(459e) Student Assessment Results of Incorporating Multidisciplinary Industrial Design Problems in the Chemical Engineering Curriculum

Recently the students and faculty from the Chemical and Materials Engineering Department at the University of Kentucky Paducah Extended Campus have entered into a partnership with a local specialty chemical company to develop student design problems that not only provide a benefit to the company at minimal cost but are multidisciplinary in nature and can be taken on by student groups in the sophomore, junior and senior classes. Although this partnership would appear to be an obvious benefit to students, a detailed assessment survey has been completed by student participants to gauge their perceived benefits from participation. Additionally, the survey has been used to allow the students to self assess their knowledge of industrial projects before participating and how their perceptions and knowledge have changed after participating. This contribution will present an overview of the organization of and the deliverables from these projects as well as the results of the student assessment survey.

A typical road block to incorporating industrial design projects outside the capstone course is that prior to this course, students simply don't have the experience to contribute to a real world industrial design problem. The assessment included with these projects will provide data on the students' own perception of their readiness to participate in such projects, both prior to participating and after participating in one or more project cycles. In addition to the assessment results, anecdotal reports from the students participating in the project will be included. Furthermore, the specific challenges of organizing multidisciplinary teams involving students at different academic levels as well a different faculty members will be addressed based on recent experience with these projects.