This planning grant to Tufts University Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, to integrate chemical and biological engineering under one unifying banner and thus adds biology to the base in a transparent manner. To achieve this integration, five systems (a biological cell, a biological organ, a polymer plant, a silicon plant and an ammonia plant) will be introduced into the beginning courses in parallel and followed throughout the rest of the course of study in each core course. This approach, called a "threaded curriculum", provides the seamless integration desired. The "threads" also provide an ongoing context for the curriculum.. The powerful paradigm of chemical engineering can be utilized and we expose both the commonality and differences between these systems in terms of both complexity and scale.
