2024 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

How We Teach: Chemical Engineering Electives

Presented at Perspectives in Chemical Engineering Education

The AIChE Education Division’s Survey Committee covered elective course offerings in chemical engineering departments in the US and Canada in the Fall 2023 survey. Results are available from 70 respondents at 69 institutions. Medians are presented here, and the mode is mentioned if it is different from the median. Institutions require that their students take two chemical engineering elective courses, one outside-of-department technical elective (mode of zero), and four total technical electives. Undergraduate-only institutions (N = 5) offer a median of 8 chemical engineering elective courses over a two-year period, with a range of 2 to 28 courses. Over the same time frame, departments with graduate programs offer a median of 3 elective courses to just undergraduate students (mode = 2), 4 elective courses to undergraduates that graduate students may take (mode = 0), and 6 graduate courses that undergraduates may take as electives (mode = 0). Elective class sizes are small, with 44% of institutions reporting a typical enrollment of under 15 undergraduate students per course and 50% reporting 15 – 30 undergraduate students per course. In the past ten years, 17% of departments have converted a required course to an elective. These now-electives were most often required bioprocessing, advanced chemistry, or molecular engineering courses. More departments, 26%, reclassified technical electives as required courses in the past ten years. These now-required courses were usually process safety, programming, or statistics elective courses. Bio-, energy-, and materials-type electives were offered at over three-quarters of departments. Advanced-core and sustainability electives were the next most popular, at 60% of institutions. Process-type electives were offered in 47% of departments. In the past ten years, almost all departments created a new technical elective that has been regularly offered. Bio-type electives were the most common new elective, followed by process-type electives. Data analysis, data science, and process simulation & modeling were the only emerging topics to be covered in an elective course at half or more of the departments. Details about course titles, electives with laboratory components, minors & concentrations, and common out-of-department electives are provided in the proceedings. Comparisons were made to the results from previous surveys when possible.

Authors

Dr. Laura P. Ford http://orcid.org/0009-0002-3585-1879 The University of Tulsa [biography]

Laura P. Ford is an Associate Professor of Chemical Engineering at the University of Tulsa. She teaches process control and chemical engineering senior labs. She advises research in the delayed coking refinery process and TU's Engineers Without Borders - USA chapter.
Dr. Janie Brennan Washington University in St. Louis [biography]

Janie Brennan is a Senior Lecturer of Energy, Environmental and Chemical Engineering at Washington University in St. Louis. She earned her BS in Agricultural and Biological Engineering from Purdue University in 2010, and her Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering (also from Purdue) in 2015. She teaches several core engineering courses, including thermodynamics, separations, unit operations lab, and zymurgy, and her research has focused on understanding best practices for teaching and learning in these courses.
Dr. Heather Chenette Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology [biography]

Heather Chenette is an Associate Professor of Chemical Engineering at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology. Her professional interests include leveraging qualitative methods to understand and enhance student learning in the classroom and creating opportunities for students to learn about polymers, membrane materials, and bioseparation processes through research experiences.
Dr. Jennifer L. Cole http://orcid.org/0000-0001-7104-2986 Northwestern University [biography]

Jennifer L. Cole is the Assistant Chair in Chemical and Biological Engineering in the Robert R. McCormick School of Engineering and the Director of the Northwestern Center for Engineering Education Research at Northwestern University.
Dr. Kevin D. Dahm Rowan University [biography]

Kevin Dahm is a Professor and Undergraduate Program Chair of Chemical Engineering at Rowan University. He earned his BS from Worcester Polytechnic Institute (92) and his PhD from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (98). He has published two books, "Fundamentals of Chemical Engineering Thermodynamics" with Donald Visco and "Interpreting Diffuse Reflectance and Transmittance" with his father Donald Dahm.
Dr. David L. Silverstein P.E. http://orcid.org/0000-0003-3221-7565 University of Kentucky [biography]

David L. Silverstein is a Professor of Chemical Engineering at the University of Kentucky where he has taught since 1999. He received his BSChE from the University of Alabama and his MS and PhD in chemical engineering from Vanderbilt University. Silverstein’s research interests include conceptual learning tools and training with a special interest in faculty development. He has received the following ASEE ChE Division awards: Fahien for young faculty teaching and educational scholarship, Corcoran for best CEE article (thrice), and Martin for best ChE Division paper at the ASEE Annual Meeting.
Dr. Stephen Ward Thiel P.E. http://orcid.org/0000-0002-6797-7225 University of Cincinnati [biography]

Stephen Thiel is a Professor-Educator in the Chemical Engineering program at the University of Cincinnati (UC). He received his BS in Chemical Engineering from Virginia Tech, and his MS and PhD in Chemical Engineering from the University of Texas at Austin. His past research has focused on membrane science, adsorption, and ion exchange. He currently serves as the Chemical Engineering Undergraduate Program Director at UC and teaches the capstone process design sequence. He is a licensed Professional Engineer in the State of Ohio.

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