Request for Proposals: Exploratory Projects to Improve the Chemical Engineering Undergraduate Program

Purpose and scope of activities supported:
This announcement invites proposals for pilot, exploratory or seed projects to improve the chemical engineering undergraduate program. Chemical engineering students, faculty and staff are all eligible to submit proposals. Submissions should propose new, innovative activities that because of their size, exploratory nature or discipline-specific focus are not likely to be supported by other mechanisms (such as CRLT). The amount of funds allocated to a successful proposal will vary according to the activity proposed. Up to $15K is available for grants this year. Because this program is designed to support pilot, exploratory or seed activities, recurring events are not eligible for funding. To illustrate the scope of the program, some examples of potential projects as well as previously supported grants are listed below.

Requested format:
Requests should be no more than about 2 pages long. The proposal should include the following sections: (i) project summary; (ii) description of the impact of the activities on the chemical engineering program; (iii) proposed work plan and project outcomes; (iv) description of how the project performance will be evaluated; (v) budget request.

Evaluation:
Proposals will be evaluated by the chemical engineering undergraduate program committee according to the following criteria: (i) What is the educational merit of the proposed exploratory or pilot activities? (ii) What is the expected impact of the activities on the chemical engineering undergraduate program? (Undergraduate program committee members will recluse themselves from evaluations in any cycle in which they submit a proposal.)

Proposal deadline:
Proposals must be received by Friday, 2 May 2008.

Submission:
Please submit your request following the format above to the Undergraduate Program Committee Chair, Mike Solomon at mjsolo@umich.edu.

Example projects:
(Note that this list is meant to be illustrative – it is neither exhaustive nor a list of priorities.)

• Professional workshops aimed at students, focusing on such areas as ethics or 6-sigma.
• Novel social events that bring together students, faculty and staff.
• Development of novel educational or advising materials geared at undergraduate students.
• Class field trips or guest speakers.
• Acquisition of a new software package to use in a class.
• Special design/project experience in a class.
• GSI appointment for a special project.
• Part-time student assistance to develop new educational materials.

Previous awardees:
Last years three awards were made. For reference, these awards were:

1. "Chemical Engineering Car Team." PI: Irene Brockman.
2. "Basic Microscale Fabrication Processes." PI: Brian Johnson.
3. "Development of Integrated Wiki/Simulation-Module Undergraduate Learning Environment for Teaching Molecular Concepts in Chemical Engineering."  PI: Chris Iacovella.

ChE Undergraduate Program Committee, 21-March-2008.