Chemecar Experiments In A Chemical Engineering Freshman Seminar

This paper describes experiments with a ChemECar used in a new chemical engineering freshman seminar at Vanderbilt University. The 1 credit hour course is designed to introduce freshman to the field and profession of chemical engineering by using examples from cuttingedge research. The goal is to expose students to chemical engineering in their first semester providing them an earlier chance to catch the excitement of chemical engineering and helping them make better-informed decisions regarding their educational plans. One 4 week module of the course was based on examining and experimenting with a fuel cell car to be used in the AIChE ChemECar contest. Each class period student teams were presented with an open-ended question such as how does the car work, how fast does it go, how much weight can it carry, what "mileage" does it get, etc. Teams designed simple experiments using basic measurement tools and items available in the classroom. Experimental results from all teams were compiled and used to try and answer the question of the day. At the beginning of the next class, the results and proposed explanations were examined in detail and the theory behind the experiments was discussed. Throughout the module concepts such as experimental error, uncertainty, data analysis, and technical writing were introduced and reinforced. The impact of the seminar, and the ChemECar module in particular, on student attitudes and understanding of chemical engineering will be presented.