(153f) A Blended Textbook Free Chemical and Biochemical Process Safety Class

The Chemical Engineering Department of Missouri S&T has taught a chemical process safety class for more than twenty years. However, students pursuing a biochemical engineering emphasis program were not required to take that class. The Department started a new curriculum two years ago that include a safety class for everyone. A new class was developed that includes elements of both chemical and biochemical process safety. There are several unique feature of the new class that I would like to share: 1) it is offered in blended mode with biweekly meetings followed by a series of online discussions; 2) it uses one of the design projects in senior design as a case study. Therefore, the material covered in class as well as the topics of the discussions are concentrated on a particular process; 3) a textbook is not required or recommended. Instead, the students use primary sources as well as information freely available on line published by various companies; and 4) this is a communications intensive class. The discussions are used to both improve the written communication skills of the students as well as to dig deep into a selected number of topics covering both chemical and biochemical processes. The discussions start with a brief posting about a manuscript that the students are asked to read. That is followed by a discussion that uses several prompts developed by the instructor. Student participation in the discussions have been excellent, providing valuable information to the class as well as to the instructor.