Using a Web Module to Teach Stochastic Modeling

Authors

  • Markus Kraft University of Cambridge
  • Sebastian Mosbach University of Cambridge
  • Wolfgang Wagner University of Cambridge

Abstract

In this paper we report on the development of a stochastic modeling course for chemical engineers in the fourth year of the Cambridge Chemical Engineering Syllabus. The general course structure is presented and an interactive Web module, which is used in the course, is presented in more detail. The central aim of the Web module is to enable students without knowledge of a programming language to gain hands-on experience testing a Monte Carlo algorithm. For this purpose two sets of reactions in a batch reactor are studied, one of which is the Belousov-Zhabotinsky reaction system, which shows oscillating behavior. 

Author Biographies

Markus Kraft, University of Cambridge

Markus Kraft obtained the academic degree "Diplom Technomathematiker'" at the University of Kaiserslautern in1992 and completed his "Dr. rer. nat. in the Department of Chemistry at the same university in 1997. He has been a lecturer in the Department of Chemical Engineering at the University of Cambridge since 1999. His main research interests are in the field of computational chemical engineering.

Sebastian Mosbach, University of Cambridge

Sebastian Mosbach studied physics and computer science at the University of Kaiserslautern, Germany, and obtained the equivalent of a masters (Part Ill of the Mathematical Tripos) in theoretical physics at the University of Cambridge, UK. He is currently studying for his Ph.D. in chemical engineering at Cambridge.

Wolfgang Wagner, University of Cambridge

Wolfgang Wagner studied mathematics at the University of Leningrad (St.Petersburg) and received his Ph. D. in 1980. He is working at the Weierstrass Institute for Applied Analysis and Stochastics (Berlin) in the research group "Interacting random systems." His current fields of interest include Monte Carlo algorithms for nonlinear equations, and limit theorems for interacting particle systems.

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Published

2005-07-01

Issue

Vol. 39 No. 3 (2005): Summer 2005

Section

Manuscripts