Hi! My name is Carl Lund. I’m a Wisconsin Badger fan and UW Chemical Engineering alum living in Buffalo, NY. I’m also a professor of Chemical Engineering at the University at Buffalo.

One of the courses I teach is an undergraduate course on chemical kinetics and reaction engineering. It’s a typical engineering problem-solving course that I’ve been teaching since 1986. During that time, I’ve revised and refined the methods I use when teaching it, trying to make student learning easier and more efficient. This semester (Spring 2024) I’m teaching a course on energy and the environment for the first time. It is a totally different type of course where the content is largely student-driven and the format is largely discussion and student presentations. Thinking that perhaps my thoughts and experiences over the 35-plus years I’ve been teaching might be useful to others who do the same, I decided to write about the evolution of the reaction engineering course over the years and about the development of the energy and the environment course. The result is BuffaloBadger’s ToTaL Engineering, where “ToTaL Engineering” stands for Thoughts on Teaching and Learning Engineering, and I’m the BuffaloBadger.

Years ago I created a site with resources for the kinetics and reaction engineering course I teach. It was a combination of readings and videos about reaction engineering together with some resources for teaching about it. I’m now about half way through the process of creating a book based on those materials. The book is titled Reaction Engineering Basics (right now it is still being written, but a first draft of some parts is available).

When I teach reaction engineering, I use a “flipped classroom” format where the students watch videos and read before class, and then we use class time to practice using the information from the videos and readings. I have a number of videos posted for this purpose, but as my course has evolved, they have gotten out of sync with what is presented in class. Since I am writing Reaction Engineering Basics for use in the class, I decided to make a new set of videos that are based upon it. I further decided that I’d make them available for free to anyone who wants to learn about reaction engineering. (I’m guessing that there are millions of people sitting at home and thinking, “I wish I knew more about reaction engineering.”) So, I’m also developing SCoRE, a Self-Study Course on Reaction Engineering.

At present, Reaction Engineering Basics, SCoRE, and ToTaL Engineering suck up a lot of my time. Nonetheless, I do have other interests, and The BuffaloBadger’s Sett is where I talk, rant, and ramble on about things other than reaction engineering and engineering education.

Hope you get inspired or learn something while visiting here!

Horns Up and On Wisconsin!