NSF-CRCD Chemicals from Biorenewables

PI: Charles E. Glatz co-PIs: Surya Mallapragada

Balaji Narasimhan Peter Reilly

Jacqueline Shanks

Objectives

Develop four 1-credit open-ended multidisciplinary laboratory courses involving “Chemicals from Biorenewables” to be integrated with existing and new bioengineering-related ChE classes

Target audience: – undergraduate (seniors) and graduate students in

Chemical Engineering – undergraduate and graduate students in Biochemistry

and Biophysics.

Motivation: Research

ChE evolving from a petrochemical-based to a biorenewables-based discipline

Product Species used Company

Indigo Microbial Genencor

(Poly)lactic acid Microbial Cargill/Dow

Biopol Microbial/plants Monsanto

1,3 propane diol Microbial DuPont

Motivation: Research “Although classical chemical engineering and the

material sciences will remain extremely important well into the future, it will be difficult, if not impossible, to maintain the

benefits of developed economies and extend them to

developing countries in a sustainable manner without

employing biotechnology". [DuPont website]

Current ChE curriculum does not reflect this trend Introduce new courses to cover this new

technology

Motivation: Educational Problem-based learning

– Open-ended problems

– Learning based approach

– Students direct learning of the topic

– Problems provide motivation for learning

Interdisciplinary – Team-based approach

ABET criteria– Life-long learning

Existing Programs/ Resources

Research of the PIs Size of the department - among top 10 ChE

programs in the country Emphasis on quality undergraduate education Plant Sciences Institute New faculty hire Project LEARN Bioethics Institute

Proposed Curriculum Structure Four new 1-credit laboratories - each associated

with an existing or new ChE 400 or 500 level biotechnology related theory course

Each laboratory course has one open-ended design project topic and list of desired outcomes

Students work in teams of three - each team will have students with a biology/biochemistry background

Opportunity for problem-based, student-directed, multidisciplinary team-based learning

Bioethics component

Proposed Curriculum Structure

Investigator Research Instruction

P. Reilly Protein Engineering Biochemical Engr (425)J. Shanks Plant Metabolic Engineering Metabolic Engr (new)S. Mallapragada Materials for Tissue Culture Biomaterials (595G)B. Narasimhan Polymeric Materials Polymers (443)C. Glatz (PI) Bioseparations Bioseparations (562)R. Seagrave Models of Biosystems Biomed Engr (540), Assessment

Proposed Laboratory Modules

Bioinformatics Metabolic engineering Plant protein recovery Development of materials for skin tissue

propagation

Impact

Make ChE education more relevant for our undergraduate students

Teach students – problem-based learning techniques

– develop their metacognitive abilities

– life-long learning

Coupling these educational techiques with valued new technologies

Integrate some of these new experiments in a non open-ended manner into the required ChE undergraduate laboratories

Potential Collaborators

Biochemistry and Biophysics Department Food Science and Human Nutrition Industrial collaborators

– Advanced Tissue Sciences– Cargill– Dow Agrosciences– Genencor– Ajinomoto– Amersham Pharmacia– Prodigene