50th Annual Conference in September 2022 1721 Juan Torras and David Zanuy Introduction to molecular modeling of materials in an undergraduate engineering degree - 10.5821/conference-9788412322262.1121 doi:10.5821/conference-9788412322262.1121 INTRODUCTION TO MOLECULAR MODELING OF MATERIALS IN AN UNDERGRADUATE ENGINEERING DEGREE J. Torras 1 Universitat Politècnica Catalunya Barcelona, Spain ORCID 0000-0001-8737-7609 D. Zanuy Universitat Politècnica Catalunya Barcelona, Spain ORCID 0000-0001-7704-2178 Conference Key Areas: Physics and Engineering Education Keywords: exercise & project-based learning; computer laboratory; chemistry; physics; practical courses ABSTRACT Molecular modeling is a chemistry tool that has been widely used in the last decades to mainly support the basic concepts of general chemistry and organic chemistry, in both undergraduate programs of basic sciences and some technological careers. Despite its use, except in some very specific cases, it has been extensively employed as illustrative examples of the chemical concepts that were being demonstrated. Despite the numerous existing applications to comprehend the phenomena behind the development of new materials and biomedicine, it is difficult to find a conceptual introduction of molecular modeling applied to specific problems on the modern engineeries within the undergraduate programs. In the present work, it will be shown the introduction and adaptation of molecular modeling concepts within a new optional course for students coming from materials engineering, chemical engineering and biomedicine engineeries. Different approaches to problem-based and small project-based learning are presented to encourage the scientific spirit of students using techniques of molecular modeling that had not been visited throughout their studies and, thus, to discover their potential appliacation in a more specialized context. 1 Corresponding Author J. Torras joan.torras@upc.edu