Falconer

Online interactive simulations earn Falconer chemical engineering education award

Anonymous — Wed, 02 Jun 2021 17:04:28 +0000

Online interactive simulations earn Falconer chemical engineering education award Anonymous (not verified) Wed, 06/02/2021 - 11:04

Jonathan Raab

Professor Emeritus John Falconer earned the Thomas and Donna Edgar CACHE Award for Excellence in Chemical Engineering Education for 2021, a recognition for leading the development of online interactive simulations for LearnChemE. These simulations are freely available for chemical engineering educators and students around the world.

“We started making interactive simulations after Dr. Garret Nicodemus found simulations on the Wolfram Demonstrations Project website,” Falconer said. “We realized they would be valuable for chemical engineering, so Garret and I worked with some undergraduates to start programming simulations.”

Currently, 210 interactive simulations are available on LearnChemE, a nationally recognized online platform dedicated to free and open chemical engineering education resources. Rachael Baumann and Neil Hendren—first as students, then as alumni working on behalf of the project—programmed the majority of those simulations.

Professor Will Medlin, chair of the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering and one of the platform’s founders, sees Falconer as a pioneer in open and interactive chemical engineering education.

“Professor Falconer has had a dramatic impact on chemical engineering education by developing numerous tools for education best practices,” Medlin said. “These tools—screencasts, conceptual tests, interactive modules and more—have been widely disseminated to and used by chemical engineering teachers and students via the LearnChemE website. While Professor Falconer has received numerous awards for his earlier work, this particular award recognizes his recent successes in developing interactive computer simulations which have been especially important in helping students learn during the remote teaching period over the past year.”

Although Falconer is a retired faculty member, he continues to develop new resources for LearnChemE and ensures that they are accessible. He frequently receives positive feedback and messages from students and educators who praise the interactivity and ease of use of the simulations.

“Faculty can use the simulations in class and as part of homework assignments,” Falconer said. “Students are pretty computer savvy, so they readily use simulations.”

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John Falconer selected for Fellow Member recognition by the American Society for Engineering Education

Anonymous — Wed, 08 May 2019 15:34:38 +0000

John Falconer selected for Fellow Member recognition by the American Society for Engineering Education Anonymous (not verified) Wed, 05/08/2019 - 09:34

Jonathan Raab

In recognition of Mel and Virginia Clark Professor Emeritus John Falconer’s decades of work and service, the American Society for Engineering Education has selected him to become a Fellow Member.

Falconer has had a big impact on students throughout his career. He’s been teaching chemical engineering courses at ��Ҵ�ý�ƽ�� since 1975, guiding thousands of students to go on to successful, impactful careers as chemical and biological engineers. From instruction to research to his interactive LearnChemE resources, his strength as an educator cannot be overstated.

“It was very gratifying to be selected as a fellow since they limit the number of new fellows in a year to 0.1% of the ASEE membership,” Falconer said. “An important factor in my selection was the word on LearnChemE, which was developed in collaboration with Janet deGrazia, Will Medlin, Katherine McDanel, Michelle Medlin and many others.”

The ASEE website describes induction into the Academy of Fellows as an “unusual professional distinction and conferred by the Board of Directors upon an ASEE member with outstanding and extraordinary qualifications, and experience in engineering or engineering technology education or allied field, and ASEE contributions.”

Previously, Falconer received the ASEE Chemical Engineering Division Lifetime Achievement Award (2017), which is awarded to engineering educators who have made frequent and long-term contributions to the field.

Falconer will receive the award at the 2019 ASEE Annual Conference and Exposition on Wednesday, June 19 at the Tampa Convention Center.

John Falconer's career in chemical engineering education has earned him a prestigious recognition from ASEE.

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Professor John Falconer earns ASEE Lifetime Achievement Award

Anonymous — Wed, 12 Apr 2017 14:02:57 +0000

Professor John Falconer earns ASEE Lifetime Achievement Award Anonymous (not verified) Wed, 04/12/2017 - 08:02

The American Society for Engineering Education has awarded Professor John Falconer the Lifetime Achievement Award in Chemical Engineering Pedagogy.

The award recognizes a sustained career of contributions to engineering education and scholarship that creates substantial, innovative changes and inspires other educators to adopt new behaviors that also benefit chemical engineering students.

The ASEE Chemical Engineering Division presents the award as merited, not necessarily annually.

Falconer joined the department in 1975 and served as department chair from 2007-11. Along with ��Ҵ�ý�ƽ�� colleagues, he developed LearnChemE.com, a website that teaches chemical engineering concepts through screencast videos and interactive simulations. The site now includes approximately 1,350 videos that have been viewed more than 13.5 million times.

Falconer’s instructional efforts have earned him other national honors, including the 2015 Warren K. Lewis Award for Chemical Engineering Education and the 2015 AIChE David Himmelblau Award for Innovations in Computer-Based Chemical Engineering Education.

“As his colleagues, we have witnessed John’s contributions to teaching, both in ChBE and to chemical engineering in general, and have been inspired by his passion for and dedication to teaching,” department Chair Charles Musgrave said. “Our students—and now chemical engineering students everywhere through screencasts—have been fortunate enough to have learned chemical engineering from him for over four decades.”

Falconer will officially accept the award June 26 at the ASEE annual meeting in Columbus, Ohio.

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John Falconer Wins 2015 Lewis Award for Chemical Engineering Education

Anonymous — Tue, 30 Jun 2015 21:32:23 +0000

John Falconer Wins 2015 Lewis Award for Chemical Engineering Education Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 06/30/2015 - 15:32

Professor John Falconer is the recipient of the 2015 Warren K. Lewis Award for Chemical Engineering Education.

Falconer has long been a pioneer of chemical engineering education, creating and promoting screencasts, ConcepTests and many other active learning tools. He recently received the 2015 AIChE Himmelblau Award for Innovations in Computer-Based Chemical Engineering Education and has been featured for his innovative teaching in Chemical Engineering Education.

Sponsored by ExxonMobil Research and Engineering Company, the Lewis Award consists of a plaque and $5,000 and will be presented at the AIChE 2015 Annual Meeting in Salt Lake City this coming November.

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Falconer, deGrazia and Medlin Receive 2015 AIChE Himmelblau Award

Anonymous — Fri, 12 Jun 2015 20:23:48 +0000

Falconer, deGrazia and Medlin Receive 2015 AIChE Himmelblau Award Anonymous (not verified) Fri, 06/12/2015 - 14:23

Professors John Falconer and Will Medlin, Senior Instructor Janet deGrazia, and former Senior Researcher Garret Nicodemus are the recipients of the 2015 AIChE Himmelblau Award.

The David Himmelblau Award for Innovations in Computer-Based Chemical Engineering Education recognizes an individual or group making new and novel contributions to computer aids for chemical engineering education. The award includes a cash prize and will be presented at the CAST Division dinner at the November AIChE National Meeting in Salt Lake City.

Falconer, deGrazia, Medlin and Nicodemus have spearheaded an online education effort which has resulted in thousands of screencasts, interactive simulations and ConcepTests viewed millions of times. Learn more at www.learncheme.com.

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High School Student Working in Falconer/Noble/Funke Lab Wins National Awards

Anonymous — Tue, 28 May 2013 06:00:00 +0000

High School Student Working in Falconer/Noble/Funke Lab Wins National Awards Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 05/28/2013 - 00:00

Fairview High School student Michael Chen, 16, has had a busy spring award season. Michael has conducted research on zeolite membranes in the Falconer lab under the guidance of Associate Professor Hans Funke since the Fall of 2012, and his work has recently been acclaimed at the national level.

Michael started off by winning 1st Place Overall at the Colorado/Wyoming Regional Junior Science and Humanities Symposium in Laramie in March. He then won several awards at the Colorado Science and Engineering Fair in April, and subsequently won 3rd Place in Chemistry at the National Junior Science and Humanities Symposium in Dayton in May.

To cap everything off, Michael won first place in the Chemistry Division at the Intel Science Fair for his work titled, "The Effects of Operating conditions on Gas Transport Mechanisms through SAPO-34 Zeolite Membranes." He also had an asteroid named after himself.

Congratulations on your many achievements, Michael!

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