I have a unique perspective on my job since I spent a decade in industry as a manager of engineers. Since leaving industry, my experiences in research and development have tempered my teaching perspective. In general, I believe engineering education must train the mind to think like an engineer by emphasizing:
1. The underlying scientific fundamentals
2. Reduction to practice
3. Professionalism
Engineering is more than a science; it is a profession. It is a holistic endeavor that incorporates aspects of community issues and ethics. An engineer must internalize, just as a physician or lawyer must, that his or her actions can have a profound impact on society. Just as with physicians and lawyers, society has the right to demand professional behavior from engineers. Therefore, it is part of academia's task to prepare good thinkers and good citizens.
The applied part of engineering's definition holds the students' interest; however, experience taught me that knowing only the solutions to the classic applied engineering problems handicaps innovation in the practice of engineering. Success comes from the knowledge of the fundamentals and methods of application. Therefore, my teaching starts with examples or applications followed by the general principles only after the students have induced the need for the fundamentals. For example in Energy Balances (ChE 308) I start one class by introducing the human lung as a mass transfer process unit. By the end of the class, the students calculate the physiological effects of extreme altitude changes (breathing rate, dehydration, and energy expenditure). Ideally this will spark a classroom discussion. Was the heat transfer an intentional or accidental design element for the human lung? What are good and bad assumptions? What is greater, heat loss from breathing or perspiration? These questions indicated engineering thinking. In the end, t he students see the fundamentals applied to a unique non-classical solution. They see the need to learn the fundamentals and not just the classical solution.
ChE 103/104 Introduction to Chemical Engineering I/II – Reverse Engineering a Chemical Engineering Process, Unit Analysis, and Spreadsheet Programming. Instructor Rating: 4 out of 5
ChE 308 Energy Balances – Engineering Problem Solving Strategies and applying the first law of thermodynamics. Instructor Rating: 4.5 out of 5
ChE 417 Separation Unit Operations - Equilibrium and Rate-Based systems. Instructor Rating: 4 out of 5
ChE 411 Senior Seminar – Speech and basic business communications. Survival advice for the world of Dilbert. Instructor Rating: 4 out of 5
ENGR 663 Environmental Organic Transport Phenomena. Using chemical equilibrium and transport to predict the fate of toxic chemicals in the natural environment. Instructor Rating: 5 out of 5
Courses Taught at the University of Colorado
Chemical Engineering Unit Operations Laboratory I; Spring, 1999
General Chemistry Laboratory; Fall, 1994