CHEM 150: Chemistry for EngineersCourse Goals:Analyze substances for physical and chemical properties that relate to their particular uses in engineering.5 credit hours; hybrid cohort model (times listed are CST); CN 4209-16206/30148; Satisfies KU Core Goals: GE3N / LFE / Ncontact blackboardsupport@ku.edu for Blackboard issues; Live class in BUD 120

Dr. Drew Vartiae-mail> vartia@ku.edu Zoom> https://kansas.zoom.us/j/379361019Typical correspondence hours 9 – 5, usually within a business day; unavailable weekends

Required:Computer Access: for submitting assignments, checking grades, working with

simulations, etc.; Free software through KU: Microsoft office, ChemDrawNo computer? No problem. Ask a KU librarian about a laptop or just plop down at a library computer.

Book/Homework Access: for reading and assignmentshttps://openstax.org/books/chemistry-atoms-first-2e/pages/preface

Laboratory goggles: Safety in the lab—super important!KU Chem Club *or* the KU Bookstore

Signals Laboratory Notebook:Free, online (Your TA will show you during your first online lab.)

Optional:Colored pencils: This is for thinking about molecules, individually and in collections. You’ll be drawing a lot this semester. It’s like learning and stress-relief at the same time! Well, maybe…

Dr. V is this guy, but picture himwith a really bad COVID buzz cut.Usually, he looks frowny; this picis as much as he smiles. That’s justhow he looks; he’s not unhappy. Ifyou see him out and about, sayhello! If he doesn’t respond, alsonote he’s a little hard of hearing.

Big Q: What Will This Course Look Like?LIVE LECTURE:You are allowed (not required) to participatelive once each week. If your schedule says“Tu…” and “BUD 120” on the same line, youcan attend a live class on Tuesdays (1 P.M.room BUD 120.) Similarly, if your schedulesays “Th…” and ”BUD 120” on the same line,you can attend live class on Thursdays at 1 inroom BUD 120.REMOTE LECTURE:You’ll work remotely on days that yourschedule indicates “ONLINE.” Additionally, allcourse materials will be available online. If forANY reason at ANY time you don’t want toattend class during your scheduled time, youcan participate remotely instead. We won’thave participation points, either; you won’tbe disadvantaged by online participation.

LIVE LAB:Lab is trickier. Your official KU scheduleindicates alternating weeks. The reality is abit more complicated. The lab schedule isposted to Blackboard under “ImportantCourse Info” in the document “LabBreakdown.” I’ll assign you a group—”K”or “U”—during the first week of class.(Labs start week two, so don’t panic!)REMOTE LAB:The document “Lab Breakdown” alsoindicates when you complete lab remotely.The blend of live and online formatsmeans we can have 12 of you in the lab ata time, considered a safe number.Additionally, if you can’t make yourschedule live lab, we have remotepossibilities for you as well.

LABORATORYLECTURE

REM

OTE

/ON

LIN

EIN

-PER

SON

/LIV

E

NOTE: Movement between live or online formats is at your discretion, whenever you need, as often as you need. You doNOT need my permission. However, I may be required to collect information about your format/location at any giventime for contact tracing or exposure risk purposes. If I ask for that information, you are NOT in trouble. Just help me out!

Stop Threats to Livelihood!(Conduct Info)

Disagree Respectfully

Take issue with ideas people present, not with the people

themselves, OK? Maintain that everyone is worthy of dignity,

whether or not you agree with them.

PracticeGood Netiquette

• Participate• Communicate Clearly• Respect Privacy• Stay on Topic• Do Not Plagiarize• Use Credible Sources• Keep an Open Mind

CreateSafe Space for

You and Others• Be Aware of Others• Maintain Distance• Mask up!

Be a Good Human

Recognize the humanness in you

and others.Act accordingly.

OK, So What Will I Learn?

What type of matter is good for building what and why?

What Matter Is:• measuring matter• subatomic• atomic• bonding• Molecules

Assessment:Building Matter

CHEM 150ME 306/307

Materials in Engineering:Metals & Alloys, Polymers, Ceramics, Composites

Properties of Matter:• electron distribution• molecular properties• states of matter

• gases• liquids• solids

Assessment:Matter Changing Forms

Synthesis, Degradationof Materials:• acids & bases• oxidation-reduction• Polymerization

Assessment:Matter Changing Identities

AE 510, 709ARCE 350, 351CE 477, 479

more

Course Design and PhilosophyThese are uncertain times with strong emotions. You and I are currently coexisting with COVID-19, racial injustice,ideological divisiveness, and more. With so much going on, everyone has a different vision of what’s right for them in termsof both their comfort and safety. All of these are factors in your educational experience—how it plays out and how deep itgoes. This course has been designed to account—at least in part—for the variability in student opinion over time about theright path for you.• LIVE: If you want an in-person experience, it’s part of CHEM 150. In the cohort model, you can be in a live class with the

instructor every other class session or TA roughly every other lab session, barring changes to that system brought forthby the University. You MUST follow rules put forth by me or the University concerning safety measures—for the safetyof everyone involved.

• ONLINE: If you’re uncomfortable being in a live environment—for any reason—CHEM 150 has been built toaccommodate you, too. If you need or prefer not to participate live, all course materials will be available in Blackboard;you may treat it like an online course.***

• HYBRID: If your needs change from day to day during the semester, and you want to move from a more onlineexperience to a more in-person one—or vice versa—you can do that, too. The materials and assignments in either casewill be the same for all students; no one should be disadvantaged by their instruction preference.***

While the laboratory component of this course will be treated similarly—available both live and online—you might reflectmore deeply on that. The lab will foster hands-on skills that future courses and employers will assume you have. If you can’tmake it to lab because of a scratchy throat, by all means, use the online format for that week. If you decide to sleep duringlab because you watched really bad TikToks until 3 A.M., well... it’s your future… Please use your best judgement as towhat’s truly appropriate.

LOW tech: It’s a bad scenario when you learn 10 different online tools for one course. CHEM 150 is designed to limit us to5—and many are familiar already: Blackboard, online textbook / preclass reading, Gradescope for weekly homework,Signals Notebook, and Zoom for Student Hours. All but one have, have had, or will have overlap with other courses tominimize undue burden on you.

***100% online labs: Taking the lab fully online the whole semester is the exception and is less flexible. You’ll need tocomplete a Course Adaptations Form: https://studentaffairs.ku.edu/course-adaptations This option actually prevents youfrom joining live experiments later in the semester. We’d like you to stick to your 100% online intent so that we can createspace for another student who may want to be physically present in the laboratory.

How Do I Earn My Grade!?

LAB (25 pts) LECTURE (75 pts)CHEM 150: 100 points total (100 pts)

“philosophy schmilosophy,” you say.

Lab

repo

rts (

8 pt

s)

Writ

ing

Activ

ities

(5 p

ts)

Lab

Qui

zzes

(3 p

ts)

Not

eboo

k (3

pts

)Pr

elab

s(2

pts)

Spre

adsh

eets

+ N

itino

l (4

pts)

Pre-

clas

s Rea

ding

(25

pts)

Hom

ewor

k (2

6 pt

s)

Build

ing

Mat

ter (

5 pt

s)

Mat

ter C

hang

ing

Form

(5 p

ts)

Mat

ter C

hang

ing

Iden

tity

(5 p

ts)

Mat

eria

ls In

fo (9

pts

)

F D C B AYour score will betranslated to aletter grade using acommon scheme:

What Is All That Stuff?Lab reports that accompany experiments and writing activities will get you practicingtechnical writing like a pro. Each report will require you to analyze your data, so I included amodule about using spreadsheets for analysis to help you out. Hands-on skills and in-labknow-how are also important. These fall under lab quizzes. Lastly, real scientists walk into a labwith an idea of what they want to do, and then they make a record of what they actually did. Tothat end, every experiment will have prelab exercises and a notebook that are due.

You can’t come into a classroom unprepared, either. I’ll use a lot of lingo and some basic ideasthat you should already know. To expose you to some basics and to get you thinking beforeclass, you’ll have a preclass reading assignment due the night before each class session. Toreinforce important ideas, you’ll also have a weekly homework assignment to complete inGradescope. A few times during the semester—when you’ve thought a lot about some broadtopic—you’ll complete a larger task. We’ll do one after you learn about how atoms use theirorbitals to lock together, making molecules: Building Matter. The way electrons aredistributed among the atoms in a molecule dictates the properties of the molecule, includingthe state of matter you’ll find it in under various conditions: Matter Changing Forms. The lastone will be about important kinds of chemical reactions: Matter Changing Identity. “Will wehave a final exam?” you ask. You’ll have a final assignment and it should show what you knowabout chemistry and how it applies to engineering. It’s just called “Materials Info.” You’llhave options for how you tell me about the chemistry behind a class of materials, detailed later.

Egads! That’s a lot, and I want the Best Possible Grade. Please Help.

Here’s Help. Instructor: Dr. VartiaAny question, comment, concern, or personal narrative. ANY.Contact: vartia@ku.eduSutdent Hour Times: Mondays 3-5 P.M., Wednesdays 3-5 P.M., or by appointmentStudent Hour Locations: https://kansas.zoom.us/j/379361019 or e-mail for an appointment

TAs: XXX XXX XXXTAs are great for general questions about lecture, lab, homework, policies and more.Contact: TBA TBA TBATimes: TBA TBA TBA

Locations: TBA TBA TBA

Head TA: Josh SandersMy second-in-command! This person is also a helpful general resource.Contact: jcsanders@ku.eduSutdent Hour Times: TBA

Student Hour Locations: TBA

Here’s Even More Help.

Supplemental InstructionRegrettably, no one stepped up to be a Supplemental Instruction leader. These areformer CHEM 150 sutdents who help current students in the course with learningstrategies. It’s especially useful in CHEM 150 because it has a lot of information toconnect and apply. If you find that CHEM 150 isn’t too bad and you want to brush upon some chem basics in the future, maybe you could be an SI leader. Just let meknow later if you’re interested.

Don’t forget the Discussion Board!

more TAs: XXX XXX XXXTAs are great for general questions about lecture, lab, homework, policies and more.Contact: TBA TBA TBATimes: TBA TBA TBA

Locations: TBA TBA TBA

How do I know what I need to do to perform well?In advance of major assignments, I’ll give you a rough rubric to tell you what I’m looking for ingood or correct answers.

Things That Always Come Up

What if I hand in major assignments late?This is a good news/bad news scenario. For the three big assignments (Building Matter, MatterChanging Form, and Matter Changing Identity), you’ll submit the assignment once, learn what’scorrect and not correct, and you’ll have one chance to correct it and submit it again. If you missa deadline, you were still able to make one submission with credit—not much of a loss.

What if I hand in minor assignments late?This is a good news/bad news scenario. Assignments will be available online for multiple days,so the CHEM 150 team (me, the TAs, others) won’t go back and regrade assignments. Thesystem closes at the due time and date, so you can’t submit late anyway. IOW: “No late work.”The good news is that if you miss an assignment, it’s not worth much (typically 1 or 2 points.)

…but I have an EXCELLENT reason!I can allow late submissions of work on major assignments with a new deadline set inconsultation with me *IF* the reason is a typical university-approved reasons, includingdocumented illness, funeral, or University-sponsored event *or* we’ve talked about it—andagreed on an extension—at least one week in advance of the original deadline.

Will the course structure ever change?I reserve the right to change any course structure at any time; HOWEVER, I will not abuse thispower. I reserve this for extreme circumstances (like last Spring) or as mandated by KU.

Messages from the University

DISABILITY ACCOMMODATIONS: The Academic Achievement & Access Center (AAAC) coordinates accommodations andservices for all KU students who are eligible. If you have a disability for which you wish to request accommodations andhave not contacted the AAAC, please do so as soon as possible. Their office is located in 22 Strong Hall; their phone numberis 785-864-4064 (V/TTY). Information about their services can be found at https://achievement.ku.edu/. Please also feelfree to contact me privately in regard to your needs in this course.TLDR: If you need some help, there’s help available! Ask. See above for details. J

ACADEMIC MISCONDUCT: Cheating, or the appearance thereof, including giving or receiving help on a laboratory report,looking at another student’s paper while taking an exam, falsifying laboratory reports or data, using unauthorized materials,notes, crib sheets, or the equivalent, will not be tolerated and will be dealt with in accordance with University regulations(see http://www2.ku.edu/~unigov/usrr.html#art2sect6). The Chemistry Department reserves the right to make and keepcopies of individual examination papers.TLDR: Conduct yourself with integrity while you’re at KU (and in general, please!)

DIVERSITY, INCLUSIVITY, AND CIVILITY: Civility and respect for the opinions of others are very important in an academicenvironment. It is likely you may not agree with everything that is said or discussed in the classroom. Courteous behaviorand responses are expected at all times. When you disagree with someone, be sure that you make a distinction betweencriticizing an idea and criticizing the person. Expressions or actions that disparage a person’s race, ethnicity, nationality,culture, gender, gender identity / expression, religion, sexual orientation, age, disability, or marital, parental, or veteranstatus are contrary to the mission of this course and will not be tolerated.TLDR: There’s a lot of growth value in disagreement, but show respect to the person you disagree with.

COVID-19 MANDATORY SAFETY PRECAUTIONS: To protect all of us, everyone must wear a mask in the classroom asrequired by the Protect KU Pledge and by University policy. Violations of the mask policy in classrooms are treated asacademic misconduct. If you come to class without a mask, I will ask you to put one on. If you do not put on a mask whenasked, you will have to leave class. Violations will be reported, and consequences will follow, up to and including suspensionfrom the courseAll students, faculty, and staff are also required to maintain social distance at a minimum of 6 feet in allinstructional spaces at all times.TLDR: Wear a mask; distance. If not for you, then for others. It ain’t hard.

CONCEALED CARRY: Individuals who choose to carry concealed handguns are solely responsible to do so in a safe and secure manner in strict conformity with state and federal laws and KU weapons policy. Safety measures outlined in the KU weapons policy specify that a concealed handgun:• Must be under the constant control of the carrier.• Must be out of view, concealed either on the body of the carrier, or backpack, purse, or bag that remains under the carrier’s custody and control.• Must be in a holster that covers the trigger area and secures any external hammer in an uncocked position.• Must have the safety on, and have no round in the chamber.This course takes place in spaces that will require students to leave belongings such as backpacks and purses away and unattended for the duration of class time. Students who choose to carry a concealed handgun in a purse, backpack, or bag must review and plan each day accordingly, and are responsible for making alternate arrangements as necessary. The university does not provide appropriate secured storage for concealed handguns. Individuals who violate the KU weapons policy may be asked to leave campus with the weapon and may face disciplinary action under the appropriate university code of conduct.TLDR: If you’re doing this “concealed carry” business right, no one knows you’re carrying and no one—including you—is in imminent danger as a result.

LECTURE RECORDING: The audio portion of each lecture, together with the associated PowerPoint slides, will be capturedusing a technology called Echo360, and made available the same day on the course Blackboard site. This should obviate theneed to make your own recordings. If you do intend to make your own audio recordings, you must first obtain mypermission.TLDR: We’ll provide recordings of class, so don’t spend energy on that unless a condition necessitates it.

COMMERCIAL NOTE-TAKING: Pursuant to the University of Kansas’ Policy on Commercial Note-Taking Ventures, commercialnote-taking is not permitted in this course. Lecture notes and course materials may be taken for personal use, for thepurpose of mastering the course material, and may not be sold to any person or entity in any form. Any student engaged inor contributing to the commercial exchange of notes or course materials will be subject to discipline, including academicmisconduct charges, in accordance with University policy. Please note: note-taking provided by a student volunteer for astudent with a disability, as a reasonable accommodation under the ADA, is not the same as commercial note-taking and isnot covered under this policy.TLDR: Making money off my course (my intellectual property) is a BIG no-no.