Carlen Henington - US grants

Engineering - Chemical (53)
Process intensification encompasses a broad spectrum of activities focused on identifying fundamental limitations in a chemical production route and developing or combining processes to minimize resource utilization and optimize process quality. Process intensification is essential to industrial competitiveness as it can enhance safety, increase operating efficiency, lower energy usage, reduce capital costs, reduce waste emissions, and reduce process hazards. Improving processes by process intensification requires chemical engineers to integrate many fundamental concepts and go beyond traditional unit operations. Currently chemical engineers are taught how to develop a process by linking together standard unit operations, but are frequently not trained to synthesize fundamental concepts in new ways for novel and efficient process designs. Through this project, educational modules are being developed to provide the necessary foundation for process intensification through the introduction of key concepts and prototype applications. Four courses in chemical engineering are being transformed: Fluid Flow, Heat Transfer, Mass Transfer, and Chemical Reactor Design. This sequence of courses allows both early introduction and vertical integration of key process intensification concepts into the undergraduate chemical engineering curriculum. The modules are being rigorously assessed to determine their impact on student learning and the results are being broadly disseminated through papers, the Web, and workshops for chemical engineering faculty.

The primary goal of this Nanotechnology Undergraduate Education (NUE) in Engineering program at Mississippi State University (MSU), entitled "NUE: Multifunctional Nanostructures for Integrated Electrical, Chemical, Mechanical and Biological Applications: an Interdisciplinary Certificate Program", under the direction of Dr. Priscilla J. Hill, is to develop and implement an interdisciplinary Nanotechnology Certificate Program which will be a collaborative effort between the Colleges of Engineering and Arts & Sciences. Its development will be coordinated between 4 departments with existing course modification in 6 departments across the two Colleges. This exciting new educational approach builds upon the research collaborations of faculty in nanoparticle synthesis/characterization, nanowire fabrication/device development, nanoelectromagnetics, bio-nanomaterials, and nanomechanics.

Significant impact is anticipated with university/industry collaborations including technology commercialization and development of spin-off businesses. By equipping students with stronger interdisciplinary background in nanotechnology, this NUE will further promote MSU technology commercialization, helping to create new local employment opportunities and opportunities for student co-op/training.

This NUE in Engineering program entitled, "NUE: Multifunctional Nanostructures for Integrated Electrical, Chemical, Mechanical and Geological Applications: A Multidisciplinary Laboratory Education Program", at Mississippi State University (MSU), under the direction of Dr. Priscilla Hill, will be a collaborative effort between the Colleges of Engineering and Arts & Sciences. This exciting new educational approach builds upon the research collaborations of faculty in nanoparticle synthesis/characterization, nanowire fabrication/device development, nano-electromagnetics, geo-nanomaterials, and nanomechanics; and builds on a recently developed nanotechnology certificate program. This recently developed certificate program consists of lecture classes with little simulation or laboratory experience. The proposed laboratory education program will address these deficiencies by (a) developing a new laboratory course to accompany a recently developed nanotechnology-intensive lecture course, (b) developing simulation modules for four courses including two core courses and two nanotechnology-intensive courses, and (c) developing laboratory modules for six courses including two nanotechnology-intensive courses. The proposed program has strong support across two colleges and five departments and would be easily accessible for any MSU student enrolled in science or engineering (~5000 students). Professional audio/video documentation of the nanotechnology modules will help to recruit students into the program while fostering outreach through existing university mechanisms.

Undergraduate students will be excited about nanotechnology via professional audio/video materials, course content, laboratory experiments and projects and simulation projects. Outreach to K-12 students will be performed through the NanoClub. There will be active recruitment of students from underrepresented groups for this program. In addition, significant impact is anticipated with university/industry collaborations including technology commercialization and development of spin-off businesses. By equipping students with stronger interdisciplinary background in nanotechnology, this NUE will further promote MSU technology commercialization, helping to create new local employment opportunities and opportunities for student co-op/training.