Spring 2027

Process Design

Process Design covers the analysis and design of chemical processing systems and equipment.

offering recorded3 credits
Recorded instructors · Spring 2027 George Huber3.4/5

Summary

1 / 6

Past student reviews · Ross Swaney

Project information was scattered across five to six different PDFs, and the class consistently ran behind schedule, requiring students to manage fragmented materials.

What you’ll be able to do

  • Demonstrate integrated application of chemical engineering knowledge acquired in prior courses

  • Solve a complex engineering design problem using modern computational tools

  • Perform an economic evaluation of a chemical process and capital projects

  • Use professional conventions and formats for representing engineering results

Source: UW Guide

Grade history

↗
average GPA
letter grades
A
AB
B
BC
C
D
F

All recorded terms · compare terms & instructors

Prerequisites

Course map

CBE 326, 426, and 430

CBE 450

This is a best-effort interpretation; check the catalog requirements above.

Prerequisite text tree

Professors

Spring 2027
Adjusted rating
RMP difficulty
captured reviews
About this rating

Raw average: 2.40/5 from 5 quality ratings. The adjusted rating blends this with the UW review average (3.66/5), weighted as 20 additional ratings. Smaller samples stay closer to that average. Each captured review is counted once in the prior; this does not correct who chooses to leave a review.

RMP profile ↗ · All captured review dates; profile matched by name.

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2019: 3.63 GPA, 78.0% A/AB (n=82 letter grades); Fall 2020: 3.58 GPA, 80.6% A/AB (n=31 letter grades); Spring 2024: 3.66 GPA, 78.6% A/AB (n=70 letter grades). Includes jointly taught sections.

Historical instructors & teaching patterns

GEORGE HUBER is recorded teaching in Spring 2019, Fall 2020, Spring 2024. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

ROSS SWANEY is recorded teaching in Spring 2007, Fall 2008, Spring 2009, Spring 2011, Spring 2012, Spring 2013, Spring 2015, Spring 2016, Fall 2016, Spring 2017, Fall 2018, Spring 2020, Spring 2023, Fall 2023, Fall 2024, Spring 2025, Fall 2025. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

Calendar & sections

Spring 2027

Schedule loads here as you scroll.

SectionModeEnrolled / capacityWaitlist
LEC 001Classroom Instruction0 / 710
DIS 302Classroom Instruction0 / 300
DIS 303Classroom Instruction0 / 350

Times are Central. Select a meeting for details; export includes recorded dates for the selected sections. Enrollment reflects scan time.

Meeting source records
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Student experience

the class

Past student reviews · Ross Swaney

Students described the course structure as uninspired and unorganized, noting that lectures often did not align with projects or tests. Learning frequently relied on trial and error using Aspen software.

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2025: 3.27 GPA, 57.5% A/AB (n=73 letter grades); Fall 2025: 3.27 GPA, 59.4% A/AB (n=32 letter grades); Spring 2026: 3.55 GPA, 86.6% A/AB (n=67 letter grades).

difficulty & workload

Past student reviews · Ross Swaney

Project information was scattered across five to six different PDFs, and the class consistently ran behind schedule, requiring students to manage fragmented materials.

Past student reviews · Ross Swaney

Historical instructor Ross Swaney was helpful in guiding projects during office hours and challenging students to think independently, though lectures were described as long-winded.

Topics

  • Chemical processing systems and equipment
  • Economic evaluation of chemical processes

Skills

  • Integrated application of chemical engineering knowledge
  • Solving complex engineering design problems with computational tools
  • Economic evaluation of chemical processes and capital projects
  • Professional representation of engineering results

Grades

Historical instructor

Spring 2027 · Projected

Before grades are released

– average GPA

Approximate 80% prediction interval

About this estimate

The course’s semester-average GPA, not an individual student’s grade. The center uses 5 same-season terms, weighted toward recent results.

The range uses the finite-sample 80th-percentile rank of absolute errors from earlier same-season forecasts. Each forecast uses only records from earlier terms. At least four forecasts are required; bounds are rounded outward and limited to 0–4. This is an empirical estimate: changing instructors or grading policies can reduce its coverage.

8 earlier forecasts · 0.29 GPA average error.

Grades over time

Through Spring 2027

More grade details Grade mix, volume & source data

Where this course fits relative to

Latest available grades · Spring 2026 · all course levels

GPA

Higher than % of other courses in this group.

Course GPAs · red marks this course’s range

letter grades

More recorded grades than % of other courses in this group.

Typical course in this group: letter grades.

About this comparison

1280 courses over the same term, each with at least 30 recorded letter grades. Cross-listed courses count once. GPA is not a measure of difficulty or teaching quality. The typical course is the median by recorded grade count; tied values are not counted as lower. Grade counts describe course scale, not unique students or typical section size.

Descriptions compare GPA with this group’s average: at least 0.20 higher or lower; otherwise close to average. Section size uses median recorded enrollment: small up to 30, mid-sized 31–99, large 100+. Lectures and discussion/lab sections are described separately.

Sources & history

UW–Madison

Catalog & offerings

Descriptions, prerequisites, and recorded course offerings.

Catalog observation history

Observations at scan time; dates do not imply when a catalog change took effect.

Download part 1
Selected offering source records
CBE 450 · Spring 2027

Process Design

Recorded 2026-10-14
Raw records 
[
  {
    "run_id": "20261014T203208-0851c9a1",
    "semester": "1274",
    "observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00",
    "offering_id": "1274:220:002687",
    "course_id": "CBE 450",
    "course_uid": "course_1e3326060f20e7f92c226d9a",
    "term_id": "1274",
    "source_course_id": "002687",
    "source_subject_id": "220",
    "title": "Process Design",
    "credits_min": 3,
    "credits_max": 3,
    "typically_offered": "Fall, Spring"
  }
]
Rate My Professors

Student reviews

Original comments behind the course and instructor summaries.

Read original reviews
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Madgrades

Grade history

Recorded grade distributions by term, section, and instructor.

Explore recorded grades
Dataset & model

Recorded 2026-10-14

View the dataset on Hugging Face
Model outputs & technical records
Qwen/Qwen3.8-27B
LLM outputs across runs
Download part 1
Full model traces

Recorded model configuration, reasoning, and tool conversations.

Download part 1
Model & dataset provenance 
{
  "model": "Qwen/Qwen3.8-27B",
  "model_revision": "1d4bf0f2ff6012fd82039f2fa52739d0dd7c60c0",
  "task_version": "17",
  "output_id": "3c059d5327dea67eebe567639a9d4f6fb1176da6ed9fcfa0f138162b6ec18016",
  "requirements_status": "valid",
  "dataset_revision": "fc1811fa52e581ea57a35c0cf3343f8740a8ffbf",
  "observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00"
}