(174b) Putting People First: How People-Orientated Recitation Problems Impact the Interests of First-Year Chemical Engineering Students.

A chemical engineering degree teaches students to apply fundamental chemical engineering principles that can be applied to almost any sector of the economy and vast interdisciplinary research fields. Despite the versatility of a chemical engineering degree, many of the example problems used in course materials pull from dated industries and research fields representing a smaller portion of the workforce than past generations. Additionally, as a versatile discipline, students and faculty have difficulty explaining exactly “what a chemical engineer does”. This work introduces a classroom intervention to address both challenges called “people-oriented recitation problems” (PORPs) with the goal of connecting chemical engineering concepts to related research topics and the people doing the research.

During the 2024-2025 academic year, a combination of conventional recitation exercises and PORPs were implemented in a first-year intro to chemical engineering course. Each PORP began with a slide highlighting a faculty member’s research and a connection to a current class topic. Following the slide, a short video introduction of the faculty member and their research was played. Finally, the students spent the remainder of the recitation period working on a problem inspired by the faculty member’s work. Each PORP focused on one of five chemical engineering subfields: biotechnology & pharmaceutical engineering, process systems engineering, energy, decarbonization & sustainability, air quality & climate, and soft materials & complex fluids.

Pre- and post-semester surveys and an end of semester focus group were conducted to explore two research questions:

1. To what extent do PORPs influence first-year students’ interest in chemical engineering and its subfields?
2. To what extent do PORPs affect first-year students’ intention to pursue chemical engineering?

Preliminary results show an increase in interest for subfields where a PORP was used during the semester. Emergent focus group themes of broadening students' knowledge of chemical engineering research and career paths, preparing them for future coursework and career decisions further supported the effectiveness of PORPs. After the successful implementation of PORPs, this work will be expanded to include examples from alumni working in industry to continue to emphasize the broad career opportunities for students with chemical engineering degrees.