COLLEGE STATION, Texas, July 8, 2008 – When Jennifer Carvajal, a graduate student in the Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering at Texas A&M University, isn’t figuring out how to push around molecules, she’s leading the push for expanding chemical engineering education for undergraduates.
Specifically, Carvajal, whose area of study is molecular modeling and simulation, is working to ensure chemical engineering undergraduates are exposed to the relatively new and dynamic field of molecular modeling. It’s a field she believes stands to make an impact in a number of areas and one that needs to be incorporated into undergraduate curriculum.
Carvajal made her case recently at the 2008 American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE) Annual Conference & Exposition in Pittsburgh where she presented a paper titled “A Web-based Resource for Teaching Molecular Modeling and Simulation Methods in Chemical Engineering.”
The ASEE conference, which is dedicated to all disciplines of engineering and technology education, provided a three-day forum for more than 3,500 leaders in the field – including professors, deans, instructors and students – to present their research and interact with colleagues and industry counterparts.
Carvajal’s paper was part of a larger session at the conference that focused on integrating new courses and methods into the chemical engineering classroom. She was joined in the presentation by three members of the Texas A&M’s chemical engineering department: Professor Tahir Cagin, Senior Lecturer and Assistant Head for Upper Division Programs Lale Yurttas and Curriculum Renewal Specialist Larissa Pchenitchnaia.
The idea, Carvajal said, is to incorporate molecular modeling and simulation into chemical engineering curriculum at the undergraduate level. Molecular modeling refers to the methods and techniques employed in modeling or mimicking the behavior of molecules.
The techniques are used in the fields of computational chemistry, computational biology and materials science for studying molecular systems ranging from small chemical systems to large biological molecules and material assemblies.
With the potential to impact such vital and rapidly advancing areas as nanotechnology and biomedical science, molecular modeling should be a significant aspect of the chemical engineering undergraduate experience, Carvajal said.
Currently, that’s not the case, Carvajal explained – and not only at Texas A&M. At the majority of colleges and universities throughout the nation, molecular modeling is a subject generally reserved for graduate students, likely due to its highly technical nature. But Carvajal believes that undergraduates have something to offer and should be exposed to this burgeoning and dynamic field of study in hopes of attracting them to advanced studies in the discipline.
As part of her presentation, Carvajal advocated the use of Interlinked Curriculum Components (ICCs), which form the basis of the National Science Foundation’s Curriculum Renewal Project, being undertaken at Texas A&M. ICCs are Web-based resources that aid in teaching certain concepts. Some ICCs focus on specific application areas or skills while others focus on common concepts that span courses and application areas.
