Improving academic outcomes for minority students by highlighting the work of Norbert Rillieux

Abstract

Focuses on diversity in hiring and promotion have been somewhat successful at increasing representation in chemical engineering and in company management. However, often the chokepoint preventing people of color from becoming involved in chemical engineering and other STEM fields is in undergraduate education. Despite similar levels of initial enrollment in STEM fields, people of color have a much lower rate of completion than their white peers. There are myriad factors for this, including lack of peer support, lack of mentorship opportunities, bias from professors, and other challenges. These problems may be outside the ability of chemical engineering faculty to fix, but one problem that can easily be improved on is the lack of representation of people of color and course materials. In this work, we discuss the contributions of Norbert Rillieux, a 19 th century scientist, entrepreneur, and one of the earliest chemical engineers. Rillieux was the son of a slave and her “owner”, but traveled to France to receive a first-class scientific education. Using a sophisticated separations system, Rillieux turned sugar from a luxury to a staple by improving the quality and quantity of sugar commercially available. Additionally, his work made sugar production far less dangerous for the enslaved people who worked in sugar production facilities. Despite his contributions to the field, Rillieux’s work has faded into anonymity. In addition to reintroducing his work, we discuss how Rillieux’s work can be used as part of thermodynamics, separations, or introductory engineering courses. Educators can use Rillieux and other examples to easily increase representation in the classroom and improve outcomes for students of color.