Curriculum

(the grind)

Curriculum:

This course will focus on developing processes for creating coffee and cosmetics that overlap with core principles of chemical engineering. Coffee will introduce students to basic concepts of process design and scale-up and the ideas of "unit operations" that that are performed such as roasting, grinding, and filtration. Cosmetics will introduce the basic principles of rheology, surface energy, and other concepts that surround "squishy" materials. Only high school level knowledge of mathematics, physics, and chemistry is necessary, combined in these everyday goods that will bring new light to the interface of engineering and consumer products.

• 3 credits, class twice per week

• Regular invited experts from academia and industry

• Analysis through case studies

• Demonstrations and/or hands-on experiences

• No prerequisites - HS Math/Physics/Chemistry

• 5 weeks on coffee ending with presentations and possibly a brewing competition or similar

• 5 weeks on cosmetics ending with presentation and possibly a lip balm design competition

• Mass balances, scale-up, heat/mass transfer, interfacial science

• HW assignments will be varied (worksheet, open-ended, out of the box, creative works)

• Peer grading