Focus on Tar Creek

Tar Creek is #1 on the EPA cleanup list and it is located about 90 miles from the University of Tulsa campus.While the legislators and residents debate what should be done to clean up the area, freshman Chemical Engineering students research the history of Tar Creek and use this as a starting point for lectures and lively discussion on safety and ethics.Throughout the course students perform practice calculations that are based on the information gleaned through research.During the last weeks of the semester the students participate in a research project that takes them to Tar Creek to sample the water and test these samples in a series of experiments of their own design.This project gives the students a practical appreciation of safety and the environment and an opportunity to apply their skills to a real-life problem.