(126a) Basic BioChE: Agent of Change, How Harry Bungay Changed The World of Teaching Engineers

Basic BioChE, first published in 1988, was exactly what its title implied:  Principles of Biochemical Engineering communicated through lessons in an interactive computer environment based on BASIC™.  BASIC™ (and later visual BASIC™) was a computer code used by programmers for purposes of control, calculations, and early forms of process monitoring in an MS-DOS environment.  Harry Bungay, as a Professor in the Environmental and Chemical Engineering at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, pioneered the use of BASIC to enable implementation of the revolutionary concept of direct access, via individual terminals,  to the RPI mainframe computer in an interactive manner. The concept evolved into progams for PC's and thus further built the concept of interactive learning.  Students learned principles of biochemical engineering, cellular growth, chemostats, predator/prey interactions, modeling of Monod type kinetics, and bioreactor simulation in a real-time computational environment.  While the computer language and capabilities may seem “basic” by current standards, the concepts embedded in these simple programs were truly sophisticated and 25 years ahead of their time.  Instructors in the RPI summer courses were fortunate to be part of Professor Bungay’s vision;  we learned from the students, as well as from Professor Bungay himself.  His concepts evolved with the emergence of PC’s in the mid-1980’s, and became a valuable, but perhaps under-recognized teaching tool at the time.  This talk is about a journey with Harry Bungay, from the sunset of the age of slide rules, through the early days of biochemical engineering, and to the evolution of the current era of computer-based learning and the buzz around massive online courses (MOCs).  His approach anticipated the relation of computers to students in the learning process – where one serves the other.  Professor Bungay’s vision continues to impact both students and teachers.  He forever changed the world for biochemical engineering students through Basic BioChE, and through his vision has made a lasting impact on biochemical engineering.