Cross Curricular Topic Inventory: Strategic Topic Placement And Resulting Student Accountability
- Conference
- Location
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Austin, Texas
- Publication Date
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June 14, 2009
- Start Date
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June 14, 2009
- End Date
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June 17, 2009
- ISSN
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2153-5965
- Conference Session
- Tagged Division
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Chemical Engineering
- Page Count
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20
- Page Numbers
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14.387.1 - 14.387.20
- DOI
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10.18260/1-2--5759
- Permanent URL
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https://strategy.asee.org/5759
- Download Count
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645
Paper Authors
Adrienne Minerick Mississippi State University
Adrienne Minerick is an Assistant Professor of Chemical Engineering at Mississippi State University. She received her PhD and M.S. from the University of Notre Dame and B.S. from Michigan Technological University. Since joining MSU, Dr. Minerick has taught the graduate Chemical Engineering Math, Process Controls, Introduction to Chemical Engineering Freshman Seminar, Heat Transfer, and Analytical Microdevice Technology courses. In addition, she is an NSF CAREER Awardee, has served as co-PI on an NSF REU site, PI on grants from NSF and DOE, and is the faculty advisor for MSU’s chapter of the National Organization for the Professional Advancement of Black Chemists and Chemical Engineers (NOBCChE). Her research is in medical microdevice diagnostics & dielectrophoresis.
Keisha Walters Mississippi State University
Keisha Walters is currently an Assistant Professor of Chemical Engineering at Mississippi State University. She earned her Ph.D. and M.S. degrees in Chemical Engineering from Clemson University in 2005 and 2001, respectively. She also holds a BS degree in Biological Sciences from Clemson. Since joining MSU in 2005, she has taught the undergraduate and graduate Transport Phenomena, Heat Transfer, and Advanced Polymeric and Multicomponent Materials courses. Her funding includes NSF and DOE and she received the Ralph E. Powe Junior Faculty Enhancement Award in 2006. Central to her research in polymer and surface engineering is the design and synthesis of molecules with well-defined chemical functionality and molecular architecture with current projects on stimuli-responsive and biomass-based polymeric materials.
Bill Elmore Mississippi State University
Bill Elmore, Ph.D., P.E., is Associate Professor and Hunter Henry Chair, Mississippi State University. His teaching areas include the integrated freshman engineering and courses throughout the chemical engineering curriculum including unit operations laboratories and reactor design. His current research activities include engineering educational reform, enzyme-based catalytic reactions in micro-scale reactor systems, and bioengineering applied to renewable fuels and chemicals.
Rebecca Toghiani Mississippi State University
Dr. Rebecca K. Toghiani is an Associate Professor of Chemical Engineering at MSU. She received the 1996 Dow Outstanding New Faculty Award and the 2005 Outstanding Teaching Award from the ASEE Southeastern Section. A Grisham Master Teacher at MSU, she is an inaugural member of the Bagley College of Engineering Academy of Distinguished Teachers. She has also been recognized at MSU with the 2001 Outstanding Faculty Woman Award, a 2001 Hearin Professor of Engineering Award, and the 1999 College of Engineering Outstanding Engineering Educator Award.
Rafael Hernandez
Rafael Hernandez is an Assistant Professor of Chemical Engineering. He has a BS (1993) and MS (1995) in chemical engineering from the University of Puerto Rico, Mayaguez, and a PhD (2002) in chemical engineering from Mississippi State University (MSU), Mississippi State, MS. He worked for the US Army Corp of Engineers Engineering Research and Development Center on the development, design, and implementation of groundwater treatment technologies. His research interests are the development of technologies for the remediation of contaminated media and the development of non-traditional feedstocks for producing biofuels. Dr. Hernandez has over 80 technical presentations at state and national conferences and over 15 peer reviewed publications. He is the principal investigator on projects funded by the Department of Energy, the Environmental Protection Agency, and private industries.
Priscilla Hill Mississippi State University
Dr. Priscilla Hill is an Associate Professor in the Dave C. Swalm School of Chemical Engineering at MSU. She earned her B.S. and M.S. degrees in chemical engineering from Clemson University in 1982 and 1984, respectively; and her Ph.D. from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst in 1996. While at MSU she has taught the graduate level chemical engineering thermodynamics course and various undergraduate core courses including Process Design, Plant Design, Mass Transfer, and Thermo II. As a result of receiving an NSF CAREER award in 2005, she developed a split level elective course in particle and crystallization technology. Her research interests include crystallization, particle technology, population balances, and process synthesis of solids processes.
Hossein Toghiani Mississippi State University
Dr. Hossein Toghiani is an Associate Professor of Chemical Engineering. He received his B.S.Ch.E, M.S.Ch.E and Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Missouri-Columbia. A member of the Bagley College of Engineering Academy of Distinguished Teachers, Dr. Toghiani has taught a variety of courses at MSU, including Process Control, Transport Phenomena, Reactor Design, both Unit Operations Laboratories and graduate courses in Advanced Thermodynamics, Transport Phenomena and Chemical Kinetics. He is the faculty advisor for the student chapter of the Society of Plastics Engineers. His research in the areas of catalysis, fuel cells and nanocomposite materials is supported by DOE, DOD, and TARDEC.
Todd French Mississippi State University
Dr. Todd French is an assistant professor in the Dave C. Swlam School of Chemical Engineering. Dr. French received a B.S. from the University of Louisiana Monroe in microbiology. He completed an M.S. at Mississippi State University while working at US Corp of Engineer’s Engineering Research and Development Center located at Vicksburg MS. Following the completion of his Ph.D., Dr. French was hired into the School of Chemical Engineering to collaborate on biofuels research efforts. Converting lignocellulosic sugars into microbial fats is the main focus of his research activities. Dr. French to date has been responsible for teaching Freshman Seminar, Mass and Energy Balances, and Industrial Microbiology.
Abstract
NOTE: The first page of text has been automatically extracted and included below in lieu of an abstract
Cross-Curricular Topic Inventory: Strategic Topic Placement for Concept Reinforcement and Enhanced Student Accountability Adrienne R. Minerick, Keisha B. Walters, Bill B. Elmore, Rebecca Toghiani, Priscilla Hill, Rafael Hernandez, Hossein Toghiani, Todd French
Abstract Every 5 to 10 years, as faculty members transition in and out of a department, it can be beneficial for the faculty as a whole to periodically re-examine material coverage and placement in their curriculum topic by topic. This effort is usually performed in concert with preparations for ABET accreditation every six years, but the focus is generally on demonstration that the entire curriculum satisfies ABET requirements rather than a specific focus on the structure and placement of curricular topics amongst specific courses. This approach, with its inherent compartmentalization among courses, can mask unnecessary overlap or duplication between courses, can fail to reveal additional opportunities for horizontal and vertical concept reinforcement, and if not done properly, adequate content coverage can be difficult to confirm through such an effort. As an alternative, this paper describes an effort to conduct an inventory of specific concepts and skills that form the foundation for many chemical engineering courses. The goal of this ongoing effort is to identify each point in our program where these concepts are currently being taught, identify duplication, and then realign concepts/topics within courses in the curriculum (if necessary) to ensure that students possess and master the necessary skills/tools as they advance through our undergraduate curriculum. The advantage of the entire faculty participating in the effort is that each becomes familiar with the concepts/topics typically covered in courses which they may not have had the opportunity to teach yet. Strategic placement can provide timely reinforcement of key concepts in concurrent or sequential courses, remove duplication and repetition of concepts, and offer a means to expand course content to incorporate new technologies and topics of interest to the ever changing chemical engineering profession. Elimination of redundancy enables professors to cover concepts previously eliminated due to program credit hour reductions. By discussing topic coverage and timing within a course, faculty can incorporate material in other courses that builds upon or reinforces these concepts. Concurrent with this effort was a consensus among the faculty to instill in our students the value of conceptual understanding and material retention as essential elements of learning both as part of their degree program and life-long learning. An additional benefit of this learning philosophy is the ability of students to be functionally literate in core concepts and use them appropriately in later courses with little or no review. In this paper, the authors will describe our department’s effort to review course topics and concepts to identify duplication among courses, and to strategically arrange concepts and skill development within our existing course structure to reduce redundancy as well as maximize student proficiency and knowledge as they matriculate through our undergraduate program.
Introduction Our department, which is comprised of 12 faculty members, has experienced substantial change over the last 7 years including the addition of 6 junior faculty and 2 established faculty from other institutions, multiple retirements, and 2 promotions to administrative positions. Concurrent with these changes, the department underwent two reductions in total credit hours from an original 138 credit hour curriculum to the current 128-hour curriculum. The length of the
2009 ASEE National Conference 1
Minerick, A., & Walters, K., & Elmore, B., & Toghiani, R., & Hernandez, R., & Hill, P., & Toghiani, H., & French, T. (2009, June), Cross Curricular Topic Inventory: Strategic Topic Placement And Resulting Student Accountability Paper presented at 2009 Annual Conference & Exposition, Austin, Texas. 10.18260/1-2--5759
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