Redesign of a First Year Undergraduate Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering Laboratory

The purpose of our work was to enhance the first year undergraduate chemical and biomolecular engineering laboratory experience at Lehigh University. After extensive student feedback from years past, it was clear that the Introduction to Engineering Practice chemical and biomolecular engineering laboratory - taken by engineering students in the fall of their first year - needed a significant redesign to better engage students while still giving them valuable insight into chemical and biomolecular engineering practices. Three experiments were redesigned and/or re-implemented to achieve this goal. These new experiments introduce students to process control, leaching, and power generation. Each experiment gave students the opportunity to learn the basics of crucial aspects of their future careers, while creating an engaging, open-ended, and - most importantly - fun learning environment. This poster describes the newly redesigned experimental procedures with early qualitative student feedback from implementation.