(213c) "10.801: Project Management and Problem Solving in Academia and Industry" ? a New Course for MIT Graduate Students in Chemical Engineering Practice

At the core of MIT's long-established Master of Science in Chemical Engineering Practice (M.S.CEP) program are four one-month projects at the field stations under the direction of resident MIT Practice School Station Directors. Over the years, the directors have observed that students often have difficult absorbing certain educational material on project management and problem solving while simultaneously attempting to successfully complete their projects. Hence, we identified an opportunity to teach the students these "soft skills" back on campus in a brand-new course, 10.801. The course was put together during the year of 2020 by a team of eight instructors consisting of faculty, Station Directors, and industry professionals. We organized a pilot run of the course in January 2021 during the Independent Activities Period (IAP) at MIT, with 13 students attending remotely. Topics covered included: career development, project management, library resources, integrated problem solving, project economics, safety, time management, and professional behavior. We hope to accommodate a greater number of students in the second run of 10.801 in January 2022 by moving toward a blended instruction paradigm consisting of both asynchronous and synchronous learning activities. The asynchronous contents produced could also eventually lead to a Massive Open Online Course for broader use by the chemical engineering community.