VCU student engineers put classroom lectures to practice through ChemEngine

At a client dinner the evening before his first professional presentation, Brad Crosby got a taste of what it means to be in business.

As the Virginia Commonwealth University School of Engineering junior discussed results of a project to determine why a fiberglass company’s product scrap rate soared during the summer, the client raised an interesting question about new chemistry. Within minutes, Crosby and his student partner, Nick Cain, were back in their hotel room for an all-night session to revise their presentation.

"We got an incredible amount of real-world experience translating things we learned in the classroom to solving technology problems," Crosby said. "And this practice was in a business setting with professionals, where we learned about working within an organization – and a lot of that was diplomacy as you conducted your research and presented your proposal."

Crosby and Cain are founding members of ChemEngine, an innovative student-run organization at VCU’s School of Engineering that is partnering future chemical engineers with industry professionals. While consulting companies are not uncommon among business schools, it is rare for engineering schools to create entrepreneurial student firms. ChemEngine complements VCU’s focus on bridging academic instruction with practical application.

With guidance from faculty advisers, ChemEngine teams handle a variety of problems. Services include process engineering; Web-based patent and information searches; and laboratory-based research and development. The students also tackle materials testing and computer simulation – all using skills they have learned during their first two years of engineering courses.

The first ChemEngine project was with Ashtabula, Ohio-based Molded Fiber Glass Corp., which was scrapping an unacceptable percentage of its manufactured product pre-forms each summer. After reviewing company documents – including countless information exchanges on the telephone – Crosby and Cain constructed an interactive spreadsheet to model the process and determine the cause of the problem. After two months on the project, the students flew to Ohio to report on their work and to suggest several possible solutions.

"They had to get up in front of our best technical people. They did a great job under that pressure and in answering questions," said John Gaul, quality improvement and engineering manager for Molded Fiber Glass. "It makes you feel good to contribute to someone’s education while you’re getting valuable work done. With students, you get a really fresh set of eyes on a question, and they had an energy level that was exciting to see."

ChemEngine puts students in true-to-life business situations they will face after graduation, according to Gary Huvard, Ph.D., associate professor and ChemEngine adviser. "In industry, they’ll have to work in teams, solve tough engineering problems, write coherent reports, and stand up and present their results effectively and convincingly. That’s what we’re preparing them for."

For Crosby, his first ChemEngine assignment helped underscore the value of augmenting textbook, lecture and laboratory lessons with hands-on practice. "It helps to solidify things you’ve learned, while you build skills in certain areas that will help you advance." Molded Fiber Glass already has implemented several of the VCU students’ suggestions, and, according to Gaul, will be using the ChemEngine model for process studies for months to come.

Information on ChemEngine is available at www.chemengine.net or by calling Huvard at (804) 827-7000 Ext. 413.