(32h) A Lecture, Demonstration, and Simulation to Teach Chemical Process Control Basics to High School STEM Instructors

Recent data from the NSF and other agencies indicate declining interest in science and engineering at the high school level. The growth of undergraduate engineering degrees is almost a third of the level of growth of employment in science and engineering. Additionally, one quarter of the engineering degree holders in the labor force are over 50 years old. There is clearly a need to increase the number of quality engineers trained by colleges and universities in the United States swiftly, but this goal is intractable without a significant resurgence of enthusiasm in the fields of science, engineering, technology, and mathematics (STEM).

The NSF GK-12 program creates relationships between higher learning institutions and surrounding area high schools. Participating high school STEM instructors are paired with a graduate student to work in the classroom, create curricula, and spark interest in STEM undergraduate majors and careers. The graduate fellows are also tasked with exposing the students to their research and other campus facilities. In addition to direct interaction of graduate fellows and high school students, the program goals include fostering the teaching skills of the graduate with fellows with meetings and workshops. Another tenet of the program is acquaint the high school teachers with graduate research and provide them the opportunity to work alongside a graduate fellow in the laboratory.

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) has ten NSF GK-12 fellows from various departments working with teachers at six Albany, NY area high schools. To introduce all the teachers to all the research of the fellows, RPI is hosting a four-day immersion with two three-hour sessions daily for the fellows to provide a tour, give a demo, lead an activity, etc. This paper will detail the session led by fellow Dale Weber introducing chemical process control theory with a demonstration in the Chemical Engineering Senior Laboratory and a simulated experiment that can be taken back into the STEM classroom by the teachers.