This elective seminar will examine the complexities of the energy transition. Through case studies, a survey of current affairs and interviews with industry leaders, students will appreciate the scale of the challenge and the factors that limit the pace of the transition. This seminar will specifically focus on the decarbonization challenges of difficult-to-abate sectors, like international shipping, in which upcoming policy negotiations will impact whether its transition will keep up with its stated ambition to reduce emissions by 20%, striving for 30%, by 2030; 70%, striving for 80%, by 2040; and net zero around 2050.

The course focuses on basic principles governing the equilibrium behavior of macroscopic systems and their applications to materials and processes of interest in modern chemical engineering. We introduce the fundamental thermodynamic concepts: energy conservation (First Law); temperature and entropy (Second Law); thermodynamic potentials; equilibrium and stability. These ideas are applied to problems such as calculating the equilibrium compositions of coexisting phases or reacting mixtures, as well as analyzing the thermodynamic efficiency of power generation and refrigeration cycles.

This course examines engineering as a profession and the responsibilities of that profession to society. Ethical theories, cognitive biases, and quantitative decision-making concepts (risk-, cost-, benefit-, stakeholder impact- analysis) are introduced as frameworks to guide ethical decisions on technology implementation. A wide range of technologies are discussed and ethical issues facing engineers in implementing and maintaining technologies are examined, with some focus on energy, chemical and pharmaceutical industries. Practical tools and strategies to express and implement one's ethical convictions in real-world situations are covered.

An intensive hands-on practice of engineering. Experimental work in the areas of separations, transport, process dynamics and control, materials processing and characterization, and chemical reactors. Development of written and oral technical communication skills.

Subjects chosen by the student with the approval of the faculty for independent study. A written report, and an oral presentation will be required. Students generally spend about 15-20 hours per week on the independent project.

Enzymes are the engines that fuel life, catalyzing a vast array of different chemical reactions. This course will focus first on enzyme kinetics and the structural biology of enzymes. With these tools we will next move to a series of case studies about different enzymes and enzyme families.

Electrochemistry plays a central role in advancing a more environmentally sustainable economy. Therefore, understanding its fundamental aspects is pivotal for improving and developing technologies related to energy storage, environmental sustainability, and green chemistry. This course will focus on the development of electrochemical theories for electrochemical reactions and charge transport processes. Using statistical and continuum mechanics, along with equilibrium and non-equilibrium thermodynamics, we will develop theories to describe charge transport and transfer phenomena and design experimental protocols to probe them.

This course covers major diseases (cancer, diabetes, heart disease, infectious diseases), the physical changes that inflict morbidity and mortality, the design constraints for treatment, and emerging technologies that take into account these physical hurdles. Taking the perspective of the design constraints on the system (that is, the mass transport and biophysical limitations of the human body), we will survey recent innovations from the fields of drug delivery, gene therapy, tissue engineering, and nanotechnology.

Introduction to chemical reaction engineering and reactor design in chemical and biological processes. Concepts of chemical kinetics for both homogeneous and heterogeneous reactions. Coupled transport and chemical/biological rate processes.

An introduction to numerical and Monte Carlo methods useful for engineering and scientific applications. Topics covered include solution of non-linear equations, interpolation and extrapolation, integration of functions, solution of ordinary and partial differential equations, random number generation, and stochastic sampling (Monte Carlo) methods. The emphasis is on the practical use of these methods. Assignments are expected to be completed using computing tools such as MATLAB, Excel, or Python.

A full year study of an important problem or topic in chemical and biological engineering culminating in a senior thesis. Projects may be experimental, computational, or theoretical. Topics selected by the students from suggestions by the faculty. Written thesis, poster presentation, and oral defense required. The senior thesis is recorded as a double course in the spring. Departmental permission required.

A survey of modeling and solutions methods for problems involving heat, mass and momentum transport. Topics include conservation equations, conductive heat transfer, species diffusion, kinematics and dynamics of viscous flows, the Navier-Stokes equations, scaling principles and approximation techniques, boundary layer theory, convective heat and mass transfer, multi-component energy and mass transfer, buoyancy-driven convection, transport in ionic solutions, introduction to instability and turbulence.

Over the next several decades environmental sustainability will be a major challenge for engineers and society to overcome. This course is an introduction to environmental biotechnology focusing on how the applications of biotechnologies are impacting sustainability efforts in a variety of sectors including water systems, food and chemical production, and infrastructure construction. This course will provide a broad background in biological design concepts across scales from molecules to ecosystems, how bioengineering enables the design of new biotechnologies, and the ethical implications of engineering biology for use in the environment.

This course examines the field of carbon capture, conversion, and storage. The course is interdisciplinary and surveys fundamental aspects of combustion, kinetics, material science, thermodynamics and electrochemistry. The class will survey the working principles of existing and emerging technologies that aim to make a critical impact on decarbonizing energy systems. Topics related to carbon capture and negative emission technologies will be discussed.

This course introduces the fundamental physical mechanisms behind sustainable energy technologies and the basic concepts to evaluate and compare their efficiency, environmental impact, and costs. Among others, we will examine the potential of wind energy, photovoltaics, geothermal energy, biofuels, and nuclear energy. We will also examine the concepts of intermittency and dispatchability of energy sources and discuss the relevance of the electric grid, energy storage, energy efficiency, and green buildings. Taken together, this will help us assess energy scenarios and possible pathways to a net-zero carbon energy future.

A treatment of the theory and applications of ordinary differential equations with an introduction to partial differential equations. The objective is to provide the student with an ability to solve problems in this field.

An introduction to the mechanics of viscous flows. The kinematics and dynamics of viscous flows. Exact solutions to the Navier-Stokes equations. Lubrication theory. The behavior of vorticity. The boundary layer approximation. Laminar boundary layers with and without pressure gradients. Introduction to stability. Introduction to turbulence. Several case studies will be introduced to expose students to fluid mechanics themes in biology, polymer processing, complex fluids and reacting flows.

'Life finds a way.' to quote Jurassic Park, and understanding how Life does things can help us not only better understand it, but also better build, heal, and design our own living systems. This course focuses on the intersection of mechanics, materials science, and biology and focuses on two themes. (1) We use special engineering principles from different disciplines to understand how mechanics and material properties enable cells to make everything from beating hearts to velociraptors. (2) We apply this knowledge to learn how to design new biomedical devices and biomaterials while considering regulatory and bioethics guidelines.

Important concepts and elements of molecular biology, biochemistry, genetics, and cell biology, are examined in an experimental context. This course fulfills the basic biology requirement for students majoring in the biological sciences and satisfies the basic biology requirement for entrance into medical school and most other health professions schools.

This course will consider the principles, development, outcomes and future directions of therapeutic applications of biotechnology, with particular emphasis on the interplay between basic research and clinical experience. Topics to be discussed include production of hormones and other protein drugs, nucleic acid drugs and vaccines, gene therapy and gene editing, and molecular diagnostics. Reading will largely be from the primary literature.

This course examines methods for simulating matter at the atomistic scale with emphasis on the concepts that underline modern computational methodologies for classical many-body systems at or near statistical equilibrium. The course covers Monte Carlo and Molecular Dynamics (from basics to advanced techniques), and includes an introduction to ab-initio Molecular Dynamics and the use of Machine Learning techniques in molecular simulations.Central to the learning experience will be a set of self-contained numerical projects on simple model systems, using popular simulation packages to provide hands-on experience on the matter of the course.