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Chemical Engineering Undergraduate Student Learning Goals and Mission Statement




Mission Statement

The mission of the Department of Chemical Engineering is:

Fulfillment of this mission is achieved in part by the Department of Chemical Engineering's accredited undergraduate degree program in chemical engineering. The undergraduate curriculum comprises both a technical curriculum, and breadth requirements.

The goals of chemical engineering breadth requirements are to teach the arts of writing clearly and persuasively, to develop the skills to read carefully and evaluate evidence effectively, and to instill an awareness of humanity in historical and social contexts. The Berkeley Campus American Cultures requirement affirms the value of diversity in acquiring knowledge.

The technical curriculum in chemical engineering seeks to provide students with a broad education emphasizing an excellent foundation in scientific and engineering fundamentals.


Undergraduate Program Learning Goals

The learning goals* of the undergraduate program are to produce graduates who:

  1. Understand the fundamental mathematics and sciences that provide the foundation for engineering applications and technological innovation.
  2. Apply scientific and engineering principles to analyze, design, and synthesize chemical and physical systems of importance to society.
  3. Are intellectual leaders, capable of functioning creatively in an independent work environment and as a member of a team.
  4. Use appropriate analytic, numerical, and experimental tools to investigate chemical and physical systems.
  5. Integrate modern information technology, and computational and engineering tools into engineering practice.
  6. Communicate effectively by oral, written, and graphical means.
  7. Are both competent and confident in interpreting the results of engineering investigations.
  8. Appreciate the importance of and opportunities for life-long learning.
  9. Recognize the broad social context, both historical and contemporary, within which engineering is practiced.
  10. Understand the ethical, professional, and citizenship responsibilities of engineering practice.

* - The undergraduate degree program is accredited by ABET, Inc., a federation of professional societies, recognized by the Council for Higher Education Accreditation.  In the nomenclature of ABET, learning goals are referred to as "program-level objectives".


Learning Goals/Curriculum Matrix

The following matrix shows the correspondence between the chemical engineering curriculum and the Department of Chemical Engineering’s learning goals: 

Chemical Engineering Learning Goals

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10
Representative Chemical Engrg. Program                    
Math 1A, 1B, 53, 54 — Calculus, Differential Equations

X

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
Chem 4A, 4B — General Chemistry

X

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
Chem 112A — Organic Chemistry

X

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
Chem 120A — Physical Chemistry

X

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
MCB 102A - Molecular and Cellular Biology

X

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
Physics 7A, 7B, 7C

X

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
Engin 45 - Materials

 

 

 

X

 

 

 

 

 

 
Engin 7 — Computer Programming

 

 

 

X

X

 

 

 

 

 
EECS 100 — Electronics/Circuits

 

 

 

X

 

 

 

X

 

 
Chm Eng 140 — Chem. Process Analysis

 

X

 

X

X

 

 

X

X

 
Chm Eng 141 - Thermodynamics

 

X

 

X

X

 

 

X

 

 
Chm Eng 142 — Reaction Engineering

 

X

 

X

X

 

 

X

 

 
Chm Eng 150A - Transport

 

X

 

X

X

 

 

X

 

 
Chm Eng 150B — Transport and Separations

 

X

 

X

X

 

 

X

 

 
Chm Eng 154 — Unit Operations Laboratory

 

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

 

 
Chm Eng 160 — Process Design

 

X

X

X

X

 

X

X

X

X
Chm Eng 162 — Process Dynamics & Control

 

X

X

X

X

 

 

X

 

 
Engin 190 — Technical Communications

 

 

X

 

X

X

 

X

X

 
Science Elective

X

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
Engineering Elective

 

X

 

X

X

 

 

X

 

 
Technical Elective

 

X

 

X

X

 

 

X

 

 
English Composition

 

 

 

 

 

X

 

 

 

 
Elective — Humanities/Soc. Sci.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

X

X

 
Breadth Elective

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

X

X

 

Assessment of Learning Goals Attainment

The Department of Chemical Engineering gathers data using six assessment tools that measure whether graduating students achieve the program learning goals:

1)  Minimum GPA requirement.  All students must meet the College requirement of a minimum 2.0 GPA.  This GPA requirement assures minimal standards for meeting program objectives.  Academic advising focuses on identifying and correcting specific student deficiencies in meeting learning goals, augmenting the role played by the GPA requirement.  Key introductory courses Chm Eng 140 and Chm Eng 150A have a C- or better course grade requirement to continue in further chemical engineering courses.

2)  Academic advising.  All students must receive academic advising at least once per semester (Section B).  In academic advising, the adviser discusses student interests, potential career paths, and advises the student on program option selection (Biotechnology, Chemical Processing, Applied Chemistry, Environmental Technology, Materials Science, Applied Physics, and Open options) and on technical elective choices.  Advisers review technical areas where students may experience difficulty.  The adviser identifies areas of difficulty based on student grades in specific technical courses and by discussion with the students, and recommends technical elective courses and other resources (e.g., tutoring) as needed to ensure students will meet and exceed learning goals.  At least two members of the Undergraduate Education Committee (UEC) also serve as undergraduate advisers, and thus bring the qualitative experience from advising directly to UEC activities.

3)  Student surveys.  The Department of Chemical Engineering surveys graduating seniors to gather data for assessment of learning goals.  In addition, the UEC meets every Fall semester with the student chapter of the national professional association — the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE), and every Spring semester an Honors Tea is held which provides a forum for the students to express their reactions and insights.  The UEC reviews these data and the results of the UC Undergraduate Experience Survey (UCUES), and then provides summaries and recommendations to the faculty as part of the annual report made each summer at the Faculty Retreat.  These surveys are used to update the Chemical Engineering learning goals, and the objectives of specific courses.

4)  Student Evaluations of Teaching.  The Department of Chemical Engineering collects student evaluations for each course.  These data are compiled for UEC review along with the surveys described above.

5)  Course Outcomes Questionnaire.  A survey is taken in every undergraduate class at the end of each semester to assess the effectiveness of each course in meeting course outcomes specifically written for each course.  Six to eight questions have been developed for each course to address particular aspects of the syllabus.  The students are asked to assess their own knowledge and ability to perform engineering analyses related to the course material.  The data from these questionnaires is compiled and analyzed in conjunction with the Student Evaluations of Teaching to determine the effectiveness of the course in achieving the desired outcomes.

6)  Course Outcomes Assessment.  At the end of each semester the instructor in every undergraduate class compiles the results of student grades on selected homework and examination problems and class reports associated with each of the same course outcomes addressed by the Course Outcomes Questionnaire.  This provides a quantitative assessment of the effectiveness of the course in achieving the desired course-level outcomes; in addition, the results provide a means to assess the correlation between the instructor's assessment of outcomes achievement and the students' self-assessment.

Continuous Curriculum Improvement

These elements combine to form the continuous cycle of goal-setting, communication, assessment of attainment, and review and refinement of the curriculum undertaken by the department and represented by the following schematic:

Chem E cycle

 

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