I. Basic Info Student Committee Members: • Emily Miaou (Chair - Junior, Biomolecular) • Cameron Earl (Junior, Materials Science) • Amanda Gao (Junior, Environmental) • Alison Lui (Senior, Environmental) • Allison Tang (Sophomore, Biomolecular) Faculty Committee Members: • John Brady • Richard Flagan • John Seinfeld • David Tirrell • Mike Vicic The student committee was chosen with the aim of covering all the tracks (Process allows students to take any classes covered in the other three tracks, so the focus was on the other three), in addition to having at least one student from sophomore to senior years. The faculty committee was chosen with the aim of having many of the professors who taught undergraduate ChE core on the committee (Seinfeld, Tirrell, Flagan), in addition to the executive officer (Brady) and/or option representative (Giapis), and the industry representative (Vicic). The student committee met 2 times during fall term to plan the course of action for SFC committee. During the first meeting in early November, we discussed the issues we believed to be prevalent in the ChE curriculum in order to formulate relevant questions for a student survey. The survey was sent out shortly after the meeting and remained open for 3 weeks. The second meeting in early December was to discuss the results of the survey and to formulate solutions for the visible problems to present to the faculty during the student-faculty meeting. The studentfaculty committee meeting occurred in the first week of January, with all members present except Alison Lui and Professor John Seinfeld - both of whom were asked prior to the meeting for their input. II. Issues Addressed ABET Accreditation • ABET is the engineering accreditation system. It accredits ChE, EE, and ME at Caltech. Caltech ChE has been accredited by ABET since 1926. This is different from school accreditation, which is handled by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC). Caltech is currently accredited by WASC and will continue to be. • Evaluation of ChE program content is performed by one ABET inspector every few years. Inspectors look at core classes as well as track classes to determine which classes count toward engineering credits – which go toward accreditation – and which do not. The inspectors evaluate classes based on syllabi, notes, sets, exams, and grades on assignments as well as overall distribution to determine quality of content. They also inspect the program’s processes for continuous improvement using exit surveys, SFC results, etc.

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The classes that are deemed engineering classes count toward accreditation, while others do not. This poses an issue for some classes (especially track classes) in ChE. The fewer classes within ChE core curriculum that are deemed engineering credits, the more units the school would need to add to the ChE curriculum in order to fulfill both Caltech standards for a ChE degree as well as ABET’s standards for a ChE degree. ABET requires that 3/8 of the units required for graduation must be engineering courses, NO “pure sciences.” This greatly limits many track class options. For example, ACM95 has been heavily debated each time inspection occurs, because the it has been considered engineering math by inspectors for EE and ME programs but not by inspectors for our ChE program. This has been true across multiple reviews and multiple different inspectors. The faculty disagree. Additionally, it’s reasonable to say that Bi/Ch110 and biology background are generally necessary for the BM track, yet ABET does not allow any Bi classes to count toward accreditation. Therefore, despite that Bi/Ch110 is a requirement for BM track, it does not count toward accreditation. The lack of flexibility for certain “pure science” classes to count toward accreditation is a concern for many tracks. Biomolecular engineering is newer and a rapidly expanding field, but ABET’s restrictions on the track are unreasonable and outdated. Furthermore, ABET recently changed their requirements for accredited programs from more explicit wording to vaguer guidelines. The change in guidelines is meant to direct ABET’s accreditation toward preparation for “classical” industry. However, a significantly higher proportion of Caltech’s students go onto graduate school (as opposed to industry) compared to all other schools. An example of specific to vague guidelines for ChE62: before – “Teach membrane separation, McCabe-Thiele, Ternary diagrams, etc.” after – “teach students principles of separations on an industry basis” As the guidelines are less explicit, the approval of the program varies heavily from one inspector to another and is dependent on the inspector’s personal interpretation and opinions. The single inspector who comes to represent ABET for each cycle is different every time. Inspectors are appointed on a volunteer basis. Oftentimes the inspectors come from arbitrary backgrounds and do not fully understand Caltech’s students nor its mission as an institute. In the past, inspectors have come from Exxon-Mobil, University of Toledo, University of Missouri’s minor campus – not “peer” institutes – due to the fact that they are volunteers. 2017 would be the year to petition for another cycle of ABET accreditation, valid for another 6 years. The chemical engineering faculty have after careful consideration decided not to move forward with renewing ABET accreditation. The Classes of 2017 and 2018 will have a degree from the ABET-accredited program, but beginning with the Class of 2019, the ChE program will no longer be ABET-accredited. Removing ABET accreditation has very little effect on the student body. Alumni statistics show that ABET accreditation has only been used for the purpose of obtaining engineering licensure in the past; however, only 1 out of 290 alums since 1993 have pursued and received a professional engineering (PE) licensure. Only two internships found by the committee, to date, have required an ABET-accredited degree to be eligible to apply.

Order of ChE62 and ChE15 • There were concerns about having MATLAB-heavy content in ChE62 prior to having taken ChE15 • Solution: the order of ChE15 and ChE62 will be switched o ChE15 – Fall Term, Sophomore year o ChE62 – Winter Term, Sophomore Year o Will be reflected in the 2017-2018 course catalog Research for Credit: All tracks • Documenting the engineering component of “research for credit” has posed a serious challenge in meeting the ABET engineering credits requirement, especially when research is done with non-ChE faculty. Therefore, research has never been formally approved for track elective credit on the course catalog. • However, now that ABET is not an issue, students can consult their advisers to see if their research units can count toward track electives. Track Changes: All Tracks • ABET did not allow “pure” science classes to count unless they were cross-listed under an engineering department as well, creating restrictive track elective options. Now that ABET is not an issue, there will be increased flexibility of classes. “Pure” science classes may be added to expand elective options in each track. (i.e. for BM, this means Bi or Ch classes, for MS this means Ch or APh classes) • Addition of specific courses will be reflected in the 2017-2018 course catalog; currently being deliberated. Initial changes in the course catalog next year will include adding classes that have historically been taken by students of a certain track for learning benefit but not for elective credit (e.g. APh109 for MS track) • The course catalog will continue changing in subsequent years based on student preference/petitions and faculty judgment. Classes that more students consistently have interest in each year and have positive feedback for will have a strong case for being added to a track. Materials Science Track • Other classes from Ch and APh departments may be added with the new track flexibility; faculty currently in the process of deciding. Biomolecular Track • The BM elective unit requirement will likely be reduced to 39 units. o BM track requires two classes that are 12 units (ChE/BE163 and Bi/Ch110) but still asks students to take an additional 45 units of electives. The other tracks do not have two required 12 unit classes (rather, they have two 9-unit ones in their place), but the other tracks also take 45 units of electives. Reducing the BM electives by 6 units remedies this discrepancy. • Other classes from Ch and Bi departments may be added to track options due to increased flexibility; faculty currently in the process of deciding.

Industry Opportunities • Survey showed a concern about the lack of assistance for students pursuing industry options/internships. Students would like an industry database of Caltech alumni and connections to ChE industry. • Unfortunately, the ChE department has some restrictions placed by admin on the types of activities faculty can do to assist students with respect to industry. For instance, the ChE dept. is not allowed to invite alumni as representatives of their ChE companies and give seminars/talks. The Career Center has certain controls on activities. • However, Dr. Vicic is an alumnus of Caltech who has a number of connections and helpful advice on where to start the search for industry opportunities. He can be reached for one-on-one appointments via email. He is more than willing to meet with students to discuss how to effectively network with a well-built resume and personally designed search strategies. • An “industry database” already exists: the medium is LinkedIn, so by making one and connecting with Dr. Vicic, students have access to • He connected with 625 alums from ChE at Caltech, as well as many alums from other options (e.g. BE) • Dr. Vicic will be developing an overlay that will help students more effectively use LinkedIn search by making suggestions for queries based on needs • This overlay will help students easily filter through alumni subject fields, companies, etc. on LinkedIn to quickly find relevant connections III. Recommendations to Follow Up • Ensure that the petitioning process is well-known among students and effective in allowing students to increase the breadth of track elective classes (can be added to the survey). Make note of the classes that have been added since the 2016-2017 Course Catalog to each track. • Check on the status of how the removal of ABET has affected students, if at all. • Improvement of ChE department’s involvement in student connections to industry; is the LinkedIn overlay completed and working? Do students know about it? IV. Appendix View the survey and responses/statistics: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/103AcyBFhbBW6m3SO-kNT0NCl4AoCzWuWjVoA2csdpU/edit?usp=sharing