A Blended Textbook-Free Chemical and Biochemical Process Safety Class

Abstract

The Chemical Engineering Department of Missouri S&T has taught a chemical process safety class for more than twenty years. However, students pursuing a biochemical engineering emphasis program were not required to take that class. The department started a new curriculum two years ago that include a safety class for everyone. A new class was developed that includes elements of both chemical and biochemical process safety. There are several unique features of the new class that I would like to share: 1) it is offered in blended mode with two in class meetings per week followed by a series of online discussions; 2) it uses one of the design projects in senior design as a case study. Therefore, the material covered in class as well as the topics of the discussions are concentrated on a particular process; 3) a textbook is not required or recommended. Instead, the students use primary sources as well as information freely available on line published by various companies; and 4) this is a communications intensive class. The discussions are used to both improve the written communication skills of the students as well as to dig deep into a selected number of topics covering both chemical and biochemical processes. The discussions start with a brief posting about a manuscript that the students are asked to read. That is followed by a discussion that uses several prompts developed by the instructor. Student participation in the discussions have been excellent, providing valuable information to the class as well as to the instructor.

Meeting Name

Education Division 2018 - Core Programming Area at the 2018 AIChE Annual Meeting (2018: Oct. 28-Nov. 2, Pittsburgh, PA)

Department(s)

Chemical and Biochemical Engineering

Keywords and Phrases

Biochemistry; Safety engineering; Textbooks, Biochemical process; Chemical engineering department; Chemical process safety; Design projects; Online discussions; Primary sources; Student participation; Written communication skills, Students

International Standard Book Number (ISBN)

978-151087629-3

Document Type

Article - Conference proceedings

Document Version

Citation

File Type

text

Language(s)

English

Rights

© 2018 American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE), All rights reserved.

Publication Date

01 Nov 2018

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