Graduate Curriculum

Mission and Goals

The educational mission of CEBC is to provide graduate and undergraduate participants with an unparalleled research experience enriched in topics related to environmentally beneficial engineering and chemistry. These future leaders will be prepared to effectively disseminate related engineering and science concepts to university students, industrial researchers and the public.

Improving engineering and science education is a core objective of CEBC. The outcomes of this objective include both the science and engineering knowledge developed by CEBC and improvements in graduate and undergraduate education that result from NSF support. In response to the challenge to universities from NSF and to contribute to all facets of science and engineering education, CEBC commits to the following:

• improvement of graduate and undergraduate science and engineering education,
• mentoring of future science teachers and university faculty,
• dissemination of research results to professionals in technical short-courses,
• increasing the pool of underrepresented students pursuing graduate degrees in engineering and the sciences, and
• community outreach through mentoring of K-12 classes and public education activities

The CEBC goal of graduate education is to prepare students to (a) design molecules, reactions and processes that are efficient environmentally and materially, (b) apply chemical and engineering principles in solving interdisciplinary problems, (c) work effectively in interdisciplinary teams, and (d) communicate results to peers, superiors and to the general public. A novel graduate core curriculum that incorporates these unique training features is being implemented. CEBC Ph.D. graduates will receive a special certificate along with their traditional degrees.

CEBC Core Curriculum

The curriculum presented here is designed to incorporate one or two case studies integrated into all fundamentals and applications courses. These practical problems are of interest to chemists and engineers in catalysis-based occupations, and yield reaction products or intermediates which could be produced with green processes. The center professors and industrial representatives will determine and present the appropriate case study or studies to a class of CEBC students at the start of their first fall semester. The class will study, analyze, and change the process(es) as their work in each course equips them. Teaching faculty have the freedom to utilize the case study as they wish: within extended project work, as problems in homework, or as an instrument for competitive solutions between small student teams in their class. The only requirement for this integrated curricular approach is that the concepts and skills learned in each course be utilized to advance progress towards the ultimate green process design. The final revised case will be presented by its class to the center faculty and industrial advisory board at the end of the application course sequence to document their abilities developed during their course of study. Thus, the curriculum educates students for understanding of their current and future research, and prepares them for technical careers where peers with different degrees work as a team toward a defined goal.

This course plan provides two "tracks" within the core courses. Students involved in biologically-based catalysis would take the Biocatalysis, the other four core courses, plus courses in their majors such as Biological Reaction Mechanisms, Applied Enzymology, and Enzyme Kinetics. Students in the chemical track would take Homogeneous and Heterogeneous Catalysis with the other four core courses and appropriate courses such as Inorganic Reaction Mechanisms, Coordination Chemistry, and Mass Transfer. It may be best that students in each track develop their own green processes and separate designs for the given case study.

The three fundamentals courses, which are based on courses taught currently, are essential for all students in CEBC. Heterogeneous and Homogeneous Catalysis, F1 Science, will cover fundamental mechanisms of catalytic processes. Students taking Biocatalysis will learn about processes catalyzed by enzymes, antibodies, and other biologically derived catalysts. Modeling Catalysts and Catalytic Systems, F2 Science, will be co-taught by chemists and chemical engineers. This course treats the design of chemical processes with numerical models at different time and length scales from the microscopic (molecular) to the macroscopic (reactor simulation).

The two applications courses delve into the details of green engineering and science while bridging the gaps between the student’s own discipline and the disciplines of other professionals with whom they will interact. After their first semester of graduate courses, all students will take Environmental Assessment of Chemical Processing, App1 Engr, which will use both the Green Engineering text  created through an EPA/ASEE (American Society for Engineering Education) partnership and materials prepared for an Industrial Ecology course currently offered at WUStL.  The course moves students from the basic chemistry affecting environmental partitioning and human toxicity through a software-based assessment of economical/ecological process design  covering the fundamentals of Life Cycle Assessment and industrial ecology. Reaction Engineering and Catalytic Process Design, App 2 Engr/Sci, is a case-based introduction to the design and optimization of catalytic process and reaction systems, and is required for all students. .Industrial Development of Catalytic Processes, App 3 Engr, draws extensively on the environmental assessment course. Students will approach this project-oriented course as interdisciplinary teams.  Each team analyzes actual industrially utilized chemical reactions for a) atom utilization and environmental partitioning, b) the environmental costs and benefits of the original chemical and physical process conditions and c) an optimized process flow sheet for environmental performance and economics. The Green Engineering text provides specific case studies, though final team projects will also utilize processes submitted by CEBC industrial partners.

The three practicum courses will equip students with communication and organizational skills to effectively communicate their science to colleagues, reviewers and the public. These courses will use linkages with other educational programs to provide venues for CEBC students to teach environmentally sound science and engineering to pre-college students. CEBC Research Colloquium, Pra1 Engr/Sci, will be a ninety minute per month lecture/discussion, focusing on current progress in environmentally beneficial catalysis. Visiting engineers and scientists from industry, or CEBC faculty, postdoctoral and graduate students will present. Teaching Science, Pra2 Engr/Sci, is a one-credit hour course that introduces students to research-based strategies to facilitate learning through interaction among students and between student and TA. In addition, students will learn how to design an effective educational outreach plan. On-site Industrial Practica are an integral and productive part of the educational experience for CEBC graduate students. Faculty participants in CEBC will work closely with their industrial partners on research of mutual interest. Senior graduate students will enroll in this course as their Ph.D. research nears completion. Such industrial internships will become an integral and productive part of the industry- academe relationship.

View the CEBC Graduate Brochure in pdf format.

The course sequences for graduate students affiliated with CEBC may be viewed or downloaded in Adobe Acrobat format from the following links:

University of Kansas, Chemical and Petroleum Engineering

University of Kansas, Chemistry

Graduate students in chemistry should discuss their course sequence with their faculty advisor.