1 A Commentary on CACHE and Software Engineering Software Taskforce (Update for Fall Meeting) Ross Taylor Tunde Ogunnaike

CACHE Trustee Meeting Nov Charge CACHE and software dissemination Current role Future role  Should it change to reflect changes in software business?  How?

CACHE Trustee Meeting Nov Current CACHE Offerings Key Points Source: CACHE web site Wide variety Special Purpose (e.g. ChemSep, THEN) General purpose (Polymath) Modules for various undergraduate courses

CACHE Trustee Meeting Nov Product History and Sales

CACHE Trustee Meeting Nov Key Points Sales Leader  Process Design Case Study (GAMS) (Does it really count as a “Software Product?”) Most Successful Products  Polymath  Multimedia Education Library; ChemSep Low Volume Sellers  Korf Hydraulics; EMR Technology; MultiBatch DS Product History and Sales

CACHE Trustee Meeting Nov Computing in Industry (‘97, ’03) Software usage Extent (Percentage of Engineers) Spreadsheets97.3% MATLAB/MathCAD15% MAPLE/Mathematica10% Process Flowsheet33%

CACHE Trustee Meeting Nov Computing in Instructional Practice Source: Academic Trustees 5 responding institutions  VA Tech  Michigan  Penn  SUNY Buffalo  Clarkson (Small sample size?)

CACHE Trustee Meeting Nov Computing in Instructional Practice General Conclusions Spreadsheets (Excel) used very widely CACHE software used infrequently MATLAB used fairly widely Programming  commonly (but not universally) taught  No consensus on what language to teach  Some exposure via MATLAB MAPLE/Mathematica often encountered in Math Classes

CACHE Trustee Meeting Nov Trustee Opinions Largely supportive of CACHE continued involvement in software dissemination Specific Points Provide only packages that sell well (PolyMath, ChemSep specifically mentioned)  As long as dissemination costs do not become excessive  Rationale behind providing packages that do not sell well questioned; What if cost for providing “low-selling” packages is minimal?  OK to continue making them available

CACHE Trustee Meeting Nov To Distribute or Not Distribute (Responding) Trustees say continue; Some points to consider As a CACHE activity is support for software distribution mostly sentimental? Is this a cost effective activity for CACHE?  Income from sales is not significant; how does it compare with the cost of providing this service? If CACHE stops distributing software products will anyone in the academic community notice? RT finds CACHE service as distributor helpful, but is this a good enough reason for CACHE?

CACHE Trustee Meeting Nov Possible New Ventures Provide material for widely used software tools (e.g. Excel, MATLAB, Mathematica) Spreadsheets Viable market for a collection of spreadsheets used for various aspects of the chemical engineering curriculum? CACHE—solicit contributions (e.g. Carnahan’s compilation a good starting point); edit for uniformity of style and quality; Assemble material in a book Chemical Engineering with Excel? Make available via the web?

CACHE Trustee Meeting Nov Possible New Ventures Other collections MATLAB m files; Maple or Mathematica worksheets; MathCad files Others? (even if market is small, still may wish to provide these if quality is sufficiently high).

CACHE Trustee Meeting Nov Conclusions CACHE Trustees as a group Believe CACHE should continue to disseminate software; Not so sure if this is a cost effective activity, however POSSIBLE NEW VENTURES Create a definitive collection of Excel Spreadsheets for distribution via the web; Compile and distribute material for other packages (MATLAB)

CACHE Trustee Meeting Nov Follow up: UPDATE DECISIONS FROM SUMMER MEETING Follow up on compiling EXCEL spreadsheet suite Mike Cutlip to spearhead effort With assistance from others (including Chau-Chyun and ASPEN) Begin by contacting Dave Clough?

CACHE Trustee Meeting Nov Follow up: UPDATE EXCEL SPREADSHEETS Mike Cutlip contacted Dave Clough Dave Clough interested in working with CACHE  Compiling spreadsheets  Developing and running short courses/workshops related to spreadsheets for academics and other users. Chau-Chyun AspenTech assistance  Make ASPEN properties available for the workshop students  Provide Web links to CACHE-sponsored courses and help advertise these courses.

CACHE Trustee Meeting Nov Follow up: UPDATE Guide to Computing Worksheet to be passed out at breakout session Content: Software Packages, Applications and References/URL’s for  Intro to Computing  Material and Energy Balances  Transport Phenomena (Fluid mech; Heat and Mass Transfer)  Numerical methods  Thermo  Unit Ops  Separations  Reaction Engineering  Process Control  Process and Product Design