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Chemical Engineering Education EDITORIAL ADDRESS: Chemical Engineering Education Chemical Engineering Education c/o Department of Chemical Engineering Volume 45 Number 2 Spring 2011 723 Museum Road University of Florida • Gainesville, FL 32611 PHONE and FAX: 352-392-0861 DEPARTMENT e-mail: [email protected] 150 Chemical Engineering at The University of Houston EDITOR Michael P. Harold and Ramanan Krishnamoorti Tim Anderson CURRICULUM ® ASSOCIATE EDITOR 86 A Freshman Design Course Using Lego NXT Robotics Phillip C. Wankat Bill B. Elmore 101 Two-Compartment Pharmacokinetic Models for Chemical Engineers MANAGING EDITOR Kumud Kanneganti and Laurent Simon Lynn Heasley 126 Conservation of Life as a Unifying Theme for Process Safety in Chemical Engineering Education PROBLEM EDITOR James A. Klein and Richard A. Davis Daina Briedis, Michigan State LABORATORY LEARNING IN INDUSTRY EDITOR 93 Microfluidics Meets Dilute Solution Viscometry: An Undergraduate Lab William J. Koros, Georgia Institute of Technology to Determine Polymer Molecular Weight Using a Microviscometer Stephen J. Pety, Hang Lu, and Yonathan S. Thio PUBLICATIONS BOARD 106 Continuous and Batch Distillation in an Oldershaw Tray Column • CHAIR • Carlos M. Silva, Raquel V. Vaz, Ana S. Santiago, and Patrícia F. Lito C. Stewart Slater 120 A Semi-Batch Reactor Experiment for the Undergraduate Laboratory Rowan University Mario Derevjanik, Solmaz Badri, and Robert Barat • VICE CHAIR• 133 Combining Experiments and Simulation of Gas Absorption for Teaching Jennifer Curtis Mass Transfer Fundamentals: Removing CO2 from Air Using Water and University of Florida NAOH • PAST CHAIR • William M. Clark, Yaminah Z. Jackson, Michael T. Morin, and John O’Connell Giacomo P. Ferraro University of Virginia CLASSROOM • MEMBERS • 114 Active Learning in Fluid Mechanics: YouTube Tube Flow and Puzzling Pedro Arce Fluids Questions Tennessee Tech University Christine M. Hrenya Lisa Bullard North Carolina State RANDOM THOUGHTS Stephanie Farrell 131 Hang in There! Dealing with Student Resistance to Learner-Centered Rowan University Teaching Richard Felder Richard M. Felder North Carolina State Jim Henry CLASS AND HOME PROBLEMS University of Tennessee, Chattanooga 144 Optimization Problems Jason Keith Brian J. Anderson, Robin S. Hissam, Joseph A. Shaeiwitz, and Michigan Technological University Richard Turton Milo Koretsky Oregon State University OTHER CONTENTS Suzanne Kresta inside front cover Teaching Tip, Justin Nijdam and Patrick Jordan University of Alberta Steve LeBlanc 155 Book Reviews University of Toledo by Joseph Holles, Kimberly Henthorn Marcel Liauw Aachen Technical University CHEMICAL ENGINEERING EDUCATION (ISSN 0009-2479) is published quarterly by the Chemical Engi neering David Silverstein Division, American Society for Engineering Education, and is edited at the University of Florida. Cor respondence regarding editorial matter, circulation, and changes of address should be sent to CEE, Chemical Engineering Department, University University of Kentucky of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611-6005. Copyright © 2011 by the Chemical Engineering Division, American Society for Margot Vigeant 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 Bucknell University 120 days of pub lication. Write for information on subscription costs and for back copy costs and availability. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to business address: Chemical Engineering Education, PO Box 142097, Gainesville, FL 32614-2097. Periodicals Postage Paid at Gainesville, Florida, and additional post offices (USPS 101900). Vol. 45, No. 2, Spring 2011 85 ChE curriculum A FRESHMAN DESIGN COURSE USING LEGO NXT® ROBOTICS BILL B. ELMORE Mississippi State University • Mississippi State, MS 39762 ivil engineering majors have their concrete canoes and by moving Analysis to the freshman year—using it as a ve- steel bridges and the mechanical engineers have their hicle to incorporate teamwork, experimentation, and project solar cars. Certainly, the discipline of chemical engi- design into the early stages of our curriculum. Cneering is no less visual—we just cannot haul a skid-mounted process unit into the classroom (without raising administrative LEGO® ROBOTICS—FOR CHEMICAL eyebrows and inviting an immediate visit from the campus ENGINEERS? safety officer). What concrete, visible means do we have for The incorporation of problem-based or project-based learn- giving our students a clear picture of chemical engineering? ing strategies into the classroom has swept the educational Pursing K–12 outreach and teaching freshmen for a substantial scene from K–12[1-4] across multiple disciplines in higher part of my career, I’ve journeyed through a maze of options education.[5-7] LEGO® robotics kits have proven to be widely for trying to help students understand what chemical engineers adaptable to a variety of disciplines and learning styles in do in daily practice. Most attempts coalesced into a series engineering education. Building on the work of chemical of chemistry demonstrations accompanied by pictures of engineering educators such as Levien and Rochefort,[8] Moor chemical processing equipment—leaving my audience with and Piergiovanni,[9,10] and Jason Keith,[11] my students and I a conceptual gap between the two. began a journey in the Fall semester of 2006 to incorporate this In the Swalm School of Chemical Engineering at Mis- relatively inexpensive technology into the Analysis course. sissippi State University, the ideal opportunity to tackle At under $300 per base set, the LEGO NXT® robotics kit this problem came with the revision of a three-credit-hour, offers tremendous versatility for designing model engineer- junior-level course—Chemical Engineering Analysis and ing apparatus and processes in the classroom. With modest Simulation (hereafter referred to as Analysis). Originally additional cost for accessories (e.g., valves, tubing, tanks) designed to address the application of numerical methods to a number of units can be built to allow an entire class to be fundamental topics in chemical engineering, the course has pre-requisites that, over time, allowed a shift in class com- Bill Elmore is an associate professor of position to a mixture of underclassmen taking the course “on chemical engineering and the Interim Direc- time” and upperclassmen (typically co-op students) squeezing tor for the School of Chemical Engineering at Mississippi State University. Now in his in the course among other requisite courses. This led to an 22nd year of higher education, his focus is unsatisfactory pressure on the course content (i.e., too difficult primarily on engineering education and the integration of problem-based learning across for one set, too remedial for the other). A general curriculum the curriculum. review revealed an opportunity to strengthen our curriculum © Copyright ChE Division of ASEE 2011 86 Chemical Engineering Education actively involved in the same design project simultaneously creativity, and precautions to avoid spending an inordinate (in contrast to the traditional Unit Operations laboratory ap- amount of time on their robotics projects, teams of students proach relying on the rotation of student groups through a have consistently pushed the course content forward in subse- single experimental apparatus sequentially). Coupled with the quent semesters—demonstrating the value of a highly visual, LEGO NXT® kits, we chose a series of sensors from Vernier project-based approach to learning engineering fundamentals. (e.g., pH, temperature, dissolved oxygen) that interface with Through several iterations we have constructed projects more the robotics kits for monitoring processes and performing directly oriented to chemical engineering for illustrating the simple control schemes. A significant factor in choosing the importance of fundamental concepts including basic units LEGO NXT® robotics kits is the use of an intuitive graphical and measures, materials balances, and the fundamentals of interface for programming (based on National Instruments process control. Labview® software). This user-friendly programming in- terface removes the focus from programming and places it LEARNING OBJECTIVES AND OUTCOMES on the broader objectives of problem analysis and design of Table 1 describes the learning objectives and outcomes engineering processes. for the Analysis course. Defining a learning objective as a CHE 2213 Chemical Engineering Analysis is a required, specific, targeted description of acquired knowledge or skill three-credit-hour course, offered once per year in the second and a learning outcome as a broader response to particular semester of the freshman year (after a one-hour orientation situations requiring use of that acquired knowledge or skill, and before the sophomore-level Mass & Energy Balances these course objectives and outcomes are being affirmed over course). A large number of students entering the chemical time in coordination with our overall chemical engineering engineering program at Mississippi State University (MSU) program objectives. are community/junior college transfers from an extensive two-year college system throughout the state. Analysis is THE LEARNING ENVIRONMENT AND among the courses required for their first year at MSU. En- COURSE STRUCTURE rollment lies typically between 55-70 students. The course Offered Tuesdays and Thursdays for
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