Redesigning Senior Process Design

Senior design is widely regarded as an important capstone experience for undergraduate engineering students. By integrating material from previous courses, it provides a conceptual framework for tackling a wide variety of open-ended, real-world engineering problems. Traditionally, senior design consists of the following common elements: process economics, capital costing, simulation and a grass-roots design project. As the nature of the chemical engineering profession has evolved and expanded into new areas, there has been increasing pressure to modify senior process design to better prepare graduates for the realities which they will face during their careers. Some of the challenges discussed in the literature include the following: