New Directions for Chemical Engineering (2022) / Chapter Skim
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9 Training and Fostering the Next Generation of Chemical Engineers
9 Training and Fostering the Next Generation of Chemical Engineers
Pages 226-252
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From page 226... ...
The chemical engineering curriculum today provides a robust foundation of tools and practices founded in an understanding of systems and molecular-level phenomena, including fundamental concepts of mass and energy balances, transport phenomena, thermodynamics, reaction engineering, control, and separations. Although the core subjects of the curriculum were first built around manufacturing processes, primarily petrochemical, they can be applied in most fields and professions.
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From page 227... ...
This chapter examines the current state of chemical engineering education, including the broader context of the existing academic education model (Box 9-1) and the value of the current undergraduate core curriculum.
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From page 228... ...
Undergraduate programs collectively receive more than $100 billion in tuition and state support for public institutions, and produce about 2 million college graduates each year (Atkinson, 2018; Kastner, 2018; NCES, 2021; NCSES, 2020; The Pew Charitable Trusts, 2019)
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From page 229... ...
THE UNDERGRADUATE CORE CURRICULUM Throughout its history, chemical engineering has been defined as a profession by its core undergraduate curriculum, a curriculum that has for more than a century prevented the "spalling of the profession" (p. 573, Scriven, 1991)
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From page 230... ...
The examples used in transmitting this knowledge and applying it in practice have changed and will continue to do so as chemical engineering finds new applications, even as the foundations have acquired additional complexity through mathematical dexterity fueled by transformational changes in computing power, as well as greater breadth through the growth of the biochemical aspects of the discipline. The core undergraduate curriculum provides a problem-solving approach to the mastery of concepts in the dynamics and thermodynamics of physical and chemical processes, with a historical evolution from the physical to the chemical; most recently to the biochemical and electrochemical, and at present, toward the photochemical realm.
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From page 231... ...
Data science and statistics may be delivered most effectively in a separate course embedded within the core curriculum and taught with specific emphasis on matters of chemistry and engineering. This latter course would also bring a greater emphasis on statistics in the modern context of larger datasets, more powerful computing, and models and methods that are more robust and of greater fidelity.
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From page 232... ...
In the committee's view, the core undergraduate curriculum is not the most effective vehicle for delivering the necessary foundational knowledge and skills in these areas. Elective courses, postgraduate training in specialized industrial settings, and lifelong learning through professional societies and relevant literature provide more effective routes for acquiring and sharpening these skills, and the application and sharpening of these ancillary skills can be made part of each core course, with emphasis on how they enable and enhance the technical contributions of chemical engineers.
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From page 233... ...
These earlier connections can be made, in the committee's view, by making the boundaries between the silos more porous, highlighting how the individual core concepts first presented within their respective silos ultimately merge into the practice of chemical engineering. Experiential Learning and a "Laboratory within Each Core Course" The dense nature of the core undergraduate curriculum leaves few openings for incorporating an additional hands-on laboratory course earlier in the curriculum.
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From page 234... ...
Bringing Mathematics and Statistics into the Core In most cases, students acquire the mathematical machinery of calculus, differential equations, and linear algebra in courses taught by college math departments or through advanced high school coursework. In such courses, they acquire limited (if any)
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From page 235... ...
The committee believes that training in mathematics and statistics needs to be brought into the core curriculum in a more structured manner, either complementing or replacing some of the education that currently occurs outside the core curriculum. This might take the form of a course in mathematical methods taught within chemical engineering departments focused on illustrating how analytical, numerical, and statistical methods are used in the context of the equations that emerge later within specific core courses.
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From page 236... ...
These types of biases persist, and after starts and stumbles with interventions designed to counter systemic barriers (NASEM, 2016) , work still remains to provide clear and inclusive pathways in STEM fields, including chemical engineering, for historically excluded groups.
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In short, if chemical engineering is to reach its full potential as a discipline and a major enabler of solutions for societal needs, it will need to address opportunity gaps and ensure that its educational, research, and professional environments support the success of everyone, regardless of their identity. FIGURE 9-3 Percentage of bachelor's, master's, and PhD degrees awarded to women in chemical engineering (ChemE)
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238 New Directions for Chemical Engineering FIGURE 9-4 Demographic breakdown of degrees awarded to chemical engineers by race: (a) bachelor's degrees, (b)
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Retention data disaggregated by discipline are not readily available, but based on the observations of members of this committee, such courses as the sophomore-level course in mass and energy balances in chemical engineering serve as additional gatekeepers. Those chemical engineers who are retained in the field play many roles in practice and face significant challenges in retaining relevance and excellence as the field evolves; they do so through diverse educational trajectories and with endpoints in industry, academia, and elsewhere.
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From page 240... ...
Beyond mentoring, systemic approaches to ensuring success for all individuals along the entire career path will ensure that chemical engineering remains equipped to attract, develop, and retain a diverse cadre of future chemical engineers. MAKING CHEMICAL ENGINEERING BROADLY ACCESSIBLE A long-running national dialogue about college affordability and the impact of student loan debt on the overall economy has recently become more visible.
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From page 241... ...
Further, because students at community colleges do not fulfill any major requirements, they do not form a peer support network with other chemical engineering majors. As a result, transfer students are asked to compress most of 3–4 years of chemical engineering curriculum into a 2-year period, and to do so without the same peer support or foundational experience in engineering enjoyed by their nontransfer peers.
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From page 242... ...
that does not require expensive or specialized equipment, as well as the development of virtual experiential learning experiences and courses that satisfy the chemical engineering degree requirements typically offered during the sophomore year. TEACHING UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS TODAY AND TOMORROW Delivery Methods In spring 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic caused almost all U.S.
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Curricular Content Evolution As discussed earlier in this chapter, the chemical engineering curriculum has in recent years sought to balance the goals of retaining core rigor (mathematical modeling, thermodynamics, kinetics, and design) and incorporating new important topics (most recently, biochemical engineering and data science)
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From page 244... ...
This trend is likely to be limited, however, by the relatively small size of chemical engineering departments and an inability to teach an entire undergraduate curriculum without the aid of sister departments on campus. Further, as discussed above, one major drive toward college affordability and diversity and inclusion is the broadening of a path for transfer students from lower-cost community colleges and students who change their majors.
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That material would include elements from the core subjects covered in the undergraduate curriculum but organized and delivered in a way that is easily accessible to postgraduate scientists or engineers. Interestingly, anecdotal evidence from the members of this committee indicates that while many chemical engineering graduate programs use undergraduate preparation in the field as a major gateway to admission, faculty of their own departments include many members whose training was in related disciplines.
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But how is genuine interest cultivated for those who did not know earlier about or did not have access to undergraduate research opportunities, or for those members of historically excluded groups who did have the chance to participate in such programs as the Research Experience for Undergraduates but are then not actively recruited to the host institutions? Another vehicle for graduate education that has until recently been largely missing from the graduate chemical engineering curriculum is internships in industry, government, or the nonprofit sector.
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From page 247... ...
The Google program engages more than 100 partner companies that also have positions available upon completion of the common certificate programs. The traditional higher education model is linear, with a student moving from K-12 to some amount of university education and then to work, and there are usually limited feedback loops and a lack of integration across the steps.
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From page 248... ...
Chemical engineers have an opportunity to lead innovation in STEM fields by building a model that emphasizes scalability as well as human connection. Scalability can come from online content that is curated jointly by companies and universities and made available for local use in the classroom, or from the use of standalone modules to address particular topics that are accessed entirely online.
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From page 249... ...
, is providing expanded opportunities for students with limited exposure to or understanding of possible market options. Building on studies of disruptive innovation provides a major opportunity to create new education models for histori cally excluded groups through partnerships among companies, community colleges, and histor ically Black colleges and universities.
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From page 250... ...
At the same time, experiential learning is important, and the majority of industrial and academic chemical engineers interviewed by the committee stressed the importance of internships and other practical experiences. However, far fewer internships are available than the number of students who would benefit from them, and the density of the core undergraduate curriculum leaves few openings for incorporating an additional hands-on laboratory course earlier in the curriculum.
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From page 251... ...
To provide more opportunities for BIPOC students, departments should consider redesigning their undergraduate curricula to allow students from 2-year colleges and those who change their major to chemical engineering to complete their degree without extending their time to degree, and provide the support structures necessary to ensure the retention and success of transfer students. Recommendation 9-4: To increase the recruitment of students from historically excluded communities into graduate programs, chemical engineering departments should consider revising their admissions criteria to remove barriers faced by, for example, students who attended less prestigious universities or did not participate in undergraduate research.
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From page 252... ...
252 New Directions for Chemical Engineering Recommendation 9-6: Universities, industry, federal funding agencies, and professional societies should jointly develop and convene a summit to bring together perspectives represented by existing practices across the ecosystem of stakeholders in chemical engineering professional development. Such a summit would explore the needs, barriers, and opportunities around creating a technology-enabled learning and innovation infrastructure for chemical engineering, extending from university education through to the workplace.
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