ENERGY IN THE CURRICULUM: Powering the Mechanical Engineer's Vision for New Technologies
Ann Marie Sastry |
Angela Violi |
Margaret Wooldridge |
A population of up to 9 billion people. Eighty percent of the world's population inhabiting sprawling megacities. The future of energy needs, circa 2050, poses a daunting set of technical challenges for the generation of engineers presently in school, and the generations to come. Siting of new power generation facilities, whether coal, nuclear or renewable sources, will require unprecedented efforts in new design, at the materials, device, and power systems scales. Mechanical Engineers are at the forefronts of innovation, realization and optimization of power sources, and moving toward our shared national objective of energy independence.
At Michigan, our traditional curriculum is being reenergized by three faculty with active interests in the field, who are translating their laboratory know-how into useful coursework for the future generation: Professor Ann Marie Sastry, Assistant Professor Angela Violi, and Associate Professor Margaret Wooldridge. The three new courses developed by these faculty are meeting the needs of the new generation for fundamental scientific understanding, coupled with device know-how. These offerings are complemented by a new degree program planned for the College of Engineering, and a short course planned collaboratively by three departments, led by Sastry.
The undergraduate course comprises a survey of energy technologies for undergraduates aiming to work in the energy sector. The course, ME499: Advanced Energy Solutions, taught by Wooldridge, meets a very real need for perspective, as evidenced by the popularity of this new course (with an enrollment of 40 students in its first semester). "Our undergraduates are strongly motivated to be a part of global solutions to energy demands." says Wooldridge, whose expertise ranges from airborne pollutant emissions to designing advanced synthetic fuels, "And they have been heavily recruited and have enthusiastically applied to jobs in the energy sector. Our core curriculum provides an excellent basis in fundamentals of thermodynamics - the study of energy transfer. This new course provides a birds-eye view for these budding energy technologists."
Adds Violi, who developed ME599: Fundamentals of Energy Conversion, "Linking undergraduate education in thermodynamics to our understanding of the key molecular mechanisms in energy transfer is an exciting opportunity to convey the potential of rate-based analysis in energy technologies." Violi, whose expertise ranges from multiscale simulations of nanoparticle growth and self-assembly, to applied chemical kinetics, is aiming her course at graduate students seeking a deeper understanding of the molecular basis of energy efficiency and generation rate. "Barriers at this point are not only in devices, but in the fundamentals of materials interfaces," she says, "and building a bridge between equilibrium and transient analyses is a key objective of the course."
A graduate course aimed at providing students with comparative metrics for energy technologies, developed by Sastry, was taught to near-perfect evaluations by students in W06. "Device analysis begins and ends with a thorough understanding of energy transfer in materials," says Sastry, who works in energy technologies ranging from engineered to biologically-based devices. "In fact," she adds, "many technologies that are now receiving the most attention, have been around since Edison. The difference is in implementation with new materials. In this course, students who have elected to work in these technologies are being given the analytical skills to compare technologies, and not only deepen their understanding of their own work, but also to select the technologies they will work on next."
With its central role in engineering, Mechanical is well-positioned to coordinate offerings for the College of Engineering. A new degree program, the Master's in Energy Technologies, is planned for discussion and implementation in the next year, led by Sastry, with participation by at least 5 other departments. "Continuing education for our students is essential, as engineers are retrained in emerging areas," says Sastry, "and so we are meeting this need through formal degree programs, and through shorter-term offerings. Among these is the "Vehicle Energy" short course being offered for the first time in 2006, a collaboration among faculty from three departments by Sastry, Associate Professor Christian Lastoskie (CEE), and Professor Johannes Schwank (ChE). Says Lastoskie, "Environment and energy are inextricably connected, and we're delighted to work with ME in collaborative teaching that brings our expertise together."
Similar efforts, led by Wooldridge, are underway at the undergraduate level. The components required to develop a concentration in energy for students matriculating with a B.S. degree in Mechanical Engineering are being assembled for implementation over the next two years. This concentration will allow undergraduate students to focus their education on energy and have their work formally recognized on their UM transcripts. The new courses introduced by the Mechanical faculty directly contribute to this Energy concentration.
