The majority of chemists and chemical engineers will work with polymers at some point in their careers. It is therefore necessary to educate undergraduate students majoring in these disciplines with the basic fundamentals of polymer science and engineering. An introductory polymer course will be discussed that covers an array of topics ranging from polymer chemistry and synthetic mechanisms to structure-property relationships, polymer characterization, polymer processing, and applications. Pedagogical approaches including hands-on activities, laboratory experiments, and exploratory homework assignments serve to augment the polymer content covered in this course. This introductory polymer course serves as a foundation for students earning polymer science and engineering degrees at The University of Southern Mississippi and can also be adopted by programs aiming to add polymer content into their curricula.

Teaching polymer science and engineering fundamentals to undergraduate students

ACS Spring 2022

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.