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AIChE’s SEF and Energy Initiatives Board Announce Undergraduate Competition

The AIChE’s Sustainable Engineering Forum and Energy Initiative Board announce a competition to promote energy education in K-12 schools for 2009. The program will pair teams of AIChE student chapters and an area K-12 school to work together to develop a hands-on learning activity that addresses curricular needs using energy concepts. $2,500 prizes will be awarded. Application materials are due December 1, 2009.

Each student group will develop a hands-on demonstration or experiment that illustrates an important concept in alternative energy, while also contributing to the K-12 curriculum learning objectives. The group, working in conjunction with an area school, must submit a proposal that describes the specific activity in enough detail so that it can be judged by a group of chemical engineering educators as to its effectiveness. 

Essential elements of the activity:

  • The project must demonstrate an important concept of alternate energy technology.
  • The activity must be hands-on.
  • An area K-12 school must be a named partner on the proposal.
  • The proposal must identify the specific learning outcomes to be achieved by the demonstration.
  • An assessment component must be included to evaluate the success of the program.

Rules and Regulations:

An assessment component is a required element of the project.  Project proposals are due by December 1.  Awards of $2,500 will be provided for those projects selected as most likely to succeed, to allow the group to purchase materials needed for the demonstration.  The project shall be completed in the school no later than May 1. 

The student group shall make a report of the project, including instructions on how to construct the demonstration/experiment, the curricular goals and outcomes, and a report of the success of the first implementation of the project. The report will be included on a web page for public access and dissemination to a broader audience. An oral presentation of the outcomes of each project may be requested as a part of the AIChE annual meeting.

To find our more about registering your school for this program, please email us at energy@aiche.org.  Only a discreet number of schools will be chosen due to limited funding.

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The program was piloted in 2008, and the three AIChE student chapter projects will be featured at the AIChE annual meeting in Nashville. Here are the 2008 Winners:

  • Oregon State University is working with Corvalis High School for production of biodiesel from waste cooking oil. This activity will also use the waste glycerin to make soap and possibly even to make a biodegradeable polymer.
  • UCLA, working with John Burroughs Middle School in Los Angeles and Mar Vista Central High School in Culver City, seeks to engage middle school and high school students in alternative energy technology and environmental education through a 4-series workshop.  The concept of the curriculum is to teach the consequences of using alternative energy.
  • Youngstown State University will partner with William S. Guy Middle School to develop a kit for the classroom teacher which contains all of the instructions and materials needed to carry out a student-run project in which the growth of algae for the capture of CO2 and later production of biodiesel is optimized.