Engineering Education with a Research-based Approach: Nature-Inspired Product Design

Chemical product design is a young subject incorporated into some Engineering disciplines' curricula, mainly Chemical Engineering. Its objective is to identify customer requirements, generate potential solutions to meet those needs, assess the proposed ideas, and manufacture the products. This implies that the exploration process extends beyond the laboratory, focusing on large-scale manufacturing. Moving from the conventional emphasis on unit operations and transport phenomena to product design requires a corresponding change in teaching approaches. In an academic environment, the realm of chemical product design is accompanied by challenges, notably the need to develop innovative educational strategies. In Mexico, a research-oriented methodology was introduced to teach the undergraduate course” Chemical and Biotechnological Product Design I” at Tecnologico de Monterrey, based on the design approach known as nature-inspired chemical engineering. It was also a strategy for introducing undergraduate students to research. Students were engaged in a challenge where they had to generate a technically feasible proposal for developing a new chemical product, inspired by nature, considering procedures that incorporate industrial regulations, intellectual property, and sustainability. A survey was employed to measure students' expectations at the beginning of the course. After six weeks of research, a concluding survey was conducted to gather students' perceptions of the teaching method's effectiveness and achievements. Academic performance was assessed through a dual evaluation method, comprising a test and the submission of an in-depth research report.