Nance Lab
Disease-Directed Engineering
Courses Taught | Rec Letters | ChemEs in Medicine | Teaching in Research | TEXTILE
Teaching Philosophy
My teaching strategy has been driven by a desire to create accessible and relatable content for students, and a commitment to active learning and growth for both me and my students/mentees. My approach is student-centric and influenced by teaching pedagogy and best practices for creating active learning and feedback heavy classrooms. In addition to attending workshops and trainings on creating culturally aware and equity-minded classroom environments, I also work with the Office for Advancement of Engineering Teaching & Learning to facilitate feedback from students during the course. I believe in relationship building in the classroom, both with the material and with classmates, TA's, and faculty. Each student brings a unique perspective to the classroom, having different life experiences, learning styles, and personal and professional goals; therefore it is critical to me to get to know my students individually. Many of my courses are supplemented with information for developing study skills, mental health resources, and career-oriented resources. As a someone who struggled with imposter syndrome during my tenure as an undergraduate in chemical engineering, I also feel it is important to acknowledge the role mentoring can play in education, and strive to serve as an accessible and transparent resource for students.
Have you taken a class from Professor Nance and need a recommendation letter? First read the request guidelines for Prof Nance on the recommendation letters page. Then email eanance@uw.edu with your request!
Courses Taught by Prof Nance
CHEME 330 Transport Processes I
Course Description: This course covers diffusive transport of momentum, heat, and mass; general aspects of fluid flow; the Navier-Stokes equations; and one-dimensional flow with engineering applications.
CHEME 435 Mass Transfer and Separations
Course Description: This course covers mass transfer principles and principles of separation by equilibrium and rate processes. In addition, the course discusses how these principles influence equipment design.
CHEME 434/534 Physiology and Nanomedicine
Course Description: This course is designed to provide students with an understanding of the physiological principles that influence the use of nanoscale systems in the human body. We will specifically focus on physiological principles related to the transport and partitioning of nanotherapeutics to different organs in the body.
CHEME 498 Technical Communication in Chemical Engineering
Course Description: The goal of this course is to prepare chemical engineering students with the individual and collaborative technical writing, presentation, and research skills necessary to be effective technical communicators in academic and professional environments. This class provides equivalent or replacement credit for ENGR 231 or provides engineering elective credit.
CHEME 310 Material and Energy Balances
Course Description: This course introduces students to chemical and physical process calculations, including steady- and unsteady-state material and energy balances with specific examples in vapor-liquid contact operations and multiphase extraction, and introductory thermochemistry. Students will also discuss topics relevant to navigating the chemical engineering curriculum. This course will be aligned with CHEME 375, introduction to Chemical Engineering computing skills (Excel, Matlab, Aspen, Python).
NEURO 501 Introduction to Neurobiology
Module: Microglia
Course Description: Survey of molecular, cellular, and developmental neuroscience, including gene regulation, the cytoskeleton, protein sorting in the secretory pathway, growth factors, and neurotransmitter receptors. Includes lecture discussion of original literature.
Chemical Engineers in Medicine
Chemical Engineers can have significant impact in the field of medicine, both in research and in professional pursuits.
The B.S. Chemical Engineering degree trains students to break down a system into its fundamental components, analyze and evaluate these fundamentals, then build back up to a whole system-level understanding. This is an excellent and valuable approach to medicine, where treating disease requires an awareness of the collective system (the body) and the underlying principles that influence its health. Similar to many universities, the University of Washington (UW) Chemical Engineering department has many alumni who have pursued health professions such as medicine or pharmacy after completing the B.S. ChemE. Many students following in this path decide they are interested in health professions after beginning their ChemE degree. In this case, an extra year of supplementary coursework may be required to complete pre-health prerequisites and apply to professional schools. However, students who know that they are interested in both ChemE and medical school early in their studies can complete the degree and all pre-requisites within four years.
To support chemical engineering undergraduate students in their efforts to pursue medical or health secondary degrees, I have partnered with UW ChemE Academic Advisors Nicole Minkoff and Dave Drischell to provide several resources. These resources include: (1) a pre-health planning guide; (2) a sample plan of study that integrates pre-health/pre-med requirements with the chemical engineering curriculum; (3) pre-health advising by a medically-focused chemical engineering faculty; and (4) partnership with the UW Pre-Health Advising office to facilitate workshop and panel discussions that are geared towards engineering students.
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Whether students come to the combination of engineering and medicine purposefully or through a meandering path, it's clear that chemical engineering can provide an excellent and unique preparation for a variety of health professions. To learn more about Pre-Health in Chemical Engineering, check out our webpage!
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For students enrolled in Direct-To-College via the College of Engineering, I have co-developed a course (ENGR 115 Engineering Transformations of Health) with Bioengineering and Mechanical Engineering faculty introduces freshman engineering students to multidisciplinary engineering approaches to improving and promoting human health, including understanding how engineers from different disciplines collaborate, approach, and solve health problems.
Teaching in Research
Coming soon