Membrane Projects with an Industrial Focus in the Curriculum
Resumen
The Rowan junior and senior engineering clinics give students real-world experience with many projects imported from industry. This paper describes some of the educational objectives of several externally funded projects in the membrane field and how industry is involved in our clinic program. Some of the realistic and challenging experimental projects done in the last several years include: ceramic membrane reactors used in petrochemical processing, electrodialysis and ultrafiltration processes for precious metals separation in the specialty chemicals industry, and membrane separations in food processing. In these process research and development projects, students learn how to function in a team to solve complex problems, interpret and analyze data, use modern technologies, understand safety/environmental issues, and communicate their results to various audiences. These membrane projects have helped improve student learning and assessment data, which indicates that the Junior/Senior Clinic projects are a valuable component of the students’ educational experience at Rowan.