Richard M. Felder (born 1939 in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

) is the Hoechst Celanese Professor Emeritus of Chemical Engineering at

North Carolina State University North Carolina State University (NC State) is a public land-grant research university in Raleigh, North Carolina. Founded in 1887 and part of the University of North Carolina system, it is the largest university in the Carolinas. The universit ...

Education and career history

Felder received a BChE degree from the

City College of New York The City College of the City University of New York (also known as the City College of New York, or simply City College or CCNY) is a public university within the City University of New York (CUNY) system in New York City. Founded in 1847, Cit ...

in 1962 and a Ph.D. in

chemical engineering Chemical engineering is an engineering field which deals with the study of operation and design of chemical plants as well as methods of improving production. Chemical engineers develop economical commercial processes to convert raw materials int ...

from

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial Colleges, fourth-oldest ins ...

in 1966 after completing a doctoral dissertation titled "Energy distributions of energetic atoms in irradiated media." He spent a year as a

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...

Postdoctoral Fellow at the

Atomic Energy Research Establishment The Atomic Energy Research Establishment (AERE) was the main Headquarters, centre for nuclear power, atomic energy research and development in the United Kingdom from 1946 to the 1990s. It was created, owned and funded by the British Governm ...

(Harwell, England) and then two years as a research engineer at

Brookhaven National Laboratory Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) is a United States Department of Energy national laboratory located in Upton, Long Island, and was formally established in 1947 at the site of Camp Upton, a former U.S. Army base and Japanese internment c ...

. In 1969 he joined the chemical engineering faculty at

, and he retired to emeritus status in 1999. He spent sabbatical semesters at the

University of Colorado The University of Colorado (CU) is a system of public universities in Colorado. It consists of four institutions: University of Colorado Boulder, University of Colorado Colorado Springs, University of Colorado Denver, and the University of Co ...

(1982),

Georgia Tech The Georgia Institute of Technology, commonly referred to as Georgia Tech or, in the state of Georgia, as Tech or The Institute, is a public research university and institute of technology in Atlanta, Georgia. Established in 1885, it is part of ...

(1990), the

Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching (CFAT) is a U.S.-based education policy and research center. It was founded by Andrew Carnegie in 1905 and chartered in 1906 by an act of the United States Congress. Among its most nota ...

(2003), and

Smith College Smith College is a Private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts Women's colleges in the United States, women's college in Northampton, Massachusetts. It was chartered in 1871 by Sophia Smith (Smith College ...

(2006).

Professional contributions

Engineering research

For roughly the first half of his career, Felder carried out research on a variety of topics, starting with his doctoral and postdoctoral research on energy distributions of energetic atoms in irradiated media, progressing through mathematical modeling of mixing and diffusion in chemical reactors, fluidized bed gasification of coal, and diffusion of gases and vapors in polymer membranes, and concluding with stochastic modeling of specialty chemicals manufacturing processes. He has authored or coauthored over 300 papers on chemical process engineering and engineering and science education.

Introductory chemical engineering textbook

Felder coauthored ''Elementary Principles of Chemical Processes'', a text for the introductory chemical engineering course, with Ronald W. Rousseau and (in the fourth edition) Lisa G. Bullard. The book first appeared in 1978 and became the standard textbook for the introductory chemical engineering course in the United States. It has been adopted by more than 90% of all U.S. chemical engineering departments and at many institutions in other countries, and has been translated into Spanish, Portuguese, Chinese, and Korean.

Research and writing on teaching and learning

Beginning in the late 1980s, Felder shifted his career focus from disciplinary engineering research to education, including educational research. With Rebecca Brent, he coauthored ''Teaching and Learning STEM: A Practical Guide'', a guidebook for instructors of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics courses, and he has authored or coauthored three education-related book chapters and over 120 education related articles and over 100 "Random Thoughts" columns in the quarterly journal ''Chemical Engineering Education''. His research and publications deal with many aspects of teaching and learning, with his primary emphasis being on student-centered instructional methods including ''active learning'' (involving students in course-relevant activities during classes rather than relying entirely on lecturing as the medium of instruction) and ''cooperative learning'' (getting students to complete assignments and projects in teams under conditions that include holding all team members individually accountable for all of the work done). Felder discussed his teaching philosophy in an interview in the ''Journal of Science Education'' in 2002.

Faculty development

Felder has given over 300 education-related seminars and—with his wife and colleague, Rebecca Brent—over 300 teaching workshops on campuses throughout the United States and abroad. He is the co-founder (with James Stice) of the National Effective Teaching Institute sponsored by the

American Society for Engineering Education The American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE) is a non-profit member association, founded in 1893, dedicated to promoting and improving engineering and engineering technology education. The purpose of ASEE is the advancement of education ...

, and co-directed it from 1991 through 2015.

Index of Learning Styles

Felder co-developed and validated an on-line instrument called the Index of Learning Styles that assesses students' preferences on four dimensions of a learning styles model he had previously co-developed with Linda K. Silverman.

References

External links

Biographical Information on Richard Felder

Guide to the Richard M. Felder Papers 1962-2006
{{DEFAULTSORT:Felder, Richard M. 1939 births Living people American chemical engineers American engineering writers Engineering educators Writers from New York (state) City College of New York alumni Princeton University School of Engineering and Applied Science alumni North Carolina State University faculty Fellows of the American Society for Engineering Education