CHE meets Give Day challenge; purchases two rheometers for lab classes

Thanks to generous donations from alumni, friends and Chevron during this year’s UC Davis Give Day, the Department of Chemical Engineering was able to purchase two rheometers from Anton Parr to enhance undergraduate lab classes and expand graduate student research capabilities.

Rheometers measure the way a liquid, suspension or slurry flows in response to applied forces, which helps students learn and conduct research in rheology, fluid dynamics and transport.

The first rheometer, an MCR 92, is a workhorse-type instrument that will be used in the Chemical Engineering Transport Lab (ECH 145B), Rheology and Polymer Processing course (ECH 144) and a new course in food engineering, which will be taught this spring by the department’s newest faculty member, Dr. Glaucia Helena Carvahlo do Prado.

The other, an MCR 102e, is a specialized machine that will let students measure the gelatinization characteristics of corn, malt and rye grains in the Chemical & Engineering Principles in Whisky and Fuel Alcohol Production course (ECH 168). The MCR 102e will also give graduate students new research capabilities.

The department wants to thank everyone who supported the campaign, especially Ron Joost and B.J. Umstead—who sponsored the Give Day Challenge—Bob and Linda Kiss, Howard and Valerie Stone, Bruce and Noretta Gilbert, Yin and Elizabeth Yeh and Chevron, who all made significant contributions.