Introduction to biosystems engineering in the era of the bio-based economy: Teaching resources development

A consortium of four European (EU) and two US institutions received funding in 2009 through the EU-US Atlantis program for a four-year mobility and curriculum development project focused on Biosystems Engineering (BE). The emphasis of the curriculum development activities is to produce educational resources that can be incorporated into existing BE curricula around the world to prepare BE graduates to work in the emerging bio-based economy. The outcomes of the project will be available via a website so that BE (and other) programs can select resources based on their own emphases and constraints. Material is being developed in English, with abstracts also translated into the languages of the partners. This paper focuses on development of teaching resources for introducing students to BE. The resources focus on various concepts with which BE students should be familiar. The team has identified and prioritized concepts for development. Material has been, or is being, developed for the following concepts: energy balance, mass balance, basics of statistics, and engineering ethics. In addition, material will be developed for systems analysis, instrumentation (basic measurements), data presentation, technical writing, and engineering design process. For each concept, the team is identifying multiple applications of the concept in BE. Each set of teaching resources will include a variety of activities, e.g., lectures, laboratory exercises, and projects. The goal is to have the material developed in time for implementation in the 2012-2013 academic year.