Process safety in the classroom: The current state of chemical engineering programs at US universities

Abstract

The role of process safety in the undergraduate and graduate curriculum is a critical component of preparing chemical engineers for their future careers. In 2011, the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET) amended the requirements for Chemical, Biochemical, Biomolecular, and similarly named Engineering Programs. The change added a clause, indicating that the curriculum of said programs should not only include the engineering application of chemistry, physics, and/or biology to the design, analysis and control of processes, but also the hazards associated with those processes. Departments were then compelled to adjust their curricula to meet the new requirement which would go into effect during the 2012-2013 Accreditation evaluations. Herein, we present findings related to the major milestones and challenges associated with updating the chemical engineering curriculum to include process safety components at both the undergraduate and graduate level. First, a survey of publicly available information regarding curriculum requirements, course syllabi, and program developments at US universities will be discussed. Next, insights from evaluating the challenges associated with adding new content to an already overloaded curriculum will be discussed. Lastly, recommendations for continued improvement in the process safety education provided to undergraduate and graduate students will be presented.

Implementing Fuzzy AHP and FUCOM to evaluate critical success factors for sustained academic quality assurance and ABET accreditation

“…Curriculum design is always faced with constraints of resources such as total credits, and rationed allocation of different knowledge domains and disciplines. And there is always pressure to incorporate newer disciplines in the study plan to meet the challenges of work places such as process safety in chemical engineering [38]. Therefore relatively recent theories can be incorporated in the curriculum either in module-based approach (integrating in multiple courses in an interdisciplinary way), stand-alone approach or senior design (capstone project) [34,39].…”

Safety awareness: A chemical engineering imperative*

“…Gaining this knowledge should begin in college, not after beginning one's industrial career . This view has been explicitly acknowledged by the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET) . In 2012, accreditation requirements for chemical engineering programs were changed to include a statement that, in addition to a thorough grounding in the basic sciences, “the curriculum must include the engineering application of these basic sciences to the design, analysis, and control of chemical, physical, and/or biological processes, including the hazards associated with these processes.” Universities in the U.S. have taken various approaches to meeting this requirement.…”

Mass & energy balances coupling in chemical reactors for a better understanding of thermal safety

“…The introduction of safety and risk assessment during a Q3 chemical engineering curriculum is recommended by different associations (Favre et al, 2008;Shallcross, 2013;Perrin and Laurent, 2008;Dee et al, 2015;Spicer et al, 2013). Process Q4 safety for chemical engineers can be a difficult course for the students and for the professors, because it includes several concepts from thermodynamics, reaction kinetics, chemical reaction engineering, process design, accident scenario development and even sociology.…”