Presents the belief that the engineering laboratory is well suited to improving student communication skills as well as mathematical, creative, and manipulative skills. Outlines objectives, instructional strategies, and methods of evaluation. (GS)

Reports on some objective data and presents some subjective conclusions on the use of self-paced instruction in an experimental electrical engineering course. Outlines some of the problems involved in the development of self-paced materials and identifies several demotivating factors associated with their use. (GS)

Describes changing methods in engineering instruction including efforts to: (1) increase opportunities for continuing education, (2) make instruction at all levels more responsive to the needs and abilities of individual students, and (3) educate engineers about the social consequences of their work. (Author/GS)

The question addressed here is how to integrate computational tools, namely interactive general-purpose platforms, in the teaching of process units. Mathematica has been selected as a complementary tool to teach distillation processes, with the main objective of leading students to achieve a better understanding of the physical phenomena involved…

A reaction kinetics experiment for the chemical engineering undergraduate laboratory course was developed in which in-situ Fourier Transfer Infrared spectroscopy was used to measure reactant and product concentrations. The kinetics of the hydrolysis of acetic anhydride was determined by experiments carried out in a batch reactor. The results…

An established methodology involving the sequential presentation of five skills on ASPEN Plus to undergraduate seniors majoring in ChE is presented in this document: (1) specifying unit operations; (2) manipulating physical properties; (3) accessing variables; (4) specifying nonstandard components; and (5) applying advanced features. This…

An activity of a high school drafting program using civil drafting (road construction) as part of the instructional program is described. (BP)

Recent years have seen widespread adoption of automatic grading of physics homework problems. Although first-generation homework management systems provide feedback and assign scores based only on the answers, problem-solving performance on exams seems to be no worse for students using these systems than for those who receive detailed comments…

A graduate-level computational chemistry course was designed and developed and carried out in the Department of Chemical Engineering at Worcester Polytechnic Institute in the Fall of 2005. The thrust of the course was a reaction assignment that led students through a series of steps, beginning with energetic predictions based upon fundamental…

The demonstration of a simple viscosity experiment for high school classes was conducted and assessed. The purpose of the demonstration was to elicit the interest of high school juniors and seniors in the field of chemical engineering. The demonstration consisted of a discussion on both engineering and the concept of viscosity as well as a…

For many engineers, writing skills have proven to be almost as important as technical background. Many prominent engineers have found that writing often consumes one-fourth of their time; they are expected to submit reports and proposals and give presentations. Many engineering schools now require either additional writing courses or integrate…

Minorities are a growing proportion of Americans, and the nation can no longer afford to leave any fraction of its population uneducated and unable to participate in a wide variety of professional fields and to function appropriately as taxpaying citizens. This paper examines present minority participation in engineering and science through the…

This statistical report summarizes data on enrollment and graduation of minority students in engineering degree programs from 1974 to 1985. First, an introduction identifies major trends and briefly describes the Incentive Grants Program (IGP), the nation's largest privately supported source of scholarship funds available to minority engineering…