time all three
cultivated a keenness for two simpler things: ping pong and
ice cream. The odd combination added up to many good
times, and his deep friendship with these two individuals
endures to this day.
After finishing at
MIT, Nicholas did two
years of military service as a second lieutenant in the Greek
Army. At this point,
Nicholas was completely sure that he
wanted to get more
involved in biomedical engineering. So,
he returned to MIT as
a research associate
in the Department of Chemical Engineering and the Arteriosclerosis Center, serving as a post-doc with Clark Colton
(himself a former Ph.D. student of Ed Merrill) and Ken
Smith. His research involved understanding the mechanisms
of arteriosclerosishow the transport of blood and the cholesterol and lipoprotein components in the blood contribute
to plaque formation.
Purdue University: 1976 - 2002
Following his post-doctoral appointment at MIT, Nicholas

was committed to a career as a faculty member in chemical
engineering, seeking the opportunity to perform research
while simultaneously educating students in the classroom and
in the laboratory. From his first day at Purdue through today,
Nicholas has been committed to education, research, and the
general improvement of his profession.
171
Above left, Nicholas as a second lieutenant in the Greek

Army in 1974. He served two years following completion
of his Ph.D. Below left, lab mates in Ed Merrills lab at MIT
in 1972 (from left to right, Steve Rose, Hussein Banijamali,
Tim Burke, Mike Sefton, and Nicholas). Above, as a young
assistant professor at Purdue, 1976.
Nicholas was hired at Purdue as an assistant professor

in 1976 and rapidly promoted to associate professor
after just two years. His research program began by
looking at two themes that continue through his research
today. Todd Gehr (now head of nephrology at Virginia
Commonwealth) and William Bussing (until recently a
VP of BP in Singapore) completed their masters theses
under Nicholass supervision in 1978, with both doing
polymerization reaction engineeringincluding in
Bussings thesis an examination of the importance of
crosslinking reactions, while Gehrs thesis examined
copolymerization reactions appropriate for hydrogel
production and subsequently developed techniques for
heparinizing these hydrogels to improve biocompatibility. Simultaneously, Nicholas was initiating programs
on diffusion and mass transfer in polymers and membranes, including his first Ph.D. student, Ming-Shih
Yen, who was jointly supervised by Prof. Schoenhals
in mechanical engineering.
172
By 1982, Nicholas had been promoted to full professor and his

first batches of chemical engineering Ph.D. students began to graduate. The cohort of Lucy Lucht, Richard Korsmeyer, and Donald
Miller completed their doctoral theses in 1983 and 1984 in research
themes that focused on applying the fundamentals of polymer science and transport phenomena to fields as broadly ranging as the
macromolecular structure of coal, synthetic gels, solute release, and
biocompatibility. These first doctoral students represented only the
tip of the iceberg, as Nicholas has now supervised 83 completed
doctoral theses. Further, along with Robert Gurny (a post-doc
who started in 1977) these students and Nicholas were building
the foundation of and initiating his work in the fields for which he
has become best known: biomaterials, controlled drug delivery,
and hydrogels. Throughout the late 70s and early 80s, Nicholas
worked extensively on enhancing the fundamental understanding of
transport phenomena in polymeric materials. In particular, Nicholas
worked to develop and apply knowledge of how penetrants are transported through polymer networks where the size of the diffusing
molecule relative to the mesh size of the network dictates transport.
Further, in work begun by Richard Korsmeyer and Jennifer Sinclair
(an undergraduate researcher at the time) and followed up on by
many others through the years, Nicholas analyzed the transport of
penetrants into glassy polymers. Here, the transport relationships
are dramatically complicated by the strong concentration dependant
diffusion coefficient, arising from the glass transition that occurs
in the polymer.
In 1982, he went to the University of Geneva as a visiting professor
and was also selected to be the editor of the journal Biomaterialsa
position he kept for 20 years, transforming the publication into the
premier journal of the field. His work during this period was highlighted by the completion of Raymond Davidsons doctoral thesis
Above, Nicholas poses with best buddy

Bob Langer, left, and Bobs wife, Laura, at
the first U.S.-Japan Drug Delivery Meeting, in
Maui, Hawaii, in 1991. Above right, Nicholas
and Lisa with Terry Papoutsakis in Basel,
Switzerland, in August 1988just days after Nicholas
and Lisas wedding, in which Terry served as best man.
in 1985 that provided a foundation from which to predict drug

release from swollen polymeric systems and drug-delivery
devices. The targeted application of this work was the burgeoning field of controlled drug delivery that Nicholas was
leading along with his good friend (and fellow fan of ping
pong and ice cream) Bob Langer at MIT.
In the early to mid 1980s, Nicholas recruited an exceptional

group of students that comprised Andy Tsou, Tony Mikos,
Ronald Harland, Steven Lustig, Lisa Brannon, John Klier,
and Alec Scranton. Nicholas worked with these students to
expand the breadth and depth of his impact by focusing on
hydrogel materials and transport phenomena in glassy polymers. He examined the formation and network properties
of the hydrogel through reaction engineering and structural
modeling of the polymer network while extending his previous work to examine the effects of pH, hydrogen bonding,
and various other intra- and intermolecular interactions that
could be used to control drug release from or swelling in these
hydrogel materials. From the early to mid 1980s Nicholas was
developing smart, responsive hydrogels that were ultimately
used to produce pH- and temperature-sensitive polymer networks for the delivery of streptokinase and other enzymes.
At this same time, in 1984 Nicholass parade of awards
began in earnest as he was selected to receive the Materials
Engineering and Sciences (now CMA Stine) Award from
the American Institute of Chemical Engineers in recognition
of his outstanding contributions to materials science. A few
years later he also received the Food, Pharmaceuticals, and
Bioengineering Award of AIChE.
In the 1986-87 academic year Nicholas took sabbaticals first
at the University of Paris, then at the University of Parma,
where he was a visiting professor. At Parma, Nicholas established one of his longest and most productive collaborations,
with Professor Paolo Colomboa collaboration that has
produced more than 25 refereed journal articles and several
jointly supervised students and student exchanges.
At around this same time of the late 1980s and early 1990s
Nicholass group underwent another major expansion with
more than 20 graduate students and post-doctoral researchers in the laboratory at various times during this period. His
group also led the field into several new areas by beginning
research projects focused on bionanotechnology and molecular imprinting, while significantly expanding his focus on
controlled drug delivery by targeting several specific diseases
and clinical needs. His program was recognized repeatedly
throughout this period with numerous awards, including the
1988 American Society for Engineering Educations Curtis
McGraw Award for Outstanding Research that is awarded to
the most outstanding researcher from any engineering discipline under the age of 40. Nicholas also was recognized for
his excellence by several nonengineering organizations during this perioda testament to his focus on interdisciplinary
work that has broad impact across traditional boundaries. The
awards include the Controlled Release Societys Founders
Award (1991), the Society for Biomaterials Clemson Award
for basic research (1994), the Research Achievement Award
in Pharmaceutical Technology (1999), and the Dale Wurster
Award from the American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists (2002). Purdue recognized Nicholas by naming him the
Showalter Distinguished Professor of Biomedical Engineering
in 1993, and in 1999 and 2000 Nicholas received honorary
doctorates from the Universities of Ghent, Athens, and Parma
in recognition of his distinguished career-long achievements
and his valued contributions to those institutions.
173
The University of Texas at Austin:

2003present
During the 2002-03 academic year, Nicholas sought a change

in direction for a variety of personal and professional reasons
and found the ideal fit at the University of Texas at Austin.
There, in 2003, Nicholas became the Fletcher Stuckey Pratt
Chair with appointments in the Departments of Chemical Engineering and Biomedical Engineering as well as the College of
Pharmacy. His move was bittersweet, with fond memories and
strong collaborations at Purdue but with exciting opportunities
availed by his new location and colleagues.
At Texas he made the transition as smoothly and as rapidly

as possible, transferring many students and picking up new
ones such that he has already had more than 10 students
complete their doctoral theses at Texas in just six years there.
Nicholass research programs have also taken on new and expanded directions since his move, although he has continued
to focus on biomaterials. In particular, his work on molecular
imprinting and selective molecular capture and release from
synthetic hydrogels has led to great successes in intelligent
polymer therapeutics. A recent focus of his group is the combination of hydrogel technology with micro- and nanotechnology for single cell delivery devices, for biomimetic systems,
and for nanovalves and other micro- and nanostructures.
Since his move to Texas, the national and international

recognition of Nicholass research accomplishments has been
astounding. He has been elected to the National Academy of
Engineering (2006), the Institute of Medicine of the National
Academies (2008), and the French Academy of Pharmacy
(2005), in addition to receiving the AIChE William Walker
Award (2006) and the Jay Bailey Award (2006), and being
named the Institute Lecturer by AIChE (2007) and receiving
its Founders Award (2008). Last year he was also selected
one of the 100 Chemical Engineers of the Modern Era by
AIChE and became an associate editor of the AIChE Journal.
Nicholas also received the 2008 Pierre Galletti Award from
the American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineers.
This is the highest award given by this organization, recognizing exceptional career achievements in the medical and
engineering arenas.
Over the course of his career, Nicholas has established

himself as one of the preeminent polymer scientists and
biomedical engineers of our time, particularly in the area of
creating new fundamental knowledge in regard to polymer
science and engineering and subsequently translating those
results into practical knowledge and viable commercial systems. As noted, Nicholass ability to apply polymer science
to a wide variety of bioengineering fields has been recognized
by numerous international, interdisciplinary organizations.
In fact, the interdisciplinary nature of Nicholass work is
highlighted by his selection as a fellow of nine diverse organizations that span engineering, science, physics, materi174
Nicholas, circulating amid the hundred guests at his

surprise 50th birthday party in 1998, passes the table of
friends and colleagues Balaji Narasimhan of Iowa State
and Mike Sefton of the University of Toronto.
als, biomaterials, and pharmacy, while also being named a

founder of three of these organizations (AIChE, the Society
for Biomaterials, and the Controlled Release Society). He has
regularly demonstrated a unique talent for achieving significant fundamental insights into polymer materials fabrication
and modification, polymer thermodynamics, polymerization
kinetics, and transport behaviorand then applying that
knowledge to the development of improved materials, material performance, and biomedical devices. Nicholass ability
in this area is highlighted by the more than 1,000 manuscripts
that he has published, the more than 18,000 citations of his
work, his H-factor of 72, and his impact on practical devices
and companies.
Nicholass fundamental achievements have been translated

into more than 20 commercial medical products, each in
collaboration with his students and frequently with others
as well. For example, he has developed, patented, and/or
commercialized materials for vocal cords, intraocular lenses
for cataract patients, nanodelivery systems for oral administration of insulin to type I diabetic patients, systems for oral
delivery of calcitonin for treatment of postmenopausal women
suffering from osteoporosis, and devices for oral delivery of
interferon-beta for multiple sclerotic patients. His work with
Professors Colombo and Conte in collaboration with several
companies has resulted in hydrogel controlled-release devices,
and his more recent work at UT has led to the Affinimer,
TheraSmart, TabletSmart, BeautySmart, AppiForm,
Nicholas, center,
receiving the
2008 Career
Research Excellence Awardthe
highest UT
recognition for a
professor. Flanking him are University of Texas
Vice President for
Research
Juan Sanchez,
left, and University of Texas
President
William Powers,
right.
and other technologies for smart, programmed, and responsive/recognitive delivery of drugs, proteins, and cosmetic and
consumer products.
Nicholass research record obviously places him at the

absolute top of his peers in this generation of polymer and
biomaterials researchersyet that is only one of his many
contributions to our field. Nicholas has trained more than 95
past or current Ph.D. students and hundreds of undergraduate
researchers. These students have gone on to have an ever-expanding impact on the chemical engineering, polymer science,
pharmaceutical engineering, and biomaterials fields, with
more than 30 having entered academia and numerous others
having become corporate leaders. In just the last eight years,
Nicholass former students have received five different AIChE
Institute-level awards, and the 2008 and 2009 ASEE Chemical
Engineering Lectureships have both been awarded to former
undergraduate or graduate students of his. In conversations
with Nicholas, it is clear that his greatest pride lies in his
studentsthose he has advised in the lab as well as those he
has taught in class.
Commitment to Education
At work, first and foremost, Nicholas is committed to students and their education. In a recent interview for the January
2009 issue of the Controlled Release Society Newsletter (to
go along with his 2008 election to the Institute of Medicine
of the National Academies of Science), Nicholas was asked
what he regarded as his most significant achievement of his
career. His response was my contribution to the education
of the younger generations of chemical engineers, biomedical
engineers, pharmaceutical scientists, and especially industrial

and academic leaders in drug delivery, controlled release,
biomaterials, and nanobiotechnology. Anyone who has
participated in his research group or has ever been a student
in one of his classes can verify how his actions line up with
his answer to the interviewers question.
In the classroom, he is a very animated teacher and his

lectures incorporate the latest research advances. Students
in his classes learn first-hand how fundamental knowledge
of engineering concepts can translate to products or devices
that help people and society. Because he conveys such excitement for learning and discovery, students are highly engaged
in his classes and are eager for knowledge. As a result of his
excellence in classroom instruction, Nicholas has received
numerous teaching awards including the engineering-wide
teaching award at Purdue (the Potter Award) three times,
and the chemical engineering department teaching award at
Purdue (the Shreve Award) five times. In 2007 he was voted
the Best Faculty Member in Chemical Engineering by the
students at UT-Austin.
In addition to authoring more than 20 educational papers,

Nicholas has combined his love of history and chemical and
biomedical engineering by writing several historical books
and articles on the chemical and biomedical engineering
profession. One of his first history books along this line was
a book about how chemical engineering developed at Purdue
and what Purdues contributions were to the chemical engineering field. This book was published in 1986 on the occasion
of the 75th anniversary of the department. After that, Nicholas
started to write books and articles on how the fields of chemical
175
engineering and biomedical engineering developed, including his 1988 Kluwer book,
History of Chemical Engineering. Just last
year, he completed another article, The
First Century of Chemical Engineering,
for the Chemical Heritage Foundation and
the AIChE Centennial celebration.
Not only is Nicholas an excellent

teacher, but as a mentor and advisor he is
unsurpassed. Undergraduates flock to his
research group; they want to be a part of
the excitement. He takes in students who
know nothing about research or academia,
but are interested in learning. Not only
does he actively mentor them in technical matters, he cares about their families,
their personal lives, and their aspirations.
Due to his holistic approach to advising,
and perhaps in part because of the nature
of his research field, Nicholass group is
always filled with female students. It has Lisa and Nicholas at the Indianapolis Zoo in 1996. Both are avid supporters of
been that way even since the early days
various zoo projects and efforts to protect endangered species.
of his independent research program in
the late 1970s, when it was very rare to find any females at
15 years. The American Society for Engineering Education
all in chemical engineering research. With his continuous,
has also recognized him with all its major awards includlifelong support and mentoring, many of Nicholass female
ing the 1992 George Westinghouse Award for teaching, the
students have gone on to the very top positions in industry
2000 General Electric Senior Research Award, and the 2006
and academia. He has always been one to lead the way in
Dow Chemical Engineering Award for both educational and
breaking the glass ceiling!
research accomplishments, as well as election as an ASEE
fellow
in 2008.
To date, more than 500 undergraduate students have par-
ticipated in research projects supervised either directly by

Nicholas or by one of his graduate students. This number is
staggering and shows his unwavering commitment to enhancing the quality of undergraduate education through the involvement of chemical and biomedical engineering undergraduates
in research. The undergraduates who work in his research
group get a taste of all of the same experiences as his graduate
studentsundergraduate students are co-authors on his journal and conference publications, present at national scientific
meetings, and even participate in proposal preparation. Five
of Nicholass patents even have undergraduates as co-inventors! When undergraduates are brought into Nicholass group,
they are treated as full members of the research team and are
expected to perform as such. They are given a defined project
and a high level of responsibility. Because of this approach,
students typically rise to the challenge and learn to become
productive and effective researchers. Nearly two-thirds of all
students participating in Nicholass group have gone on to
further their educations with an advanced degree.
For his successes in mentoring and advising, he has received
the Myron Scott Best Counselor Award at Purdue and the national AIChE Counselor Award associated with his service as
the faculty advisor for the Purdue AIChE Student Chapter for
176
Nicholass mentoring and connectedness with his students

do not end when a student graduates or leaves his group. He
proactively keeps up with his former students careers and personal lives via periodic whats up? / how are you doing?
e-mails and phone calls. He will always do whatever he can
to help a former student at any time in their career if they call
on him for assistance. Nicholas also keeps his former students
affectionately known as peppamersconnected with
each other. He sends out regular e-mail blasts to his students
letting the others know about any successes or recognition
any one of them has achieved.
Because Nicholas gives so much of himself to his students,
he is very much loved and honored in return. For his 50th
birthday in 1998, about 100 friends and former students
gathered in Indianapolis for a surprise party. Recently, for
his 60th birthday, a research symposium and party in his
honor was held at the University of Texas at Austin and was
attended by more than 200 people, many from his MIT and
Purdue days.
Nicholas and LisaThe Dynamic Duo
Nicholas met his wife Lisa when she (then Lisa Brannon,
now Lisa Brannon-Peppas) was enrolled in the Ph.D. program
Pride and joy: Nicholas with his children,

Alexi and Katia.
in chemical engineering at Purdue. They were married in 1988 after

she completed her degree. Nicholas will readily tell you that not
only does he love Lisa deeply, but that he is also madly in love
with her even after all their years of marriage. Nicholas and Lisa
make quite a team as two ambitious and highly successful chemical engineering professionals. As Nicholas told AIChE Extra in a
Chemical Engineering Progress article (February 2000), I am very,
very lucky to have met Lisa in that respect. When I go home, I am
grateful to have someone I can share my work with. They both
agree that science is certainly one of the big topics that comes up
at the dinner table.
After finishing her Ph.D., Lisa worked at Eli Lilly for three
years. She then founded her own company, Biogel Technology,
Inc., in 1991, where she served as president for 11 years. During
that time, she made significant research contributions in the areas
of biomaterials, controlled drug delivery, drug targeting, biodegradable materials, and the structure-property relationship of polymers.
One of her key accomplishments was developing targeted delivery
systems to treat breast cancer using biodegradable nanoparticles.
In 2003, Lisa also joined the University of Texas at Austin faculty,
as a research professor and as director of the Center of Biological
and Medical Engineering. While there, she received a biomedical
engineering department teaching award as well as several research
awards for her work in biomaterials. In 2008, Lisa decided to leave
academia and is currently vice president of Appian Laboratories,
LLC, in Austin.
Lisa is a fellow of the American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering (in fact, she was the youngest fellow ever elected
Nicholas and Andreas Acrivos (of CUNY), two of the

prestigious list of 100 Chemical Engineers of the
Modern Era, honored at the AIChE meeting in 2008.
to the Institute at the time of her election) and a fellow

in biomaterials science and engineering of the Society
of Biomaterials. Most recently, she received the very
prestigious national 2008 AIChE Award in Chemical
Engineering Practice for outstanding contributions in
the industrial practice of the professionright alongside Nicholas, who received the 2008 AIChE Founders Award for outstanding contributions to the field
of chemical engineering. Nicholas and Lisa have both
served as directors of AIChE as well as chairs of the
Materials Engineering and Sciences Division of AIChE.
They truly are a dynamic duo!
Besides Lisa, the deepest joys in Nicholass life are
his children Katia (Katherine), an 8-year-old, and Alexi
177
Opera Record Collector, and The Record Collector. He has

even published two books (Vasso Argyris: The Great Greek
Tenor of the Interwar Years and Greek Light Music of the
1935-1975 Period).
For history, his main interest is the Byzantine Empire based

in Constantinople, especially the period of 976 to 1025,
which is in the middle of a series of emperors known as the
Macedonian Dynasty. He has published 26 articles on the
Byzantine Empire, the history of Attica, and related subjects.
Another historical topic of key interest for Nicholas is ocean
liners and 19th- and 20th-century immigration to the United
States. He has written some 300 short articles on these topics
in various sites.
Nicholas has also contributed articles to various literary journals and newspapers. For example, he was a major contributor
to the 1968 and 1978 Tourist Guides of Greece (Institute of
Tourist Publications, Athens, Greece). He has also contributed
articles in the magazines Eleusinian and Hellenic Chronicle,
and the Greek newspapers Daily and The Tribune.
A lifelong lover of opera, Nicholas poses outside

the entrance to an opera concert in Busseto, Italy,
prior to attending the event on the exact day of famed
composer Giuseppe Verdis centennial.
(Alexander), who is 5. Nicholas is very clearno matter what

the demands on his time, his family always comes first. So that
Nicholas can spend more time with his family, he has become
very judicious in his choice of opportunities to travel.
Nicholas and Lisa have an active social life with many

interests. They are avid supporters of various zoo projects
including the protection of endangered species. Before kids,
their travel schedule was extensivemany wonderful sites
and much fine cuisine. An itinerary incorporating trips to
places like Paris, Las Vegas, and Japan back-to-back was not
uncommon. Now, family travel typically involves trips to the
beach with lots of sun, sand, and swimming. They also take
a family vacation to Maui, Hawaii, every other year along
with their participation in the U.S.-Japan Symposium on
Drug Delivery Systems.
Away from Work
Nicholas is a true renaissance man. His interests are unbelievably broad with music and history dominating the
scene. For music, opera is his love and helps him relax. As
Lisa says, Hell drop any chemical engineering project for
opera. Nicholas has spent more than 40 years writing about
Italian, French, and romantic German opera. He has published
hundreds of critiques, essays, and articles on opera and classic
music performances on various Web sites and in magazines
including Fanfare, High Fidelity, Stereo Review, International
178
Nicholas speaks Greek, French, German, Italian, and Spanish, can read/write in Russian, Portuguese, and Dutch, and
can read several other languages. He has even taken classes
in Hebrew and Japanese (especially because of his sabbatical
leaves to Hebrew University and Hoshi University) although
he admits these are extremely difficult languages for him.
Aiding Nicholas in his mastery of all of these languages is his
encyclopedic memory. Lisa says that the only thing he ever
forgets are the items he hints at during the year that he might
like for Christmas presents. Therefore, when he receives his
presents at Christmas, they are a surprise to him! Lisa also says
that Katia appears to have inherited Nicholass encyclopedic
memory, but does not forget about her Christmas present
hints! Nicholass organizational skills are also incredible
these skills go hand-in-hand with his amazing productivity
and memory. He believes there is a place for everything and
everything in its place. He can lay his hands on any piece of
paper or any electronic file within seconds.
Nicholas is a collector of opera and classical music CDs.
Lisa says that if there were space, he would have a CD of every opera ever published. Other extensive collections include
operatic 78-rpm recordsincluding many rare records from
the period of 1898 to 1912history books in every possible
language, nutcrackers, and old maps.
Also among his collections is an assortment of silver

serving pieces. Nicholas actually likes cleaning them. While
others might dread the tedious task, carefully polishing each
piece pleases him, he says, because he very much appreciates
seeing the results of his laborfine silver with a beautiful
shine. For an educator, mentor, and researcher for whom the
success of his students is the brightest reflection of a brilliant
career, its a fitting image. p
ChE department
Chemical Engineering at . . .
the University of Illinois
at Urbana-Champaign
Edmund G. Seebauer, Paul J.A. Kenis, and Marina Miletic

hemical engineering
education at Illinois is
unique. That uniqueness springs in part from the
nature of the state of Illinois
and its university system, and
from the unusual administrative
structure of our department.
The University of Illinois at

Urbana-Champaign is the Morrill-Act land-grant institution of
the state. In fact, the land-grant
idea was conceived by Jonathan Baldwin Turner of Illinois
College and driven mainly by
the Illinois Congressional delegation. The state of Illinois at
that time hosted an exceptionally diverse economy including
manufacturing, transportation,
agriculture, and services. New
universities were needed espeThe Roger Adams Laboratory North Entrance, at
cially to promote the liberal
the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, the primary home of ChBE.
and practical education of the
Chemistry) in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. Yet the
industrial classes in the several pursuits and professions in
department participates in virtually all College of Engineering
life.[1] The economy of the state continues to be very diverse
affairs except budget, and throughout most of the 1990s, the
today, and it supports 11 million residentsyet only two pubdean of the College of Engineering was from the Department
lic chemical engineering departments reside within the state.
of Chemical Engineering. Sitting astride these two colleges
These factors lead to an extraordinarily large, talented, and
promotes an outlook among the faculty and students that
socioeconomically diverse undergraduate student pool.
emphasizes
both technical strength and the appreciation of
Our department is administratively unique by maintaining
the
social
context,
history, intellectual flexibility, and lifelong
strong structural connections with two colleges: Engineering
learning
that
represent
core values of the liberal arts.
and Liberal Arts and Sciences. Indeed, Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering (ChBE) is formally housed within the
School of Chemical Sciences (together with the Department of
179
EDUCATION: INNOVATIVE AND EFFICIENT
Our department operates within a public research university, one of many such institutions that face long-standing
challenges of balancing strong teaching and research within
a changing framework of state and corporate support. Within
that context, ChBE frames its mission as follows:
To improve the human condition through the study
and practice of chemical engineering by education,
research, economic development, and engagement
with and service to the profession and society.
We strive to educate leaders who are rooted deeply in the

technical foundations of chemical engineering science, yet
have cultivated the intellectual scope, flexibility, and determination to apply knowledge in novel ways throughout life. That
we have succeeded is demonstrated by our family of living
alumni, which boasts three individuals who have served as
chief executives of Fortune 500 companies, four executive
vice presidents, and one university president.
curriculum includes 23% chemistry in the total course content,

which is significantly higher than most chemical engineering
programs. Students take two required courses in analytical as
well as physical chemistry in addition to organic and general
chemistry. This emphasis on chemistry provides not only a
strong conceptual base in diagnostic methods, analysis, and
quantum mechanics but also lots of hands-on experience
through laboratory courses.
Consistent with the strong science base in the department

and the research mission of the overall university, many undergraduate students are actively involved in research. Over
time, 50-75% of undergraduates have worked on at least
one individual research project. Typically, 60-70% of these
projects involve ChBE faculty.
ChBEs administrative alignment within the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and geographical location near central
campus (separate from most other engineering departments at
the north end of the campus) fosters an environment wherein
our students routinely rub shoulders with many nonengineers.
Undergraduate Education: Holistic
Central to the ethos of a public research university is enhanced access to education at modest cost: Such institutions
are geared to educating large numbers of students. Yet for
decades, our department has chosen to keep the number of
faculty relatively low. The number of tenured/tenure-track
faculty oscillated between about six and nine in the 1970s,
and has grown to its record size of 15.5 only in the past
year (one is shared with another department). Even that
number remains small compared with the undergraduate
student enrollment of 425, leading to a student/faculty ratio
in the high twenties. The small faculty size encourages a
degree of coordination and integration that becomes more
Figure 1. Placement statistics for Illinois ChBE graduates by job
difficult for large departments, but it also requires special
function averaged over the past decade.
attentiveness and creativity by the faculty to foster a highquality learning environment. Efficiency is paramount,
with only the design and unit operations courses taught
more than once per year. Many elective courses are taught
in simultaneous graduate and undergraduate versions that
have one set of lectures but homework and examinations
attuned to the different degree levels.
The environment is intellectually diverse, stimulating,
and demanding, and requires students to take considerable
responsibility for their own education and to be personally
invested in their future success. Graduates of the curriculum
cultivate a disposition and skillset that make them exceptionally successful in either graduate school or entry-level
corporate jobs, and also throughout their careers. Figure 1
shows placement statistics by job function averaged over
the past decade.
ChBEs close administrative alignment with the chemistry department promotes a strong emphasis on basic science
in education. Indeed, Figure 2 shows that the undergraduate
180
Figure 2. Distribution of subject material in the Illinois undergraduate curriculum. Chemistry, mathematics, and other
sciences are represented particularly strongly.
The relationships thus formed also stimulate increased intellectual breadth and scope among the ChBE undergraduates.
The curriculum is unusually holistic in the sense that it

proves a great deal of chemistry, mathematics, and physics
as a foundation for hands-on, practical, and real-world rigorous capstone courses. The curriculum strongly emphasizes the
development of technical problem-solving skills in the senior
year. Students learn open-ended process and product design and
control with cost optimization, technical communication, theory,
statistical analysis, equipment troubleshooting, plant safety,
engineering disaster prevention, equipment design, the Kepner
Tregoe problem-solving process, and case study analysis.
A strong foundation is laid in chemical engineering for all
students starting with the first year. Engineering is introduced
early in the freshman year through Engineering 100: Introduction to Engineering and ChBE 121: The Chemical Engineering Profession. Students complete a chemical engineering
group project, and are encouraged to join such professional
organizations as the student chapter of AIChE, Omega Chi
Epsilon, and the Society of Women Engineers. This strong
foundation helps students successfully adapt to the curriculum
and stay in the program.
Rigorous experimentation and data analysis comprise the

unit operations course in which statistics and model creation
meets troubleshooting, process scale up, and economics. Students study everything from the internals of pumps and compressors to experiment design and creative problem solving.
Each project builds on the previous one and requires critical
analysis of the prior groups results. The laboratory course

has evolved to include new experiments such as polymer
extrusion, liquid-liquid extraction, ideal reactor optimization,
and bioreactors and fermentation. The course revolves around
characterizing systems, creating models, performing statistical
and profitability analysis, and troubleshooting equipment.
The capstone design course is one of the most rigorous

and demanding in the curriculum, with a strong emphasis of
chemical engineering fundamentals integrated with process
simulation, hazard and operability studies, economics, sustainability, and optimization. Through group and individual
reports students create a process that produces a commodity
chemical safely and efficiently with little wasted energy
or physical resources. Each design becomes more detailed
than the previous, including more safety and economic
optimization.
Overall, students in the senior year write eight individual

and group reports and give about five hours of group presentations. Students work in a variety of groups with and without
team leaders to implement shared project ownership, efficient
decision making, delegation, constructive peer feedback, and
self-reflection. All students complete a multi-stage qualitative and quantitative peer- and self-performance review.
Presentations are reviewed live by peers. Students critique
their own presentations and create performance goals for
subsequent projects.
In response to student requests, we introduced in 2002 a formal Biomolecular Engineering concentration to the chemical
Lecturer
Marina
Miletic
(standing)
teaches undergraduates
in the unit
ops lab.
181
engineering bachelor degree. The concentration allows students to enhance

their understanding of bioprocessing,
food processing, systems biology, and
biomolecular engineering through their
choice of technical electives.
Our graduates continue to find excellent places to embark on their professional careers, although placement
distribution continuously evolves with
societal needs. After many years of a
steady increase in the fraction of graduates joining food, personal care, and
consumer products industries, the oil/
energy companies are now re-emerging
as a major destination.
Graduate Education and Research
Our department recognizes that welleducated graduate students constitute

a product of the research endeavor
as much as discoveries and technical
results. That is, the quality of research
is determined as much by the quality
of the mentoring relationships between
students and faculty as by the factual
content generated by those relationships. Accordingly, graduate education
at Illinois emphasizes continually developing and exercising an integrative
thought process.
The U.S. education system has long

internalized the basic notion that linking doctoral education with research
strengthens both.[2] This idea traces back Graduate students in discussion with Professor Huimin Zhao (second from left).
The groups focus is on ways to engineer proteins enabling
to the 19th-century German principle of
the production of biofuels.
Bildung durch Wissenschaft (education
through science) advanced by Wilhelm
von Humboldt. Yet elevating the imporbenefits to the market economy rather than for its benefits
to public sector responsibilities such as health or environtance of the mentoring relationship represents a key developmental protection. The idea that the universities are the
ment. In the original formulation of the German philosophy
principal locale for virtually all forms of research in the
Idealism, the purpose of education was to find absolute truth
public domain needs restatement and updating.[4]
[3]
as such, so that society could be rationally ordered on the
principles thus discovered. The subject matter rather than the
As public research universities currently seek to face the
person received the most attention. Faculty teaching reflected
challenges they confront, we believe an important aspect of
the search for objective knowledge, while students were left
restating and updating the justification for research should
to learn independently, with minimal direction.
include this focus on students.
At Illinois we feel that the focus on the student is especially
Accordingly, our graduate curriculum is structured careimportant to properly justify research in a public university.
fully. The doctoral degree requires a total of eight courses. All
As Harvey Brooks wrote over a quarter of a century ago,
students take applied mathematics to build a solid foundation
in the development of mathematical models and be exposed
The public is now more skeptical that the universities
are the best locale for basic and generic applied research,
to modern mathematical methods currently used in the soluespecially when that research is being justified for its
tion of chemical and biomolecular engineering problems.
182
engineering topics. The remaining questions are drawn from

all graduate electives offered in recent years.
The flexibility in required coursework as well as in selection of questions for the qualifying exam ensures also that
graduate students that enter our program with a nonchemical
engineering background [e.g., bioengineering, (bio-)chemistry, mechanical engineering] have no trouble fulfilling
these requirements, while still ensuring basic knowledge of
chemical engineering principles. This has become particularly
important over the last decade as the percentage of applicants
with nonchemical engineering undergraduate degrees has
grown steadily, to about 25% of the applicant pool.
Figure 3. Placement of Illinois Ph.D. students by sector.
Furthermore, they are required to take one graduate-level

transport phenomena course and at least one graduate-level
course on kinetics, reaction engineering, or thermodynamics. The remaining five courses can be chosen based on the
students research needs and personal interests within science or engineering. As part of these technical electives, all
students need to take at least one bio-related course and one
graduate-level course outside our department in recognition
of the interdisciplinary nature of todays research enterprise.
The recent increase in the number of ChBE faculty overall,
as well as the number of faculty with research interests in
bio and/or micro/nano, has led to new graduate electives in Techniques in Biomolecular Engineering, Systems
Biology, Microelectronics Processing (lecture and lab), and
Microchemical Systems.
Consistent with ChBEs alignment in the College of Liberal

Arts and Sciences, many of our graduate students choose to
broaden their horizons in nontechnical directions. Students
take courses in such topics as economics, finance, statistics,
leadership, and proposal writing. Some also obtain formal
teaching and leadership certificates. The faculty actively seek
to show by example how to broaden ones intellectual scope.
For example, a textbook on ethics in science and engineering
emerged from the department earlier this decade.[5]
To emphasize breadth and flexibility, the qualifying examination for doctoral study comprises two components: a written
exam on coursework concepts and an oral presentation on
proposed research. Both are normally completed within the
first year of study. The written exam is offered in January, and
students must correctly answer eight questions out of a selection of 16-22 total questions on undergraduate and graduate
course work. At least four must be chosen from the core
list, which comprises all traditional undergraduate chemical
The oral part of the qualifying exam entails a presentation

of proposed research to a committee of faculty in April. The
students need to (i) demonstrate a coherent understanding of
their research area in general; (ii) describe and justify their
particular project; and (iii) unfold a research plan for the next
six to twelve months. We introduced this component in 2004
with the aim of helping graduate students think critically
about their research project early, so they will have a much
quicker start. Indeed, this exercise has induced students to take
charge of their project and they seem to become independent
more quickly.
The graduate program has grown recently to its present size

of about 110 graduate students. In addition, 30 or so students
from other graduate programs pursue their Ph.D.s with ChBE
faculty. More than 94% of the graduate students that enter
our program successfully obtain a Ph.D. degree, with most of
the few remaining students leaving with a M.S. degree. Upon
graduation our Ph.D. graduates embark on a wide variety
of careers, spanning academia, national labs, and various
industries. Figure 3 shows the placement of these students
by industry sector averaged over the past decade.
ChBEs research directions exemplify the diversity of the

chemical engineering discipline today, encompassing fundamental and applied efforts in long-standing areas such as
microelectronics and complex fluids as well as a wide range
of emerging efforts in energy and biomolecular engineering.
Demographically, the department is young, with slightly
over half the faculty at the assistant or associate professor
level in 2008. Thus, it is easy to cultivate an environment
that fosters collaboration to address subjects of immediate
societal interest. The department seeks to provide ample
room for fundamental science investigations, while providing every opportunity for the outcomes of fundamental science to translate into inventions that lead to new tools for
scientific study and ways to address societys most daunting
challenges. Reflecting this commitment, the department has
major research efforts in human health, energy/sustainability,
and advanced computation for applications.
Many of our research efforts require an inter- or multidisciplinary approach for which the Illinois environment is
183
exceptionally well-suited through the Beckman Institute for

Advanced Science & Technology, the Institute for Genomic
Biology (IGB), the National Center for Supercomputing
Applications (NCSA), the Materials Research Laboratory
(MRL), the Energy Biosciences Institute (EBI), and the Micro- and Nanotechnology Laboratory (MNTL). Not only do
these research institutes provide an environment for faculty
to come together and pursue collaborative multidisciplinary
projects, they also house a suite of world-class instrumentation facilities.
This environment has fertilized extraordinary research

quality and breadth within the department. As one indication, ChBE faculty have enjoyed nine elections to Fellow
status within six different professional societies over the
past half-dozen years or so. The primary areas of endeavor
are as follows.
Human Health
Professors Leckband, Kenis, Kraft, Masel, Zhao, Price,
and Schroeder are developing a range of experimental and
computational approaches to unravel the genetic and molecular basis of many complex diseases such as cancer and
AIDS or to develop new tools to detect such diseases, or even
environmental threats. Many of our faculty are active in the
development, manufacture, and delivery of pharmaceuticals.
For example, professors Braatz, Kenis, and Zukoski are
studying pharmaceutical crystallization for screening for
appropriate solid forms of active pharmaceutical ingredients
and for the selective manufacture of desired polymorphs at
industrial scales. Braatz, Pack, and Zhao are pursuing novel
approaches for the controlled-released delivery of drugs and
gene delivery. In addition, Zhao and Rao are developing new
approaches for treating infection caused by antibiotic-resistant bacteria. As part of the Regenerative Biology and Tissue
Engineering research theme at IGB, several of our faculty,
including Kong, Harley, Kenis, Pack, Rao, and Braatz are
unraveling the fundamentals of tissue regeneration and developing clinical strategies for cardiovascular and bone repair.
Energy and Sustainability

Professors Kenis, Masel, and Seebauer are pursuing a wide
range of studies to design better catalysts and electrodes for
more efficient energy conversion, and they apply these in fuel
cells for portable electronics or transportation applications.
These efforts already have led to two startup companies that
are pursuing the commercialization of these microfuel cell
technologies. Looking ahead, they are taking on the intertwined challenges of climate change and energy security by
converting carbon dioxide back into chemical intermediates
presently derived from fossil fuels. Another active area of
study in our department is alternative energy based on biofuels. As part of the EBI established by the oil company BP
in collaboration with the University of California-Berkeley
and Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, professors Zhao, Rao,
Schroeder, and Price are engineering micro-organisms for
184
Graduate students and Professor Paul Kenis (center)

testing a microfluidic chip for membrane
protein crystallization.
efficient production of novel biofuels such as ethanol, butanol,

and alkanes from nonfood crops. Related protein engineering
and metabolic engineering efforts are also being used for the
green synthesis of fine chemicals via biocatalysis.
Advanced Computation
Professors Braatz, Higdon, Price, and Rao are creating
theoretical and computational tools for the modeling, design,
simulation, optimization, and control of complex chemical
and biomolecular systems. Frequently, widely generalizable
tools are used to address specific problems in the chemical,
energy, microelectronics, biomedical, and pharmaceutical
industries. Many of these efforts rely upon collaboration with
scientists and engineers in academia and industry.
Global Programs
The original conception of the research university in the

19th century was tacitly local, meaning that the university
and its branches were rarely geographically distant from
each other. With the advent of easy telecommunication and
air travel, however, the time has arrived for a globalized research university that permits the formation of new alliances
to improve education and research. Accordingly, over the past
decade ChBE has established an increasing number of department-level connections with universities around the globe.
Such connections have progressed furthest at the doctoral
level with the National University of Singapore, with which
applications per year prior to 2000. Much of the intellectual

property has been licensed to companies. In addition, four
startup companies have been created recently with ChBE
faculty involvement: two in energy, one in microanalysis
systems, and one in tissue engineering.
SUMMARY
Professor Ed Seebauer reviews semiconductor defects for

microelectronics applications with three of his
graduate students.
ChBE established in 2009 a multi-institutional doctoral degree

with the counterpart department there. Students are jointly
advised by faculty at both institutions, split their time evenly
between the locations, take courses almost interchangeably
between the two universities, and ultimately receive a single
degree bearing two seals.
PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT
The nature of engineering is often poorly understood by

the general public. Technological literacy yields citizens
who can make informed decisions, and workers who ensure
long-term economic health. Among the engineering disciplines,
chemical engineering is sometimes the least understood. As W.H.
G. Armytage has put it, The artistry of a bridge-builder is
obvious to the naked eye, but the activities of the chemical
engineer are not, until the products are bottled, batched, or
baled. Both profoundly affect the progress of mankind.[6]
Given our societys pervasiveness of products and energy
that are chemically derived, it is especially important to make
chemical engineering intelligible to the general public.
ChBE is one of the few engineering departments in the

United States to take this public engagement mission seriously
enough to host a faculty member whose main purpose is its
pursuit. Bill Hammack uses mass media to communicate
engineering to the public, and has received numerous awards
for his efforts. He has created a remarkable public radio series
called Engineering & Life, in which he shares the wonders of
engineering while also emphasizing the responsibilities associated with technological change. His hundreds of radio pieces
have been heard on public radios premier business program
Marketplace, which has an audience of 8 million, and around
the globe on Radio National Australias Science Show.
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
The departments research activities have led to tangible

economic development for societal benefit. In the past five
years ChBE faculty have filed more than 10 patent applications per year, a significant increase from, on average, 1-2
We are deeply conscious within ChBE of our role as a

department within a public research university, and we
seek to be distinctive in the ways we fulfill that role. Our
undergraduate education ranks among the best in the United
States even with a large student/faculty ratio. The curriculum
emphasizes chemistry, laboratory experiences, and practical
creative problem solving in a unique way. The program offers extensive opportunities for undergraduate research, and
features a biomolecular course option taught by leaders in
the field. In graduate education, the department features an
extraordinary dedication to collaboration across disciplines
and with many individual faculty spanning a wide range of
areas. The large proportion of early-career faculty sharpens
the focus on current-day research problems, and also fosters
an environment of especially close mentorship of graduate students. The department exhibits a rare willingness to
build global graduate education programs at the level of a
multi-institutional doctoral degree, and to embrace public
engagement efforts to interpret the engineering endeavors to
the society at large.
Looking ahead, we believe public research universities

need to re-envision themselves in the changing social and
economic landscape. As a discipline, chemical engineering
must recognize that its reach extends with particularly broad
scope into the pressing problems of our day, in areas of human
health, energy, and sustainability, and in a milieu where access
to powerful computational tools becomes widespread. Large
numbers of students at both the undergraduate and graduate
levels are seeking to enter these areas for the benefit of the
common good, and chemical engineering departments in
public research universities must embrace those students in
a spirit of both innovation and efficiency.
References
1. Title 7, U.S. Code Section 304

2. Gumport, P.J., Graduate Education and Organized Research in the
United States, The Research Foundations of Graduate Education,
ed. B.R. Clark, University of California Press, Berkeley, CA, p. 225
(1993)
3. Gellert, C., The German Model of Research and Advanced Education,
The Research Foundations of Graduate Education, ed. B.R. Clark,
University of California Press, Berkeley, CA, p. 5 (1993)
4. Brooks, H., The Outlook for Graduate Science and Engineering, The
State of Graduate Education, ed. B.L.R. Smith, Brookings Institution,
Washington, D.C., p. 183ff (1985)
5. Seebauer, E.G., and R.L. Barry, Fundamentals of Ethics for Scientists
and Engineers, Oxford Univ. Press, New York (2001)
6. Armytage, W.H.G., A Social History of Engineering, MIT Press,
Cambridge, MA, p. 323 (1961) p
185
Introduction
to three Special Issues of Papers from the
AIChE Centennial Celebration
History never looks like history

when you are living through it.
John W. Gardner
David L. Silverstein, Chair of AIChE Topical Conference on Education

Phillip C. Wankat, Proceedings Editor
arking where chemical engineering education

emerges in history is a challenge. Perhaps it
should be traced to the growing practice of
industrial chemistry courses during the 19th century.
Some would cite the formation of the first degree program in the field at MIT in 1888. Doubtless, the formation of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers
in 1908 marked a significant milestone in the rapidly
developing profession of chemical engineering. During
the Institutes 2008 Annual Meeting in Philadelphia,
we celebrated the centennial anniversary of AIChEs
role in chemical engineering and in the education of
chemical engineers.
As part of the Centennial Celebration, the Group

4 (Education) Programming Committee of AIChE
sponsored a Topical Conference entitled Chemical
Engineering Education: Past and Future. The theme
was a retrospective look forward at many topics that
form the chemical engineering curricula. Highlights
included: 200 Years of Chemical Engineering Pedagogy: Reflecting on the Past, Designing the Future;
a comprehensive history of the ASEE ChE Division
Summer Schools for Chemical Engineering Faculty;
sessions on core areas of chemical engineering featuring
some of the most prominent people in their fields; a joint
education session with the Indian Institute of Chemical
Engineers; and a full program of traditional education
sessions. In an effort to further disseminate and preserve
the collected knowledge, experience, and advice offered
in the Centennial education sessions, extended abstracts
were requested of all presenters. These abstracts are
available in the Proceedings published by AIChE and

on the CEE Web site, <http://cee.che.ufl.edu>.
While the planning for the Topical Conference was
ongoing, another significant education initiative was
under way in AIChE. In an effort to expand the role of
chemical engineering education in AIChE, an Education Division was formed with probationary status. The
Education Division seeks to provide resources faculty
need to teach well; promote the scholarship of engineering education; and provide an opportunity for all
of those interested in chemical engineering education
to become involved in a meaningful way to shape the
practice of chemical engineering education. In addition to continuing to provide an innovative and useful
technical program, current Division projects include: a
partnership with the Chemical Engineering Division of
ASEE for a special session on Fundamental Research
in Education; an annual multi-national survey on
how chemical engineering courses are taught; and an
expanded sequence of career development workshops
targeted at new and prospective faculty.
It seems natural that the Education Division would
partner with Chemical Engineering Education. Authors
submitting extended abstracts to the AIChE Proceedings
were invited to submit an article to CEE. These papers
went through the normal, rigorous CEE peer-review
process. This issue is the first of three featuring these
papers. We hope to forge closer links between AIChEs
Education Division and CEE, and expect to see additional special issues of CEE based on AIChE Education
Division programming in the future. p
186
ChE AIChE special section
IMPLEMENTING CONCEPTS OF
PHARMACEUTICAL ENGINEERING
Into High School Science Classrooms
Howard Kimmel, Linda S. Hirsch, Laurent Simon, Levelle Burr-Alexander, and Rajesh Dave
New Jersey Institute of Technology, Newark, NJ
ngineering plays a major role in shaping the world

today. The application of science, mathematics, and
technology into engineering benefits people and makes
the world we live in possible. Most students are unaware of
the benefits that engineering provides people in their daily
lives.[1, 2] One of the more critical reasons most students,
particularly those from underrepresented populations in
urban school districts, are not interested in pursuing careers
in engineering is that they are not exposed to topics in engineering during their K-12 studies. Most K-12 teachers have
not been trained to incorporate engineering and technology
topics into their classroom lessons and there is a lack of highquality curricular materials in these areas.[3] Comprehensive
professional development programs are needed for teachers to address the new skills and knowledge necessary for
improved classroom teaching and learning[4, 5] if we expect
them to integrate engineering concepts into their classroom
practice.[6-8] One perspective on the features influencing effective professional development outcomes is provided by
a Council of Chief State School Officers report,[9] in which
five features were considered: three core features (active
learning, coherence, and content focus), and two structural
features (duration and collective participation). With this in
mind, the Research Experiences for Teachers (RET) program
was designed to include each of these five features: 1) Active Learning: Teachers were involved in discussion and
planning, as well as research; 2) Coherence: Activities were
built on what they were learning, and led to more advanced
work; 3) Content Focus: Content was designed to improve
Howard Kimmel is a professor of chemical engineering and the executive

director of the Center for Pre-College Programs at the New Jersey Institute
of Technology. He has spent the past 30 years designing and implementing professional development programs and curricula for K-12 teachers in
science and technology. At the college level, he collaborates on projects
exploring teaching methodologies and assessment strategies in first-year
college courses in the sciences, engineering, and computer science.
Linda S. Hirsch is the program evaluator in the Center for Pre-College
programs. She has a doctoral degree in educational psychology with a
specialty in psychometrics and a masters degree in statistics. She has
been involved in all aspects of educational and psychological research
for 15 years. Dr. Hirsch has extensive experience conducting longitudinal
research studies and is proficient in database management, experimental design, instrument development, psychometrics, and statistical
programming.
Laurent Simon is an associate professor of chemical engineering and
the associate director of the pharmaceutical engineering program at the
New Jersey Institute of Technology. He received his Ph.D. in chemical
engineering from Colorado State University in 2001. His research and
teaching interests involve modeling, analysis, and control of drug-delivery
systems. He is the author of Laboratory Online (available at <http://laurentsimon.com/simon/>), a series of educational and interactive modules
to enhance engineering knowledge in drug-delivery technologies and
underlying engineering principles.
Levelle Burr-Alexander is a project manager responsible for the Education and Training Institute of the Center for Pre-College Programs at NJIT.
She has a B.S. degree with thesis in chemistry from Stevens Institute of
Technology, an M.S. degree in biomedical engineering from NJIT, and is
pursuing a Ph.D. in education specializing in instructional and curriculum
leadership from Northcentral University. Her work and research interests
focus on STEM education for students and educators through curriculum,
instruction, and assessment of learning at the secondary-school level.
Rajesh N. Dave received a B. Tech. degree in mechanical engineering
from Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay, in 1978, and M.S. and Ph.D.
degrees in mechanical engineering from Utah State University in 1981
and 1983, respectively. He is a distinguished professor of the Otto York
Department of Chemical, Biological, and Pharmaceutical Engineering at
NJIT. He has published extensively in two main research areas, particle
technology/engineered particulates and fuzzy pattern recognition.
187
and enhance teachers knowledge and skills; 4) Duration:

Professional development for the teachers extended over six
weeks during the summer and continued during the school
year; and 5) Collective Participation: Teachers met in teams
and as a group to discuss strategies and content as well as to
develop approaches that they presented to their peers.
A focus is needed on content in currently available curriculum materials that creates connections between the science
used in engineering applications in the real world and the
science curriculum standards for which teachers and administrators are held accountable.[3, 10, 11] While substantial energy
has been devoted to developing standards-based curriculum
materials and achievement tests, little is known about new
lesson planning, teaching, and student activities needed in
a standards-based classroom. OShea and Kimmel[12] have
developed a protocol for standards-based lesson planning that
allows teachers to systematically assess learning outcomes
that are aligned with state content standards.
RET programs are seen as a vehicle for introducing engineering into secondary-school curricula to increase students
interest in engineering, and ultimately increase the number of
qualified students pursuing engineering degrees,[13-15] but many
programs lack follow-up and\or effective evaluation.[13, 14]
An RET program at the New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT) has been designed to provide high school science
teachers with a professional development program that enhances their research skills and their knowledge of science
and engineering conceptsenabling them to incorporate
real-world applications (e.g., pharmaceutical engineering)
into high school science curricula. As part of the program
teachers developed instructional modules they could use to
integrate engineering principles into their classroom teaching.
The project also focused on helping the teachers refine their
instructional planning skills and providing them with an effective protocol for developing standards-based lesson plans.
THE SETTING
The RET program at NJIT is a collaboration between the

Engineering Research Center for Structured Organic Particulate Systems (ERC-SOPS) and the Universitys Center for PreCollege Programs (CPCP), initiated under an NSF-sponsored
four-university project. The goal of the program is to educate
high school teachers in the opportunities and challenges involved with manufacturing pharmaceutical products, and thus
help educate future generations of studentshelping create
a strong pipeline of talented students interested in pursuing
careers in engineering and science.
The ERC-SOPS is a four-university project, involving about
30 faculty members, with a central systems-oriented theme
of developing a model-predictive, integrated framework
for systematically designing materials, composites, and the
processes used to manufacture them. The NJIT ERC includes
seven faculty members, who mentor research projects aligned
188
with three main research thrusts: 1) a New Manufacturing

Science for Structured Organic Particulates, 2) Composite
Structuring and Characterization of Organic Particulates, and
3) Particle Formation and Functionalization.
The Center for Pre-College Programs (CPCP) at NJIT has

been working with the public school systems in Newark and
others across the state of New Jersey for almost 40 years.[16]
The mission of the center includes the planning, development, and assessment of STEM education programs, and
the development and coordination of academic programs to
serve elementary- and secondary-school teachers. Among the
many successful programs at CPCP is the Pre-Engineering
Instructional and Outreach Program (Pre-IOP), established
to raise awareness about the importance of pre-engineering
concepts in science and mathematics curricula.[7, 17] Pre-IOP
included the development of pre-engineering curriculum modules (aligned with the New Jersey Core Curriculum Content
Standards) for use in secondary mathematics and science
classrooms. Teacher professional development programs were
established to train teachers how to integrate the pre-engineering curriculum into their classroom teaching as a way for their
students to apply classroom lessons to real-life problems.
The pre-engineering curriculum in science, mathematics,
and technology classroom was found to improve students
and teachers attitudes toward engineering and knowledge of
careers in engineering.[18, 19] The RET program at NJIT continued the work of Pre-IOP by incorporating pharmaceutical
concepts into the high school science curriculum.
THE RESEARCH EXPERIENCE
The 2007 NJIT RET program provided the opportunity for

nine high school science teachers (chemistry, biology, and
physics) to engage in a six-week experience in a research
group of the Center for Structured Organic Particulate Systems (C-SOPS). Participating teachers were selected from
local urban schools with whom NJIT already had working
relationships. Working side-by-side with university research
faculty, graduate students, and undergraduate students (participating in a parallel Research Experience for Undergraduates, or REU, site program) in discovery-based, hands-on
research projects, teachers developed basic knowledge and
skills in the area of pharmaceutical particulate and composite
systems that could be incorporated into their teaching practice. Implicit was the opportunity for intellectual professional
growth for the teachers.
The first week of the program was an orientation, which

included an introduction to NJIT and ERC-SOPSs research
activities, methodologies, instrumentation, and safety procedures, as well as the scientific tools, protocols, and equipment
necessary to gain meaningful hands-on experience in the laboratory. Teachers were trained to become contributing members
of their research team and given instruction in how to develop
standards-based lessons/modules for use in their classrooms.
An introduction to the technical literature and methodologies

for searching the Web to support their research activities was
included. Ongoing discussion during the summer experience
focused on the development of lesson plans.
RET projects were small sub-projects within the research

at ERC-SOPS, in recognition that much of the research deals
with concepts that can be difficult to translate into laboratory and instructional activities for high school classrooms.
Simplified versions of the basic concepts in a research project
were developed. For example, dissolution of particles can be
related to basic concepts of solubility, equilibrium, and rates
of processes by developing simple experiments that involve
observing dissolution of sugar crystals of varying size, with
or without stirring or agitations. Teachers worked in teams
of two that also involved at least one graduate student and
one undergraduate REU student. The REU students will
have had several weeks of experience by the time the RET
program begins, and hence the team consisting of one graduate student and one REU student will be well-versed in the
research project.
For example, in one research project, a method for dry

particle coating was used to deposit a very small amount of
nano-size additives with a high degree of precision onto drug
or excipient particles to change their flow and other properties.
RET participants examined the application of this technique
on improvement, control, and characterization of flowability
of cohesive powders in a predictive manner through dry particle coating. A lesson was designed to introduce the topic of
nano-technology so that students may acquire an understanding of what it means to be that small. First the students were
given a sense of what it means to be as small as micro- and
nano-size, as compared to larger objects. Then the students
explored why ultra-small size matters to scientists and engineers with examples of the applications making use of it in
various industries, including pharmaceuticals. The students
were also introduced to some of the problems encountered
when working with very small particles. To help students
think about how different micro- and nano-size particles are
when compared to people, students compared objects that are
6 and 9 orders of magnitude apart in size, including atoms and
molecules and the wavelength of light in the electromagnetic
spectrum. The lesson included hands-on activities and demonstrations that used meter sticks, micrometers, and finely
ground or powdered substances such as sugar, sand, and flour,
to demonstrate properties of particles as well as compare sizes
of objects and flow rates of fine particles.
Another research project focused on crystallizationthe
most common method used in the pharmaceutical industry
for generating particles of active substances or intermediates.
Teachers examined the role of agitation on crystal size as
part of a study of the hydrodynamics of a stirred-tank-impeller assembly, with particular attention being paid to solid
dispersion and the determination of the minimum agitation
speed for off-bottom solid suspension, both in the presence

and the absence of an impinging jet apparatus. A lesson was
developed on the crystallization of ultrafine (nano and micro)
particles of active pharmaceutical ingredients using a liquid
anti-solvent technique. The lesson was used to demonstrate
the principles of solution mixing and crystallization and related engineering themes, by having students determine the
optimum concentration for crystallization and effect of surfactants. The students were introduced to the liquid anti-solvent
method of crystallization, which involves the formation of
nanoparticles of different compounds. The lesson focused
on how to make crystallized particles of a substance from a
given solution using an anti-solvent. In the first part of the
lesson, students in groups discuss the various crystallization
methods and advantages of the liquid anti-solvent method.
Next, using solutions of aspirin and ibuprofen in acetone, they
find the amount of anti-solvent needed to precipitate the given
amount of drug substance. They do so by first finding the
volume of anti-solvent needed to precipitate the given amount
of aspirin, and then finding the volume of anti-solvent needed
to precipitate the given amount of ibuprofen. The students
could then plot a graph of concentration of drug substance
vs. amount of anti-solvent needed for precipitation of aspirin
and ibuprofen, and determine the optimum concentration of
the active pharmaceutical ingredients in acetone.
Development of the instructional modules was critical to the

RET program. Teachers and their mentors met frequently to
develop a simple topic that is closely related to the pharmaceutical industry as well as the research they were conducting.
To be effective, the modules had to address important issues
including: the real-life implications of the research; which
experiments would best relate the information to students in
an exciting, insightful way; whether the materials and methods required to perform these experiments are accessible in
high school laboratories; the insurmountable safety issues in
planning such experiments; the step-by-step procedure for
disseminating the information to students in a logical way;
and the assessments to be used to show that students have
internalized the information.
Because there was an odd number of teachers, one of the

teachers served as a swing teacher working jointly with each
team to monitor progress and communicate with the mentors.
The swing teacher developed an instructional module that
encompassed the research projects of the other teachers, A
Step Toward Discovery: Inquiry Skills in Science, designed
to help students think like engineers and scientists, while connecting relevant mathematics and science skills.
STANDARDS-BASED LESSON PLANNING
Curricular materials in support of the integration of engineering into science instruction have been made available
through organizations such as NASA, ASME, and IEEE,
as well as through university- and teacher-developed lesson
189
plans. Only concepts included in state content standards are

taught in the classroom, however, as teachers believe they
will only be accountable for what is in the standards.[12] As
a result, the only curriculum materials usually considered,
let alone implemented, are those that reinforce state content standards, since student achievement (and schools
and districts achievement) is measured largely by student
performance on the statewide assessment tests.[20] So, if
teachers are to make engineering principles a part of their
instruction for student learning, then engineering principles
must be part of the state science standards. Translation into
standards-achieving lessons is critical.[3] Curriculum topics
aligned to standards alone are not sufficient, however.[12, 21]
Alignment with standards must also include the assessment
of student achievement of the skills and knowledge defined
by the standards.
Research suggests that lesson and unit plans are essential
and powerful tools for instructional improvement and increased student achievement.[21] When teachers prepare truly
standards-based lessons, their teaching is focused on student
achievement in relation to specific standards.[22, 23] A protocol
for the creation and implementation of standards-based lesson
plans has been developed at CPCP and used in previous and
current professional-development programs.[12] The protocol
includes identification of measurable learning objectives,
specification of the corresponding statement from the content standards, adaptation of the activity that provides the
student the opportunity to acquire the skill and/or knowledge
specified by the learning objective, and the expected student
performance that provides the evidence that the student has
acquired the skill and/or knowledge. The RET participants
were introduced to the protocol and a template was developed

for use in the development of their instructional modules.
EVALUATION
Teachers Concerns About Integrating Engineering

Skills Into Classroom Teaching
Teachers concerns about integrating engineering skills into

their classroom teaching were measured using The Teachers
Concerns Questionnaire (TCQ) adapted from the Concerns
Based Assessment Model (CBAM).[24] Repeated administrations of the TCQ are used to identify teachers concerns and
track changes in their concerns as they engage in educational
reforms, focusing on how they progress through seven stages
of concern: Awareness, informational, personal, management,
consequences, collaboration, and refocusing. Teachers completed the TCQ at the beginning and end of the RET program
and again several months into the school year after they had
time in their classrooms. All three sets of responses were
examined by graphing teachers percentile scores across the
seven stages. The highest percentile score indicates the stage
teachers are focused in.[24] Initially, the teachers showed low
levels of awareness and\or some were not very interested
(see Figure I).
By the end of the program most teachers increased their
awareness and many had moved into the information-gathering stage (indicated by a moderate decrease in the percentile
score for the Awareness stage such that it was lower than the
score for the Information stage). Not until a few months into
the school year did the teachers begin shifting toward whether
the new curriculum would help their students learn math
and/or science. Three teachers completed the TCQ toward the
end of the school year,
expressing fewer personal and management
concerns about the time
commitments required
to implement their new
instruction modules. The
teachers were focused on
how the implementation
may have impacted their
students and appeared
to have shifted into the
collaboration stage indicated by the high percentile score.
Teachers Readiness
to Teach
Figure 1. Teachers concerns profile.

190
At the end of the

RET program teachers
completed a Readiness
to Teach Questionnaire
(RTQ). The RTQ[18, 19] re-
quires teachers to indicate how ready they feel they are to teach
everyday life and disagreed with the statement I would not
lessons on new topics and\or skills they have learned on a scale
like any of my students to be engineers. Their average TATE
from 1 to 4 where 1 is I would have to start from scratch; 2 is
scores increased from 3.9 at the beginning of the program to
I would need more training to teach this topic; 3 is I would
4.2 during the school year. See Table 1 for a sample of items
have to look at my notes to do this; and 4 is I can teach a lesfrom the TATE that appeared to show the most change in the
son on this topic tomorrow. For example, one item asks How
teachers attitudes toward engineering.
ready are you to teach the concept of steady state? Teachers
Most teachers were somewhat informed about how to
were asked to complete the RTQ again a few months into the
help prepare students interested in studying engineering.
school year after they had some time in their classrooms. At the
Most agreed they would know where to find the necessary
end of the summer program average scores for the 13 topics
information to help my students if they wanted to become
ranged from 2.8 to 3.8, indicating that most of the responses
engineers but most disagreed with the statement I have all
were 3 or 4. Only one teacher gave any responses that indicated
the information I need to help prepare any of my students
1 (I would have to start from scratch). For many topics the
who may want to be an engineer. Only a few indicated they
percentage of teachers that indicated 4 (I can teach a lesson on
knew of summer programs to help students learn more about
this topic tomorrow) was over 50%. Average scores for most of
careers in engineering. Average scores on the items that assess
the topics increased slightly a few months into the school year;
teachers self-efficacy for helping students who might want to
ranging from 3.2 to 3.8. The average scores for two of the topics
study engineering were low, only 3.0, at the beginning of the
did not change and only one topic, Drug Release From a Lozenge,
program, but increased to 4.3 during the school year.
showed a decrease in the average reTable 1
sponse from 3.1 to 2.8. This was due
Changes in Teachers Attitudes to Engineering and Self Efficacy
mostly to a few teachers indicating 3
for Helping Students
(I would have to look at my notes)
Attitudes toward engineering
Start of
End of
the second time rather than their initial
program
program
response of 4 (I can teach a lesson on
I
think
that
engineering
could
be
an
enjoyable
career.
3.6
4.5
this topic tomorrow). Again, three
Engineers have little need to know about environmental issues.
1.9
1.6
of the teachers completed the RTQ a
third time toward the end of the school
I would not like any of my students to become engineers.
2.7
2.1
year. Their average scores ranged
The rewards of becoming an engineer are not worth the effort.
2.2
1.7
from 3.5 to 4.0 indicating that at least
To be an engineer requires an IQ in the genius range.
2.5
2.2
these three teachers could teach all of
My students would have no problem finding jobs if they had an
3.6
4.4
the topics even if they had to look at
engineering degree.
their notes.
Attitudes to Engineering
Teachers completed the Teacher

Attitudes To Engineering survey
(TATE) at the beginning of the RET
program and again a few months
into the school year after they had
completed the program and had some
time in their classrooms. The TATE,
developed as part of the centers PreIOP program, measures teachers
overall attitudes toward engineering
as well as their knowledge of careers
in engineering and their self-efficacy
for assisting students who might want
to study engineering.[18, 19] Teachers
attitudes toward engineers and
engineering as a career were fairly
high, even at the beginning of the
program. All nine teachers agreed
with the statement that skills
learned in engineering are useful in
Engineering plays an important role in solving societys problems.
4.4
4.8
A woman can succeed in engineering as easily as a man of similar

ability.
3.9
4.3
Engineers spend most of their time doing difficult mathematical

calculations.
3.6
2.7
Most of the skills learned in engineering are useful in everyday life.
4.2
4.7
From what I know engineering is boring.
1.8
1.4
I feel I have all the information I need to help students who may
want to become engineers.
3.0
3.0
I suggest engineering as a possible career if students do well in math

and science.
2.8
3.9
I suggest medicine as a possible career if students do well in math

and science.
4.1
4.0
I think I know what engineers do.
3.6
4.5
I am aware of grade-appropriate information on engineering careers

for my students.
2.6
3.6
I actively encourage my students to consider engineering as a career.
1.9
3.2
I know of summer programs that would help students prepare for an

engineering career.
2.7
3.8
I have discussed engineering as a possible career option with my

students.
2.6
3.4
Self-efficacy for helping students
191
Knowledge of engineers and careers in engineering is

measured using a multiple-part, open-ended question that
requires teachers to name five different types of engineers
and to give an example of the work done by each type. Each
type of engineer is coded 1 for correct or 0 for incorrect.
Possible total scores range from 0 to 5. Each example of the
work they do is coded 2 for completely correct, 1 for partly
correct, or 0 for incorrect. Possible total scores range from
0 to 10. At the beginning of the program only five of the nine
teachers were able to correctly name five different types of
engineers and two were able to name two types correctly. Only
one of the teachers was able to give correct or partly correct
examples of the work done by all five types of engineers, receiving 7 points. One teacher did not give any examples and
the rest were only able to give one, two, or three partly correct
examples. When the teachers completed the survey again a
few months later results showed that teachers knowledge of
engineers and engineering as a career had increased. Six of
the teachers were able to correctly name five different types
of engineers, two teachers named four types, and the last
teacher named three. All of the teachers were able to give at
least some partly correct examples of the work done by the
types of engineers they named, most scoring at least 5 points;
a few scored 8 or 9 points.
Teachers Feedback on Program Effectiveness
as tours of laboratories, poster presentations, and discussions

of ongoing research.
CONCLUSIONS
Teachers found the RET program useful to them as instructors and found a lot of value in the experience for their
students. This conclusion is exemplified by the response of
one teacher to a survey on their implementation of what they
learned into their classroom practice:
I have seen significant gains in basic skills as a
result of student willingness to risk failure. In my estimation Ive done a horrible job of harnessing this
new power, being completely unprepared for how
successful it might be. Ive got freshmen handling
vector math and multiple-step equation manipulation problems but theres more I can do. I cant wait
for next year so I can apply what Ive learned from
this first attempt. Since the approach focuses on the
students skills and self-improvement theyve gotten
some benefit in other classes as well. My freshmen
are doing very well. They apply engineering principles to their own student behavior and are actually
taking pride in improving themselves. As we might
expect, their initial efforts in the laboratory were
disastrous, but they have begun to avoid blame and
self-doubt. It has completely changed their concep-
Periodically during the program teachers were asked to

provide written feedback on how they felt
Table 2
the program was progressing. Teachers were
Teachers Feedback on Program Effectiveness
asked to rate each activity or learning expeAverage usefulness for:
rience by indicating how useful they felt it
was to them as a teacher (2 = very useful,
You as a
Student
teacher
learning
1 = somewhat useful, 0 = not useful) and
the value they felt it had for student learnIntroduction to pharmaceutical engineering, discus1.8
1.6
sions, demonstrations
ing (2 = high value, 1 = some value, 0 = no
1.7
0.6
RET mentor presentations
value). The average rating for a majority
of the activities was at least 1.5. See Table
What we can bring to the classroom? Q & A
1.8
1.6
2 for a summary of the average ratings for
Information literacy: research and communication
1.4
1.2
the major topics and activities.
skills
Two activitiesposter presentations to

share their research experience with others
and the mentoring processhad an average rating of 1. Many of the teachers just
did not find the poster presentation very
useful. Two of the teachers rated the mentoring process as not useful. Unfortunately
one of the two teachers reported that their
mentor had not been available during the
program. The teachers found a majority
of the activities to have a high value for
student learning, with average ratings of
at least 1.6. The activities that teachers did
not find useful for their studentsscoring
an average of 1 or lesswere things such
192
Brainstorming sessions with RET mentors
1.2
0.7
Skills necessary for pharmaceutical manufacturing
1.6
1.4
Various lab tours, presentations on lab techniques,

safety
0.8
0.3
Teamwork on project and planning of educational

module
2.0
1.6
Team presentations of projects
1.8
0.9
Project management: presentation preparation w\RET

mentors and research facilitators
0.2
0.1
Poster presentations, discussion of ongoing research
0.9
0.2
Individual research
2.0
1.8
Module development: lesson planning discussion of

progress
1.9
1.6
Undergraduate symposium
1.8
1.0
tualization of failurethey are now seeing failure of

method instead of failure-as-a-person; not surprisingly they are trying very difficult things, since they
can take pride in success and not feel guilty about
failure. As one example, I did a week-long unit on
technology and engineering awareness, focused
mainly on career opportunities and the roles of
engineering in society. I also ran a task-oriented
laboratory in which advanced chemistry students
were asked to separate chicken soup into its component parts, having been informed of separation
techniques but without specific instructions or previous complex separation experience. The laboratory
experience was designed to show failure, as well
as success in solving engineering problems. The
students found that such a process was indeed quite
difficult to carry out.
Participation in the RET program increased teachers attitudes toward engineering, their knowledge of engineering
careers, and their self-efficacy for helping students who might
be interested in studying engineering. Many of the teachers
expressed an interest in repeating such an experience.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This project is based on work supported by a grant from the

National Science Foundation, ERC Supplement Award for an
RET Site, EEC-0540855, which is gratefully acknowledged.
Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations
expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not
necessarily reflect the views of the NSF.
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Southwest Educational Development Laboratory, Austin, TX (1980) p
193
Wiki Technology as a Design Tool

for a Capstone Design Course
Kevin R. Hadley and Kenneth A. Debelak
Vanderbilt University Nashville, TN 37235-1604
eb 2.0 technologies allow sharing of information

and are designed to enhance creativity, communication, and the overall collaborative functionality
of the Internet. These Internet tools, like wikis, are becoming
an integral part of the upcoming generations (the Net Generation) social and academic life.[1] Educators and students
alike benefit from incorporating these technologies into the
classroom.[2] With wiki technology, student interaction, idea
collaboration, and organization of information can be improved compared to traditional ways of teaching.[3]
A wiki is a Web site where users add, view, and edit content
as needed. Different users can add content and review material
added from other users allowing for collaboration and sharing
of information within groups.
According to a survey conducted by the Educause Center

for Applied Research (ECAR), the use of information technology and Web 2.0 technologies is astonishingly high.[1] Out
of the 20,000-plus students surveyed, engineers spent more
time online (an average of 21.9 hrs/week) than any other
discipline. Specifically pertaining to wiki usage, 41.7% of
all of those surveyed access or use wikis on a weekly basis.
According to the conductors of the study, this number may be
understated because the students may not know what a wiki is
or realize their Internet searches direct them to a wiki site. An
additional factor is the survey does not distinguish between
access and contribution. Another part of the survey reported
32.6% of the students liked learning through contribution to
wikis and blogs. Again, this number may be skewed due to
the ignorance of what constitutes a wiki.
194
Although technology is an integral part of the Net Generations social and professional life, educators should show
restraint when incorporating technology into the classroom.
The main question to keep in mind when deciding to include
new technology (or a new approach in general) is will it
benefit the students? According to Oblinger and Oblinger,[4]
even though the Net Generation values what older generations
consider new technologywikiswhat they value most is interaction. Professors cant replace interaction with technology,
but must augment and enhance interaction using technology.
Kevin R. Hadley is currently a Ph.D. student
in the chemical and biomolecular engineering
program at Vanderbilt University. He earned a
B.S. in chemical engineering from Colorado
School of Mines. He will defend his thesis in
the summer of 2009 and plans on pursuing a
career in academia, thereafter. His teaching
interests include engineering design and
thermodynamics, and his research interests
are in multi-scale modeling and self-assembling systems.
Kenneth A. Debelak is an associate professor
in the Department of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering at Vanderbilt University. He
received his B.E. (1969) from the University
of Dayton and M.S. (1973) & Ph.D. (1978)
from the University of Kentucky. His research
interests are process modeling and control
and application of supercritical fluids.
Interaction and learning are the keys when bringing something

new into your classroom.
Of course, it is hard to know whether or not something

new will enhance interaction or learning, which served as
the motivation of the study discussed here. The goals were to
understand how to introduce wikis to students and what their
value was as a design tool. This article presents a description of wikis, the details of the wiki study, what was learned
from the study, and suggestions for further wiki use in the
engineering classroom.
Wikis and their Features
Wiki is a Hawaiian word for quick, but in the context of

this study it is a type of Web site any user can view and edit
like any word processor without the knowledge of html or
similar programming languages. An appropriate illustration
of wikis and their potential can be found online at <http://
doiop.com/wiki-che>. There are many wiki hosts on the
Web, but we chose to use <www.pbwiki.com> (version 1.0),
because it was very user-friendly and it was free. Wikis have
a number of features appealing to engineering and engineering education. First, there is a complete revision history for
each page in the wiki. From the students perspective, they
can go back to any version and not only see what has been
changed, but they have access to make it the current version
if mistakes were made later. From an educators perspective,
a professor can track the progression of the project through
the students eyes. Also, the teacher can observe specific
changes between versions.
Every saved change to a page can be tracked to a specific
user and that change is time-stamped. This means a professor
can really enforce accountability with respect to each team
member. If Jean and Tom say Billy isnt working, the professor
can go to the wiki and confirm Billy made four minor additions to the wiki. In addition, a professor has verification if a
group is being lazy or if they are procrastinating.
A final feature is the ability to add comments. If the educators dont feel comfortable editing a students work, they can
leave a comment on a page of interest. Instead of meeting at
key points in the semester, a professor can go to the wiki and
look at how things are going. If something of concern exists
or if the students have questions or concerns, the professor
can address those concerns or notify the group of his/her
concerns. The ability to do this ties directly into the goal of
integrating technology into the classroom, while promoting
interaction between students and the faculty.
Senior Design Project

and Wiki Study Details
The participants of the study were the seniors enrolled in

the Chemical Engineering Process Design course at Vanderbilt University. Their final project was the 2008 AIChE
National Student Design Competition project: to design a

process to convert coal into methanol and perform a complete
economic analysis.
Ten groups of three students were given 30 days to complete

their design and present their results to the rest of the class. At
the start of the project, the teaching assistant (TA) introduced
how to use wikis and displayed their potential to the students
and encouraged (but did not require) them to add content to
the wiki as part of the project. Each groups wiki was set to
private, so only the professor, the TA, and the group members
could view and edit the content. The class was also provided
with a class hub wiki to post common questions, to see an
example page, and to have links to pbwiki tutorials.
Each week, the professor received weekly reports from each

group, some directly from the wiki, and the groups progress
was discussed in a weekly meeting with the main instructor.
In addition, throughout the project, the TA and the professor
would monitor the wiki of each group and add comments,
questions, or concerns when necessary and reply to comments
or questions expressed by the group within their wiki.
At the end of the project, 25 out of the 30 students were

given a survey asking about their experience with the wiki,
their opinions of the wikis use, and their suggestions for
further use. Within the survey, there were three sections: positive and negative statements requiring a numerical allocation
from the student on a 6-point Likert scale, a list asking which
project items were included in the wiki, and open-ended
questions about the good and bad points of the wiki and its
implementation.
Survey Results
The first section of the survey contained 12 statements, and

the students were asked to circle a number between 1 and 6
to describe how much they agreed with the statement, where
a choice of 1 indicated strong disagreement and a choice of
6 indicated strong agreement. To prevent a neutral response,
an even number was chosen for the maximum. Also, a mix of
positive and negative responses was included to ensure valid
results from those surveyed.
The scores were analyzed and (for the most part) students
liked the use of wikis in the design course. One group didnt
add any content to their wiki in any form, and their responses
were negative with respect to the wiki. The members of that
group provided helpful open-ended comments, but their
responses were excluded from the numerical analysis of the
survey. We decided the absence of their participation didnt
qualify them for a valid opinion about the implementation
and general opinion of the wiki.
The first step in evaluating wiki use in a design course was

taking the average score for each statement. If the score was
greater than 4.0 or less than 3.0, we considered that score to
have a significant positive or negative agreement. The state-
195
ments with values between 3 and 4 were regarded as a neutral

response. Table 1 lists the average score for each statement and
as you can see, the students agreed with six statements:
(I.) They will tell others about wiki technology for collaboration.
(II.) They would like to use a wiki in their future career.

(III.) They recommended use of the wiki for other senior
design courses.
(V.) They used the wiki only because it was required.
(VI.) The wiki helped organize their work and findings.
(XII.) There was more interaction from the professor
and the TA in this project than others in the past.
In addition, the students disagreed with three of the negative statements:

(IV.) Adding to the wiki took more time than it saved.
(IX.) The wiki overcomplicated the project.
(XI.) The wiki was confusing, and it made the project
more difficult.
There was not a definitive agreement as to whether the wiki

was a key component to finishing the project (VIII.), if the
wiki helped them finish the project more efficiently (VII.), or
if the student had better understanding of their team members
progress because of the contributions to the wiki (X.).
Taking these numbers into account, statement V. was the

only one expressing a negative opinion toward wikis. From the
rest of the statements, the benefits outweigh the shortcomings.
The authors speculate the students may have realized this if the project was longer term and/or
involved more members per group who didnt
Number
have a history of working with each other. Also,
XII.
in our opinion, the neutral statements may have
shifted toward a positive response if the project
was changed with respect to the two factors
mentioned in the previous sentence.
III.
Another criteria for acceptance of the wiki

was average individual and group scores for
each statement. For the negative statements,
the scores were adjusted by reflecting their
value across the median of the Likert scale.
The score for each statement was summed.
We looked at the average score for all of the
statements to evaluate if an individual or group
had a positive response to the implementation
of the wiki, as shown in Figures 1 and 2, respectively. On an individual basis, six students
had a negative response (including the three
who didnt use the wiki), eight had a neutral
response, but a third of the class (11 students)
had a positive response with four individuals
having an average score of 5 or greater. On a
196
group basis, half of the groups had a positive response, four

had a neutral response, and the group that didnt use the wiki
had a negative response.
The frequency, volume, and quality of content added to

a groups wiki correlates with the average opinion of the
group. In other words, the groups who utilized their wiki
liked using the wiki and those who didnt use the wiki had
a neutral opinion about its usefulness. But it is difficult to
evaluate cause and effect with respect to recommendation
of the wiki and wiki contribution. We hypothesize, however,
that if the wikis were implemented throughout the entire
senior design course vs. a 30-day project, the students might
have begun to see the appeal of the technology and have a
more positive reaction.
From our data, we have seen the students agree the wiki
is a good organizational tool. With a larger-scale project,
we expect more data, more ideas, more decisions, and more
files would be generated from a group. As such, as a project
supervisor or a professor, we would require more robust
documentation and suggest use of the wiki. We hypothesize
if the students use the wiki, they will see its potential and
begin to hold it in high regard. We have other ideas as to what
might have increased the positive opinion of the use of wikis
in design, but those are discussed in a later section.
Table 2 summarizes student use of the wiki or the typical

content of the wiki. From the open-ended responses, the ability
to have a central hub for shared files like Excel files or Aspen
files was a very appealing feature of the wiki. The students
also used the wiki to organize their meetings and update the
TABLE 1
Average Scores for Survey Statements

Statement
Score
The interaction/involvement of Dr. Debelak and Kevin

in this project was more productive to my progress than
the involvement of other professors and teaching assistants in the past.
4.8
I believe the wiki should be implemented in next years

senior design course.
4.5
V.
If it wasnt required, I wouldnt have used the wiki.
4.3
I.
I will tell others about wiki technology for collaboration.
4.2
II.
I would like to use a wiki in my future career.
4.0
VI.
The wiki helped organize our work and our findings.
4.0
VII.
This design project was finished more efficiently than

other school projects.
3.6
I had a better understanding of my team members progress because of their individual contributions to the wiki.
3.4
The wiki was a key component to finishing this project

quickly and thoroughly.
3.2
X.
VIII.
IV.
Adding to the wiki took more time than it saved.
2.9
IX.
The wiki overcomplicated the project.
2.8
XI.
The wiki was confusing, and it made the project more

difficult.
2.2
specifi cs of the groups timeline and task allocation. Finally,

most of the students utilized the capability of the wiki to
quickly make links to important references.
PosiTivE rEaCTions To wikis from ThE

sTudEnTs and EduCaTors PErsPECTivE
The last section of the survey asked open-ended questions

regarding their likes and dislikes of the wiki, in general, and its
integration into senior design. A lot of what the students liked
about wikis didnt surprise us. The main thing commented on

was the wiki serving as a central hub for fi les and information. They said it diminished inconsistencies in the content
of fi les (i.e., weekly reports) and everybody had easy access
to the most up-to-date fi les. Finally, in cases where certain
individual tasks of the project overlapped, students could fi nd
the necessary details in their partners added content to help
steer the progression of their portion of the project.
Another appealing feature to the students was the dynamics of the wiki. Instead of sending multiple
e-mails, it was much easier to come to a consensus on meeting times or have discussions
without having to schedule a formal group
meeting. Within an instant, the students could
add little pieces to a discussion or make slight
alterations to a plan (meeting schedule) until
the group was satisfi ed with the fi nal result.
Compared to other discussion mediums, the
whole discussion is automatically recorded
and archived.
Figure 1. Comparison of the number of individual students with a negative

opinion (black/grey), a neutral opinion (horizontal gradient), and a positive
opinion (vertical gradient) of the wiki. The grey region represents the group
who didnt use their wiki, and the black region represents the students who
used the wiki but had a negative opinion.
The other thing related to the appeal of

the dynamics of the wiki was the interaction
from the authors of this article. Students felt
their questions and concerns were addressed
frequently and in a timely manner. The wiki
provided more interaction on this project
compared to other projects. It is crucial to
reiterate what was said in the introduction
about new technology in the classroom.
Students perceive enhancement of interaction as a main requirement when deciding to
integrate technology into a class.[4] From the
responses to the survey, wiki use seems to
have met this requirement.
The addition of wikis to the class had
a big impact on project evaluation by the
professor compared to previous offerings of
TABLE 2
Summary of how many groups included
each item in their wiki
Wiki item
Figure 1.
Figure 2. Comparison of the number of groups with a negative opinion

(black), a neutral opinion (horizontal gradient), and a positive opinion (vertical gradient) of the wiki.
Number of
occurrences
Timeline/calendar
Attaching fi les (e.g., Aspen)
Meeting notes
Links to references
Group/professor discussion
Task allocation
Coordinate meeting times
Pre-meeting agenda
3
197
From a pedagogical standpoint,

wikis provide a great potential for
study. Wikis allow easy sharing of
information among a group. A professor may get a lot more information about what went on throughout
the semester compared to solely
reading weekly or final reports.
the class. In the past, students kept paper folders containing
documentation of their design work analogous to an artists
or architects portfolio. Evaluating the content of the design
folders was cumbersome and could only be done at the end of
the semester and during one-hour meetings. With the groups
content stored on a wiki, evaluation of the design and student
progress was drastically more convenient.
With respect to the wiki acting as a central hub for information, the wiki content could be viewed at the educators
convenience, the evolution of the design can be observed in
real time (and suggestions to redirect the group can be made,
if necessary), and shared electronic files for process simulations or design calculations can be downloaded and evaluated
by the professor. With the students adding content, the wiki
documents what options the students were exploring, what
decisions were being made, and, occasionally, why those
decisions were made.
Although not a perfect indicator of student progress, the
wiki program sends the instructor an e-mail every time the
wiki is changeddocumenting when and how often the
students are working on their project. The e-mail alerts also
highlight the type of changes (additions/deletions), who made
them, and when they were made, providing a summary of
progress made.
Another reason we believe wikis make a great tool for

students is that the faculty interaction with the wiki better
simulates the interaction theyll receive in practice. In industry, an engineer doesnt collaborate solely by writing a
report every month or at the end of a project. The supervisor
keeps constant tabs on a groups progress, so the project gets
completed on time and the results are valid. With respect to the
students comments about the frequency of interaction from
the professor and the teaching assistant, it was easy to address
concerns and questions raised by the students. If a student/
group posted a question or uncertainty about their design in
their wiki, it took no more than 15 minutes to see the question
198
and to answer it in a place where all of the members could see

it, and it was easy to find what information was shared at a
later time vs. hunting through a slew of e-mails. In addition,
knowing their progress was being monitored; these students
were more on task than students of previous semesters.
From a pedagogical standpoint, wikis provide a great potential for study. Wikis allow easy sharing of information among a
group. A professor may get a lot more information about what
went on throughout the semester compared to solely reading
weekly or final reports. Also, because of its revision history,
we can observe the dynamics of the design process from the
students point of view. If the students use the wiki and add
content as information is gathered and decisions are made,
an outside observer can start to see the thought process of the
designers. Another appealing piece of the revision history is
the record of who added what and when. As observed by Heys,
individual accountability can really be enforced.[7] Early in a
project, if there is a lack of content added or participation by
an individual, the group or teacher can take steps to prevent
further laziness or problematic procrastination. The content of
the wiki may also serve as a source of learning assessment. If
interpretations are provided within the content, the educator
and outside evaluators can determine the quality and accuracy
of that interpretation and conclude if the students apply the
fundamentals correctly.
Negative Response to the Wiki
A main goal of this study was to investigate the benefits and

the potential pitfalls associated with implementing wikis into
the classroom. Although most students had a positive opinion of the wiki and recognized its utility in design, hurdles
existed that prevented use of the wikis. From the opinions
pointing out the flaws of the wiki and its implementation,
constructive decisions could be made about what to change
in the future and how.
The students three main arguments against the use of the

wiki involved the preference for e-mail, the small size of the
groups, and the small scale of the project (amount of work
required and time to finish). A large percentage of the students
commented on how they prefer to use e-mail. They thought
the wiki was more work whereas it was easier to use e-mail.
In addition, they thought it was easier to use e-mail because
of the size of the groups. It was much easier to meet up with
two other people or e-mail two other people, than to add their
content to the wiki. Another factor related to the size of the
groups was the familiarity of the group members. Each group
member shared at least two (if not more) classes with their
teammate, they socialized in their personal time, and they saw
each other outside of group meeting times very often.
With the project lasting only 30 days, the students didnt

think it was worth adding content to the wiki. One student is
quoted as saying, . . . given more time than four otherwise
busy weeks with graduating and major life changes approachChemical Engineering Education
ing, we would have had time to use it for effective group and
time management. Because there was no requirement for the
content added, some students minimized the content added
to save them time.
There were other hurdles preventing or discouraging the

students from adding to their wikis. The students began the
study with minimal familiarity with wiki technology. Some
embraced the new technology, but others stayed away from
it because it was new. This is consistent with what was seen
in the ECAR study.[1] That study found that students who
considered themselves early adopters of new technology
had a greater affinity to using wikis in the classroom than
those who utilize technology at the same rate as the average population.
Other hurdles were the organization of the wiki, the allocated amount of file storage, and full group participation.
Some students thought the wiki could be a great tool if the
information gathered throughout the project was organized,
but the time required to organize the information was more
than the time saved by having the information organized. With
respect to the amount of storage, the free pbwiki account only
allows a maximum of 15.0 MB worth of files to be uploaded.
There is no limit on the amount of content added directly to
the wiki, but pictures and actual files saved to the wiki count
toward the maximum. Finally, there was at least one group
where one of the members didnt attempt to contribute to the
wiki, discouraging the rest of the group from adding to it.
Suggestions for Future Use
In general, we believe the wiki is a good design tool for

students and recommend it to all design groups in education
and in industry. The authors have been communicating with
the design team at pbwiki.com to improve what the wiki has
to offer. Since the beginning of this study, some of our suggestions for changing pbwiki have been implemented into the
newest version, or the feature is being tested as a beta version,
e.g., the file limit of the free version of pbwiki 2.0 now has a
maximized capacity of 2.0 GB, as opposed to 15.0 MB.
The suggestions for change try to address all of the things

that prevented students from embracing the wiki. To address
the problems with organization, the authors suggest having
a prebuilt skeleton structure for the wiki. The designers have
come up with a way to make this very easy for an educator.
First off, any previously made wiki page can serve as a template for future pages made. Another feature in beta is the
ability to clone a wiki. In this fashion, not only does the
structure of one page get copied (as in a page template), but
all of the links, all of the pages, and the whole structure of the
wiki Web site can be made as an exact replica. Using these
two new features, we plan on making one wiki whose pages
contain suggested headings and space for new additions in
a manner we, as supervisors, prefer. We will clone all of the
pages of the wiki Web site to make each groups beginning
wiki exactly the same. An example of a skeletal wiki can

be found at <http://vandyskeleton.pbwiki.com>.
Being able to give the students a skeleton structure of the

wiki helps alleviate a lot of problems with how the wiki was
initially implemented. The biggest benefit is organization.
The students can appreciate this, because they dont have
to spend as much time organizing, and can spend more time
adding content. The teacher can use this organization to allow finding exactly what he or she wants, e.g., the results of
a decision matrix. The teacher wont need to go through page
after page looking for the justification for the use of a piece
of technology. Another helpful aspect of the preconstructed
wiki is how it will take away the intimidation of wiki technology and de-emphasize students lack of familiarity with it by
giving them a head start on the project.
Changing the logistics of the project could solve the other

issues with the use of the wiki in the class. To address the
issues discovered from this study, the following are plans for
further offerings of the course using wikis as a design tool:
Increase the number of members in each group to four
or five.
Randomize the members of the group to reduce familiarity

based on class rank.
Increase the scale of the project to last the whole semester
and assign it the first day of class.
Require specific entries into the wiki (not just weekly
reports).
Require equal contributions to the wiki by all members
through a participation grade.
Incorporate other departments for an interdisciplinary
design project.
Considering factors the students said prevented their wiki

contribution, we think the above will alleviate those problems.
Being digital immigrants, we didnt enforce using wikis

above e-mail. Throughout the project, some students would
e-mail us with their concerns and questions (vs. putting them
on the wiki) and we would reply using e-mail. The main advantage of wikis over e-mail is the centralization of data and
its organization. By responding to the students via e-mail, we
decentralize correspondences and add to the disarray of information. By posting the question and the response on the wiki
(vs. an e-mail), the conversation is recorded and can be easily
referenced for later use. In short, a project manager or professor needs to be consistent about adding to wikis if all group
members are expected to use wikis rather than e-mail.
Conclusions
Wikis have a lot of potential in the classroom. Heys[7] used

wiki technology for a class project to improve the learning of
his Mass & Energy Balances class. Some educators are using
wikis as a replacement for traditional textbooks, where the
199
students add problems and edit the educational content.[3] In

this study, we used wikis as a design tool.
Overall, the students liked using the wiki and recommended

it for further use. They liked how the wiki improved interaction among group members, the professor, and the TA. In
addition, they utilized how a wiki can centralize their findings
and its dynamic nature for collaboration. They didnt like taking the time to organize their wiki and prefer using e-mails
for a variety of reasons. E-mail can be used for collaborating,
but for a large design project, we think organized wikis are
more beneficial. As a result, we have suggested changes for
further use of the wiki in a design course.
Finally, we think wikis have great potential for pedagogical

research and learning assessment. If the students properly
add content to their wikis, we can delve into how students
approach and implement a design project. In addition, research
can explore what factors affect group productivity and design
quality. The content of the wikis can also be used as a way to
assess proper application of previous course material.
Web 2.0 technologies like wikis have great potential in
the classroom for the Net Generation. These technologies,
however, should be used with caution. We as educators cant
integrate these technologies into our classes simply because
we want to seem novel and up-to-date, but we should integrate
200
them if the desired result is to improve student learning. By

doing studies like the one from this article, we can decide
the best way to involve technology in lectures and teaching
design. From this study, wikis were established as a good
design tool, but changes must be implemented in the future
to encourage their use.
References
1. Salaway, G., J.B. Caruso, and M.R. Nelson, The ECAR Study of Undergraduate Students and Information Technology, 2006, EDUCAUSE
Center for Applied Research, Boulder, CO (2007)
2. Chubin, D., K. Donaldson, B. Olds, and L. Fleming, Educating Generation NetCan U.S. Engineering Woo and Win the Competition for
Talent?, J. Eng. Educ., 97(3) 245 (2008)
3. Richardson, W., Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and Other Powerful Web Tools
for Classrooms, 2nd Ed., Corwin Press, Thousand Oaks, CA (2006)
4. Oblinger, D.G., and J.L. Oblinger, Is it Age or IT: First Steps Toward
Understanding the Net Generation, in Educating the Net Generation,
ed. D.G. Oblinger and J.L Oblinger, 2.1-2.20, EDUCAUSE, Boulder,
CO (2005)
5. Commoncraft, Wikis in Plain English, available at <http://doiop.
com/wiki-che> accessed March 15, 2008
6. Hadley, K.R. Design Class Hub, available at <http://hadleytestwiki.
pbwiki.com> accessed March 15, 2008
7. Heys, J.J., Group Projects in Chemical Engineering Using a Wiki,
Chem. Eng. Educ., 42(2) 91 (2008)
8. Hadley, K.R., Example Skeletal Wiki, available at <http://vandyskeleton.pbwiki.com> accessed Jan. 10, 2009 p
Design Course for
Micropower Generation Devices
Alexander Mitsos
Aachen Institute for Advanced Study in Computational Engineering Science, RWTH Aachen Aachen, Germany
he chemical engineering field of study is undergoing
changes, with more focus on emerging areas in molecular chemistry and biology, product design, and
micro- and nanotechnology. On the other hand, design courses
are still considered the capstone of an undergraduate chemical
engineering program. This article describes a recently developed course for the Department of Chemical Engineering
at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and the
Aachen Institute for Advanced Study in Computational Engineering Science (AICES) at the RWTH Aachen. The course
considers the design of microfabricated fuel cell systems for
man-portable power generation.
The term man-portable is defined as: capable of being

carried by one person, typically over long distance, without
serious degredation of the performance of that persons normal duties. Efficient alternatives to batteries for man-portable
power generation are necessitated by the ever-increasing use
of portable electric and electronic devices. The desired power
level is in the order of 0.5 to 50W. There are several reasons
for replacing batteries. In addition to their high cost and large
life-cycle environmental impact, batteries have relatively low
gravimetric (Wh/kg) and volumetric (Wh/l) energy density.
State-of-the-art rechargeable batteries reach only a few hundred Wh/l and Wh/kg. Battery performance has significantly
improved over the last decades, but it is believed that the upper
limit on performance is being approached, because the list of
potential materials is being depleted. A promising alternative
is to use common fuels/chemicals such as hydrocarbons or
alcohols as an energy source.
rators and fuel cells with feature sizes in the submillimeter

range have been considered for a variety of applications, due
to their advantages compared to macroscale processes, such
as the increased heat and mass transfer rates.[2] The replacement of batteries for electronic devices requires man-portable
systems and therefore the use of microfabrication technologies
is plausible since a minimal device size is desired.
There is great military[3] and civilian interest in developing

battery alternatives based on common fuels/chemicals such
as butane. As a consequence, a lot of research projects have
been undertaken in academia and industry (see, for example,
References 46 for reviews). While there are well-established
microchemical courses with emphasis on microfabrication,
the author is not aware of any course with emphasis on process
synthesis, process design, or optimization. Such a course is
proposed herein; in addition to covering technological aspects
of exciting topics (microchemical systems, fuel cells) it combines process and product design. This is important in view
of recent trends for product-oriented design.[712] The course
developed is based on several research publications of the
Process Systems Engineering Laboratory at MIT.[1321] In the
There is significant research activity in the area of microchemical systems.[1] Chemical units such as reactors, sepa-
Alexander Mitsos is currently a junior research

group leader at RWTH Aachen. He received
his engineering diploma from the University
of Karlsruhe and his Ph.D. from MIT, both in
chemical engineering. For both degrees he
was awarded distinctions, prizes, and fellowships. He has more than two years of industrial
experience, and has authored or co-authored
more than 15 articles in refereed journals. His
research includes microscale and macroscale
energy systems and the development of global
optimization algorithms.
201
remainder of the article, first the contents of the lectures are

described in Section 1, and then the project tasks are summarized in Section 2. The article concludes with the skills
gained by students, scope of improvement for the class, and
summary of the experiences from teaching the class.
1. Lecture Contents
The course duration is six weeks, with three hours of lectures per week. No textbook is available for the course, but
the material covered in Reference 6 is the primary reference.
Other useful references are books on microchemical systems,
design, and thermodynamics.[22-26] Approximately one week
of lectures is reserved for software tutorials and discussions
of issues raised by the students during the project execution.
The remaining five weeks are devoted to five topics, namely
the introduction and motivation, aspects of fuel cells, process
synthesis, selection of alternatives, and process optimization.
These topics are summarized in the following.
1.1 Introduction, Motivation, and Project Description
The first week of lectures is devoted to a description of the

project as well as an introduction. These lectures are intended
to give the students the big picture of the project and help them
understand the goals of their tasks. First, the motivation for
micropower generation is given. This is done by comparing
the trends in power consumption by portable electric devices
and electronics to the performance characteristics of batteries. Pricing and performance of batteries are discussed, along
with their environmental impact. A common critique to fuel
cell-based systems for micropower generation is that they
are deemed too dangerous. To put these claims into perspective the safety issues of batteries (fire, explosions, etc.) are
discussed and demonstrated by pictures and movies.
The next step in the introduction is the definition of the key
metrics for man-portable power generation devices, namely
the gravimetric and volumetric energy densities
esys
=
grav
mission PW
M
sys
esys
=
vol
mission PW
V sys
(1)
where the mission duration tmission (h) is the time between refueling or recharging, PW (W) is the power output (assumed
constant for simplicity), Msys (kg) is the mass of the system,
and Vsys (l) is the volume of the system. These metrics are typically the objectives to be maximized by the process synthesis
design and operation. In cases where the mission duration is
very long and the device miniaturized, the size of the system
is dominated by the fuel cartridge, in which case the simpler
metrics of fuel energy density can be used:
e fuel
=
grav
PW
,
3600 i MWi N i,in
e fuel
=
vol
PW
, ( 2)
3600 i MVi N i,in
where Ni,in (mol/s) is the inlet molar flowrate of species i, MWi

(kg/mol) is the molecular weight of species i, MVi (l/mol) is
202
the molar volume of species i at storage conditions, 3600 is

the conversion factor from hours to seconds, and the summation is taken over all stored fuels and oxidants.
In man-portable power generation the most important advantage of microfabrication is device miniaturization. Microfabrication techniques are outside the scope of the course. On
the other hand, various examples from microchemical systems
are analyzed with emphasis on entire systems as opposed to
components. The importance of physical phenomena at the
microscale is analyzed and compared to the macroscale; for
instance, it is shown that viscous forces dominate over inertial forces and that heat transfer (and loss) has much more
importance than in the macroscale. Various alternatives for
man-portable power are summarized, such as microturbines[27]
and devices based on man-power.[28]
A common critique of micropower generation devices,

and particularly of high-temperature systems, is that they
pose safety threats and generate a lot of heat. These concerns
are analyzed via back-of-the-envelope calculations. It is
argued that these concerns are partially true and partially
misconceptions resulting from macroscale experience. The
high energy density of the fuels is of concern, as is the use
of toxic fuels. On the other hand, the use of high-temperature devices is not a safety hazard, because of the low heat
capacity and the insulation.
1.2 Fuel Cell Working Principles and Types
Both the batteries and the fuel cell systems studied, i.e.,
the product to be replaced and the proposal for replacement,
rely on electrochemical reactions. Electrochemistry is covered in some undergraduate curricula, but not in sufficient
detail for performing and understanding the project tasks.
Therefore, the principles of fuel cells are briefly summarized,
along with a repetition of the relevant concepts from reactor
engineering and thermodynamics. Then, the thermodynamic
limits of fuel cell performance are analyzed and compared
to heat engines.
Several fuel cells technologies have been proposed over

the last decades. Some of the fuel cell types have a potential for scale down, such as solid-oxide fuel cells (SOFCs),
polymer-electrolyte membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) operating with hydrogen, direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC),
proton ceramic fuel cells (PCFC), and membrane-less fuel
cells, e.g., References 2931. Miniaturization has been
performed for some of the fuel cell types, often with the use
of microfabrication technologies. These fuel cell types are
analyzed with an emphasis on advantages, disadvantages,
and operating characteristics.
1.3 Conceptual Process Design at the Macroscale
Process synthesis at the macroscale is typically included

in undergraduate curriculum. In the proposed course a brief
summary of the techniques and methodologies is given, with
emphasis on superstructure-based approaches.[25] This is
deemed helpful for the students to be able to compare the challenges with the selection of alternatives at the microscale. For
instance, the discussion of heat exchanger network synthesis
demonstrates that at the microscale the challenges are very
different: no utility streams are available, and the operating
conditions of various components are not independent from
each other due to the pronounced heat transfer. In addition,
having this short summary allows students from different disciplines to attend the course. The lectures also briefly discuss
some of the mathematical and algorithmic background used
in conceptual process design. The emphasis is on the material
that is relevant to the project tasks.
1.4 Selection of Alternatives
A major challenge in the system design of micropower generation processes is the selection of alternatives, in particular
which fuel to use for power and/or heat generation, what
fuel cell type to select, whether a fuel reforming path should
be followed and how heat integration should be performed.
This selection of alternatives at the microscale is analogous
in principle to macroscale process synthesis. Moreover, some
of the mathematical techniques used in macroscale process
synthesis can also be used for the selection of alternatives.
There are several major differences, however, including different objectives and constraints and the fact that the unit
operation paradigm must be replaced by that of highly integrated components in a system.[32] An additional challenge is
the early stage of technology development.
The lectures describe the large number of alternative processes arising from the large choice of fuels, fuel reforming
reactions, and fuel cells. The advantages and disadvantages
are discussed and a system-level approach for modeling is
detailed.[13, 14] This modeling approach is then used in one of
the projects offered, see Section 2.1. The advantage of this
methodology is that the most promising alternative(s) can be
selected without detailed knowledge about the technological
details, such as the catalysts used or the reactor configuration.
The disadvantage is that some parameters, which in principle
can be calculated, are viewed as input parameterse.g., the
fuel conversion in the reforming reactor for a given operating
temperature and residence time.
1.5 Optimization of a Given Process Alternative
Once a promising alternative has been chosen, the design

and operation can be optimized via models of intermediate
fidelity.[15-19] The spatial discretization results in problems with
(partial) differential-algebraic equations. The models employ
spatial discretization when necessary and are based on firstprinciple models. As a consequence they are predictive and
can be used to find the optimal sizing of units (reactor, fuel
cell, etc.) as well as operating variables (voltage, temperature,
flowrates, etc.). A drawback is that the development of such
a model takes significant effort and requires knowledge of
kinetic rates.
For the optimization of design and operation, algorithms

from mathematical programming with differential-algebraic
equations (DAEs) embedded can be used. These techniques
are briefly described in the lectures along with techniques
for the simulation of DAE systems. The state-of-the-art in
dynamic optimization, however, is such that the use requires
significant mathematical background and computational experience, and is deemed limitedly suitable for an undergraduate
class in chemical engineering. Instead, in the project (Section
2.2) the optimization is based on a simulation approach, in
which the students must specify the degrees of freedom. To
simplify the problem, some variables (such as the operating
temperature and voltage) are prespecified. On the other hand,
to give some experience in the use of advanced methods, the
simpler problem of parameter estimation is given as a subtask
to be solved with an optimization algorithm.
2. Description of Projects
Two alternative projects are offered. The recommendation

is to offer these in alternate years. Offering both projects in
parallel (to different groups of students) is also possible, however it complicates logistic considerations significantly, since
the material necessary for the project must be covered in class
prior to the project assignment. A third alternative would be
to assign both projects, and extend the course duration.
2.1 Selection of Alternatives
Two main processes are considered, see Figures 1. Both are

waste
waste
waste
waste
C4 H10
O2
O2
O2
O2
SOFC
SOFC
NH3
C4 H10
waste
O2
waste
Figures 1. Process flow sheets for project on selection of alternatives.

203
based on a solid-oxide fuel cell (SOFC); one of them uses NH3

as the fuel for power generation while the other uses C4H10.
All units are modeled using stoichiometric reactors, i.e., a
fixed conversion is assumed for each reaction. As a consequence, relative rough estimates for the process performance
are obtained; however, these estimates are sufficient for a
comparison of alternatives. All units are microfabricated on
a single silicon chip; as a consequence they share the operating temperature of T = 1000K. The entire process operates
at ambient pressure. The gas phase is assumed to be ideal.
A power production of 10W is requested. The enthalpy of
the inlet streams is calculated at ambient conditions and the
gaseous phase. For the outlet streams a temperature of Tout =
600K is assumed, based on heat recovery.
The models for the processes are given to the students as a

Jacobian[33] input file. The students must perform additional
calculations, such as the calculation of energy density based
on the calculated flow rates. For these calculations the students have the choice of using Jacobian or a software tool of
their choice.
2.1.1 Project Tasks
The first task is to optimize the processes based on NH3 and

on C4H10. The operational variables are the flow rates of fuel
and the split fractions in the 3 splitters. The flow rates of air
are a direct consequence of the fuel flow rates and a specified stoichiometric ratio. The objectives are to maximize the
volumetric and gravimetric energy density; the device mass
and volume can be ignored, but the fuel cartridges must be
accounted for.
The second task is to compare the optimized processes with

a conceptual process based on methane, stored at ambient
temperature. An overall efficiency (power produced divided
by chemical energy consumed) of 50% is assumed. The main
challenge is to calculate the required cartridge thickness and
volume as a function of pressure for various container types,
e.g., plastic or steel.
The third task is to compare the optimized processes with

a process based on an H2 generator, such as a hydride. The
goal of this task is to identify the storage properties (hydrogen
volume % and density) required to match the best process in
terms of both gravimetric and volumetric energy density. To
do so, an overall efficiency of 70% is assumed.
2.2 Optimization of NH3-Based Process
The project task is to optimize a micropower generation

device for the production of PW = 10W. A fixed process is
considered based on NH3 cracking to H2 and electrochemical
oxidation of the produced H2 in a solid-oxide fuel cell (SOFC).
The device comprises two parallel lines, namely the NH3 line
for power generation and the C4H10 line for heat generation,
see Figure 2. These two lines are not independent, because
they are microfabricated in a single silicon chip; as a consequence they share the operating temperature of 1000K. The
204
entire process operates at ambient pressure. The gas phase is

assumed to be ideal. The model considers one-dimensional
spatial discretization and a kinetic model for the catalytic
reactions. All assumptions for the model have been shown
to be valid (see Reference 15).
2.2.1 Project Tasks
The first project task is to determine appropriate values for

the constants in the kinetic rate of NH3 cracking, by fitting to
a set of experimental values. The students are given a postulated kinetic mechanism along with experimental data of
conversion as a function of residence time for four different
temperatures. The kinetic mechanism has two adjustable parameters and the data contain random error. The students must
extend an example provided to them. This task is relatively
simple, thanks to the estimation capabilities of Jacobian.
The main task of the project is to maximize the energy

density of the device; this is done by optimizing the volumes
of the device components and the flowrates of fuel and air.
There are four design variables, namely the volumes of the
reactor, SOFC, hydrogen burner, and butane burner. In addition, there are also four operational variables, namely the
feed flowrates of fuel (NH3 and C4H10) and air (to the SOFC
and to the butane burner). The temperature and voltage have
been fixed. The optimization is a challenging task, in which
the students can only succeed if they employ a systematic
procedure for varying the variables. The achievable energy
densities are significantly higher than in state-of-the-art batteries; however this requires successful optimization of the
process design and operation.
The final task is to analyze potential improvements to the
process. This analysis includes the comparison of the chosen
process configuration with alternatives, such as using stored
oxygen and having a fresh-air stream to the burner instead
of using the cathode effluents. The students are also asked to
comment on the effect of increasing or decreasing the temperature and the voltage. The process relies heavily on catalysts,
and not surprisingly the performance of catalysts significantly
O2
NH3
waste
SOFC
waste
C4 H10
O2
Figure 2. Process flow sheet for project
on process optimization.
affects the overall process performance; the students are asked

to identify which component is the most important to optimize
(reactor, burner, or fuel cell). Finally, the students are asked
to explain how a doubling of the desired power demand level
will affect the process design and operation.
3. Conclusions
A new course on the design of microfabricated fuel cell

systems is offered for chemical engineering students.
The course is project-based and spans six weeks. The theoretical material needed for a successful project execution is
covered in three lectures per week, each one-hour long. The
students learn several skills through the lectures and project.
Likely the most important skill is learning how to work in
a team, as in any course based on group projects. The most
important technical skills are process and product design,
and in particular their interaction. The students have a chance
of integrating the knowledge acquired in their preparatory
classes, especially thermodynamics and reactor engineering.
Finally, the students are familiarized with the exciting technologies of fuel cells and microchemical systems.
The course was developed for chemical engineers. The class

was first offered in Spring 2008 at RWTH Aachen. The format
of the class was a seminar for graduate students with backgrounds in mechanical and chemical engineering. Approximately five students attended the lectures, which is a typical
size for seminars. No project was offered. The full class, including the project, is currently offered at MIT. It is one of the
elective modules in Integrated Chemical Engineering. More
than 20 students, corresponding to approximately one third
of the class, chose this module. This is a success, given that
the course is offered for the first time. Class evaluations are
not available yet, but the preliminary informal feedback from
the students is also very positive. A potential extension would
be to aim at interdisciplinary class. In particular it would be
interesting to consider teaching joint classes in chemical,
mechanical, material, and electrical engineering.
In the lectures and project, material and structural considerations are taken into account as simple constraints, e.g., a
maximal operating temperature. It would be interesting to incorporate the interaction of these considerations with process
design and optimization more thoroughly. This is currently not
possible, since the effect has not been examined sufficiently
in the literature. Moreover, incorporating such structural and
material considerations in a chemical engineering class would
be very challenging.
Acknowledgments
I am indebted to Professor Paul I. Barton for his research

guidance during my thesis work, and for providing me the
opportunity to develop this course. Financial support from
the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (German Research
Association) through grant GSC 111 is gratefully acknowlVol. 43, No. 3, Summer 2009
A common critique of micropower

generation devices, and particularly
of high-temperature systems, is that
they pose safety threats and generate
a lot of heat. These concerns are
analyzed via back-of-the-envelope
calculations. It is argued that these
concerns are partially true and partially misconceptions resulting from
macro-scale experience.
edged. The development of this class was sponsored in part
by the Department of Chemical Engineering, Massachusetts
Institute of Technology.
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Technik, 74(1-2) 17 (2002)
2. Jensen, K.F., Microreaction EngineeringIs Small Better? Chem.
Eng. Science, 56(2) 293 (2001)
3. National Research Council Committee of Soldier Power/Energy Systems, Meeting the Energy Needs of Future Warriors, National Academy
Press, Washington, D.C. (2004)
4. Holladay, J.D., Y. Wang, and E. Jones, Review of Developments
in Portable Hydrogen Production Using Microreactor Technology,
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5. Maynard, H.L., and J.P. Meyers, Miniature Fuel Cells for Portable
Power: Design Considerations and Challenges, J. Vacuum Science
Technologies, 20(4) 1287 (2002)
6. Mitsos, A., and P.I. Barton, eds., Microfabricated Power Generation
Devices: Design and Technology, Wiley-VCH (2009)
7. Moggridge, G.D., and E.L. Cussler, An Introduction to Chemical Product Design, Chem. Eng. Research and Design, 78(A1) 5 (2000)
8. Cussler, E.L., and J. Wei, Chemical Product Engineering, AIChE
Journal, 49(5) 1072 (2003)
9. Wei, J., Molecular Structure and Property: Product Engineering,
Indust. and Eng. Chemistry Research, 41(8) 1917 (2002)
10. Westerberg, A.W., and E. Subrahmanian, Product Design, Computers
and Chem. Eng., 24, 959 (2000)
11. Wintermantel, K., Process and Product Engineering, Trans IChemE,
77(A) (1999)
12. Cussler, E.L., and G.D. Moggridge, Chemical Product Design, Cambridge University Press, New York (2001)
13. Mitsos, A., I. Palou-Rivera, and P.I. Barton, Alternatives for Micropower Generation Processes, Indust. and Eng. Chemistry Research,
43(1) 74 (2004)
14. Mitsos, A., M.M. Hencke, and P.I. Barton, Product Engineering for
Man-Portable Power Generation Based on Fuel Cells, AIChE Journal,
51(8) 2199 (2005)
15. Chachuat, B., A. Mitsos, and P.I. Barton, Optimal Design and Steady205
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Chem. Eng. Science, 60(16) 4535 (2005)
16. Chachuat, B., A. Mitsos, and P.I. Barton, Optimal Start-Up of Micro
Power Generation Processes Employing Fuel Cells, AIChE Annual
Meeting Cincinnati, OH, OctoberNovember (2005)
17. Barton, P.I., A. Mitsos, and B. Chachuat, Optimal Start-up of Micro
Power Generation Processes, in C. Puigjaner and A. Espua, eds.,
Computer Aided Chemical Engineering, 20B, 1093, Elsevier, ESCAPE
15, Barcelona, Spain, MayJune (2005)
18. Chachuat, B. , A. Mitsos, and P.I. Barton, Optimal Design and Transient Operation of Micro Power Generation Employing Fuel Cells,
in press: Optimal Control Applications and Methods (2009)
19. Yunt, M., B. Chachuat, A. Mitsos, and P.I. Barton, Designing ManPortable Power Generation Systems for Varying Power Demand,
AIChE Journal, 54(5) 1254 (2008)
20. Mitsos, A., B. Chachuat, and P.I. Barton, What is the Design Objective for Portable Power Generation: Efficiency or Energy Density?,
J. Power Sources, 164(2) 678 (2007)
21. Mitsos, A., B. Chachuat, and P.I. Barton, Methodology for the Design of Man-Portable Power Generation Devices, Indust. and Eng.
Chemistry Research, 46(22) 7164 (2007)
22. Seider, W.D., J.D. Seader, and D.R. Lewin, Product & Process Design
Principles, 2nd ed., John Wiley & Sons, New York (2004)
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33. Numerica technology <www.numericatech.com> p
Ideas to Consider for New

Chemical Engineering Educators
Part 1. Courses Offered Earlier in the Curriculum
Jason M. Keith
Michigan Technological University
David L. Silverstein
University of Kentucky
Donald P. Visco, Jr.
Tennessee Technological University
lthough teaching is a critical mission of any college

or university, todays faculty members are increasingly becoming involved in other scholarly activities.
Thus, when teaching a new course, developing a good set of
instructional materials can be a challenging, time-consuming
task. In this paper we provide a review of some of what we
consider the best practices in engineering education, applied
to the following courses: Freshman Chemical Engineering,
Material and Energy Balances, Fluid Mechanics, Introductory
Thermodynamics, and Separations. Note that a companion
paper covering those chemical engineering classes that normally occur later in the curriculum is planned.
The format used for each course is:
m Brief description of typical course content

m Discussion about novel and successful methods used,
including best practices and new ideas
m Listing of toughest concepts for the students (and how
to address them)
We note that most of this material was originally presented
Jason Keith is an associate professor of chemical engineering at

Michigan Technological University. He received his B.S. Ch.E. from the
University of Akron in 1995, and his Ph.D. from the University of Notre
Dame in 2001. His current research interests include reactor stability,
alternative energy, and engineering education. He is the 2008 recipient
of the Raymond W. Fahien Award for Outstanding Teaching Effectiveness and Educational Scholarship.
David L. Silverstein is currently the PJC Engineering Professor and
an associate professor of chemical and materials engineering at the
University of Kentucky College of Engineering Extended Campus
Programs in Paducah. He received his B.S. Ch.E. from the University
of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, Ala.; his M.S. and Ph.D. in chemical engineering from Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tenn.; and has been a
registered P.E. since 2002. He is the 2004 recipient of the William H.
Corcoran Award for the most outstanding paper published in Chemical Engineering Education during 2003, and the 2007 recipient of the
Raymond W. Fahien Award for Outstanding Teaching Effectiveness
and Educational Scholarship.
Don Visco is a professor of chemical engineering at Tennessee Technological University, where he has been employed since 1999. Prior to
that, he graduated with his Ph.D. from the University at Buffalo, SUNY.
His current research interests include experimental and computational
thermodynamics as well as bioinformatics/drug design. He is an active
and contributing member of ASEE at the local, regional, and national
level. He is the 2006 recipient of the Raymond W. Fahien Award for
Outstanding Teaching Effectiveness and Educational Scholarship.
207
by the authors at the 2007 ASEE Chemical Engineering

Division Summer School in Pullman, WA.[1] This work was
originally published (and also presented) at the 2008 ASEE
Annual Meeting[2] as paper number #AC 2008-1147.
Freshman che Course
Depending on the school, this course is either a standalone introduction to chemical engineering or is part of a
college-wide introductory course (with a portion devoted to
chemical engineering). Ironically, many chemical engineering
educators may never have taken such a course.
A major goal of the course, since it is for freshmen, should

be to cultivate student interest in engineering[3] and motivate
students to pursue an engineering career. This course can have
a wide variety of formats, depending upon the number of
credits and objectives of the course for a particular institution.
For example, Brigham Young University has a three-credit
course that introduces (via an integrated design problem) all
of the aspects of the chemical engineering curriculum,[4] while
Tennessee Technological University has a one-credit course
that focuses more on hands-on experiments and information
exchange.[5] Whatever the course, it is important for a department to identify why they have introduced or are teaching such
a freshman course and whether (via specific assessment) the
goals and objectives of the class are being met, from both the
faculty and student standpoint.
In the rest of this section, we briefly highlight (as a resource)
some of the novel work available on freshman courses in
chemical engineering.
Best Practices / New Ideas
Some best practices that we have used (or discovered) for

this course are:
m The use of freshman design projects:
Design an economic analysis of a controlled-release

nitrogen fertilizer plant[6]
Design, build, and test an evaporative cooler[7]

Design and build a pilot-scale water treatment
plant[8]
Analyze and design sneakers with better material

properties[9]
m Introduce in-class, hands-on experiments:
Melting chocolate and coating cookies[10]
Electrophoresis and brewing with microreactors[11]

Heat transfer scaling with hot dogs[5]
Human respiration process[12]
One overlooked concept in designing this course is to consider the needs of the student from the student perspective.
Recently, the University of Pittsburgh asked their freshmen
engineering students to conduct a survey of other first-term
freshmen engineering students on topics the students felt were
important.[13] While the results of the surveys are interest208
ing in their own right, the most useful result is the types of
surveys the students developed. The top 10 types of surveys
were as follows:
1. Getting enough sleep?
2. Has high school prepared you for college?

3. Do you feel safe on campus?
4. Any new romantic relationships?
5. Is partying getting in the way of schoolwork?
6. Exercise more or less than in high school?
7. Homesick?
8. Favorite campus food options?
9. Susceptible to doing drugs / alcohol now?
10. Confidence in time-management skills?
It is noted that there is nothing about a students major listed

in the top 10. Thus, a freshman engineering course requires a
balance between what an instructor knows (or thinks) that a
student needs, and what the students think they need. Therefore, while a freshman chemical engineering course must
(obviously) contain information about the field of chemical
engineering, it should also find ways to address non-chemical
engineering related issues as well. Here, ample use of guest
speakers in Counseling Services or similar offices on campus
should be explored.
In addition to what has been discussed above, other ideas in

freshman chemical engineering courses exist as well. Roberts
discusses a course that focuses on, among other areas, communication skills.[14] Worcester Polytechnic Institute looks
to mix writing with first-year engineering in a course shared
by a ChE faculty member and a Writing faculty member.[15]
Vanderbilt University describes a course where students are
introduced to chemical engineering by using examples from
cutting-edge research to illustrate fundamental concepts.[16]
At Youngstown State University they are demonstrating combustion principles to chemical engineering (and non-chemical
engineering) students using a potato cannon.[17]
Trouble Spots
Trouble spots for this course include:
m Most students do not know what chemical engineers

doone idea is to have teams of like-minded students investigate where chemical engineers work in a particular
field. Each team will present this information to the rest
of the class at the end of the semester. Also, The Sloan
Career Cornerstone Center[18] has short Day in the
Life interviews with various young chemical engineers
in a wide variety of industries that are quite informative
at emphasizing the diversity of career options accessible
for B.S. chemical engineering graduates.
m Most students have only a vague idea as to why they are
taking mathone idea is to have upperclassmen come
into the class and tell them how they are using math in
their courses. In fact, using upperclassmen as much as
possible during the semester is a good idea as it indoctrinates the students more easily into the program.
m Many students struggle with the transition from high
schoolone idea is to use upper-class peer mentors or
speakers from on-campus who can discuss student-relevant issues. Having students conduct their own surveys,
as discussed in a previous section of this work, might
identify the most important issues for your students.
Material and Energy Balances
This course may also be called the Stoichiometry or Process Principles course by faculty. Students may refer to it as
a weed-out class as some students drop and switch majors
during or after completing the course. Much of this perception
may be because it requires students to think at a higher level
than in previous courses. A typical course will cover: units
and dimensions, properties, measurements, phase equilibria,
material balances, energy balances (nonreactive and reactive systems), and combined mass and energy balances. The
course should prepare students to apply conservation laws to
process simulation as the first source of modeling equations.
The course is the foundation for the rest of the curriculumit
is all about planting seeds for the future!
Some best practices and useful tools that we have used (or
discovered) for this course are:
m Emphasize importance of communication in problem
solving.[19] Requiring students to submit a solution or
two that meets corporate standards can be a useful
exercise in developing students communication skills.
Overuse of such a requirement can distract from the
problem-solving objectives, so use sparingly.
m Teaching by analogy.[20] Using simple analogies for explaining confusing topics such as mass/mole fractions,
steady-state, specific volume, saturated air, and others
can help students grasp topics that might elude them
from lecture and reading alone. Analogies provide a
link between what the student already knows and what
you are trying to teach them.
m Mass and energy balances on the human body.[21] In this
module students are asked to measure flows and compositions using a medical gas analyzer while exercising
and at rest. They then apply several ChE fundamental
principles (ideal gas law, partial pressure, stoichiometry, relative humidity, heat of reaction, work, efficiency,
and process simulation) to analyze their results.
m Starting the unit operations early in the curriculum.[22]
The equipment is already in the laboratory, so why not
use it within the material and energy balance course?
This allows for introduction of measurement, application of conservation laws, and an introduction of the
fundamentals of design. Any time students can apply
knowledge to a real task, they learn better.
m Incorporating programming with templates.[23] ProVol. 43, No. 3, Summer 2009
gramming is an effective way of teaching students

numerical methods. The problem with programming is
that it often has significant overhead (input/output, user
interface, etc.) that has nothing to do with the objectives of an assignment. Using templates, or almost
finished programs lacking only the numerical method
code, enables students to focus on implementing the
numerical method and concentrate on the learning
objectives for the assignment.
m Student-centered teaching.[24-26] These references provide a host of suggestions for the material and energy
balance course, including: developing a well-structured team approach to homework, posting homework
answers (but not solutions), giving open-book exams,
and developing clear objectives and exam study guides
to aid in student learning.
m Psychrometric chart applet.[27] This applet allows the
user to calculate properties of humidified air, and
helps students understand how to use the psychrometric chart. It also frees up valuable lecture time when
assigned to students to study on their own and then
assessed through in-class active-learning exercises.
m Richard Felders Resources in Science and Engineering
Education. This is a popular site containing a link to
the stoichiometry course taught by the textbook[29] coauthor. The site also contains links to Excel tutorials.[30]
Furthermore, there are many links to information on
using active learning in your courses.
m Graph paper Web site.[31] Assuming you still expect
students to learn fundamentals of graphing such as use
of logarithmic axes, these papers will come in handy.
Trouble Spots
m Reluctance to show work. Students should be required

from the start to show clean, detailed solutions even
on the easiest problems assigned earlier in the class.
Significant point deductions for deviations early in the
course help train students to clearly communicate with
their problem solving.
m Reluctance to apply rigorous methods to simple problems. The grader must pay attention to the method and
not just the final answer. Requiring students to start
from the general material balance even on problems
that can be solved intuitively will aid students in solving more complex problems later in the course.
m Misunderstandings about density / specific volume and
gc. Repetition, drills, quizzes, and clear examples help
to clear up some of these common misunderstandings.
Warning students that these can be challenging issues
may help a few pay more attention. Keeping a reference page at the beginning of their notebook or in the
cover of the textbook with notes on these and other key
subjects can also help.
m Trouble with thermodynamic diagrams. Students will
not grasp these diagrams without working with them.
209
One approach is using online interactive tutorials.

Another effective approach is to bring copies of charts
(even if they are in the text) for students to use in working problems either with the instructor, or better still,
in small groups. They will only learn how to use these
charts if they practice using the diagrams.
m Reluctance to apply rigorous methods to simple
problems. Yes, this problem is significant enough to
mention twice.
m Lack of integration of old material into subsequent
chapters. Students are going to tend to compartmentalize knowledge from each chapter (or each homework
assignment, each exam, etc.) and not internalize the
concepts into their problem-solving repertoire. Blending lectures in a manner that bridges the chapter
divide, using problems that draw extensively on previous topics, and even giving quizzes on material covered
earlier in the course can help develop anchors to key
elements in a course as they move on to new topics.
Fluid Mechanics
Fluid Mechanics has an interesting history within chemical

engineering programs.[32] It developed from steam and gas
technology for industrial chemistry and chemical engineering
needs. From this evolved Unit Operations, which helped make
chemical engineering a unique field. Meanwhile, fundamental
studies in fluid mechanics were quite popular (and remain
so) in the literature. This research work became integrated
into the chemical engineering curriculum mostly due to the
Transport Phenomena text.[33]
One major advantage of teaching a course in fluid mechanics is the visualization that could be easily brought into this
course. Some best practices that we have used (or discovered)
for achieving this in the fluids course are:
m Fords paper on Water Day[34] developed several
observation stations so that students can visualize
continuity, the Bernoulli equation, conservation of linear
momentum, the vena contracta effect, and relative and
absolute velocities.
m Incorporate high school outreach into the course
Using pressure concepts[35]
Using a tank-tube viscometer experiment[36]

m Use unit operations and/or research laboratories
Unique experiments have been developed by Fan[37]

who discusses flow surrounding a bubble, two-phase
theory, flow segregation, phenomena of bubble-wake
dynamics, and computational fluid dynamics of particulate systems).
Particle technology is a field that offers a large

number of simple experiments that can be brought
into the classroom.[38] These include wet-powder systems (single-particle settling, hindered and lamella
210
settling, sedimentation and flocculation, interparticle force effects on colloidal suspension rheology,
wetting behavior of dry powders, and granulation
coalescence behavior) and dry particle systems (hopper flow, consolidation effects of powder flow, particle dilation, wall friction, segregation during hopper
flow, vibrational segregation, fluidization, and flow
improvement due to powder agglomeration). There
are also a CD[39] and Web site[40] available with additional powder-technology education information.
Golter, et al.,[41] have developed a methodology to

teach students fluid mechanics and heat transfer
inductively. Many of their modules are see-through
to aid in visualization. These include Reynolds
dye/flow-through clear pipe, pressure drop through
fittings and valves, flowmeters (Venturi, orifice, and
Pitot tube), extended surface heat exchangers, kettle
boiler / steam condenser, 1-2 shell and tube heat
exchanger, fluidized bed (compressed air through
sand), and a double-pipe heat exchanger.
Wright, et al.,[42] introduced bioseparations through a

three-part laboratory experiment. This includes bed
expansion characterization under fluidization conditions, tracer studies, and protein adsorption studies.
Other experimental unit operations that could be
demonstrated include agitation and aeration,[43]
solid/liquid and liquid/liquid mixing,[44] and compressible flow analysis.[45]
m Use fluid mechanics videos from the Web
Most notable is the Fluid Mechanics video series

starring Prof. Hunter Rouse of the University of
Iowa. These videos are available online at the Iowa
Web site.[46] General topics include the introduction
to the study of fluid motion; experimental principles
of flows; characteristics of the laminar and turbulent
flows; fluid motion in a gravitational field; form
drag, lift, and propulsion; and effects of fluid compressibility.
There is also the National Committee for Fluid
Mechanics Film Series[47] with sample topics: aerodynamic generation of a sound, cavitation, channel flow of a compressible fluid, deformation of a
continuous media, Eulerian Lagrangian description,
and flow instabilities.
m Use commercially available software
Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) case studies

in the fluids course[48] and for fluid-particle flow[49]
COMSOL modules for fluid dynamics and heat and

mass transfer applied to fuel cells[50]
Use of Mathematica[51] to analyze non-Newtonian
flow systems
Trouble Spots
m Students may possess weak math skills. Instructors

can develop handouts to step students through difficult
solution processes (such as solving differential equations). Have them practice with in-class problems and
homework before testing them.
m Difficulty in connecting highly theoretical content to
real industrial applicationsif there is an Internetconnected computer and projector in the classroom,
instructors can use online and/or laboratory demonstrations to make a strong connection. This connection
can also help students with their subsequent classes.
m Students often do not know order-of-magnitude values
for pressure drops, velocities, Reynolds numbers, etc.
The teacher can provide them with general values on a
handout they can paste in the front of their textbook.
m Students struggle with when to eliminate terms in the
governing equations. If they are provided with handouts
to step them through difficult solution processes (such as
solving differential equations), they will be prepared for
more advanced homework and exam questions.
Introductory Thermodynamics
This course is normally the first of two thermodynamics

courses where fundamental thermodynamics concepts are
introduced (first and second law of thermodynamics) while
solution properties are normally not discussed. Processes
and equipment are emphasized, including various thermodynamic cycles and the analysis of their components (turbines,
compressors, throttling valves, etc.) The course enrollment
can also include non-chemical engineering students, so the
instructor must also be aware of issues that mechanical or
civil engineers may encounter in their careers.
German Physicist Arnold Sommerfeld said it best when
discussing the topic of thermodynamics:
Thermodynamics is a funny subject. The first time you go
through it, you dont understand it at all. The second time
you go through it, you think you understand it, except for
one or two small points. The third time you go through it,
you know you dont understand it, but by that time you are
so used to it, it doesnt bother you anymore.
The subject of thermodynamics can be confusing due to a

number of issues, but most notable is the lack of an intuitive feel
for certain integral concepts, such as entropy, internal energy,
fugacity, chemical potential, etc. Recently one of us observed, in
research involving student-prepared study guides, that entropy
and the second law of thermodynamics are the most confusing
topics. In fact, students did not put much information, if at all,
on their study guides for these two topicsnot because they
were comfortable with them, but because they had a poor understanding of the topics. This manifested itself in exam scores
on problems with these concepts.[52]
One way to connect this concept for students is through
unique, nonlecture methods. Kyle discusses the mystique
of entropy, applied to a wide range of fields including
If chemical engineering (or any

engineering) faculty were to work
with calculus instructors to provide context to some of the math
(students) are learning, this could
potentially mitigate the need for
the remedial work when students
arrive in the classes that depend
on this knowledge.
cosmology, time, life, and art.[53] Mller integrates second
law concepts into common life experiences and economic
theories.[54] Foley presents a view of entropy as a quality of
energy degraded.[55] There are also newer thermodynamic
terms that are gaining in popularity, including exergy (maximum work done by a system that brings it into equilibrium
with a reservoir) and emergy (the cost of a process or product
in solar energy equivalents).
Another problem that students face with thermodynamics is

the strong importance placed on the use of differential calculus
concepts. While students have normally been exposed to all of
these concepts in their calculus sequence, the act of placing it
in a thermodynamic context often proves a significant barrier.
Working with F=F(x,y) is, seemingly, different from working
with P=P(T,v). Accordingly, the thermodynamics instructor
has two options. The first involves re-teaching the fundamental concepts of differentials, partial derivatives, meaning of
integrals, etc. within the thermodynamics course. The second
is to work with the people who are teaching students these
math concepts, which are Mathematics Department faculty
members. If chemical engineering (or any engineering) faculty
were to work with calculus instructors to provide context to
some of the math they are learning, this could potentially
mitigate the need for the remedial work when their students
arrive in the classes that depend on this knowledge.
Other new ideas associated with this course include:
m Incorporation of biological concepts in addition

to traditional chemical engineering examples. For
example, Haynie[56] describes the irreversible increase
in entropy involved in how a grasshopper jumps. Additional problems are available in this area as part of
the Bioengineering Educational Materials Bank.[57]
m Development of a Personalized Class Binder[58] that
requires students to put class notes, handouts, in-class
problems, quizzes, exams, and homework into a binder.
The binder is graded at various points during the
semester. Students are also required to rewrite or type
211
the notes neatly for inclusion in the binder and to show

reworked exams, quizzes, and homework. Finally, the
binder will include brief biographies of the scientists
mentioned in the course, which goes toward humanizing the subject matter.
m Creative Expression Day, where students make posters
to be placed above the chalkboard that contains various concepts or formulas important for the course.
Students can then easily view this information during the whole semester.
m Extensive use of NIST WebBook for data to perform
any of a number of comparisons of involving polar
and nonpolar substances.[59]
m Earlier presentation of power cycles (such as Rankine)
as motivation for studying and contextualizing turbines, efficiency, latent heats, etc.
Do note that many articles in the journal Chemical Engineering Education have been written on thermodynamics problems,
especially in the Class and Home Problems section. Some
notable ones include a powerful example on energy consumption relating the second law, by Fan and colleagues[60]; an
open-ended design estimation problem from Lombardo[61]; and
the description of an experimental vapor-liquid equilibrium
laboratory at the University of Delaware.[62]
Trouble Spots
m Difficulty comprehending the second law of thermodynamics. One idea is to use the statistical nature of entropy as an introduction as well as the works of Foley[55]
and Fan.[60]
m Difficulty translating concepts of mathematics into this
course. Rather than assume knowledge of differentials,
partial derivatives, etc., spend some time to remind
students of these concepts.
Equilibrium-Staged Separations
This course typically combines steady-state material and

energy balances with phase equilibrium to form the students
first experience with equipment design. Students apply equilibrium relationships to the design of staged separations equipment. Typical operations include flashes, cascades, absorption,
stripping, binary distillation, and extraction. This course may
also cover rate-based processes such as membranes, adsorption, and ion exchange.
Graphical methods are used to learn conceptual relationships and for order-of-magnitude design. Analytical methods
are then used as rigorous design tools and provide a foundation for simulation.
Some best practices that we have used (or discovered) for

this course are:
212
m Ask the experts. Sometimes we do not teach the courses for

which we have the most relevant experience. Both Chemical Engineering Progress[63] and Chemical Engineering
Magazine[64] routinely publish relevant articles on separations applications. They are often written at a level that
students can understand better than their textbooks.
m Bring in the history of the field.[65] Separations have
been performed for millennia. The earliest recorded
use of distillation dates back to 50 B.C.; it was used
in the 12th century for ethanol processing; and in the
16th century it was widely used for perfumes, vinegars,
and oils. Occasionally interrupting terribly interesting
technical lectures with historical anecdotes can renew
students interest in a lecture while giving them perspective on their current course of study.
m Use literature from industrial suppliers.[66] Many
manufacturers and distributors of industrial equipment
have useful applications papers describing not only
their equipment in particular but general concepts as
well. A Web search will easily find vendor articles such
as Factors Affecting Distillation Column Operation,
Evaporator Handbook, and Liquid-Liquid Coalescer Design Manual. These are also written at a very
accessible technical level.
m Wankats Why, What, How? approach. Establish why
youre teaching something (economics, core of chemical
engineering), what exactly youre teaching (equilibrium
staged separations), and then teach it using best pedagogical practices (lecture with simulation labs, inductively structure the course, using both graphical and then
analytical methods, and then reinforce with laboratory
exercises and design projects).[67] This process should
lead to a deeper understanding of the subject.
m Levels of understanding.[68] Dahm combines Wankats
approach with Hailes Special Hierarchy of understanding to give a specific possible formulation of the levels
of understanding in teaching separations.
m Separations using spreadsheets.[69] Working with
students to develop an analytical approach to graphical separations on a spreadsheet forces a connection
between the graphical methodology and the theoretical
underpinnings. Automating shortcut separations develops an understanding of what is required to be known in
what order.
m Use of commercial simulation.[70] Use of commercial
simulators in the classroom enables a range of inductive exercises to be incorporated into a course. Instead
of performing time-consuming laboratory exercises
(which do have an esteemed place in the course) to
explore a piece of equipment, experiments can be performed virtually with the simulator, enabling students
to observe results and draw conclusions. When the
theory is later discussed, students have a framework of
understanding whereby they can assimilate the salient
points of the discussion.
Occasionally interrupting terribly

interesting technical lectures with
historical anecdotes can renew students
interest in a lecture while giving
them perspective on their current
course of study.
Trouble Spots
Trouble spots for this course can include:
m Reluctance to show work; reluctance to apply rigorous

methods to simple problems; trouble with thermodynamic diagrams. These are problems encountered in
earlier courses and they have been discussed in the
Material and Energy Balances portion of the paper.
m Looking for answers instead of trends. Students often
fail to see that the point of solving model equations (outside of homework and exams) is not to find a particular
number. Models are always approximations or subject to
other forms of error. The real value of models is in simulation to determine answers to questions such as What
happens if my flowrates vary +/- 50% or What would
be the effect of a malfunctioning thermocouple?
m Expecting rigor in graphical approximate solutions.
You will need to constantly remind and reinforce the
fact that assumptions are being made throughout the
course. Some of the assumptions may not be significant
(equimolar counter diffusion for a binary distillation
with similar substances) or may change the character
of the entire separation (use of inappropriate thermodynamic models).
m Disconnect between theory and simulators. If students do
not learn how to use a process simulator for separations
as they learn theory, they will have difficulty reconciling
the terminology used in their text and the input fields in
the simulator. Fostering that connection throughout the
course makes use of simulators more effective.
Use of Active Learning
The authors are all advocates of using active learning within

their courses. As such, a brief background and listing of simple
ideas on how to integrate active learning into a core chemical
engineering course is provided.
Studies have shown[71-75] that students typically learn best

in an active mode; however, engineering is usually taught as
lectures. The use of active learning is underscored in teaching
textbooks[71-72] and those intended for the new professor[73] as
well as in numerous conference proceedings and engineering
education archival publications. A good listing of references
is presented by Smith[74] and by Dyrud.[75]
A great deal of information on improving student-teacher

interaction through active learning is presented at the National Effective Teaching Institute (NETI)[76] and the Excellence in Engineering Education (ExcEEd)[77] workshops. One
former attendee and active learning advocate is Ken Reid,
who highlighted the positive experiences in his classroom,[78]
and summarized simple ways that faculty can increase active and collaborative learning in their lectures and within
the laboratory.[79]
Improving student motivation may also improve learning,
as was recently illustrated by Newellwho developed a game
based on the reality television show Survivor within a material
and energy balance course.[80] Newell referenced the student
motivation classifications of Biggs and Moore[81]:
1. Intrinsiclearning because of a desire to learn
2. Sociallearning to please others
3. Achievementlearning to enhance ones position
4. Instrumentallearning to gain long-term rewards
Game-based active learning exercises certainly address the

social and achievement components of Biggs and Moore.[81] In
his study, Newell[80] found that the Survivor game addressed all
four motivation categories and improved student learning.
There are other quiz shows and contests that can be used
within the classroom. The chemical engineering education
literature has described ways to integrate formats from game
shows and games such as Jeopardy, Trivial Pursuit,[82] and
Hollywood Squares,[83] as well as offered professor-created
games such as Green Square Manufacturing,[84] True Blue
Titanium Game,[85] Chemical Engineering Balderdash,[85]
and the Transport Cup.[86] Most of these games usually
only address the knowledge or comprehension component
of Blooms taxonomy.[87]
Other simple-to-use active-learning methods include:
m Think-pair-sharethink for 1-2 minutes, talk with

neighbor for 1-2 minutes, then share answers with the
rest of the class
m Poll the audiencewith a show of hands, colored notecards, or clickers
m Minute paperthe students write down 1-2 ways to do
something, then the instructor solicits answers from
the students. This is also a good way to get anonymous
feedback on the course content, what the muddiest
point of a lecture is, etc.
m Engineering Education articles from Rich Felder[28]
this site highlights recent teaching methods that have
been proven to improve student learning
Conclusions
This paper has described some of the best practices for use
in the chemical engineering courses that traditionally occur
213
earlier in the curriculum: Freshman Chemical Engineering,

Material and Energy Balances, Fluid Mechanics, Introductory Thermodynamics, and Separations. A common thread
is deviation from the traditional lecture format. When this
happens, the students are given the opportunity to take ownership of their own learning. Popular methods include the
use of in-class demos, hands-on activities, tours of the unit
operations lab, and seeing a movie or simulation of a concept.
Additionally, the softer skills of engineering are finding their
way into the classroom, with the most popular ones being
an increased emphasis on communication and on teamwork
skills. It is noted that it is particularly important for instructors of beginning courses (freshman chemical engineering
and/or material and energy balance courses) to understand
the concerns facing the students as they begin their college
careers. Incorporating novel methods into the classroom can
increase learning as well as retention.
For copies of the presentation slides from the Summer

School, contact one of the authors.
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215
The History of
Chemical Engineering and Pedagogy
The Paradox of Tradition and Innovation
Phillip C. Wankat
Purdue University
espite the conservatism of ChE departments, chemical engineering has been at the forefront of helping
new professors learn how to teach and individual
chemical engineering professors have been leaders in the
push for engineering education reform. Examples of chemical engineering leadership in pedagogy include the Chemical
Engineering Division of ASEE Summer School every five
years, the divisions publication of the journal Chemical Engineering Education, and leadership in teaching professors
how-to-teach. Individual efforts include the development
of the guided design method, introducing Problem-Based
Learning into engineering, laboratory improvements and
hands-on learning, the textbook Teaching Engineering, and
the championing of cooperative group learning. Despite these
efforts, most ChE professors insist on lecturing.
This paper will provide a brief history of chemical engineering programs, curricula, and pedagogies.
Introduction and Early Programs
In 1888 MIT started Course X (course refers to curriculum), which began as a mechanical engineering curriculum
with time devoted to the study of chemistry, and eventually
became chemical engineering.[1-3] MIT did not claim invention of chemical engineering but noted that similar engineers
216
were active in Europe.[4] Davies[5] starts his history of chemical engineering with the ancient Greeks and continues to the
1887 series of lectures presented by George E. Davis at the
Manchester Technical School in England. [The Manchester
Technical School became the University of Manchester
Institute of Science and Technology (UMIST) and in 2004
merged with the Victoria University of Manchester to form
the University of Manchester.] These lectures, which were
published over the next few years in the Chemical Trade
Journal, are often considered the start of formal education in
chemical engineering. Davis published the first Handbook of
Chemical Engineering in two volumes in 1901 and 1902.[6]
Since this is the 100th anniversary of the American Institute
Phil Wankat has a joint appointment in
Chemical Engineering and in Engineering
Education at Purdue University. He has a
B.S. ChE from Purdue, a Ph.D. from Princeton, and an M.S. Ed from Purdue. He is
the associate editor of CEE.
of Chemical Engineers, we will generally limit our comments

to the American experience and refer readers interested in the
history of chemical engineering in other countries to the many
fine chapters in Furter.[7]
The historical role of MIT in starting chemical engineering
education in the United States has been well documented.[1-4,
8]
The initial Course X, founded by Lewis Mill Norton, was
contained in the department of chemistry. Chemical engineering became a separate department in 1920 with Warren K.
Lewis as the head. Perhaps the first American text in chemical
engineering, Elements of Fractional Distillation, was published by MIT professor Clark Shove Robinson in 1922 as
part of McGraw-Hills International Chemical Series.[9] This
was followed in 1923 by the seminal Principles of Chemical
Engineering by William H. Walker, Warren K. Lewis, and
William H. McAdams,[10] which laid the quantitative foundations of the discipline and used the concept of unit operations
first recognized by George E. Davis (although not by that
name)[3, 5, 6] and first delineated by Arthur D. Little in 1915.[1]
MIT also developed the idea of intensive practical education
through a graduate level practice school, but this innovation
has not spread beyond MIT.[1, 11]
Although there were programs in practical industrial
chemistry before 1888, MIT was the first school to use the
title chemical engineering.[2] After MIT, the University of
Pennsylvania introduced a four-year chemical engineering
program within chemistry in 1892; although, a separate
department was not established until 1951.[2] In 1894 Tulane
started the third curriculum in chemical engineering followed
by the University of Michigan and Tufts in 1898 and the
University of Illinois-Urbana Champaign in 1901.[2] The first
independent chemical engineering departments in the United
States apparently were the University of Wisconsin in 1905[2]
and Purdue University in 1911.[12]
Curriculum Developments
Early curricula were often cobbled together from existing

industrial chemistry and mechanical engineering courses, and
it was common, as was the case at MIT, to have no courses
labeled as chemical engineering.[2] As programs grew, professors of chemical engineering were assigned and specific
courses in chemical engineering were developed.
AIChE became involved in studying the education of

chemical engineers in 1919 through its committee on Chemical Engineering Education.[13] Between 1921 and 1922 the
committee, chaired by Arthur D. Little, studied the programs
at 78 schools that claimed to teach chemical engineering and
decided that chemical engineering was based on the unit operations and involved industrial-scale chemical processes.[13]
Although controversial, the report of Littles committee
was approved in 1922, and a new committee chaired by
H.C. Parmelee was given three years to determine which
programs were satisfactory. This report, with the names
of 14 acceptable programs, was given in June 1925, and
constitutes the beginning of engineering accreditation in the
United States.[13] The Engineers Council for Professional
Development (now part of ABET) was formed in 1932.
Since AIChE was the only engineering society involved in
accreditation at that time, the institute requested and received
special status. One of these perks, that a copy of each ChE
programs self-study report was to be provided to the AIChE
committee, was not removed until the March 2008 meeting
of the ABET Board of Directors.[14]
In 1925, AIChE recommended that 10.3% of the curriculum

be devoted to chemical engineering courses. The recommended
amount of engineering has increased over the years. In 1938, 15
to 20 percent of the curricula was expected to consist of chemical engineering courses[15] (Table 1). Currently, ABET does
not spell out the percentages of chemical engineering courses
Table 1
Topic
Chemistry
Accreditation Recommended Percentage in ChE Curricula[15, 16]

AIChE 1938[15]
25-30%
Math
12%
Physics
8%
Other Sciences
2%
Mechanics
Chemical Engineering
12%
Cultural Subjects
15%
Math & Basic Science
ABET 2008-2009[16]
25% minimum
Sufficient material to be consistent with
objectives

6%
20-15%
Other Engineering
Total
Topic
~148 credits
Engineering
General Education
37.5%
Must include design and sufficient material
to be consistent with objectives
Complement other components and
consistent with objectives
~124 or more credits
217
Table 2
Topic
1923-242
1936-373
1965-66
Proposed 2009-10
Chemistry
15.1%
23.7-29.9%
24.2-26.9%
16.7% 14.5%
Math
16.8%
12.3%
11.8%
12.5%
14.5%
Physics
6.6%
4.9%
5.3%
8.3%
5.3%
Biology
1.0%
1.2-3.1%
-----
-----
2.3%
Mech. Draw.
3.0%
2.5%
2.6%
-----
-----
Mechanics
4.4%
4.9%
7.9%
2.1%
-----
Ind. chem./
tech.
11.0%
-----
-----
-----
-----
-----
6.7-10.4%
18.3-20.3%
25.-25.7%
36.6%
Other Engr.
12.6%
12.3-19.0%
5.2%
8.3%
5.3%
Shop
7.0%
2.5%
2.6%
-----
-----
Chem. Engr.
Tech. electives
-----
-----
-----
4.9-5.6%
2.3%
Military
3.0%
3.9-13.1%
4.4%
0-5.6%
-----
English/
Speech
5.6%
3.7%
5.9%
3.5%
5.3%
German
10.0%
7.4-9.2%
3.9%
-----
-----
Other
humanities
3.8%
5.5%
2.0%
12.5%
13.7%
Other
Total credits
-----
-----
4.0%
5.6-0%
-----
398.5 pts1
163-169 cr
152.7-154.7 cr.
144 cr
131 cr
1 point for each hour per week in courses with no outside work and 2.5 points for each hour per week in courses with outside work.
Depends on options chosen. The 163 minimum was used to determine %.
3
Depends on options. The 152.7 minimum was used to determine %.
1907-08
ChE Plans of Study at Purdue University[12]
but focuses on the skills required by graduates.[16, 17] The total

engineering percentage has increased, however[16] (Table 1).
It is interesting to consider the historical development of
curricula. The curricula for Purdue University, which has
always had a fairly typical curriculum, are shown in Table
2.[12] While chemical engineering was still part of chemistry
(1907-08), there were no courses identified as chemical
engineering, and German was required since much of the
chemistry literature was published in German (Table 2). In
addition, a thesis was required for graduation. This plan of
study was truly a combination of industrial chemistry and
mechanical engineering. An increase in military training occurred during the First World War. After chemical engineering
became a separate department, separate ChE courses appeared
and the industrial chemistry courses disappeared (1923-24 in
Tables 2 and 3). Although still required, the amount of German decreased. Both the 1907-08 and 1923-24 plans of study
required a modest amount of biology. The other engineering
courses included Electrical and Mechanical Engineering,
plus Surveying. Descriptive Geometry, required in 1907, was
dropped by 1923. The 1923-24 plan of study had insufficient
chemical engineering courses to meet the recommendations of
the AIChE Parmelee committee, and Purdue plus many other
schools were not on the AIChE list of approved schools.
218
Purdue (and most other rejected schools) worked hard to

satisfy AIChE requirements.[12] Purdues 1936-37 plan of
study (Tables 2 and 3) satisfied the AIChE recommendations
(Table 1) and Purdue was first accredited in 1933. The 28 to 31
credits of chemical engineering shown for 1936-37 in Table 3
include 6 credits of Metallurgy, which was part of chemical
engineering. Biology was no longer required although Mineralogy (listed as 2 % in other) was required. The German
requirement had been reduced to 6 credits and disappeared
entirely by 1950. By 1965, Shop, Mechanical Drawing, additional science, and German had all been eliminated. The
Military requirement was made semi-optional and the humanities requirement (elective with a few constraints) was
increased significantly. Chemical engineering requirements
were increased to 25% of the course load. The 1965-66 curriculum is fairly close to the four-year compromise curriculum light in chemistry discussed in 1969 by Morgen.[15] The
proposed 2010-11 curriculum shows the inclusion of Biology,
an increase in chemical engineering courses including more
Design, and a change in when students take hands-on laboratory (1 credit each of Fluids, Heat and Mass Transfer, and
Reactor Engineering are for laboratory). The molecular basis
of ChE is taught in ChE, which only partially compensates
for the reduction in Chemistry. This proposed curriculum has
Table 3
Semester
1907-08
Chemical Engineering Courses at Purdue University[12]

1923-24
1936-371
1965-66
Proposed 2010-11
None
None
None
None
None
None
None
ChE/Met. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3
(optional)
None
None
None
None
None
ChE Calc. . . . . . . . 3
ChE Calc. . . . . . . . .4
None
None
None
Intro. Chem.
Proc. Ind. . . . . . . 3
Thermo. . . . . . . . . .4
Stat. Model . . . . . . 3
None
None
None
Thermo. . . . . . . . . .3
Fluids & Heat
Trans. . . . . . . . . . 4
Separation . . . . . . . 3
Fluids . . . . . . . . . . .4
None
Thermo . . 3 cr.
Thermo. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Elem. Unit Ops. . . . . . . . . . 2
Mass Transfer . . . . 4
ChE Lab. . . . . . . . .2
Heat/Mass Transfer 4
Rx Eng. . . . . . . . . . 4
Molec. Eng. . . . . . . 3
Prof. Semin. . . . . . . 1
Indus. Chem.
& Tech. Analysis . . 22 points
Elements
ChE I . . . . . 3
Metallurgy . . .3
(optional)
Elem. Unit Ops . . . . . . . . . 2

Unit Ops . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3
Non-Ferrous Metallurgy . . 3
Pyrometry . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2
Plant Des. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2
ChE Prob. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1
Rx Kinet. . . . . . . . .3
ChE Lab. . . . . . . . .2
Prof. Guid. &
Inspection Trips . 1
ChE Elec. . . . . . .3-4
ChE Lab. . . . . . . . . .4
Proc. Dynam. &
Control . . . . . . . . .3
Des & Cost Analysis 3
ChE Elec. . . . . . . . . 3
Indus. Chem.
& Tech. Analysis . . 22 points
Elements
ChE II . . . . .3
Metallurgy . . .3
(optional)
Inorg. & Org. Tech. &

Stoich. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Unit Ops. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Ferrous Metall. . . . . . . . . . .3
ChE Prob. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1
Proc. Dynam. &

Control . . . . . . . .3
Proc. Des. &
Economics . . . . . 3
ChE Elec. . . . . . . . .3
Proc. Des. . . . . . . . . 2
ChE Elec. . . . . . . . . 3
Total
44 points
9-15 cr.
28-31 cr.
36-37 cr.
48 cr.
Shown for the General Chemical Engineering program (other options were Gas Technology, Metallurgy, Military, and Organic Technology).
two ChE electives, an additional engineering elective, and a

technical elective. Several options such as pharmaceutical
engineering allow students to use their electives in an organized fashion. The Military requirement disappeared during
the Vietnam War.
Although total credits have dropped through the years

(Table 2), the student work load appears to have stayed
constant or increased. The amount of chemistry in the
curriculum (Table 2) has decreased significantly. Shop,
German, Mechanical Drawing, Mechanics, Circuits, and
Military have slowly been phased out of the curriculum.
Although still available, these courses are selected by few
students. Biology has done a boomerang and returned to the
curriculum. Chemical engineering science courses replaced
practical, but less scientifically oriented, courses after World
War II.[18] The percentage of chemical engineering courses
has steadily increased, and there has been a trend to move
these courses earlier in the curriculum (Table 3). Although
not obvious from Table 3 because of the years selected, the
amount of design has oscillated back and forth and is currently waxing. Hougens[19] analysis of the curriculum trends
at the University of Wisconsin reveals patterns similar to
those shown here, except that Wisconsin was often several
years ahead of Purdue in making changes.
The current ChE curriculum at Purdue and most schools is

extremely hierarchical. Starting with the first Calculus course,
Purdue has a seven-semester sequence of required courses to
graduation consisting of the Calculus courses and Differential
Equations, which is a co-requisite for Fluids, which is followed by Heat and Mass Transfer, which is a co-requisite for
the first of two ChE design courses. There are also several
four-semester sequences of ChE courses starting with Mass
and Energy Balances. Few of the other engineering programs
have prerequisite requirements as strict.
A long-term change not readily evident from looking at

curricula is who teaches chemical engineering. Initially, there
were no chemical engineers and the courses were usually taught
by chemists and mechanical engineers. Once chemical engineers had graduated and were available to become professors,
most of the chemical engineering professors had significant
industrial experience and rarely had a Ph.D.[8] Over the years
an earned Ph.D. became a requirement and the expectation that
engineering professors would have practical experience was
lost. The current lack of practical understanding of industry and
the practice of chemical engineering is obviously a problem in
the education of undergraduate chemical engineers.[20, 21] The
current interest in rewarding research makes it unlikely that
this lack will be solved in the near future.
219
Similar to all fields,[53] most ChE

professors lecture much of the time
in class. Their teaching would
improve if they heeded the
oft-given advice, Lecture less.
Current Curriculum Developments
There have been a number of recent efforts at national curriculum reform. The University of Texas-Austin Septenary
committee did a major analysis of the curriculum in the early
1980s.[22, 23] The committee recommended the following: an
overhaul of all the ChE courses to strengthen fundamentals
and include computer calculations in all courses; inclusion
of modern biology, economics, and business courses in the
curriculum; sufficient electives to allow specialization; and
an overhaul of teaching methods and tools including major
revisions of all the textbooks. The recommendations of the
committee to provide incentives for rewriting textbooks have
been ignored, but many of the other recommendations made
by the Septenary committee were adopted at Texas. The report
also had some impact elsewhere. In particular, the need to
integrate Biology and Chemistry into the curriculum has been
widely understood.[24, 25] The use of options or tracks, which
had been recommended previously,[26] does not appear to have
been widely adopted. The current University of Texas-Austin
curriculum[27] differs from Purdues (Tables 2 and 3) by specifying humanities electives in American History and American
Government and requiring a literature course. In addition, an
Electrical Engineering course is required, and there are a total
of six electives in science, technical, and engineering areas
compared to the four electives in these areas at Purdue. Both
programs now require Biology. Thus, the differences in these
two curricula are rather small.
There has also been a push to focus chemical engineering

education more on product engineering because the structure
of the chemical industry has changed markedly. Many chemical engineers at both the bachelors and the Ph.D. levels now
work for companies that are not considered to be chemical
companies,[21, 28-31, 32] and the world of chemical engineering
continues to expand.[33] Many more chemical engineers will
work in specialty chemicals instead of commodity chemicals.
Specialty chemicals will require more chemistry, in particular
structure-property relationships including the use of quantum
mechanical software. Graduates will need to be comfortable
with producing products that function based on their microor nano-structure. In addition, there will be more interest and
need to teach batch processing. Our examples and textbooks
220
need to be revised to include examples from a much wider variety of industries. Some detailed examples of product design
are available.[30, 31] At least from course titles, product design
does not appear to have become a required course at MIT,[34]
Purdue (Table 3), University of Minnesota,[35] or University
of Texas-Austin.[27] Perhaps professors are including product
design as examples in their courses.
Another current curriculum revision initiative is called the
Frontiers in Chemical Engineering Education Initiative[36-39]
that started with meetings in 2002. The initiative looks to: 1.
integrate Biology into the curriculum; 2. balance the diversity
of research areas with a strong undergraduate core; 3. balance
applications and fundamentals; 4. include both process and
product design; and 5. attract the best students to ChE. The
initiative proposes that the organizing principles of chemical engineering are molecular transformations, systems, and
multiscale analysis. The new curriculum is supposed to be
integrative and include the organizing principles plus laboratory experiences, examples, teaming, and communication
skills throughout the course sequence. Unfortunately, most
popular chemical engineering textbooks are not arranged
around the proposed organizing principles and little material
for teaching within this curriculum is available. Although the
initiative has been led by an MIT professor, the current MIT
curriculum[34] does not reflect this initiative. To be successful,
this initiative will have to convince professors that the changes
are necessary, train professors in new pedagogy, and sponsor
the development of an enormous amount of teaching material.
In a related effort that was started independently, the chemical
engineering professors at the University of Pittsburgh appear
to have been convinced that these changes are necessary
since Pitt has instituted a Pillars of Chemical Engineering
curriculum.[39-42] The six Pillar courses on foundations,
thermodynamics, transport, reactive processes, systems & dynamics, and design are block scheduled to provide additional
time. The courses include Molecular Insight and Modeling,
Product Design, Multiscale Analysis, and a significant amount
of simulations. Preliminary assessment data with concept
maps and concept inventories shows that students are learning
concepts better with the new curriculum.[41, 42]
A trend that so far has been generally ignored in curriculum
revisions is the increasing number of engineers employed
in the service sector in a post-industrial United States.[32]
Chemical engineers are popular in these positions because
they are intelligent people who voluntarily undertook one of
the most rigorous undergraduate curricula. These graduates
need less chemistry, more professional skills, and more global
awareness. Wei[32] recommends that the current curriculum,
with appropriate fine tuning, should not be changed to accommodate these students since it is usually unclear which path
students will follow after graduation. To a large extent the
ABET professional criteria3d (multidisciplinary teams), 3f
(professional & ethical responsibility), 3g (communication),
3h (global/societal context of engineering), 3i (lifelong learning), and 3j (contemporary issues)[16]help prepare graduates
for jobs in the service sector. Currently, strengthening these
professional criteria in existing curricula is probably all that
is needed to prepare graduates for service-sector positions.
Although local curriculum revisions are needed periodically,
I personally do not believe that a national one-size-fits-all curriculum revision is wise. Schools should focus on their strengths
and local needs, and not blindly copy what other institutions are
doing. If an innovation makes sense and fits, then by all means
adapt it to your institution. If an innovation does not fit your
institution, keep doing what the institution is doing well.
Textbooks and Other

Teaching Materials
The very boundaries of what we mean by chemical engineering are determined to a significant extent by the textbooks.
The publication of Principles of Chemical Engineering by
Walker, Lewis, and McAdams . . . shaped the field of chemical
engineering for many decades afterwards.[43, p. 185] In addition
to Walker, Lewis, and McAdams,[10] Professor Bird[43] cited
the books by Hougen and Watson,[44] and Hougen, Watson,
and Ragatz[45, 46] as particularly influential. We can certainly
add Badger and McCabe[47] and many other books to this
list. The McGraw-Hill series of chemical engineering books
started in 1925 was also very important for a number of years.
Although not a textbook, Perrys Handbook,[48] first published
in 1934 with significant contributions from DuPont chemical
engineers, has also been quite influential in chemical engineering education.
Textbooks can both constrain and open a discipline.[23] For

example, Bird, Stewart, and Lightfoot[49] clearly helped open
chemical engineering to a more scientific approach, but later
helped constrain the discipline to a continuum approach.
Extremely popular textbooks such as Felder and Rousseau[50]
and Fogler[51] serve to standardize parts of the ChE curriculum
across the country since the vast majority of students have
used these books. Because they are so widely used, the popular
books can enhance or impede curriculum changes depending
on the interests of the authors.
One of the current problems in chemical engineering education is that, with very few exceptions, there are no young
textbook authors. The first edition of most of the current
ChE textbooks were written when the author(s) were in their
forties or fifties, and many of these texts are in the 2nd, 3rd,
or higher editions. Younger professors are more likely to be
trained in new content that should be worked into the curriculum. Unfortunately, because the current reward system
at research universities is based on research papers, standard
advice for untenured professors is to not write a textbook.[23,
43, 52, 53]
Professor Bird also advises, Book writing should
not be undertaken to gain fame and fortune.[43] Although a
successful textbook can pay for the college education of the
authors children, the other rewards are seldom commensurate with the effort required to write a good book.[43, 53] Most
chemical engineering professors are not trained in pedagogy
and a really good textbook has to be based on sound learning principles in addition to being technically correct. The
soundness of the pedagogical approaches is one reason for
the successes of Felder and Rousseau[50] and Fogler.[51] Training all professors how-to-teach[52] would reduce the amount
of on-the-job-training in writing textbooks. There have been
calls for more rewards for writers of textbooks,[23, 38, 43] but so
far action has been sparse.
There have been attempts to use other materials besides textbooks for presenting teaching material. In the 1980s AIChE
developed a series of six volumes of Modular Instruction
(AIChEMI) under the overall direction of Prof. E.J. Henley.
The six volumes covered Kinetics, Mass and Energy Balances,
Process Control, Stagewise and Mass Transfer Operations,
Thermodynamics, and Transport. Modules had the advantage
that the effort to write a module was orders-of-magnitude
less than writing a textbook. Unfortunately, the quality was
erratic and the modules were not widely adopted. The effort
has apparently disappeared since none of the modules appears
in the current AIChE catalog.
Computer-aided instruction and educational games have

enormous potential for improving technical education[53-56]
particularly for students in the gamer generation.[55] Some
of the leading ChE textbooks (e.g., References 50 and 51)
provide supplemental instructional software as either a CD
bundled with the textbook or as a course Web page. Unfortunately, students often do not use the supplemental material
even when required to do so.[57] Instructional games have
considerable promise,[56] but, with current technology, developing a professional-quality educational game takes an order
of magnitude or more effort than producing a textbook. The
chemical engineering market is not large enough to support
these efforts without subsidies. A major reduction in the time
and cost required to develop instructional games is necessary
before educational games can become economically viable to
teach chemical engineering material. Chemical engineering
students, however, may use these methods to learn Calculus,
Chemistry,[56] Physics, Biology, Economics, and other largeenrollment subjects.
Highlights of Pedagogical
Developments in Chemical Engineering
Similar to all fields,[53] most ChE professors lecture much of

the time in class. Their teaching would improve if they heeded
the oft-given advice, Lecture less. Instead of lecturing they
could use various active and inductive learning methods that
have been extensively studied by ChE professors.[53, 58-69]
These methods include cooperative group learning, clickers, guided design, problem-based learning, quizzes, laboratory improvements and hands-on learning, and computer
221
simulations for part or all of the class periods. Chemical

engineering professors have also been at the forefront of
activities to make ABET requirements for assessment more
meaningful.[70, 71] A paradox is that chemical engineering
professors such as John Falconer, Rich Felder, Ron Miller,
Mike Prince, Joe Shaeiwitz, Jim Stice, Charlie Wales, Phil
Wankat, Don Woods, Karl Smith (an honorary ChE since
his B.S. and M.S. degrees were in process metallurgy), and
the entire ChE faculty at Rowan University have been at the
forefront of developing and popularizing these techniques,
but most ChE professors do not use them.
Chemical engineers have also been at the forefront of
helping professors learn how-to-teach.[52, 72-75] The Chemical
Engineering Summer School was first held in 1931 and then
1939, 1948, 1955, 1962, and every five years after that. The
Summer School has included a how-to-teach workshop since
1987, and the popular and successful ASEE National Effective
Teaching Institute is led by chemical engineers. In addition,
the Chemical Engineering Division of ASEE publishes the
highly respected journal Chemical Engineering Education,
which covers new chemical engineering content and how to
improve teaching and learning in chemical engineering. Teaching interested volunteers to be better teachers is relatively easy
and effective.[72, 73] Because professors who take workshops find
that they can improve some aspects of their teaching without
devoting excessive time to it, they are motivated to use at least
some of the methods learned in the workshop. Yet, it is doubtful that the majority of ChE professors have attended a formal
teaching workshop or teaching course. In the past, teaching
workshops and courses for engineering professors were not
readily available, and the reward structure at most universities
did not strongly encourage faculty to improve their teaching. In
my opinion the single most effective action that can be taken to
improve engineering education is to require all new engineering
professors, and encourage current engineering professors, to
take a course in how-to-teach.
Research in improving engineering education has very
recently become much more popular. This is signaled by the
increased attention paid to this research by ASEE and the National Academy of Engineering, the elevating of publication
requirements by the Journal of Engineering Education,[74] the
emergence of engineering education as a separate research
field,[75] and the development of new engineering education
Ph.D. programs.[76] Ultimately, this research should lead to
better answers to important questions such as why students
choose to major in engineering and why some leave engineering, how students learn engineering topics, and how to further
improve the teaching of engineering. Chemical engineers
have been at the forefront of many of these efforts. Because
most engineering professors are not trained to do rigorous
educational research, NSF has sponsored workshops to help
interested professors start learning how to do rigorous educational research.[77]
222
Closure
Chemical engineers active in improving engineering education are often asked why chemical engineering, which is
not one of the larger engineering disciplines, has had a large
impact on engineering education. I will close by speculating
on the answer. Chemical engineers are interested in processes
while most engineering disciplines have focused on products.
Teaching and learning are processes. Thus, it is natural that
chemical engineers would contribute to improving these
processes. The other major engineering field interested in
processes, albeit of a different type, is industrial engineering.
Industrial engineering has been at the forefront of graduating
Ph.D.s who did their research on engineering education. I
believe that their interest in processes is a major reason that
chemical engineers have been and will continue to be leaders
in engineering education.
Acknowledgment
A shorter version of this paper was presented at the AIChE

100th Anniversary Meeting in November 2008. Detailed
comments by Professor Joe Shaeiwitz were most helpful in
revising the paper.
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NANOLAB at
The University of Texas at Austin:
A Model for Interdisciplinary Undergraduate Science
and Engineering Education
Andrew T. Heitsch, John G. Ekerdt, and Brian A. Korgel
The University of Texas at Austin Austin, TX 78712
ignificant discussion has taken place in recent years

about the future of the undergraduate chemical engineering curriculum, with consideration of how content
might be revised and updated, how the degree program might
be made more flexible, and how innovative teaching strategies could be incorporated.[1-5] A slightly different chemical
engineering curriculum issue has also arisen, and that is,
What is the broader role of the chemical engineering faculty
in educating science and engineering undergraduates at the
university? At the graduate level, this question has become
important as chemical engineering research has evolved
into a highly interdisciplinary effort with research projects
straddling disciplinary boundaries. Chemical engineering
Ph.D. students interact and collaborate with Ph.D. students
and faculty outside of chemical engineering and as a consequence, require a diverse set of fundamentals and skills in a
number of different disciplines. The successful education of
chemical engineering students at the graduate level requires
available and effective courses in several departments, and
an educational infrastructure that promotes interdisciplinary
learning. Therefore, chemical engineering faculty need to be
heavily involved in curriculum development in science and
engineering outside their home department, focusing on the
university as a whole. One example of a specific graduate
program that has been developed at UT Austin with this in
mind is the Doctoral Portfolio Program in Nanoscience and
Nanotechnology. The program is directed by a chemical engineering faculty member and chemical engineering played
Andrew T. Heitsch is a Ph.D. candidate in

the Department of Chemical Engineering at
the University of Texas at Austin. He graduated summa cum laude with a B.S. degree
in chemical engineering from the University
of Florida in 2005. His research focuses on
the development of colloidal silicon nanostructures and magnetic nanocrystals for
next-generation technologies.
John G. Ekerdt
received a B.S
degree from the
University of Wisconsin, Madison, in 1974,
and a Ph.D. degree from the University of
California, Berkeley, in 1979, both in chemical
engineering. He is currently associate dean for
research in Engineering and the Dick Rothwell
Endowed Chair in Chemical Engineering at
the University of Texas at Austin. His current
interests include growth and properties of
barrier thin films; kinetics of silicon-germanium
alloy epitaxy and nanocrystal dot growth from hydrides; organometallic
precursor chemistry in thin film growth; thin film and quantum dot selfassembly at interfaces; growth and properties of dielectric films; and
lignin depolymerization kinetics.
Brian A. Korgel received his B.S. and Ph.D.
degrees from the University of California at
Los Angeles in 1991 and 1997 in chemical
engineering. His research focuses on complex fluids and nanomaterials. He is Cockrell
School of Engineering Temple Professor #1
and Matthew Van Winkle Regents Professor
of Chemical Engineering at the University
of Texas at Austin. He is the director of the
Doctoral Portfolio Program in Nanoscience
and Nanotechnology at UT Austin.
225
an influential role in the development of the program, but it

was initiated by a grass-roots efforts of faculty from eight
different departments.[6, 7]
In contrast, chemical engineering departments have remained relatively insulated from other departments with
respect to the issue of the undergraduate curriculum. The
chemical engineering curriculum itself has changed little in
the past few decades. But there may be a new need for chemical engineering faculty to reach outside of the department
and become involved in the broader educational goals of the
university at the undergraduate level. As an illustration, new
educational initiatives at UT Austin are being developed by
the upper levels of administration, including the formation
of an Undergraduate College, an undergraduate core curriculum, new interdisciplinary signature courses available
to all incoming first-year undergraduates, and a proposal that
all undergraduates will enter the university undeclared and
then pick a major after their first year.[8] These initiatives have
been driven in part by increasing pressures from the state and
general public for public universities to move their curriculum
away from a traditional, compartmentalized model focused on
technical specialization toward a broader and more flexible
education that provides more independence for the students
and a broader perspective when they graduate.[9] This is forcing chemical engineering educators to reassess long-held
assumptions about what needs to be taughtpartly as a
pragmatic matter at UT Austin since signature first-year
and second-year courses may be added at the expense of
more specialized departmental courses, and partly as a matter of self-preservation (and perhaps self-promotion) as the
department will be directly competing with other departments
to attract students to its major. Needless to say, the Department of Chemical Engineering at UT Austin is reassessing
the broader educational role of its faculty.
In the fields of nanoscience and nanotechnology, the chemical engineering department is well-poised to play a particularly influential role in the broader educational mission of the
Figure 1. Six different departments participate in

NANOLAB. The first year was a trial period with the Departments of Chemical Engineering, Chemistry/Biochemistry, and Mechanical Engineering participating during
the Fall semester. Biomedical Engineering joined
NANOLAB for the spring semester. Physics will join in
Fall 2009 and Electrical Engineering after that.
226
university. One of the defining features of the contemporary

field of chemical engineering is its interdisciplinaritythe
research programs of its faculty now span biology, chemistry, physics, and engineeringand in the area of nano,
this interdisciplinarity is fundamental. At UT Austin, the
chemical engineering faculty has begun to take on such a
leadership role. With a recent financial boost provided by a
Nanoscale Undergraduate Education (NUE) grant from the
National Science Foundation, faculty and graduate students
have developed an innovative new laboratory experience
for undergraduate science and engineering students, called
NANOLAB. NANOLAB is a laboratory hub designed
to serve six different departments and educate nearly 1,000
undergraduate science and engineering majors per year with a
hands-on nanoscale science and education (NSE) experience.
This paper describes the NANOLAB model for teaching NSE
concepts across departmental boundaries, including how it
was developed, and some of its successes.
What is NANOLAB?
There are many strategies for creating interdisciplinarity in

the curriculum; for example, offering traditional course enrollment to students in other majors or cross-listing courses in
multiple departments. These can be effective ways to educate
students from other disciplines, but these efforts are not fundamentally interdisciplinary, as the information is taught from
the perspective of a particular discipline. The NANOLAB
is a genuine attempt to promote interdisciplinary learning,
while introducing large numbers of undergraduate science
and engineering studentsnearly 1,000 per yearto NSE
concepts that they will benefit from in their future careers.
The NANOLAB is an upper-division undergraduate laboratory hub. It is unconventional because it is not a stand-alone
course offered by a single department, but is instead integrated with existing laboratory courses sprinkled throughout
six participating departmentsBiomedical Engineering,
Chemical Engineering, Chemistry/Biochemistry, Electrical
Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, and Physicsacross
both the Colleges of Engineering and Natural Sciences. The
NANOLAB is designed to serve the general science and
engineering undergraduate population at UT Austin.
Figure 1 outlines how students from different science and
engineering departments interface with NANOLAB. Students enroll in an existing undergraduate laboratory course,
such as the physical chemistry laboratory, and then supplement their laboratory experience by performing one of the
NANOLAB experiments during the semester. A chemical
engineering student in the fundamentals laboratory does
likewise. The NANOLAB experiments are then designed so
that students work in multidisciplinary teams of two natural
sciences and two engineering students. The NANOLAB is an
autonomous teaching resource, providing a possible model
for education in interdisciplinary areas that do not fit neatly
into the pre-packaged departmental educational system. This

article describes NANOLABhow it was formed and what it
iswith the hope that other universities may adopt a similar
educational model for NSE, or may elect to incorporate one
or more of the experiments into existing courses within their
own departments.
The NANOLAB Experiments
NANOLAB consists of four 6-hour experiments: (1) Fabrication of gold nanoparticles using self-assembled templating;
(2) Optical and redox properties of colloidal semiconducting
quantum dots; (3) Acid-doped polyaniline nanofiber sensor
for vapor detection; and (4) Gold nanorod synthesis and
optical properties. Three of the experiments were designed
and developed during the summer of 2007 by three chemical engineering graduate students, Andrew Heitsch, Shawn
Coffee, and Navneet Salivati, and one materials science
and engineering graduate student, Damon Smith. A fourth
experiment was added for the Spring semester 2008 based
upon student and TA feedback after the Fall semester. The experiment was developed by three other chemical engineering
graduate students, Mike Rasch, Vahid Akhavan, and Danielle
Smith. As described in more detail below, each NANOLAB
experiment was designed to teach a different concept that is

unique to the nanoscale: self-assembly, nanofabrication, and
quantum confinement. Consideration in the design of the
experiments was also given to how much time students would
need to complete each experiment. One experiment must be
completed in two 3-hour laboratory course periods by four
students working together in a multidisciplinary team.[10] Figure 2 summarizes the experiments described below, showing
students and TAs working in the NANOLAB and examples
of data that are collected by the students.
(1) Fabrication of gold nanoparticles using self-assembled
templating: A diblock copolymer is spun cast onto a substrate, annealed, and then etched to form an ordered array of
cylindrical holes. This self-assembled polymer film is then
used as a mask to deposit an array of gold nanoparticles by
vapor deposition followed by lift-off. The Au particle arrays are examined by atomic force microscopy (AFM). The
students learn about polymer self-assembly and the basics
of masked film deposition, which is one of the process steps
at the heart of the microelectronics industry. They also gain
exposure to a scanning probe microscopy technique, which
is one of the most important analytical tools in nanoscience
and nanotechnology.
Figure 2. Images from the NANOLAB.

227
One of the defining features of

the contemporary field of chemical
engineering is its interdisciplinaritythe
research programs of its faculty now
span biology, chemistry, physics, and
engineeringand in the area of nano,
this interdisciplinarity is fundamental.
(2) Optical and redox properties of colloidal semiconducting quantum dots: Colloidal semiconductor (CdS) nanocrystals are synthesized by arrested precipitation and then used to
drive a light-activated reduction of an organic dye molecule.
The nanocrystals absorb light, create an excited electron-hole
pair, which then drives a redox reaction. Students also measure the absorbance and fluorescence spectra of a standard
CdSe nanocrystal sample, revealing the size-dependent shift
in optical properties that is characteristic of a quantum dot.
This laboratory exposes students to the concept of quantum
confinement in a semiconductor and provides a real-world
example of how a semiconductor nanocrystal can be used as
a photocatalyst to drive a chemical reaction. This basic information is important for many applications of nanomaterials
related to energy and environment.
(3) Acid-doped polyaniline nanofiber sensor for vapor
detection: Polymer nanofibers are synthesized and then used
to construct vapor sensor devices on interdigitated array
electrodes on plastic substrates. The TA fabricates the electrode structures on plastic at the beginning of the semester.
Students test the sensitivity of these chemiresistive sensors.
This is a good introduction to the fundamentals of sensing
and provides an opportunity for students to proceed through
the steps of nanomaterials synthesis, device fabrication, and
then property testing.
(4) Gold nanorod synthesis and optical properties: Colloidal gold nanorods are synthesized using a standard
two-step seeded growth approach. The optical properties
of the gold nanorods, i.e., the absorbance spectra, are then
measured. The absorbance spectra predominantly reflect the
surface plasmon resonances within the nanorods, which have
peak energies that depend on the dimensions of the nanorods.
The experiment gives the students the chance to make some
nanomaterials, examine their optical properties, and then
begin to understand the origin of the optical properties. The
physics is rather complicated and the concept of plasmon
resonances is difficult for many undergraduate students to
understand without doing this kind of hands-on experiment.
Students are then called upon to tackle a biosensor design
problem using the data that they have acquired.
228
Logistics: Location and Tutorials
The NANOLAB is housed next to the clean room in

modular interdepartmental laboratory space in the newly built
Nanoscience and Technology (NST) Building in the Center
for Nano- and Molecular Science and Technology (CNM)
at UT Austin.[11] The building is centrally located between
participating departments and is easily accessible by the
undergraduate students. The location is also an exciting one
for the undergraduate students because the NST building is
primarily designed as modular research and training space for
graduate students and it gives the undergraduate students a
glimpse of life after graduation in a research environment.
For many of the students, this is the first time that they will
see a clean room, for example. It is an inspiring place for the
students to participate in the laboratory.
Considering that students have little background knowledge

related to the laboratories, the initial concept was to develop
and make available video-based tutorials for each laboratory
experiment on DVDs that would be distributed to the students.
The video-based tutorials were developed and have turned out
to be central to the success of the NANOLAB. They provide
a resource for the students to help them come quickly up
to speed on new information and ensure that they have the
necessary knowledge to complete the NANOLAB in the allotted time. But instead of being offered on DVD, the tutorials
have been placed on the Internet as Web-based tutorials. The
use of the Internet has saved significant costi.e., the time
to write the DVDs and their costand provided convenient
access for the students. Online educational media is also
easily accessed by educators from outside UT Austin that are
interested in adopting the NANOLAB model and experiments
at their own institution.
StartUp of the NANOLAB
There was a significant initial cost to developing the NANOLAB. This cost was offset by a $200,000 seeding grant from
the NSF through the Nanoscale Undergraduate Education
(NUE) funding program. The NSF funding was matched 3:1
by UT Austin from various sources on campus, with the deans
of both the Colleges of Engineering and Natural Sciences
and the chairs of the participating departments contributing
money for supplies and teaching assistants (TAs) for three
years to support NANOLAB.[12] A significant amount of effort was then spent designing and developing the NANOLAB
experiments. The three initial NANOLAB experiments were
designed and developed over the course of one summer. During the Fall semester when the NANOLAB experiments were
first offered, the graduate students who designed them trained
the TAs of the laboratory courses and were available for help
and troubleshooting as the semester progressed.
One thing to note about the experiments is that they were
designed and developed almost exclusively by chemical engineering Ph.D. students. Perhaps it may be better to involve
Ph.D. students and faculty from all of the participating departments in the experiment design, but practical issues and time
constraints did not allow this during the initial development
of the UT Austin NANOLAB. Other universities looking to
develop a similar nanolab may consider the pros and cons
of developing the laboratories with a larger team of students
and faculty.
The first semester of operation of NANOLAB proved the
importance of the online tutorials and the value of the TA.
Because of their rigorous academic schedules, the undergraduate students have limited time to prepare for the NANOLAB
experiments and need readily accessible teaching resources,
of which there are primarily three (Figure 3): (1) an Experimental Manual, (2) a Web-based tutorial, and (3) the TA. The
manual provides background information and explains the
laboratory procedures that the students must know to perform
the experiment. The Web-based tutorial has illustrations and
video of the experiments being conducted.[10] These visual
models provide the students with a snapshot of what they
will be doing in the laboratory. The Web-based tutorials have
been a particularly effective way to provide undergraduate
students with the quick training needed to complete the experiments. At the end of the Web-based tutorial, and after reading the background information in the manual, the students
are expected to complete a set of pre-laboratory exercises
to ensure they have read and understood the critical issues.
The TA is then available for support during the laboratory.
Specialized equipment requires a hands-on demonstration,
which the TA provides at the beginning of the laboratory.
The TA also ensures that the students work safely and is
available as questions arise during the laboratory session. It
is worth mentioning that safety training is a vital component
to preparing the students to work in the laboratory. Because
the students are entering NANOLAB from various other undergraduate laboratories, it is necessary to properly provide
the students with safety training that is specific to what they
will be doing in NANOLAB. Therefore, students must view
a safety video and then the TA provides additional safety
training immediately upon the students entering the laboratory
for the first time. With these resources, students have been
able to complete the NANOLAB experiments and learn the
intended concepts.
For the Future: Continuing Challenges

and Improvements
The NANOLAB is an innovative integrated-lab approach to teaching that goes beyond a rigid departmental
teaching structure, and although there are other examples
of interdisciplinary laboratory courses developed at other
universities, the NANOLAB is the only hub-style undergraduate laboratory of which we are aware.[13-17] As such,
the NANOLAB is an educational experiment that is still
being refined and evaluated. Thus far, student feedback
has been very positive. Most students have found the
cross-disciplinary and hands-on approach to learning to be
a refreshing change from their typical routine. They have
also been enthusiastic about learning about nanoscience and
nanotechnology and many students have noted that this is
their first exposure to NSE concepts. Some students have
mentioned that this is an experience that they had been
hoping for since entering the university, as there is little
offered in the way of nanotechnology-related coursework
to undergraduate students. Faculty feedback has also been
good. In particular, instructors of the participating laboratory
courses have found the new laboratories to be an effective
way to update their existing range of laboratory experiments.
The biggest challenge expressed by faculty has been the
ability to effectively integrate student evaluation within
their existing frameworks. For example, in the Department
of Biomedical Engineering the undergraduate laboratory is
established with groups of four students that work together
for the entire semester and their grades are linked. It is
difficult to separate the students into the multidisciplinary
teams of students for the NANOLAB and still evaluate the
students using the same mechanism. In the Department of
Mechanical Engineering, students are already expected to
complete every laboratory station in their existing course,
making their participation in the NANOLAB voluntary for
extra credit. Approximately 20% of the students enrolled in
the course volunteered to participate in NANOLAB. It is not
clear how some of these issues will ultimately be resolved,
but there is no question that the students have benefited
tremendously from the NANOLAB experience and have
expressed very positive feedback.
Figure 3.
Educational
Resources:
(Left) Experimental Manual; (Center)
TAs from each
participating
department;
(Right) Web
Tutorials.[10]
229
Because the NANOLAB experiments are newly designed,

they are also re-evaluated each semester, with continual improvements of the experiments, the experimental objectives,
and the associated teaching media. For example, based on
the recent excitement about renewable energy, a new photovoltaics laboratory was designed and implemented in the Spring
semester of 2009. Two additional components are also planned
for the Web-based tutorials: (1) a pre-recorded lecture to give
the students a quick fundamental introduction to the topic of the
experiment, and (2) a broader discussion about the health, ethics,
and societal impact of the underlying nanoscience and nanotechnology that the students will study in their experiments. A vast
array of Web-based educational media has also developed in the
recent past which could be incorporated into the tutorials to
provide additional background for the students. An example
is <nanohub.org>,[18] which provides a plethora of simulations
of various nanoscale phenomena that could add a great deal
to the content of the tutorials.
The other practical issue is sustainability of the NANOLAB

after its honeymoon period. The NANOLAB has a financial
commitment from the deans of the Colleges of Engineering and
Natural Sciences and the chairs of six different academic departments for three years. The NANOLAB will then be evaluated
by an independent committee to determine if it will continue.
An exit survey and casual feedback of former undergraduate
students who participated in the NANOLAB will provide important information for this evaluation (Figure 4).
Concluding Remarks
NSE concepts cut across departmental boundaries and

students benefit from the interdisciplinary approach to
instruction of the NANOLAB.
The NANOLABs hub-style approach also provides a practical
means of teaching NSE concepts
to a large cross-section of undergraduate students at a large public
university, providing a hands-on
active-learning environment to
illustrate concepts unique to the
nanoscale, including self-assembly, nanofabrication, and quantum
confinement. The new Web-based
and written laboratory materials
provide the opportunity for easy
adoption by other institutions and
wide dissemination among peer
institutions.
From a chemical engineering
perspective, the NANOLAB experiments employ a significant
amount of chemistry, but in an
230
engineering context. The experiments require students to think

broadly about how nanomaterials and their unique properties
might be used to solve a particular technological challenge,
and students work with these materials with their hands and
experience them directly. The NANOLAB illustrates the
concept of product development, in contrast to traditional
process development that is the primary focus of the traditional chemical engineering curriculum.[3,19,20] Furthermore,
the NANOLAB and its experiments provide undergraduate
chemical engineering students with a snapshot of the interdisciplinary environment they will enter after graduation, which
will most certainly help prepare them for success. For all of
these reasons alone, it has made sense for the Department of
Chemical Engineering to play a leading role in the development of the NANOLAB. NANOLAB is not only benefiting
the undergraduate science and engineering student body as
a whole, but also chemical engineering students specifically.
Perhaps this effort will also provide the undergraduate chemical engineering curriculumrooted in traditionwith more
inspiration for change.
Acknowledgments
The authors acknowledge the efforts of Bill Lackowski and
Paul Barbara in the Center for Nano- and Molecular Science
and Technology for playing critical roles in the development
of NANOLAB. The authors also thank the National Science
Foundation for partial financial support of the NANOLAB
by a Nanoscale Undergraduate Education (NUE) program
grant (EEC-06434221). This paper is similar to a presentation
recently given by the authors at the 2008 Annual Meeting of
the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE).
Figure 4. End of semester feedback from students and TAs about NANOLAB.
References
1. Armstrong, R.C., The chemical Engineering Evolution: What Comes
Next?, Chem. Eng. Prog., 103, 33 (2007)
2. McCarthy, J., and R.S. Parker, The Pillars of Chemical Engineering:
A Block Scheduled Curriculum, Chem. Eng. Ed., 38, 292 (2004)
3. Ritter, S.K., The Changing Face of Chemical Engineering, Chem.
Eng. News, 79, 63 (2001)
4. Chang, J.P., A New Undergraduate Semiconductor Manufacturing
Option in the Chemical Engineering Curriculum, Int. J. Engng. Ed.,
18, 369 (2002)
5. Korgel, B.A., Nurturing Faculty-Student Dialogue, Deep Learning,
and Creativity through Journal Writing Exercises, J. Eng. Ed., 91,
143 (2002)
6. Rockwell, L., UT Will Offer New Nanotechnology Doctorate: Interdisciplinary Program One of the First in the Nation, Daily Texan (Jan.
17, 2003)
7. For more information, see <http://www.cnm.utexas.edu/graduateportfolio.html>
8. Report of the Task Force on Curricular Reform, (Oct. 27, 2005):
<http://www.utexas.edu/president/tfcr/TFCR_10272005_final.pdf>
9. For example, the UT Austin Final Report by the Commission of 125a
committee of 125 educational and business leaders assembled to review
the educational mission of UT Austinstates, A narrow education,
no matter how deep in its field, will not be sufficient. Future citizens
will need to think critically and have a confident grasp of the arts, the
humanities, mathematics, science, and technology. The Final Report
(Sept. 30, 2004) can be accessed on the Internet at <http://www.utexas.
edu/com125/final.html>
10. For detailed descriptions of the NANOLAB experiments, visit the
online tutorial: <http://www.engr.utexas.edu/nanolab/>
11. For more information, see <http://www.cnm.utexas.edu/nsttours.
html>
12. The Colleges of Engineering and Natural Sciences each contributed

money for supplies and equipment for the first three years of the
NANOLAB. The largest contribution from UT Austin, however, was
in the form of TA equivalents. Each of the six participating departments contributed TA resources dedicated to the NANOLAB, equaling
approximately $165,000 per year. In sum, UT Austin contributed the
equivalent of nearly $600,000 for the first three years of NANOLAB.
After 3 years, the NANOLAB will be evaluated by an advisory panel
to determine if the NANOLAB will continue to operate.
13. Jez, J.M., D.P. Schachtman, and R.H. Berg, et al., Developing A New
Interdisciplinary Lab Course for Undergraduate and Graduate Students:
Plant Cells and Proteins, Biochem. Mol. Biol. Ed., 35, 410 (1997)
14. Ruzickova, P., I. Holoubek, and J. Klanova, Experimental Studies
of Environmental Processes: A Practical Course in Environmental
Chemistry, Environ. Sci. Pollution Res., 13, 435 (2006)
15. Miller, W.H., P. Duval, and S.S. Jurisson, et al., Radiochemistry at the
University of Missouri- Columbia: A Joint Venture with Chemistry,
Nuclear Engineering, Molecular Biology, Biochemistry, and the Missouri University Research Reactor (MURR), J. Radioanal. Nuclear
Chem., 263, 131 (2005).
16. Bopegedera, A.M.R.P., The Art and Science of LightAn Interdisciplinary Teaching and Learning Experience, J. Chem. Ed., 82, 55
(2005)
17. Allen, E., S. Gleixner, and G. Young, et al., Microelectronics Process
Engineering at San Jose State University: A Manufacturing-Oriented
Interdisciplinary Degree Program, Intl. J. Eng. Ed., 18, 519 (2002)
18. See <http://www.nanohub.org>
19. Favre, E., L. Marchal-Heussler, A. Durand, N. Midoux, and C. Roizard, A Graduate-Level-Equivalent Curriculum in Chemical Product
Engineering, Chem. Eng. Ed., 39, 264 (2005)
20. Costa, R., G.D. Moggridge, and P.M. Saraiva, Chemical Product
Engineering: An Emerging Paradigm within Chemical Engineering,
AIChE J., 52, 1976 (2006) p
231
ChE laboratory
Student Lab-on-a-Chip:
Integrating Low-Cost Microfluidics Into

Undergraduate Teaching Labs to Study
Multiphase Flow Phenomena in Small Vessels
Edmond W.K. Young and Craig A. Simmons
University of Toronto, 164 College Street Toronto, Ontario, M5S 3G9

lood is a complex fluid composed of cells and other
biomolecules suspended in plasma. Its main function
is to carry oxygen and nutrients to organs and tissues
in the body, while also serving as a transport mechanism for
elements of the immune system. Because of its composition,
blood is a non-Newtonian, shear-thinning fluid that becomes
less viscous at higher shear rates, and flows only after
overcoming a yield stress that induces rouleaux breakup.[1]
Rheological properties of blood are altered under certain
pathological conditions, such as sickle cell anemia where
abnormalities in red blood cell (RBC) morphology and stiffness result in cell clumping, lower RBC levels, and ultimately
higher effective viscosity.[2] Knowledge of blood rheology is
therefore fundamental not only to physiologists and biologists, but also to engineers who wish to design biomedical
devices, engineer replacement blood vessels, or model blood
flow patterns in vivo.
Courses in transport phenomena are core to most chemical

engineering programs. Increasingly, interest in biomedical
applications of transport and chemical engineering principles
has led to the introduction of courses in biotransport and
cardiovascular fluid mechanics in chemical and biomedical
engineering curricula. At the University of Toronto, topics
covered in these courses include blood rheology, steady and
unsteady blood flow in large blood vessels, and blood flow
in small vessels. The latter topic is interesting because nonintuitive microscale phenomena occur when blood flows in
small vessels like arterioles, capillaries, and venules. For
blood flowing at a specific shear rate in vessels less than 250
microns in diameter: 1) blood has lower effective viscosity in
smaller vessels; and 2) blood hematocrit (i.e., volume fraction
of RBCs in the blood) is lower as vessel diameter is reduced.[3, 4]
These two phenomena are collectively known as the FahraeusLindqvist (F-L) effect, named after the two scientists who
discovered the phenomena in a series of experiments involving
the flow of ox blood in fine glass capillaries.[5] This effect can
be explained by the concept of the plasma skimming layer,
232
discussed in detail in Ethier and Simmons.[1] Briefly, RBCs

concentrate in the core of small blood vessels, away from the
walls where RBCs are depleted and where only a thin layer
of plasma is present. In smaller vessels, this thin plasma layer
occupies a larger fraction of the cross-sectional area compared
to the plasma layer in larger vessels, resulting in lower RBC
density (i.e., decreased hematocrit) within the vessel and lower
viscosity. From this basic explanation, it is clear that the F-L
effect is a simple yet useful illustration of the non-Newtonian
behavior of blood, and furthermore, is a textbook example of
fluid-particle interactions in multiphase flows.
To enhance the students understanding of the F-L effect
and its origin, we developed a low-cost, practical, and feasible
laboratory procedure that demonstrates key features of the
Edmond W.K. Young received his Ph.D. at
the Institute of Biomaterials and Biomedical
Engineering at the University of Toronto, and
is now a postdoctoral fellow at the University
of Wisconsin-Madison. His main research
interests are in designing and integrating
microfluidic tools for studying endothelial
cell biology. During his Ph.D. studies, he
was a teaching assistant for a biomechanics course taught by Dr. Simmons where he
developed the reported laboratory session
to demonstrate the Fahraeus-Lindqvist effect using microfluidics.
Craig A. Simmons is an assistant professor
and the Canada Research Chair in Mechanobiology at the University of Toronto in the
Institute of Biomaterials and Biomedical
Engineering, the Department of Mechanical
and Industrial Engineering, and the Faculty
of Dentistry. His research group applies
principles of biomedical engineering, cell
and molecular biology, and tissue engineering to study how mechanical forces regulate
tissue regeneration and pathology. Dr.
Simmons teaches a senior undergraduate
course in biomechanics and is the co-author of Introductory Biomechanics: From Cells to Organisms, a textbook for engineering students at
the upper undergraduate and graduate levels.
original experiments performed by Fahraeus and Lindqvist.

The experiment, which can be performed by the students, uses
microchannels fabricated by soft lithography, a popular and
widely available technique used for microfluidics research for
myriad engineering applications.[6] The use of microfluidics
and lab-on-a-chip technologies in engineering courses
is a growing trend.[7, 8] In this lab, cells in suspension were
forced through microchannels of varying widths and heights
to mimic blood flow through small vessels. Images taken by
light microscopy were used to determine cell density (i.e.,
equivalent of tube hematocrit in blood) by cell counting,
flow rate of the suspension by particle streak velocimetry,
and effective viscosity as functions of channel dimensions.
Here, we present the methods and results from our F-L experiment, discuss the pedagogical details related to the course
and the potential usefulness of the laboratory procedure, and
provide recommendations to those who may be interested in
developing their own microfluidics laboratory experiment for
demonstrating the F-L effect.
Materials
For microchannel fabrication by soft lithography, SU-825 negative photoresist and SU-8 developer were acquired
from Microchem Corporation (Newton, MA). Sylgard-184
poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS) (Dow-Corning, Midland,
MI) was obtained from Paisley Products of Canada, Inc.
(Toronto, ON). Glass microscope slides for microchannel
device assembly and Intramedic polyethylene tubing (PE60
and PE190) were from VWR International (Mississauga,
ON). All slides were cleaned with piranha solution, prepared as a 3:1 (v/v) mixture of sulfuric acid and hydrogen
peroxide. Concentrated sulfuric acid and hydrogen peroxide
(30%) were from Fisher Scientific Canada (Ottawa, ON).
Becton Dickinson Luer-Lok syringes and Precision Glide
needles were also purchased from Fisher Scientific Canada.
For cell culture, DMEM, penicillin-streptomycin (P/S), and
0.25% trypsin with EDTA were from Sigma-Aldrich Canada
(Oakville, ON, Canada). Fetal bovine serum (FBS) was
purchased from Hyclone (South Logan, UT, USA). T-75 and
T-225 tissue-culture-treated flasks were from Fisher Scientific
Canada (Ottawa, ON).
PDMS in a 10:1 base-to-curing agent ratio was poured over

the masters, exposed to vacuum to remove air bubbles, and
cured at 70 C for at least four hours. A piranha-washed glass
slide and a PDMS cast of the microchannel pattern were both
rinsed in isopropyl alcohol, surface-treated for 90 seconds in a
plasma cleaner (Harrick Plasma, Ithaca, NY, USA), and then
assembled with polyethylene tubing as inlet and outlet ports.
Microchannels fabricated in this manner were either used
immediately following inlet and outlet assembly, or stored
indefinitely for future use.
Cell Culture
A mouse fibroblast cell line (L929) was obtained from the
American Type Culture Collection (ATCC), and used as the
model cell type for studying the F-L effect. Cells were seeded
at ~20,000 cells/cm2 in tissue-culture-treated polystyrene
flasks, and cultured in DMEM supplemented with 10% FBS
and 1% P/S. Media was changed every two days, and cells
were passaged every four to five days, depending on confluency. To prepare for the F-L experiment, cells were detached
from the flasks with 0.05% trypsin with 40 g/mL EDTA,
centrifuged at 284 g for 7 min, resuspended in supplemented
media at 20 million cells/mL, and kept on ice for the duration
of the experiment.
Methods
Microchannel Fabrication
Microchannels were formed from PDMS and glass using

the rapid prototyping technique (Figure 1).[9] Briefly, straight
channel patterns were drawn in AutoCAD and printed at high
resolution on a transparent photomask. Masters were fabricated by spin-coating SU-8-25 negative photoresist on glass
slides that had been cleaned in piranha solution (30 min).
After pre-baking, exposure, and post-exposure baking (according to SU-8 manufacturer specifications), the photoresist
layer was developed by gentle agitation in SU-8 developer.
Figure 1. Microfluidic experimental setup. (A) Gravitydriven flow is generated in the microchannel by securing
the syringe containing the cell suspension to the microscope. (B) Side view of cell suspension flowing through
microchannel and detected by objective of inverted
microscope. (C) Construction of microchannel slide used
in the laboratory session.
233
Experimental Setup
To observe the F-L effect, an

optical microscopy-based method
was used (Figure 1). Microchannel
slides were mounted on the microscope stage of an optical phase contrast microscope (Olympus IX-71),
and connected via polyethylene
tubing to an open syringe-needle
assembly. The syringe-needle
assembly was secured to the microscope at a height of ~10-15
cm above the microchannel. Cells
suspended in media at 20 million
cells/mL were dispensed into the
syringe barrel and allowed to flow
into the microchannel by gravity.
Phase contrast images of the flowing cell suspension were captured
with a CCD camera (QImaging
Retiga, Surrey, BC) connected to
the microscope, and analyzed using
ImageJ software (NIH).
Particle Streak Velocimetry
Thus, the mean velocity, flow rate, and ultimately the effective viscosity can be calculated from measurements of the longest streakline in each image and formulae for the
theoretical velocity profile in a rectangular microchannel. Figure 2A shows a typical
particle streakline image obtained using fluorescent microbeads seeded into a rectangular
microchannel, while Figures 2B and 2C are similar images from flowing cells.
Flow in Rectangular Microchannels
The theoretical background presented here was included in the laboratory manual
presented to the students (see handout available at <www.introductorybiomechanics.
com>). In the original experiments by Fahraeus and Lindqvist,[5] and in subsequent tests
by Barbee and Cokelet,[4] fine glass capillaries with circular cross sections were used,
and effective viscosity, eff, was determined using Poiseuilles law:
R 4 P
8 eff L
(1)
Q 2 D 2 P
A 64 eff L
( 2)
Q=
um =
In Eqs. (1) and (2), Q is the flow rate, P is the pressure drop across the capillary, L is the
capillary length, R is the capillary radius, D is the capillary diameter, A is cross-sectional
area, and um = Q/A is the mean velocity in the channel. The constant b = 64 is the friction
constant, equal to the product of the Reynolds number Re and the friction factor f:
= f Re
(3)
In the current study, Poiseuilles law was modified for flow in rectangular microPhase contrast images of the
channels.
flowing cell suspension were used
Eq. (2) thus becomes:
to determine the flow rate within
2
the microchannels by particle
2 D h P
u
=
( 4)
[10]
m
streak velocimetry. Suspended
eff L
particles traveling at a steady velocity U generate a streakline in flow
where capillary diameter D is replaced by the hydraulic diameter Dh = 4A/Pw, and Pw is
of length l over time t. Measuring
the wetted perimeter, Pw = 2(w + h). b for rectangular cross sections is governed by an
lengths of streaklines for an image
empirical relationship[11] for channel aspect ratio a = h/w:
taken with a given exposure time
= f Re = 96 1 1.3553 + 1.9467 2 1.7012 3 + 0.9564 4 0.2537 5 (5)
yields velocity U = l/t. Particles re
siding on different streamlines

of flow produce
streaklines with
varying lengths
depending on
the particles
location. The
longest streaklines are found
on the horizontal
midplane, near
the center of the
Figure 2. Particle streak velocimetry using fluorescence microbeads or phase contrast imaging of
microchannel,
and correspond cells. (A) Fluorescent 1-mm microbeads inside a 500-mm microchannel, using 200 ms exposure time
t o m a x i m u m to produce streaklines. (B and C) L929 mouse fibroblasts suspended in media at 20 million cells/mL in
velocity in the a 200-mm wide microchannel, using (B) 3 ms exposure time, and (C) 10 ms exposure time. The short
streaklines in (B) were suitable for determining cell density within the microchannel, while the longer
microchannel.
streaklines in (C) were suitable for determining velocity.
234
For gravity-driven flow, the pressure drop across the channel

is P = rgH, where H is the height difference from inlet to
outlet reservoir. Thus, measurement of the mean velocity in
the microchannel provides a solution to the effective viscosity using Eq. (4).
For laminar flow in rectangular channels, an approximation for the fully developed velocity profile was proposed
by Purday.[11] For a microchannel of half-width a = w/2, and
half-height b = h/2, the laminar velocity profile is:
n
m
u m + 1 n + 1 y z
1 1
=
u m m n b a
(6)
u max m + 1 n + 1
=
um
m n
(7 )
or
where y is the channel height direction, z is the channel

width direction, u and umax are the local axial and maximum
velocities, respectively, and m and n are empirical parameters
found to be:
m = 1.7 + 0.51.4
(8)
2
n =
2 + 0.3( 1 / 3)
1/ 3
>1/ 3
(9)
Figure 3 illustrates the velocity profile of Eq. (6). The profile

is parabolic in the y-direction. The maximum velocity occurs
at the midplane at y = 0. This maximum velocity is fairly
constant throughout the midplane, except near the side walls
where the no-slip condition reduces the velocity to zero.
Normalized Cell Density
To determine volume cell density within each of the four

microchannels, short-exposure-time images were captured,
and the number of cells in each image was counted. The
total cell volume in the image was equal to the product of
the number of cells and the volume of one cell, estimated by
assuming that each cell was spherical with average diameter
16.5 m (determined using the Vi-CELL Analyzer (Beckman
Coulter, Mississauga, ON)). Dividing the total cell volume
by the volume of the channel section in the viewfield yielded
the volume cell density. Finally, the volume cell density
was normalized by dividing it by the known suspension
cell density in the reservoir. This normalized value was
equivalent to the relative tube hematocrit reported in the
classical F-L experiments.
x
z=0
z
u
um
n
m
m 1 n 1 y z

1
1

m n b a
Figure 3. Laminar
velocity profile
in microchannel
of rectangular
cross-section.
The profile in the
vertical x-y plane
is parabolic for
most of the channel width, except
near the side walls
where the velocity
decreases to zero
because of the noslip condition.
y
y=0
x
235
Results of the experiments
116- and 176-m-wide microchannels deviated substantially

from the general trend. The results for effective viscosity, and
the general trend for normalized cell density, were consistent
with the classical observations by Fahraeus and Lindqvist.
Experimental trials of the above methods were tested for

four microchannels of varying cross-sectional dimensions
to demonstrate changes in effective viscosity (Table 1). For
each microchannel, the column height of the cell suspension
above the microchannel was measured, and 10 images each
of short and long exposure time (Figure 2B and 2C) were
captured. Short-exposure-time (3 milliseconds in our case)
images were used to determine cell density in the microchannels, and long-exposure-time (10 milliseconds in our
case) images were used to determine flow rates by particle
streak velocimetry.
Discussion of experimental results
Fahraeus and Lindqvist observed that the effective viscosity

and relative tube hematocrit of flowing blood in glass capillaries less than 250 m in diameter both decreased as tube
diameter decreased.[5] These phenomena were confirmed by
Barbee and Cokelet,[3, 4] and are now frequently cited as textbook examples of the non-Newtonian behavior of blood. To
enhance student understanding of this concept, we designed a
laboratory session to allow students to observe the F-L effect
firsthand. Four microchannels with hydraulic diameters ranging from ~ 40 to 70 m were fabricated by soft lithography.
Gravity-driven flow through the channels demonstrated that
the effective viscosity and tube hematocrit decreased for
smaller channels, consistent with the F-L effect reported in
the literature.
Figure 4 shows results for effective viscosity and normalized cell density from one representative trial. Effective viscosity was calculated using Eqs. (6) and (7) to determine mean
microchannel velocity from measured streaklines, and then
using Eq. (4) to solve for eff. Effective viscosity decreased
monotonically as the hydraulic diameter of the microchannel
was reduced. Normalized cell density also decreased with
decreasing hydraulic diameter, although the results for the
Figure 4. (A) Effective viscosity vs. hydraulic diameter.

Effective viscosity decreases monotonically with decreasing hydraulic diameter, as expected from the FahraeusLindqvist effect. (B) Normalized cell density vs. hydraulic
diameter. The general trend of decreasing normalized cell
density with decreasing hydraulic diameter is apparent.
236
Development of this laboratory session was made possible

by the advances in microfluidics technology, and the continuing trend for less expensive and more accessible fabrication
techniques. Microfabrication facilities and resources for
producing chips by soft lithography are available at many
universities, and increasingly so. If these facilities or materials for the production of SU-8 masters are not available or
are too costly, alternative fabrication methods may be used,
including recently reported techniques that employ ShrinkyDink thermoplastics,[12] or rapid felt-tip marker masking.[13]
While these techniques generally result in microchannels with
dimensions that are difficult to characterize accurately due
to greater surface roughness and less uniformity along the
channel length, they are attractive because of their extremely
low cost, and would likely be adequate for demonstration of
the F-L phenomenon.
The laboratory procedure involved flowing a concentrated

suspension of cells (20 million cells/mL of mouse L929 fibroblasts) through the microfluidic channels. This cell suspension
is considerably different from a normal blood sample since
there are typically ~5 109 RBCs/mL in blood, and RBCs
(~ 8 m) are biconcave disks that are much smaller than the
spherical fibroblasts in suspension (~ 16 m diameter). Using
a non-blood sample has several advantages, however. First,
the cell concentration can be tailored to produce images that
have appropriate lengths of streaklines for easier analysis. A
blood sample was used during preliminary lab testing, but the
high density of RBCs generated overlapping streaklines, and
thus was not well-suited for velocimetry. Secondly, from a
biosafety standpoint, the mouse fibroblasts are an established
cell line that requires facilities to be biosafety-certified to
Containment Level 1 standards.[14] In contrast, human blood
samples require Containment Level 2 safety. Since the L929
cells demonstrated the F-L effect in an effective manner, these

two advantages made the cell line an attractive alternative to
blood. We note that commercial microparticles can be used as
an alternative to cells if cell culture facilities are not available,
but we suggest that they be avoided if possible since they lack
important cellular properties, such as deformability and the
propensity for aggregation, that provide students with a more
useful learning experience.
The use of the cells themselves as tracer particles was
convenient, but the relatively large cell size compared to
typical tracer particles meant that the cells likely interacted
hydrodynamically with the surrounding fluid, and did not
accurately represent the true channel velocity, as when 1-m
particles are used to generate streaklines (Figure 2A). This
discrepancy is likely more important for wider microchannels
where the cell density is greater, and particle-fluid interactions are therefore greater than in narrower microchannels.
For the purposes of this lab, however, it was found that the
use of cells did not adversely affect the ultimate outcome and
that the F-L effect is clearly noticeable under the proposed
experimental conditions.
Results for normalized cell density in the microchannels
followed the expected trend as predicted by the F-L effect.
There were inconsistencies with some of the results, however.
First, the normalized cell densities for the 116- and 465-mwide microchannels were larger than unity when normalized
cell densities were expected to be always less than unity for
conduits having hydraulic diameters less than 250 m. Second, the 176-m microchannel had a considerably lower cell
density compared to the 116-m microchannel. These two
anomalies may be attributable to two important differences
between the experimental setup described here vs. those of
the classical experiments: 1) the microchannel cross-section
is rectangular, which likely impacts the effective surface
area available for a plasma skimming layer to form; and 2)
the syringe-needle assembly and microchannel reservoir
geometry likely concentrated the cell suspension prior to
its entrance into the microchannel, leading to cell densities
higher than the density predicted for the reservoir cell suspension. This latter issue may be avoided by re-designing
the microchannel geometry at the inlet port to reduce the
amount of cell accumulation.
Course Background, Laboratory Implementation,

Pedagogy, and Feedback
Course background
The lab has been conducted the past two

years as part of MIE439-Biomechanics, a
one-semester senior-level course offered
by the Department of Mechanical & Industrial Engineering at the University of
Toronto. The course serves as a capstone
elective primarily for students in the bioengineering streams

of mechanical and chemical engineering, and those in the biomedical engineering program of the Division of Engineering
Science. This course provides a broad survey of topics within
biomechanics, ranging from cell biomechanics to human locomotion, with emphasis on solving physiological problems
using basic engineering principles. The course is popular, with
typical enrollment of approximately 40-60 senior engineering
students each semester. The course consists of three one-hour
lectures per week, biweekly tutorial sessions, three laboratories per semester, and a semester-long group project. Evaluation is based on mid-term and final examinations, laboratory
reports, homework assignments, and final class presentation
and written technical report of the group project. There are no
formal prerequisites, but the nature of the curricula ensures
that all students have basic understanding of elementary
dynamics, application of the Navier-Stokes equations, the
concept of viscosity, and the difference between Newtonian
and non-Newtonian fluids; these concepts are also reviewed
during lecture. Indeed, it is the application of these principles
and the synthesis of fundamental concepts from lower-level
courses to solve complex biological problems that make this
course unique from other electives.
Laboratory Logistics and Personnel
The laboratory was held in the undergraduate teaching

laboratory of the Institute for Biomaterials and Biomedical
Engineering (IBBME) at the University of Toronto. The
IBBME teaching facility has biosafety level 1 (BSL-1) designation and has basic equipment for sterile cell culture work,
as well as six phase contrast microscopes equipped with video
cameras and basic imaging software.
Due to practical issues of course scheduling and the limited

capacity of the teaching lab, the lab has been run in three onehour sessions the past two years. In each section, students were
further divided into groups of three to four students, with each
group stationed at one microscope with one set of microchannels to obtain a shared set of data between all team members.
Because of these logistics, the lab assignment was designed
for completion within 50-60 minutes and preparations were
made to attempt smooth transition between the three sections
of students, such that as one section completed their work and
the next was ready to begin.
Table 1
Measured Microchannel Dimensions

Channel
Height
(mm)
Width
(mm)
Cross Sectional
Area (103 sq. mm)
Hydraulic
Diameter
(mm)
33.2
66
2.2
44.2
35.5
116
4.1
54.4
37.7
176
6.6
62.1
36
465
16.7
66.8
237
One week prior to the laboratory session, the students were

divided into their groups and informed of the logistics. In the
week leading up to the lab, various preparations were made.
A laboratory manual was posted on the course Web site for
students to download (available at <www.introductorybiomechanics.com>). The relevant theoretical concepts were
presented in the regular lectures prior to the lab so that the lab
served as reinforcement of the lecture material. Also during
the week before the lab, cells were maintained and expanded
in the teaching facility by a teaching assistant and lab technician to obtain sufficient quantities for running the lab. On
lab day, the instructor, teaching assistant, and lab technician
were present for the entire three-hour session to provide basic
background materials, assist the students in setup, monitor
their progress during the assignment, and provide formative
feedback. Because dedicated hands-on training could not be
provided due to limited resources, student groups relied on
help from the staff and, in some cases, team members who had
cell-handling and lab-bench experience from other bioengineering courses. Students were also given detailed instructions
in the lab handout on how to operate the microscope and use
the software package, and they were expected to come to the
lab having read the material.
After completion of the lab, students were asked to analyze

the data and complete three post-lab questions listed in the
laboratory manual. The questions provided students with
the opportunity to re-examine the experimental design, and
discuss possible sources of error in the experiment. Since
the post-lab questions were given to the students before the

start of the lab, students were prepared to make observations
about the procedure, and discuss possible improvements
for the lab.
In terms of material costs and other resources, the teaching

facility provided the space and access to equipment. Device
fabrication and cell maintenance and expansion totaled approximately $200 CAD. Approximately 30 hours of time
from the teaching assistant were devoted to design, development, and validation of the lab procedure prior to the pilot
study. An additional 10 hours subsequent to development
were devoted to preparations for operation of the actual lab,
including microdevice fabrication, cell maintenance and
expansion, student interaction on the day of the lab, and
post-lab feedback.
Laboratory Pedagogy
The laboratory exercise served mainly to reinforce the concept of the F-L effect taught in lecture. An additional benefit
of the lab, however, was that it acted as a hands-on exercise
in cell handling, microscopy, and flow visualization, as well
as a tool to reinforce other aspects of the bioengineering
curriculum. Blood rheology and hemodynamics comprise a
significant portion (approximately 25%) of the lecture material in MIE439, yet prior to this lab, the material was presented
only during lectures and not through an active-learning experience. Engineering students have many different learning
styles,[15] and lab exercises such as the one described here
Figure 5. Summary of student feedback from a voluntary online survey.

Bars represent mean standard deviation for 34 to 36 responses per question.
238
complement the lecture material, provide a visual representation to abstract concepts, and cater to the visual and sensory
learners of the class.[16]
Other than the content described in the lab handout, students were not responsible for additional material related
to microfabrication or microfluidics since these were not
main topics within the course. Nonetheless, the exposure
to microfluidics allows the students to learn basic aspects
about this emerging field, its impact on biological and
biomedical research activities, and its associations with
other relevant courses in their chemical, mechanical, or
biomedical engineering programs. Thus, the microfluidics
aspect of the current lab assignment provides students with
a clear example of the integrative nature of bioengineering
as well as the importance of making connections between
different science and engineering disciplines, an issue that
remains an ongoing challenge in the development of core
bioengineering curricula at many universities.[17]
The post-lab activities were limited to student contemplation of the questions posed in the lab handout. A formal laboratory report was not required, so as to relieve the burden of
another report[18, 19] and to allow the students to focus on learning the concepts. To ensure the material was reviewed and the
questions answered, the students were informed before the lab
that a question on the final exam would be based directly on
the lab exercise. As such, answers to the post-lab questions
were not provided to the students. Though some may argue
that a mandatory write-up of the exercise would have further
improved chances of students retaining the material,[20] our
guarantee of a final exam question in fact resulted in more
student-staff interaction, and created a new opportunity for
formative feedback because students came forward to discuss
their interpretations of the post-lab questions with the teaching
staff in preparation for the exam.
Logistics and resource limitations prevented the students
from receiving hands-on training on the equipment prior to
the lab. Therefore, to successfully complete the lab, teams
had to rely on the laboratory manual and laboratory staff
for assistance, but more often on their colleagues experience and the teams ability to solve problems. Thus, an
unintended benefit of the lab exercise was that it provided
an opportunity for students to engage in face-to-face promotive interaction and to develop collaborative skills for future
team-based projects.[21]
Student Feedback
Students in the Fall 2008 course were asked to provide feedback by completing a voluntary online survey; approximately
60% of the students responded. Feedback was generally very
positive (Figure 5). The majority of students moderately or
strongly agreed that the lab reinforced concepts from lecture
and helped them understand and remember the F-L effectthe
main objectives of the lab exercise. Many students appreciated the hands-on experience that was closely aligned with
An additional benefit of the lab was

that it acted as a hands-on exercise in
cell handling, microscopy, and flow
visualization, as well as a tool to
reinforce other aspects of the
bioengineering curriculum.
lecture material, such that the lab enabled them to visualize
the F-L effect, making it very educational and useful
for understanding the theory from lecture. As summarized
by one student: Anyone can draw diagrams of fluid flow in
capillaries and provide the equations, but it didnt really mean
anything to me until I saw it happenand this lab enabled
that. Similarly, the vast majority of students moderately or
strongly agreed that the lab was a fun and practical learning
experience for hands-on laboratory skills that had the added
benefit of making them more aware of microfluidics. The
opportunity to work with cutting-edge, high-tech equipment that was simple, involved something other than
computer simulations, and allowed them to see real cells
was mentioned frequently by the students. In total, 94% of the
students agreed that the lab exercise was a useful component
of the course curriculum.
Most students generally appreciated being able to use the
(laboratory) time to learn the concepts without the pressure
or burden of having an ugly follow-up report. In contrast, a
minority felt that a formal lab report would further reinforce
concepts by forcing the students to answer the questions fully.
Interestingly, only 56% of students agreed that the lab helped
their performance on the final exam. Qualitatively, students
did very well on the exam question related to the lab, but
because a similar question was not asked in years prior to
implementing the lab, it is not known to what extent the lab
exercise was responsible for the students performance. The
majority of students reported that they were more interested
in blood rheology as a result of the lab.
Criticisms and suggestions for improvement were primarily
related to the logistics of the lab. Many students commented
that they would have preferred more than one hour to complete
the lab because they had felt rushed, and several felt that the
groups should be limited to two students so that there would
be more opportunity for everyone to get hands-on experience
and the laboratory room would be less crowded. Laboratory
and course staff had the same opinion, and these issues will
be addressed in the future by having several 1.5 hour sessions
over multiple days. Other criticisms were related to equipment
issues (e.g., a malfunctioning camera, software problems,
239
leaky connections in some chips), and problems with cells

clogging in the channels, which delayed data collection.
Clogs were readily cleared by application of positive pressure
with the syringe, andas suggested by one studentmay
be minimized by using other cell lines, such as nonadherent
Jurkat cells (an immortalized line of T-cells).
Conclusions
Microfluidics was successfully implemented into an undergraduate teaching laboratory session to demonstrate the
Fahraeus-Lindqvist effect visually through optical imaging.
Effective viscosity and normalized cell density within the
microchannels was calculated and compared qualitatively to
expected results. Overall, the experiment produced results
that were consistent with the observations made originally
by Fahraeus and Lindqvist. The experimental setup was
easy, affordable (assuming soft lithography equipment and
biosafety-certified laboratory facilities are available), and reasonable to manage. Students learned to apply particle streak
velocimetry as a technique for determining flow rate within
microchannels, and were able to observe flow phenomena
firsthand in a practical laboratory setting. The implementation
of this lab session therefore appealed to visual and sensory
learners, and generated interest in the topic on hemodynamics
and blood rheology.
Acknowledgments
We thank Mr. Bryan Keith of the University of Toronto

teaching laboratory for L929 cells and for use of his facilities,
and Mr. Jan-Hung Chen for running the lab session for the
September 2008 semester.
References
1. Ethier, C.R., and C.A. Simmons, Introductory biomechanics: From cells

to organisms, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, UK (2007)
2. Chien, S., S. Usami, and J.F. Bertles, Abnormal rheology of oxygenated blood in sickle cell anemia, J. of Clinical Investigation, 49(4)
623 (1970)
3. Barbee, J.H., and G.R. Cokelet, Fahraeus Effect, Microvascular
Research, 3(1) 6 (1971)
240
4. Barbee, J.H., and G.R. Cokelet, Prediction of Blood Flow in Tubes

With Diameters As Small As 29 Microns, Microvascular Research,
3(1) 17 (1971)
5. Fahraeus, R., and T. Lindqvist, The Viscosity of the Blood in Narrow
Capillary Tubes, American J. of Physiology, 96(3) 562 (1931)
6. Whitesides, G.M., E. Ostuni, S. Takayama, X.Y. Jiang, and D.E. Ingber,
Soft Lithography in Biology and Biochemistry, Annual Review Of
Biomedical Engineering, 3, 335-373 (2001)
7. Allam, Y., D.L. Tomasko, B. Trott, P. Schlosser, Y. Yang, T.M. Wilson,
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Educ., 42(4) 185 (2008)
8. Legge, C.H., Chemistry Under the MicroscopeLab-On-a-Chip
Technologies, J. of Chem. Educ., 79(2) 173 (2002)
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Rapid Prototyping of Microfluidic Systems in Poly(dimethylsiloxane),
Analytical Chemistry, 70(23) 4974 (1998)
10. Sinton, D., Microscale Flow Visualization, Microfluidics And Nanofluidics, 1(1) 2 (2004)
11. Shah, R.K., and A.L. London, Laminar Flow Forced Convection in
Ducts, Academic Press, New York (1978)
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Shrinky-Dink Microfluidics: Rapid Generation of Deep and Rounded
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[cited May 22, 2009]; Available from: <http://www.ehs.utoronto.
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18. Bella, D.A., Plug and Chug, Cram and Flush, J. of Professional
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Random Thoughts . . .
PRIORITIES IN HARD TIMES
Richard M. Felder
North Carolina State University

ts been one annoying budget cut after another around
here lately, and when I read the memo limiting faculty
members to one box of paper clips a year I went straight to
Kreplach, my guru on administrative policy. (I almost went to
him when the toilet paper memo came out but got distracted.)
I found him in his office, staring at his computer.
Me: Good morning, Kreplachgot a few minutes?
Kreplach: Certainly, certainlyI was just reading the

Chancellors invitation to the reception for the
new Deputy Associate Vice Chancellor for Parking
Permits.
M: I hadnt heard about that positionseems pretty
specialized.
K: Maybe, but its essential. Ever since the motor pool

was cut to three cars and a pair of roller blades, the
Associate Vice Chancellor for Vehicular Affairs has
been spending so much time on backed-up requests
that its been cutting into his midday power walk.
M: I can see why hed be distressed.
K: Who wouldnt be? Anyway, what can I do for you,

my boy?
M: I was just told that were limited to a box of paper
clips a year, and it seemed to me that...
K: Ah yesyou have me to thank for that.
M: You?
K: Absolutely! The Provosts original plan was to have

faculty requisition one clip at a time from Central
Stores, and I talked him out of it.
M: Well done, Kreplachwhat a waste of faculty time
that would have been!
K: Faculty time? . . . Oh, I suppose theres that too, but

the real issue was the added load it would have put
on Central Stores, especially since they just cut the
service staff in half. We would have had to add a

new assistant provost just to coordinate paper clip
dispensation.
M: Point takenbut really, isnt rationing paper clips a

little over the top?
K: Not at all. You know weve been mandated by the

legislature to cut our expenses by 15%, which means
we all have to make sacrifices.
M: True enough, but I still think the administration is
overdoing the penny-pinching, and the faculty is
taking the biggest hits.
K: It may look that way to you, but only because as usual youre missing the big picture. Were all assuming
our fair share of the burden, with the administration
leading the way.
M: Thats reassuring to know.
K: Yes, and everything that can be cut is on the table except critical functions the university simply couldnt
manage without . . . . excuse me, thats the Chancellor
calling, let me just . . . Hello, sir . . . right . . . Flight
207 to Honolulu . . . business class . . . meet you in the
departure lounge . . . great, see you then . . . Ciao.
M: Sounds like a big trip coming up.
Richard M. Felder is Hoechst Celanese
Professor Emeritus of Chemical Engineering
at North Carolina State University. He is coauthor of Elementary Principles of Chemical
Processes (Wiley, 2005) and numerous
articles on chemical process engineering
and engineering and science education,
and regularly presents workshops on effective college teaching at campuses and
conferences around the world. Many of his
publications can be seen at <www.ncsu.
edu/felder-public>.
241
K: Yeah, its a high-level conference on maintaining

administrators salaries in the face of budget cuts . . .
now where were we?
M: Everyone is sharing the burden and only indispensable functions arent being cut.
K: Right.
M: But see here, Kreplacha conference trip to discuss

salaries doesnt seem like an indispensable function,
especially since faculty travel has been completely
suspended.
K: Except for emergenciesand if the potential impact

of these cuts on the Chancellors salary doesnt count
as an emergency, I dont know what does.
M: That makes sense . . . but Hawaii in business class?
K: Look, if we want to keep our top administrative

talent we have to treat them right. If we tell the
Chancellor he cant go to this conference or the one
in Paris next month on modern developments in
dry-erase marker technology, or that he has to fly
economy class, his CV will be on its way to Stanford
in the next FedEx pickup.
M: We certainly cant risk that.
K: No indeed . . . and it might interest you to know

that he insisted on flying business class to Paris
instead of first classthats just the kind of team
player he is.
M: Unbelievablethe man is a saint! So, any other
budget cuts coming down the pike?
K: Well, yes, but I need you to keep this one under your
hat until its official. Last week yours truly came up
with an idea that will save the university tens of millions every year and it got the Chancellors approval
yesterday. I even impressed myself with this one.
M: Im all ears.
K: Okay, first we make the minimum class size in

freshman courses 250, which means we can get rid
of three-quarters of the English and Math faculties.
That already saves millions. Next we eliminate PE,
which lets us convert all those open gym spaces to
auditoriums big enough for the new freshman classes, andheres the beauty partwe no longer have
to heat the gym! Someone in mechanical engineering
figured out that the body heat from all those students
should be enough to keep the building comfy even in
the dead of winter.
M: Kreplach, thats the most brilliant plan Ive ever . . .
K: Wait, Im not done yet! Those vacant rooms where

the freshman classes used to meet? We rent them out
to small businesses!
M: Fast food places, I suppose?
K: Nopeplenty of those across the street. I was trying

to think of something students spend lots of money
on but cant get easy local access to . . . and then it
hit me. Composition facilitation!
M: Say what?
K: You knowa student has a paper or project report to

write and turns to a skilled professional for help with
the background research and the paper composition,
and then . . .
M: Wait a minute, Kreplachare you talking about
those outfits that write students papers?
K: Certainly notthat would be unethical. This service

would just produce first drafts and the students
would then do their own supplementary research
and rewriting, with a reasonable percentage of the
feesay, 60%going into the Provosts discretionary fund.
M: But what would keep the students from just turning
in the papers as their own work?
K: AhaI anticipated that some cynical faculty members would raise that unlikely scenario, so I make the
students pledge that everything in the paper is either
their words or exactly what they would have written.
M: Fiendishly cleverthat should satisfy even the most
jaded among us! Kreplach, Ive got to hand it to
youyouve thought of everything.
K: Coincidentally, thats just what the Chancellor said.

He was so excited about all those savings that he
switched himself back into first class on the Paris
flight, and then he . . . oh my goodness, look at the
time! Ive enjoyed this little chat but I need to run to
a meeting with the Search Committee for the Deputy
Vice Provost for Emergency Relief Revenues.
M: Boy, that sounds really important! I imagine a serious salary goes with it.
K: You got that right, but its crucial if you want to get
someone with the right qualifications for a sensitive job like this oneall hell could break loose
if you put an amateur in charge of converting all
the rest rooms on campus to pay toilets. Oh, by the
waywould you happen to have an extra paper clip
on you? p
All of the Random Thoughts columns are now available on the World Wide Web at
http://www.ncsu.edu/effective_teaching and at http://che.ufl.edu/~cee/
242
ChE class and home problems

The object of this column is to enhance our readers collections of interesting and novel problems in chemical engineering. We request problems that can be used to motivate student learning
by presenting a particular principle in a new light, can be assigned as novel home problems, are
suited for a collaborative learning environment, or demonstrate a cutting-edge application or
principle. Manuscripts should not exceed 14 double-spaced pages and should be accompanied
by the originals of any figures or photographs. Please submit them to Dr. Daina Briedis (e-mail:
briedis@egr.msu.edu), Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, Michigan
State University, East Lansing, MI 48824-1226.
Biokinetic Modeling
of Imperfect Mixing in a Chemostat
an Example of Multiscale Modeling
Michael B. Cutlip
University of Connecticut Storrs, CT 06269
Neima Brauner
Tel-Aviv University Tel-Aviv 69978, Israel
Mordechai Shacham
Ben-Gurion University of the Negev Beer-Sheva 84105, Israel
athematical software packages such as Excel, MAPLE, MATHCAD, MATLAB, Mathematica,

and POLYMATH are currently used routinely
for numerical problem solving in engineering education.[1, 2]
From the numerical solution perspective, it is convenient to
characterize the various problems as Single Model-Single
Algorithm (SMSA) problems and complex problems with
some combination of Multiple Models and Multiple Algorithms (MMMA). A typical example of an SMSA problem
is the solution of a system of ordinary differential equations
coupled with explicit algebraic equations where one numerical integration algorithm (such as the 4th order Runge-Kutta)
can be used to solve the problem (e.g., steady-state operation
of a tubular reactor).
The application of mathematical software packages for solving SMSA problems has essentially replaced all other solution
techniques, as can be seen in many recent textbooks (see, for
example, Fogler[3]). For complex and/or multi-scale problems,
however, the solution process is often more involved.
The types of models included in the complex category are:
1. Multiple Model-Single Algorithm (MMSA) Problem.
A typical example is the cyclic operation of a semibatch bioreactor.[4] The three modes of operation of the
Michael B. Cutlip is professor emeritus of

the Chemical, Materials, and Biomolecular
Engineering Department at the University of
Connecticut and has served as department
head and director of the universitys Honors
Program. He has B.Ch.E. and M.S. degrees
from Ohio State and a Ph.D. from the University
of Colorado. His current interests include the
development of general software for numerical
problem solving and application to chemical
and biochemical engineering.
Neima Brauner is a professor in the School
of Mechanical Engineering and Heat Transfer
at the Tel-Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel. She
received her B.Sc. and M.Sc. in chemical
engineering from the Technion Institute of
Technology, Haifa, Israel, and her Ph.D. in
mechanical engineering from the Tel-Aviv
University. Her research interests include
hydrodynamics and transport phenomena
in two-phase flow systems.
Mordechai Shacham is the Benjamin H.
Swig professor and head of the Department
of Chemical Engineering at the Ben-Gurion
University of the Negev in Israel. He received
his B.Sc. and D.Sc. degrees from the
Technion, Israel Institute of Technology. His
research interests include analysis, modeling,
and regression of data, applied numerical
methods, and prediction and consistency
analysis of physical properties.
243
bioreactor (initialization, processing, and harvesting)

are represented by different models comprising ordinary
differential equations and explicit algebraic equations.
All models can be solved by one numerical integration
algorithm (such as the 4th order Runge-Kutta).
2. Single Model-Multiple Algorithm (SMMA) Problem.
Typical examples are the solution of two-point boundary
value problems, where the integration of the model is
carried out in the inside loop and a nonlinear equation
solver algorithm adjusts the boundary values in an outer
loop, or the solution of differential-algebraic systems of
equations where the same algorithms are used but in an
opposite hierarchy.
3. Multiple Model-Multiple Algorithm (MMMA) Problem.
A typical example is the modeling of an exothermic
batch reactor, where the two stages of operation (heating and cooling) require different models and different
integration algorithms (stiff and non-stiff).
A homework assignment that demonstrates this suggested

approach is the following problem of biokinetic modeling of
a chemostat with imperfect mixing. This problem is a modified version of a problem presented by Cutlip and Shacham.[7]
The solution algorithm presented for this problem includes
the use of various computing tools in the different stages
of the problem solution (the solution of an SMSA problem,
parametric runs of an SMSA problem, and the solution of an
SMMA problem).
Problem Background
Biokinetic Modeling of Imperfect Mixing
in a Chemostat
A chemostat is usually considered to be a completely
mixed reactor; however, this is not always the case. Consider
the situation where the chemostat may be considered to be
modeled as a reactor with a completely-mixed volume V1
(dm3) that interacts with another completely-mixed volume
V2 (dm3) as shown in Figure 1. Volume V2 with an exchange
flow rate F2 (dm3/hr) may be considered to model the poorly
mixed regions within a production fermenter. The microbial
The solution of such complex problems can be rather

cumbersome and time consuming even if mathematical software packages are used, as manual transfer of data from one
model/problem to another and consecutive manual reruns
are often required. Combining the
use of several software packages
Table 1
POLYMATH Model for the Chemostat with Imperfect Mixing
of various levels of complexity,
flexibility and user friendliness,
No.
Equation # Comment
however, can considerably reduce
1
f(S1) = F1*S0+F2*S2-(1/Yxs)*(mum*S1/(Ks+S1))*X1*V1-F1*S1-F2*S1 # Substrate
the time and effort required for solvbalance on volume V1
ing complex models.
2
f(S2) = F2*S1-(1/Yxs)*(mum*S2/(Ks+S2))*X2*V2-F2*S2 # Substrate balance on volume
Following this premise, the models representing the various stages

of the problems can be coded and
tested using a software package
(for example, POLYMATH[5]) that
requires very little technical coding effort. After testing each of
the modules separately, they are
combined into one program using a programming language, or
a mathematical software package
that supports programming (say,
MATLAB[6]). To minimize the probability of introducing errors into the
model equations, the POLYMATH
input for the various modules can
be automatically converted within
POLYMATH to MATLAB code.
This allows MATLAB functions to
be created that enable the consecutive and repetitive calls to the various models, apply the appropriate
solution algorithms, and assign the
hierarchy of the computations during the solution.
244
V2
f(X1) = F2*X2+(mum*S1/(Ks+S1)-kd)*X1*V1-F1*X1-F2*X1 # Cell balance on volume

V1
f(X2) = F2*X1+(mum*S2/(Ks+S2)-kd)*X2*V2-F2*X2 # Cell balance on volume V2
F1 = 0.17 # Feed flow rate to volume V1 (dm^3/hr)
F2 = 0.2*F1 # Feed flow rate to volume V2 (dm^3/hr)
P1 = Yps*(S0-S1) # Production (g/dm^3)
D = F1/(V1+V2) # Dilution rate (1/hr)
S0 = 0.6 # Feed substrate concentration (g/dm^3)
10
kd = 0.002
11
Yxs = 0.4 # Yield coefficient (g cells/g substrate)
12
Yps = 0.2 # Yield coefficient (g product/g substrate)
13
Ks = 0.2 # Saturation constant (g substrate/dm^3)
14
mum = 0.2 # Maximal specific growth rate (1/hr)
15
V1 = 1.7 # Volume V1 (dm^3)
16
V2 = 0.3 # Volume V2 (dm^3)
17
PR_DX1 = D*X1 # Cell production rate (g/hr)
18
PR_DP1 = D*P1 # Product production rate (g/hr)
19
S1(0) = 0 # Substrate concentration in volume V1 (g/dm^3)
20
S2(0) = 0 # Substrate concentration in volume V2 (g/dm^3)
21
X1(0) = 0.025 # Cell concentration in volume V1 (g/dm^3)
22
X2(0) = 0.025 # Cell concentration in volume V2 (g/dm^3)

system to be modeled involves substrate S (g/dm3) going to

product P (g/dm3) only under the action of cells X (g/dm3).
The following separate balances on the substrate, cells, and
product in each reactor volume use Monod kinetics and a cell
death rate constant given by kd (hr-1).
volume V1 = 1.7 dm3 and a volume of V2 = 0.3 dm3 with an

exchange flow rate F2. The flow rate relationship with the
overall flow rate to chemostat, F1, is given by F2 = 0.2 F1 in
dm3/hr. Chemostat operation is such that F1 = 0.17 dm3/hr,
X0 = 0 and S0 = 0.6 g/dm3, and the endogenous metabolism
can be neglected.
Steady-State Substrate Balance on Volume V1

F1S0 + F2S2 +
1 m S1
X V = F1S1 + F2S1
YX /S K S + S1 1 1
(a) Create a single graph of S1, X1, and P1 vs. the dilution
rate defined by D = F1/V1.
(1)
(b) Plot the cell production rate, the product DX1, and the
product production rate, the product of DP1, as functions of the dilution rate between 0.05 and 0.130 hr -1.
where F is flow rate (dm3/hr), YX/S is yield coefficient (g cells/g

substrate), m is the maximal specific growth rate (hr-1), and
KS is the saturation constant (g substrate/dm3). The indexes
0, 1, and 2 are used as shown in Figure 1.
(c) Estimate the dilution rate that will maximize the production rate, DX1, for the cells and the dilution rate that will
maximize the production rate, DP1, for the product.
Steady-State Substrate Balance on Volume V2

1 m S2
F2S1 +
X V = F2S2
YX /S K S + S2 2 2
Problem Solution
( 2)
Modeling the Chemostat and Solving the Single

Model-Single Algorithm (SMSA) Problem
The mathematical model of the chemostat can be formulated
as a system of nonlinear algebraic equations (NLEs) that can
be solved by a single algorithm. This simple, uncomplicated
model can be easily solved with POLYMATH version 6.1 to
obtain the solution of this SMSA problem.
Steady-State Cell Balance on Volume V1

S
F2 X 2 + m 1 k d X1V1 = F1X1 + F2 X1
K S + S1
(3)
Steady-State Cell Balance on Volume V2

S
F2 X1 + m 2 k d X 2 V2 = F2 X 2
K S + S2
The complete POLYMATH code for the chemostat model is

given in Table 1. The model includes four implicit nonlinear
algebraic equations that are obtained from the material balances. The POLYMATH model (including the comments,
which start with the # sign) provides complete documentation of the equations, the values of the constants, and the
initial estimates used for the four unknowns: S1, S2, X1, and
X2. Statements 1 through 4 present the implicit equations
for obtaining the substrate concentration in the well-mixed
volumes (S1, S2, respectively), and the cell concentration in
the well-mixed volumes (X1, X2, respectively). Explicit variables and constants are described in statements 5-18. Initial
estimates for the unknowns in the nonlinear equations are
provided in lines 19 to 22.
( 4)
Overall Steady-State Material Balance for the Product

P1 = YP /S (S0 S1 )
(5)
where YP/S is the yield coefficient (g product/g substrate).
Problem Statement
Microbial growth has been studied in a continuous culture,

and the following parameters were obtained: m = 0.2 h-1, KS
= 0.2 g/dm3, kd = 0.002 hr-1, YX/S = 0.4 g cells/g substrate, and
YP/S = 0.2 g product/g substrate. Tracer studies have indicated
that the incomplete mixing can be described by a well-mixed
Table 2
Chemostat Results From POLYMATH For F1 = 0.17 dm3/hr

Variable
S1 (g/dm3)
Value
f(x)
Initial Guess
0.1821
4.20E-11
S2 (g/dm )
0.03589
3.91E-11
0.1631
-1.68E-11
0.025
X2 (g/dm3)
0.2178
-1.56E-11
0.025
X1 (g/dm3)
D (1/hr)
F1 (dm3/hr)
F2 (dm3/hr)
0.085
0
0
Figure 1.
Chemostat
model.
0.17
0.034
PR_DP1 (g/hr)
0.00711
PR_DX1 (g/hr)
0.01387
The results for the case where F1 = 0.17 dm3/hr and the
initial estimates S1,0 = S2,0 = 0, X1,0 = 0.025, and X2,0 = 0.025
are given in Table 2. For this case with the dilution rate D =
245
Table 3
MATLAB Function (Model) for the Chemostat with Imperfect Mixing

No.
Equation % Comment
function fx = MNLEfun(x, F1);
S1 = x(1); %Substrate concentration in volume V1 (g/dm^3)
S2 = x(2); %Substrate concentration in volume V2 (g/dm^3)
X1 = x(3); %Cell concentration in volume V1 (g/dm^3)
X2 = x(4); %Cell concentration in volume V2 (g/dm^3)
F1 = 0.17; %Feed flow rate to volume V1 (dm^3/hr)
F2 = 0.2 * F1; %Feed flow rate to volume V2 (dm^3/hr)
Yps = 0.2; %Yield coefficient (g product/g substrate)
V2 = 0.3; %Volume V2 (dm^3)
10
S0 = 0.6; %Feed substrate concentration (g/dm^3)
11
kd = 0.002; %Cell death rate (1/hr)
12
Yxs = 0.4; %Yield coefficient (g cells/g substrate)
13
P1 = Yps * (S0 - S1); %Production (g/dm^3)
14
Ks = 0.2; %Saturation constant (g substrate/dm^3)
15
mum = 0.2; %Maximal specific growth rate (1/hr)
16
V1 = 1.7; %Volume V1 (dm^3)
17
D = F1 / (V1 + V2); %Dilution rate (1/hr)
18
PR_DX1 = D * X1; %Cell production rate (g/hr)
19
PR_DP1 = D * P1; %Product production rate (g/hr)
20
fx(1,1) = F1 * S0 + F2 * S2 - (1 / Yxs * mum * S1 / (Ks + S1) * X1 *

V1) - (F1 * S1) - (F2 * S1); %Substrate balance on volume V1
21
fx(2,1) = F2 * S1 - (1 / Yxs * mum * S2 / (Ks + S2) * X2 * V2) - (F2 *

S2); %Substrate balance on volume V2
22
fx(3,1) = F2 * X2 + (mum * S1 / (Ks + S1) - kd) * X1 * V1 - (F1 * X1)

- (F2 * X1); %Cell balance on volume V1
23
fx(4,1) = F2 * X1 + (mum * S2 / (Ks + S2) - kd) * X2 * V2 - (F2 * X2);

%Cell balance on volume V2
Table 4
Part of the MATLAB Main Program for Parametric Studies

with the Chemostat
No.
Equation % Comment
options = optimset(Diagnostics,[off],TolFun,[1e-9],TolX,[1e-9]);
Yps = 0.2; S0 = 0.6; kd = 0.002; Yxs = 0.4; Ks = 0.2;
mum = 0.2; V1 = 1.7; V2 = 0.3;
F1=0.1; %Initial feed flow rate to volume V1 (dm^3/hr)
xguess = [0 0 0.025 0.25]; % initial guess vector
for k=1:16
xsolv=fsolve(@MNLEfun,xguess,options,F1);
S1(k)=xsolv(1); S2(k)=xsolv(2); X1(k)=xsolv(3); X2(k)=xsolv(4);
F1list(k)=F1; D(k) = F1 / (V1 + V2); P1(k)= Yps * (S0 - S1(k));
10
PR_DX1(k) = D(k) * X1(k); PR_DP1(k) = D(k) * P1(k);
11
F1=F1+0.01; %Incrementing feed flow rate to volume V1 (dm^3/hr)
12
end
246
0.085 hr-1, the cell production rate DX1 = 0.0139

g/hr and the product production rate DP1 =
0.00711 g/hr. Lower initial values of X1,0 = X2,0
that are less than 0.0247 g/dm3 result in negligible steady-state reaction corresponding to cell
washout operation. Thus the simulated chemostat
has a critical value of initial cell concentration
that leads to a sustained steady-state biochemical
reaction. The production rates associated with the
operation where washout of the cells is avoided
will be studied in more detail.
Parametric Studies on the Chemostat
Parametric runs, requested in the second part
of the assignment, can be carried out with POLYMATH by manually changing the parameter
values. This approach, however, is inefficient
and cumbersomeparticularly for problems
where there are many parameters and a wide
range of parameter values to be considered. In
such cases, programming is desirable for repetitive solution of the problem with the various
parameter values. One option is to carry out the
parametric runs efficiently using MATLAB. The
MATLAB function representing the operation
of the chemostat can be automatically and efficiently generated by POLYMATH (Table 3).
Note that MATLAB requires input of the variable values into the function in a single array (x,
in this case), and return of the function values in
a single array (fx, lines 20-23 in Table 3). The
variable values are put back into variables with
the same names as used in the POLYMATH
model (lines 2-5) to make the MATLAB code
more meaningful. POLYMATH orders the
basic model equations sequentially as required
by MATLAB and converts any needed intrinsic
functions and logical expressions.
Convenient parametric runs can be made for
various values of the feed flow rate (F1), and
this variable can be added as an input parameter
to the MNLEfun function (Table 3). A main
program can be prepared that changes the value
of F1, solves the system of nonlinear equations,
collects the pertinent data, and plots the results of
the parametric runs. Part of this main program is
shown in Table 4. The value of F1 is changed starting at F1 = 0.1 up to F1 = 0.25 with steps of 0.01.
The MATLAB library function fsolve is used to
solve the system of algebraic equations as shown
in line 7 of Table 4. The variable values needed
for preparing the various plots are calculated and
stored in lines 8 through 10.
Excel[8] can also be used for carrying out the parametric runs efficiently. The model can be automatically
exported from POLYMATH to Excel with a single key
press. Part of the Excel worksheet as generated by
POLYMATH is shown in Table 5, where the variable
cell calculations are indicated. The variable names
are translated to cell addresses, a new equation that
calculates the sum of squares of the function values
is added, and the equations are rearranged in a form
that is appropriate for solving the equation using the
solver add-in available within Excel. The complete
worksheet with the solution obtained using solver is
shown in Table 6 (next page). The numerical results
are identical to those obtained by POLYMATH. The
variable names in column B, the POLYMATH equations in column D, and the variable descriptions in
column E provide complete documentation for the
Excel formulas in column C.
Solution of the system of equations using solver for
various values of F1 requires the creation of a macro
or a VBA (Visual Basic for Applications[8]) program. A
plot of S1, X1, and P1 as functions of the dilution rate is
shown in Figure 2, and the cell and product production
rates are plotted in Figure 3. Maximum points for the
two production rates in the vicinity of D = 0.1 hr-1 can
be observed in this figure. A more precise determination
of the maximum is discussed in the next section.
Maximization of the Production Rates by
Solving an SMMA Problem
The two optimization problems can be posed as the
following minimization problems:
min DX1 and min DP1 where D = F1 / V1
F1
F1
(The minus signs in front

of DX1 and DP1 are used
to convert the maximization problems into minimization problems).
The calculation of D,
X1, and P1 associated with
a particular value of F1
involves the solution of
a system of NLEs, while
a minimization algorithm
is required in order to find
the values of F1 that satisfy Eq. (1). This is a single
model (the chemostat)
and multiple algorithms
(one for solution of NLEs
and one for minimization)
problem.
(6)
0.35
0.3
S1
X1
P1
0.25
0.2
0.15
0.1
0.05
0.05
0.06
0.07
0.08
0.09
0.1
0.11
0.12
0.13
Dilution Rate (D)
Figure 2. Plot of S1, X1, and P1 as functions of dilution rate.

0.016
PR_DX1
PR_DP1
0.014
0.012
0.01
0.008
0.006
0.004
0.05
0.06
0.07
0.08
0.09
0.1
0.11
0.12
0.13
Dilution Rate (D)
Figure 3. Cell production rate (PR_DX1) and product production

Rate (PR_DP1) as functions of dilution rate.
Table 5
POLYMATH Model of the Chemostat Exported to Excel with Display Formulas Option.
247
The MATLAB library function fminbnd for

single-value minimization can be used for
finding the minimum of the functions in Eq.
(1). In order to carry out the minimization, two
new functions should be prepared. The first
one (shown in Table 7) obtains F1 as input,
uses the fsolve library function to solve the
chemostat model, and returns DX1 to the
calling function. The second function does the
same except that it returns the value of DP1.
Two calls to the library function fminbnd
identify the highest production rate for cells
DX1 = 0.0142 g/hr at a dilution rate of D =
0.0986 hr-1 and the highest production rate for
product DP1 = 0.00727 g/hr at a dilution rate
of D = 0.0979 hr-1.
Table 6
Excel Worksheet with Numerical Results and Documentation

for the Chemostat Problem.
Conclusions
The example presented here provides an

opportunity to practice several aspects of
modeling and computation:
Modeling of a bio-reactor and imperfect

mixing.
Categorizing problems according to the
number of models and number of algorithms
involved.
Solving SMSA problems with a software
package.
Using Excel (VBA) or MATLAB programming for parametric runs of SMSA problems.
Using MATLAB programming for solving
SMMA problems.
We suggest that a combination of three

popular packages POLYMATH, Excel, and
MATLABenables the solution of problems of
increasing complexity in the educational setting.
The example presented is suitable for courses
in chemical reaction engineering, biochemical
engineering, numerical methods, and optimization.
Table 7
A Function for Calculating the Cell Production Rate

for a Single Value of F1
No.
Equation % Comment
function PR_DX=ProdRateCell(F1) %Cell production rate (g/hr)
V1 = 1.7; %Volume V1 (dm^3)
V2 = 0.3; %Volume V2 (dm^3)
xguess = [0 0 0.025 0.025]; %initial guess vector
options = optimset(Diagnostics,[off],TolFun,[1e-9],TolX,[1e-9]);
xsolv=fsolve(@MNLEfun,xguess,options,F1);
X1=xsolv(3); %Cell concentration in volume V1 (g/dm^3)
D = F1 / (V1 + V2); %Dilution rate (1/hr)
PR_DX = -D* X1; %Cell production rate (g/hr)
The POLYMATH and MATLAB programs used in this

study are available at the site <ftp://ftp.bgu.ac.il/shacham/
chemostat/>.
References
1. Cutlip, M., J.J. Hwalek, H.E. Nuttall, M. Shacham, J. Brule, J. Widman,

T. Han, B. Finlayson, E.M. Rosen, and R. Taylor, A Collection of 10
Numerical Problems in Chemical Engineering Solved by Various Mathematical Software Packages, Computer Applications in Engineering
Education, 6, 169 (1998)
2. Shacham, M., and M.B. Cutlip, Selecting the Appropriate Numerical
Software for a Chemical Engineering Course, Computers and Chemi-
248
cal Engineering, 23(suppl.), S645 (1999)

3. Fogler, H.S., Elements of Chemical Reaction Engineering, 4th Ed,
Prentice-Hall, Upper Saddle River, New Jersey (2005)
4. Cutlip, M.B., and M. Shacham, Modular and Multilayer Modeling
Application to Biological Processes pp. 1019-1024 in V. Plesu and
P. S. Agaci (Editors), Proceedings of the 17th European Symposium
on Computer Aided Process Engineering, Elsevier (2007)
5. POLYMATH is a product of Polymath Software <http://www.polymath-software.com>.
6. MATLAB is a trademark of The Math Works, Inc. <http://www.mathworks.com>
7. Cutlip, M.B., and M. Shacham, Problem Solving in Chemical and
Biochemical Engineering with POLYMATH, Excel and MATLAB, 2nd
Ed., Prentice-Hall, Upper Saddle River, New Jersey (2008)
8. Visual Basic for Applications and Excel are trademarks of Microsoft
Corporation <http://www.microsoft.com> p

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EDITORIAL AND BUSINESS ADDRESS:

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Vol. 43, No. 3, Summer 2009

SPECIAL SECTION: AIChE CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION

187 Implementing Concepts of Pharmaceutical Engineering Into High School

225 NANOLAB at The University of Texas at Austin: A Model for Interdisciplinary

class and home problems

243 Biokinetic Modeling of Imperfect Mixing in a Chemostat: An Example of

of the University of Texas at Austin

Jennifer Sinclair Curtis

t is quite rare to encounter a person

Nicholas A. Peppas was born on Aug. 25, 1948, in Athens,

Knowing that he did not want to practice medicine, Nicholas

Chemical Engineering Education

and Knigsbergso this was a very

Nicholas continued with his balanced interests during his

Vol. 43, No. 3, Summer 2009

Purdue University: 1976 - 2002

Following his post-doctoral appointment at MIT, Nicholas

Above left, Nicholas as a second lieutenant in the Greek

Nicholas was hired at Purdue as an assistant professor

By 1982, Nicholas had been promoted to full professor and his

Chemical Engineering Education

Above, Nicholas poses with best buddy

in 1985 that provided a foundation from which to predict drug

In the early to mid 1980s, Nicholas recruited an exceptional

Vol. 43, No. 3, Summer 2009

The University of Texas at Austin:

During the 2002-03 academic year, Nicholas sought a change

At Texas he made the transition as smoothly and as rapidly

Since his move to Texas, the national and international

Over the course of his career, Nicholas has established

Nicholas, circulating amid the hundred guests at his

als, biomaterials, and pharmacy, while also being named a

Nicholass fundamental achievements have been translated

Nicholass research record obviously places him at the

engineers, pharmaceutical scientists, and especially industrial

In the classroom, he is a very animated teacher and his

In addition to authoring more than 20 educational papers,

Not only is Nicholas an excellent

ticipated in research projects supervised either directly by

Nicholass mentoring and connectedness with his students

Nicholas and LisaThe Dynamic Duo

Pride and joy: Nicholas with his children,

in chemical engineering at Purdue. They were married in 1988 after

Vol. 43, No. 3, Summer 2009

Nicholas and Andreas Acrivos (of CUNY), two of the

to the Institute at the time of her election) and a fellow

Opera Record Collector, and The Record Collector. He has

For history, his main interest is the Byzantine Empire based

A lifelong lover of opera, Nicholas poses outside

(Alexander), who is 5. Nicholas is very clearno matter what

Nicholas and Lisa have an active social life with many

Away from Work

Also among his collections is an assortment of silver

the University of Illinois

Edmund G. Seebauer, Paul J.A. Kenis, and Marina Miletic

The University of Illinois at