(132b) Integrating a High-Throughput Screening Lab and Case-Studies into Product Design Courses

The School of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering at Georgia Tech has offered a Product Design, Engineering, and Optimization elective for the past three years. This talk will review the progress of this course at Georgia Tech, highlighting the original content, utilization of outside speakers and design projects. The talk will focus on two unique aspects of this course: industry-sponsored case studies and a high-throughput product screening lab experiment. Case-studies based on actual product releases were studied, including an in class product design simulation lead by Proctor & Gamble personnel. An experiment based on optimization of high-impact polystyrene was introduced to this course. The lab involves integrating experimental design, materials preparation, high-throughput mechanical testing, and analysis using statistical methods. In addition, the lab has been integrated with a virtual design tool, implemented in MATLAB, which allows students to practice experimental designs prior to performing the actual lab. Data from student's work, course registration, and student feedback are discussed.