- Nam Sun Wang
- Department of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering
- University of Maryland
- College Park, MD 20742-2111
- 301-405-1910 (voice)
e-mail: nsw@umd.edu
©2025 by Nam Sun Wang
- Department of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering
This is a required course for all chemical engineering students. Other engineering students who wish to be computer literate in the practical application of numerical methods will also benefit from the course. Upon successful completion of this course, the student should be able to recognize and solve, manually or with the help of a computer tool, most of the engineering problems involving:
Student assessment will be based on the following categories, and semester grade will be assigned based on the following scheme.
| Homework (drop one HW /w lowest score) | 20% |
| Midterm Exam #1 (10/09/25) | 20% |
| Midterm Exam #2 (11/13/25) | 20% |
| Final Exam (12/20/25, 1:30pm-3:30pm) | 40% |
Students are guaranteed the following letter grades. That means the instructor will not raise the cut-off points. However, the instructor shall reserve the right to lower the cut-off points at the end of the semester. Students study according to the grades they wish to receive.
| Fraction of Points Earned | Letter Grade |
|---|---|
| 0.80- | A (A+, A-) |
| 0.67-0.80 | B (B+, B-) |
| 0.55-0.67 | C (C+, C-) |
| 0.40-0.55 | D |
| 0.00-0.40 | F |
250/300*0.20 + 150/200*0.40 + 120/200*0.40 = 0.707
Homework Midterm Final Exam
The above lookup table shows that 0.707 translates to a semester
letter grade of "B". For borderline cases, "+" and "-" will be
appended to the letter grade. Thus, you can track your own
letter grade during the semester.
We follow the University of Maryland Policies. You can find more information/policies on academic integrity, code of student conduct, sexual misconduct, non-discrimination procedures, attendance/absence, medical excuses, etc. at: University of Maryland Code of Student Conduct from Student Affairs Office and Course-Related Policies and Resources for Undergraduate Students from the Office of Undergraduate Studies,
Homework is due at the beginning of the class on the specified date; no late homework will be accepted unless individually arranged with the instructor before the due date with a valid excuse. ELMS/CANVAS automatically flags a submission at late even if it is 0.001 second past the due time. It is the student's responsibility to check the submitted files are not corrupt. Corrupt submission that cannot be read will automatically receive no points. Likewise, if a student forgets to click the "submit" button, the assignment will receive no points. Strictly follow the required file naming convention; any deviation will result in a mandatory 1 point penalty for each file. (Being able to follow instructions strictly is important; paying close attention down to every single character is critical in coding.)
In solving homework assignments, students may modify examples already posted on the class web page or worked out in class, and discussion among classmates is allowed. Likewise, seeking help from the TA, undergraduate teaching fellows, graders, and the instructor is certainly allowed (and highly encouraged). Search for information seeking help on-line via search engines (e.g., Google, Bing, etc.) and AI chatbots (e.g., OpenAI's ChatGPT, Google's Gemini, Microsoft's Copilot, Meta AI's Llama, etc.) is allowed. In fact, the ability to search on-line is an extremely critical aspect of being a productive engineer. However, you must properly reference each source in the form of specific web URLs, specific journal articles, or prompts to AI chatbots (google "how to cite AI prompts", "how to reference AI", etc.). It is emphasized that each student must ultimately do one's own work (i.e., absolutely no straight copying of homework from fellow students nor straight copying from what AI chatbots returns). It is advised that students first go over the reading portion of the homework assignments and review the lecture notes, and subsequently make an honest concerted attempt at the submission portion of the homework assignments. Do not develop a habit of automatically and immediately default to external help; this will not help build your confidence and competency. A major discrepancy in the homework scores and exam scores is usually an indication of over-reliance on the help of fellow students and/or chatbots. A midterm exam lasting 60 minutes and a final exam lasting 120 minutes will be given; absolutely no collaboration is allowed in exams.
Plagiarism and academic dishonesty absolutely will NOT be tolerated, and suspected incidence will be referred to the Student Honor Council of the Judiciary Programs. I subscribe to the zero-tolerance principle. It is your responsibility to consult the instructor whenever there is any doubt on the definitions of these terms or on the allowable materials on each specific homework assignments or quizzes/exams. See Policy on Academic Integrity.
If you have a documented disability and wish to discuss academic accommodations with the instructor, please do so as soon as possible.
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