(237a) Teaching Chemical Engineering with Coffee: Lessons Learned with 1,800 Students per Year

We describe a class developed at U.C. Davis titled "The Design of Coffee," which serves as a nonmathematical introduction to chemical engineering as illustrated by the process of roasting and brewing coffee. Hands-on coffee experiments demonstrate key engineering principles, including material balances, chemical kinetics, mass transfer, conservation of energy, and fluid mechanics.

The experiments lead to an engineering design competition where students strive to make the best tasting coffee using the least amount of energy - a classic engineering optimization problem, but one that is both fun and tasty. "The Design of Coffee" started as a freshmen seminar in 2013, and it has exploded in popularity: this academic year it is serving more than 1,800 students as the largest and most popular elective course at U.C. Davis.

In this talk we focus on the class pedagogy as applied to hands-on activities, with an emphasis on how coffee serves as an engaging and exciting topic for teaching large numbers of students about engineering design in an approachable, hands-on manner.