Intro to Chemical Engineering
Intro to Engineering is a mandatory introduction course that all engineers at Auburn University must take. As a freshman, Rowe was a Pre-Chemical Engineering major before switching majors in Spring of 2015. Over the course of this class, a fuel cell car was built over the course of the semester and raced at the end. Pictured to the left is the fuel cell car that Rowe’s group designed and raced. Although our design enabled our fuel cell to move quickly, the little car had problems staying within the bounds of the race track.
Click Here to See Rowe’s Final Project Poster
Engineering Methods for Biological Systems
Learning From BSEN 2210
BSEN 2210 is a course designed to immerse biosystems engineering students into a classroom environment highlighting computational methods used by engineers in the field. Students are given projects that mimic real-world issues, are are instructed to use computational methods to find the solutions. Students are encouraged to work in groups in order to solve the projects presented by the instructor. One of the most important outcomes from the course is not the computational methods learned, but how to approach solving problems individually and within groups,
This course is particularly important for molding engineers who know how to work together to solve complex issues with a tangible deadline. Although students have the option of working alone, the most successful students in the class achieved optimal grades by working together to solve the real-world issue presented as a project. As a student, it can be daunting to work in groups because it makes your grade in a course vulnerable to the work ethic of others. By participating in this course and learning how to mutually share knowledge and understanding, it has demonstrated that groups of engineers putting their knowledge and experiences together is better than limiting a project to one person’s understanding of a problem.
This understanding is particularly important when striving to perform well in school. Asking for help, studying in groups, comparing results, and being able to work together well with others optimizes one’s own understanding of a concept and improves their overall performance in many courses and pursuits of knowledge.