Our research on sustainability education was presented at the 2024 American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE) Conference in Portland, OR. The presentation titled “Work-in-Progress: Creating Recycled Products to Incorporate Sustainability Projects in the Undergraduate Chemical Engineering Laboratories” was presented during the session “WIP: Classroom Innovations”. This work was also authored by Emily Mellen and Amanda Nguyen. The full conference paper is available here.

During this conference, Dr. Landaverde also presented some of our our work on safety education. The paper titled “Project-Based Learning and Industry Collaborations to Integrate Process Safety in an Undergraduate Chemical Engineering Laboratory” was presented during the session “Laboratory and Research Skill Development”. The full conference paper is available here.

After a great experience at the World of Engineering (WoE), the Landaverde-Alvarado Research group was requested to table at a smaller scaled version! The event took place on March 8, 2024, and was hosted at the University of Texas at Austin.

A miniature injection molder, extruder, and a polarized trinocular microscope were presented by the team to the K-12 attendees. The demonstration consisted of each student being allowed to adjust, as well as look through the microscope, with guidance from a team member. Each individual participant was encouraged by our members to help us focus on a “blurry” polymer sample we made in our lab. The intriguing images of what students saw before and after focusing could also be captured by our attachable camera.

Polymer samples captured through camera (unfocused and focused with assistance):

The Landaverde Research Group was fortunate enough to have a table representing Chemical Engineering at UT Austin’s World of Engineering event on October 21st, 2023. The event focused on engineering outreach for K-12 students and their families.

Our table featured a Gas Membrane Separator display, a Domestic Water Purification System, and an Injection Molder. Tabling at the event were our four Undergraduate Researchers, Amanda Nguyen, Emily Mellen, Amara Ruiz, and Jeanpaul Lugo, along with Dr. Landaverde-Alvarado and Graduate Student Antoine Chamoun-Farah.