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Does modern chemical engineering education meet industry’s need? This i s a question which i s perplexing the chemical industry and chemical engineering educators. At the ACS national meeting at Atlantic City this fall (September 21 to 26) the Division of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry plans to provide some answers. C. S. Carlson, chairman of the symposium, already has industry experts lined up representing engineering design, heavy chemicals, tine chemicals, pharmaceuticals, petroleum, and the armed services. They will tell what industry needs. Educators in four- and five-year chemical engineering courses, industrial cooperative courses, and ChE graduate schools will tell why they are providing the curricula they do. We have asked Charles M. Cooper, chairman of the Division of IBEC, to provide a teaser to whet your appetite for this symposium. In r r f o ~ l for s the Engineer,” Mr. Cooper presents some challenging thoughts which he will discuss in greater detail on the symposium program, Incidentally, the division i s planning to make preprints of the entire symposium available to registrants at the meeting.
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C. M. Cooper
Tools for the Engineer ECENTLY I came across an item which I had seen check list we use in Du Pont’s Engineering Research Laboratory in routine appraisal of our technical staff. The list included:
R routinely many times-the
1. Knowledge 2. Creativeness 3. Analytic’al ability 4. Initiative and resourcefulness 5 . Quantity of production 6. Quality of work 7 . Ability to speak clearly
8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13.
-4bility to write clearly Judgment and common sense Cooperation Open-mindedness Reliability Leadership
Here are 13 items, each calling attention to some facet of personality, character, or ability. Unless the individual shows an acceptable level in each attribute, his usefulness will be severely limited. Hence, each of these attributes is important, first to industry because it shows the contribution the individual is making in his job; secondly, to the individual because it has a part in setting his rate of progress and salary. This list is not perfect, but has been very useful to us. Everyone has had some experience with the educational process, and, to some degree, feels that he is an expert in the field of education. This can prove disastrous if he then acts like an expert. I shall try to avoid this pitfall. A lot of attention today is being given to our educational program. This is a healthful sign, for education broadly is the preparation for living. Since the environment in which we live is constantly changing, there should be corresponding changes in the preparation for living. Although we expect our professional educators to implement the needed changes in formal education, we would be delinquent in our responsibilities if we, the industrial (or nonacademic) people, did not play our part in defining the goals in this field. That, basically, is the reason behind this column. What startled me on rereading our list was that only three of the items on the list are directly affected by curricular
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Charles M. Cooper, director of Du Pont’s engineering department’s engineering research laboratory, received a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from MIT in 1925 and joined Du Pont in 1936. During the war years, he was on loan to the University of Chicago’s metallurgical laboratory, in charge of engineering research in connection with the Hanford plant.
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April 1956
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decisions-knowledge and ability to speak and write clearly. Too often, development, of writing and speaking ability receives little attention. Curricula are designed to give the student access to knowledge; but knowledge, unless it is effectively employed, is useless. Most of the attributes me seek in our men are picked up by them, almost incidentally, in their daily experiences. Industry requires men who will effectively employ whatever knowledge they possess, and who will recognize and obtain any other specific knowledge required. I n other words, we need men who know where to find what they need, and how to use and develop the information. This does not discount the value of knowledge. Although the effective man with a little knowledge will go farther than the ineffective man with all the learning in the land, what we need is men who have both knowledge and the effective employment of knowledge. I am not now looking critically at any curriculum as far as its ability to make knowledge available. I am just wondering whether our educational system has a responsibility to develop, in students, these attributes so essential to the effective application of knowledge; if so, does it make the same kind of effort in this area that i t does in teaching facts? Most of the items listed can be considered as working habits. I wonder how many people appreciate the part habitsthings we do automatically-play in our lives. I don’t mean just smoking or playing golf, but more basic habits. On arising, we have to decide whether to let the alarm clock keep on ringing, or shut it off. Should we get out of bed? Take off the pajamas-an arm. a leg, or the buttons first? And so on; 40 decisions before we even get to deciding whether first to butter the toast, pour the coffee, take a drink of orange juice, salt the eggs, or just what? Life is sure complicated! If we had to make these decisions, consciously, every morning, who would have the stamina to get up, let alone do a day’s work? You may well say that habits make life possible. We get most of our habits unconsciously, and only by repeated use. Unless a student repeatedly meets situations requiring him to practice a habit, he will not acquire it. And if it has to be pl3acticed only part of the time, he will not retain it.
INDUSTRIAL AND ENGINEERING CHEMISTRY
49 A
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About “creativeness”-I feel that the relation between it and curiosity is the same as between the effective use of knon 1edge and knowledge itself. You can be very curious, and as a result pick up a lot of potentially useful information. If you put this to effective use, we say you are creative. Curiosity comes first and leads to creativeness. K e can see how this begins in childhood and, if encouraged there and through school, college, and industry, 13.11 lead to a thinking, creatire person. It has been my privilege to know a number of creative people. Whenever one was faced by a question having a quantitative answer, he mentally estimated the size of the answer, using only readily available data, usually facts already stored in his mind. I have come to call this quantitative thinking, and it was habitual with these people. By so doing, they satisfied omnivorous curiosities. For example, suppose, lying in the hammock, you wonder what it would cost to fly to the Philippine Islands. VTell, since the earth is about 24,000 miles in circumference, no two places would be more than 12,000 miles apart. The Philippines are well on the other side-let’s say 10,000 miles. In the U. S., plane fares compete with rail fares (6 cents a mile). But, much of the trip is over water, where there is no train competition, so the rate is probably higher, say 9 cents. Then, the trip would cost $900 one way. (Actual air line cost, which I confirmed after making this estimate, is $960.) Many stories are told about Enrico Fermi and his use of this power. Supposedly, a t the first atomic bomb test, a few of the leading scientists were stationed some miles from the bomb, waiting for the test. Fermi, standing apart, was tearing paper into bits and letting them fall, one by one. through the still air. The flash of light came and later the report. During this interim the paper tearing continued. As the shock wave passed, the vertical fall of the papers was sharply displaced, and Fermi, looking a t the displacement, announced the approximate energy liberated by the bomb. Fermi, by habit, always sized up quantitatively every situation encountered, using available data in his mind. It is apparent that “quantitative thinking”’ itself needs a tool-namely, facility with simple mental mathematics. HOWmany institutions recognize mental mathematics as an essential part of undergraduate or graduate training? Should not facility with it be a requirement in any scientific or engineering curriculum? I feel that emphasis could be put on developing good working habits by planning situations (in the schools) that will give the student practice; setting and maintaining high standards for student performance, and keeping students aware of the importance attached in industry to good performance. Are our schools considering this? Can we not use the “quantitative thinking” approach in connection with classroom work, and thus give students who have a creative urge a tool t o stimulate their curiosities? Could a course be included, early in college, on industrial appraisal and promotion plans-emphasizing the importance of a set of good working tools? Perhaps these suggestions are “old stuff .” But they must be recognized today as matters warranting a t least as much attention in formal education as the acquiring of knowledge.
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MANUFACTURERS OF PRECISION INSTRUMENTS C i r c l e No. 50 A-2 on Readers’ Service Card, page 113 A
Correspondence concerning this column will be forwarded if addressed to the author, % Editor, INDUSTRIAL A S D ENGINEERING CHEMISTRY, 115516th St., S . W . , Washington 6, D. C.
INDUSTRIAL AND ENGINEERING CHEMISTRY
Vol. 48,No. 4
