2025 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

How We Teach: Transport Phenomena and Applications

Presented at Innovative Pedagogies and Assessment Strategies

The AIChE Education Division Course Survey Committee’s survey for Fall 2024 was transport phenomena and applications. Responses were received from 50 institutions in the United States and Canada for 94 different courses. Extra effort was made this year for Canadian responses because this year’s ASEE Annual Conference is in Montreal, and we received information about seven courses from three Canadian institutions.

On average, departments have 2.4 required courses in the transport and applications series. The first course is typically momentum transfer. The second course is usually heat (and mass) transfer, possibly with momentum transfer and/or separations added. (Heat and) mass transfer is the topic for the third course when there is one.

The results that follow are based on all courses lumped together, and results are broken out by term in the paper itself. The courses are primarily junior-year courses, with 22% in the sophomore year, 71% junior year, and 7% senior year. Only 11% of the transport and applications courses offered by chemical engineering departments are multi-disciplinary. Sixty percent of the courses incorporate computational/software modeling, with Excel used in 72% of those courses, MATLAB in 47%, and Aspen Plus and Python used in 29%. Non-computational experiential components are not nearly as common as computational activities. Only 40% of the courses include experimental labs, demonstrations, and/or plant tours. Instructor demonstrations and bench-scale student-led experiments are used in over half of these courses.

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 engineering science thermodynamics and fluid mechanics, separations/mass transfer, process control, and chemical engineering senior labs. She is an advisor for TU's student chapter of Engineers Without Borders - USA.
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. Her research is in chemical engineering education with a focus on process safety, lab instruction, and student engagement.
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. Matthew Cooper http://orcid.org/0000-0003-1060-4628 North Carolina State University at Raleigh [biography]

Dr. Matthew Cooper is a Teaching Professor in the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at North Carolina State University where he teaches courses in Senior Design, Unit Operations, Transport Phenomena, Thermodynamics and Material & Energy Balances.
Dr. Kevin D. Dahm Rowan University [biography]

Kevin Dahm is a Professor 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 Engineer
Dr. Luke Landherr http://orcid.org/0000-0001-9805-7336 Northeastern University [biography]

Dr. Lucas Landherr is a teaching professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering at Northeastern University, conducting research in comics and engineering education.
Dr. David L. Silverstein P.E. http://orcid.org/0000-0003-3221-7565 University of Mississippi [biography]

David L. Silverstein is a Professor of Chemical Engineering and Department Chair at the University of Mississippi. 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.
Dr. Troy J. Vogel University of Notre Dame [biography]

Troy Vogel is the Assistant Chair, the Director of Undergraduate Studies, and an Associate Teaching Professor in the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at the University of Notre Dame. He is the faculty advisor ND's student chapter of AIC
Jacqueline Gartner Ph.D. Campbell University [biography]

Jacqueline Gartner is founding faculty of Campbell University's hands-on, project based chemical engineering program. She both teaches chemical engineering for the middle years and conducts research on how to create interventions to help engineering students succeed and persist to graduation.

Note

The full paper will be available to logged in and registered conference attendees once the conference starts on June 22, 2025, and to all visitors after the conference ends on June 25, 2025

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