As future chemical engineers, it is important that students be able to identify and quantify sources of error. A statistical analysis technique that is often overlooked is hierarchical design methodology, which allows for the separation of overall variance into several related components. While hierarchical methodology is relevant to many fields,…

Engineering product design requires both technical aptitude and an understanding of the nontechnical requirements in the marketplace, economic or otherwise. Engineering education has long focused on the technical side of product design, but there is increasing demand for market-aware engineers in industry. Market-awareness and customer-focus are…

Textbooks are experiencing a 21st century makeover. The author has created a web-based electronic textbook, Material and Energy Balances zyBook, that records students' interactions. Animations and question sets create interactive and scaffolded content. The interactive format is adopted successfully in other engineering disciplines and is now…

We surveyed 342 first-year engineering students at four U.S. institutions interested in a chemical engineering career about their feelings of belonging in engineering, motivation, and STEM identities. We compared these students by both gender and race/ethnicity on these attitudinal factors. We found several significant differences in…

This study examined students' competencies in engineering education at the university level. First, we developed a competency model in one specific field of engineering: process dynamics and control. Then, the theoretical model was used as a frame to construct test items to measure students' competencies comprehensively. In the empirical…

Despite the instinctive perception of mass and heat transfer principles in daily life, productive learning in this course continues to be one of the greatest challenges for undergraduate students in chemical engineering. In an effort to enhance student learning in classroom, we initiated an innovative active-learning method titled…

We describe progress on a comprehensive, programmatic change initiative whose goal is to create an inclusive culture that fosters diversity and a shift towards more meaningful, consequential work. While this initiative has several elements that target different aspects of unit practices and culture, we focus here on pedagogical change. Our…

The aim of this study is to understand the motivating factors behind students' choices in their decision-making process and also get an insight on their perception of different engineering branches. A survey was prepared and the results were evaluated amongst 1163 answers. Two major influences on student's decision in their professional choices…

While importance of environmental ethics, as a component of sustainable development, in preparing engineers is widely acknowledged, little research has addressed chemical engineers' environmental concerns. This study aimed to address this void by exploring chemical engineering students' values regarding human-nature relationships. The study was…

Today's 21st century students are regarded as "digital natives," who are influenced by digital environments for acquisition of information, communication and interaction. With the emergence of new technologies, educators are encouraged to find meaningful ways of incorporating these technologies into their classrooms. The practice…

Roughly half of all doctoral students who begin a program do not continue through graduation, and many of them face significant financial losses and emotional burdens as a result. Although this completion rate has stayed fairly constant for the past few decades, it has recently gained attention on a national level. In 2011, the National Research…

This paper reports on a study carried out at a University of Technology, South Africa, aimed at identifying the existence of the mathematical knowledge gap and evaluating the intervention designed to bridge the knowledge gap amongst students studying first year mathematics at the Chemical Engineering Extended Curriculum Program (ECP). In this…

In order to interpret laboratory experimental data, undergraduate students are used to perform linear regression through linearized versions of nonlinear models. However, the use of linearized models can lead to statistically biased parameter estimates. Even so, it is not an easy task to introduce nonlinear regression and show for the students…

Several currently popular methods of ascertaining which treatment (population) means are different, via random samples obtained under each treatment, are briefly described and illustrated by evaluating catalyst performance in a chemical reactor.

A continuing challenge to the undergraduate chemical engineering curriculum is the time-effective incorporation and use of computer-based tools throughout the educational program. Computing skills in academia and industry require some proficiency in programming and effective use of software packages for solving 1) single-model, single-algorithm…