Thermodynamics and the Origin of Life
Ariel Taylor Mentor: Irvin Osborne-Lee Department of Chemical Engineering Introduction: Thermodynamics is an area of engineering science with wide-ranging applicability and power to provide insight to real-life situations and analytical capacity for solving problems of contemporary importance, such as climate change,1 weather,2 and biology.3 Yet, there remain unanswered questions about the nature of life, how it began, and its future trajectory. This project aims to leverage the tool of thermodynamics to address some of the crucial questions to develop an effective strategy for teaching the next and future generations of engineers and scientists to comprehend enough about thermodynamics to think more clearly about life on the planet going forward. The research team is as follows: Dr. Osborne-Lee is a professor of chemical engineering with research interests in thermodynamics, energy sustainability, and environmental processes; Ms. Ariel Taylor is a graduating senior in chemical engineering; Mr. Ozoemena Anyaegbu is a graduate student in chemical engineering. Materials and Methods: This project combines research primarily through training, literature study, and analysis in two lines of study with the development of teaching strategies and materials to lead students at the undergraduate and graduate levels to understand the origin of life through the lens of thermodynamics principles. The two lines of study follow [1] the history of the cosmos from its beginning to the origin of life events and through present-day and [2] thermodynamic principles going beyond the concepts traditionally taught in typical science and engineering programs. The work in Fall 2020 focused on item [2] entailing academic inquiry on the part of the undergraduate research assistant (URA, Ms. Taylor), with a graduate research assistant (GRA, O. Anyaegbu, not funded by RISE) focused on item [1], both led by a Professor Osborne-Lee as a faculty research mentor and the principal investigator (PI). Work products expected are conference presentations, publications, and course curriculum materials, including syllabi, lesson plans, and teaching modules such as screencasts. Results and Discussion: The URA and GRA each met with the PI remotely via Zoom to receive orientation, instruction, and direction. URA project activities are included in the summary of projected activities, as follow: •
Taylor learned to conduct an investigation by searching the literature using keywords and indexed databases such as E. I. Compendex Web and Science Direct. She located and shared important new references that advanced the project.4
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Taylor completed training and gained certification in research with human subjects to qualify for studies using survey instruments and/or interviews with people.
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Ms. Taylor learned to do a formal article review and used this skill to complete a written article review for key articles found by literature search.
References: Lucarini, V., K. Fraedrich and F. Lunkeit, “Thermodynamics of Climate Change: Generalized Sensitivities,” Atmos. Chem. Phys., 10, 9729-9737, 2010. Nugent, A., D. DeCou, S. Russel and C. Karamperidou, “Chapter 3: Thermodynamics” in Atmospheric Processes and Phenomenon, Open Educational Resource http://pressbooks-dev.oer.hawaii.edu/atmo/ (last accessed December 31, 2020). Haynie, D., Biological Thermodynamics, 2nd edition, Cambridge University Press, 2013. 4 Schneider, E. and J. Kay, “Life as a Manifestation of the Second Law of Thermodynamics,” Mathl. Comput. Modelling,” 19, No. 6-8, pp. 25-48, 1994.
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