Particle technology in the engineering curriculum at NJIT

This paper discusses the development of a three-course concentration in particle technology at NJIT offered across the engineering curriculum which addresses the urgent need for undergraduate and graduate education in this vital field of manufacturing. Funded by an NSF-CRCD grant, a major goal is to integrate recent particle technology research conducted at NJIT and by researchers at other institutions into the three-course sequence. This educational initiative also address one of the main focus areas of NJIT's recently formed Particle Technology Center (PTC), which is comprised of an interdisciplinary group of faculty from the Departments of Mathematics, Mechanical, Chemical, Civil and Electrical Engineering, as well as visiting scholars, post-docs and graduate and undergraduate students. The first course, entitled "Introduction to Particle Technology" which is intended for upper-level undergraduates and first-year graduate students, was given in the Fall 1995 semester and a detailed description of the topics covered is provided. This is followed by a summary of an additional course ("Image Analysis Applications in Particle Technology") also given in Fall 1995, specifically created to familiarize graduate students with some of the special experimental facilities and analytical tools available in the PTC. An upper-level graduate course, entitled "Special Topics in Applied Mathematics: Particle Technology," and offered in the summer 1995 through the Mathematics Department is also described. This course, although not specifically a part of the CRCD project, contributed to the implementation of the program through the development of course materials in modeling fluid-particle flows at low Reynolds numbers.