The International Fine Particle Research Institute held a particle technology education workshop in Sheffield, UK in April 2017, which examined many different aspects of the challenges for all of us in this area (Powder Tech, (2020), 360, 144.). Even though it is just four short years after that workshop, our world has changed significantly and this is especially true in the education space. However, many of the outcomes of the meeting remain very valid: the need to educate undergraduates in the field; the continuing battle to get support for solids processing technology both for the undergraduate curriculum and PhD research; the desire by industry to have well-trained engineers at all degree levels. With the onset of the Covid-19 virus in early 2020, we’ve had to embrace both the delivery of education remotely and doing industrial particle technology development virtually with minimal experiments. We will examine the effectiveness of virtual delivery of particle technology engineering education across all levels (UG, grad, and post-grad) and where significant challenges still remain. In addition, I will highlight the importance of teaching each other so that we may teach our students better.  Lastly, I will offer some thoughts on the path forward for education in OUR field.

Karl Jacob is a retired Fellow in Engineering Sciences at The Dow Chemical Company. He is the founder of the Solids Processing Lab at Dow.  Presently, he teaches solids processing and assists with process design at the University of Michigan.  He is an AIChE Fellow and a graduate of Case Western Reserve University. For nearly the last four decades, he has worked on a vast array of particle technology problems, with particular expertise in silo/hopper design, powder mechanics, pneumatic conveying, particle engineering.