(315b) Python Computing in the Chemical Engineering Curriculum

For contributions in computing education in chemical engineering through the creation of open-source Python libraries and course materials, social media and scientific publishing tools.

Computing in engineering education has continued to gain importance but it also remains a challenge to teach. The courses in computing taught in Computer Science do not typically cover topics like numerical methods, and usually lack domain specific applications. There is not a straightforward way to teach a class on numerical methods that is broadly applicable in engineering either. If it is too early in the curriculum students may lack the math and domain knowledge to understand them, and if it is too late students end up learning skills after they need them. I have spent the past 18 years learning to teach students how to use computing, specifically in using Python to solve science and engineering problems. In this talk I will talk about these challenges and how we have addressed them, and where remaining challenges in this educational space remain.