ChE415/515 Biochemical Engineering
Spring 2013-2018
Biochemical Engineering will cover topics related to biotechnology including modern molecular biology techniques, enzyme catalysis, microbial fermentation and product recovery. There will be a large emphasis on kinetics and transport as they describe important processes that must be understood and mathematically modeled when designing biotechnological approaches to generate bio-derived products.
ChE210 Material and Energy Balances
Fall 2013-2018
Material and Energy Balances introduces you to the engineering method in general and the practice of chemical engineering in particular. Its three primary objectives are: 1. To introduce the engineering approach to analyze and solve problems; 2. To cover the principles of material and energy balances with and without chemical reactions; 3. To apply these principles to solve problems in chemical processing. Most importantly, you will come to appreciate what being a chemical engineer is about.
ChE695L Advanced Topics: Catalysis, Reaction Engineering, and Renewable Energy
Fall 2016
The course is designed to help junior graduate students read articles in one of the special topics and help them become well-versed in the current state-of-the-art. The class aims at improving students’ ability to process a significant amount of information related to the selected topic, share and present the findings with team members, and eventually organize a review article. The course is co-taught by a team of CBE faculty.
BBMB 303X General Biochemistry
Fall 2016-2018
Majority of the course is mainly taught by a Biochemistry professor to illustrate the foundational knowledge of Biochemistry, such as protein structure/function, central metabolic pathways, and DNA/protein synthesis. At the last five weeks of the semester, five professors including Dr. Shao will present five individual case studies, with the goal to demonstrate the connection of this foundational knowledge to the real-world questions.
ChE490 Undergraduate Research
The lab offers 2-3 positions each semester for undergraduate students as research assistants for course credit. Interested students meet with Dr. Shao to discuss their interests and to determine the topic for a project. Students are assigned with a graduate student or a postdoc mentor to help get them started, and to answer questions that come up in the research. Students will gain basic training in genetic engineering, metabolic engineering, and synthetic biology. Students are responsible for writing experiments notes and short progress reports and encouraged to give a presentation at the end of the semester.