1 / 37

Challenges in 21 st Century Engineering Education

Challenges in 21 st Century Engineering Education. Dr. Jonathan Bredow Professor and Chair Department of Electrical Engineering. General (simplistic) view of many factors involved in education (undergraduate). Undergraduate students. Leveling/ Extracurricular. Grand Challenges/

doris
Download Presentation

Challenges in 21 st Century Engineering Education

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Challenges in 21st Century Engineering Education Dr. Jonathan Bredow Professor and Chair Department of Electrical Engineering

  2. General (simplistic) view of many factors involved in education (undergraduate) Undergraduate students Leveling/ Extracurricular Grand Challenges/ Societal constraints Undergraduate Program Industry needs Research Needs Students not graduating in the program

  3. Undergraduate students

  4. From Reference 3

  5. From Reference 3

  6. First Engineering Degrees China Japan US Source: Science and Engineering Indicators 2006, National Science Foundation, Washington, DC From Reference 1

  7. Undergraduate student attention items • Outreach to develop the pool of recruits is critical • Recruiting and retention are challenging • Transfer student issues • Focus on applications/systems • Focus on “hands-on” and active learning

  8. Many needs in student development, beyond the technical education • Nano-Bio-Info • Large Complex Systems • An entire new life-science base • Astounding computation and storage capabilities • Globalization • Innovation • Leadership • Teamwork across disciplines, fields, nations and cultures • Experiential Learning: Conceive / Design / Implement / Operate. • Entrepreneurship • Product Development and Manufacturing • Sustainable Development From Reference 1

  9. One of the major problems needing to be addressed • US 15-year-olds ranked 27th out of 39 countries that participated in a 2003 administration of the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) examination, which assessed students’ ability to apply mathematical concepts to real-world problems. From Reference 3

  10. Leveling/Extracurricular activities

  11. Leveling/Extracurricular activities • Coursework • Mentoring opportunities • Tutorials • Web resources • Student competitions These are critical to student development!!

  12. Industry Needs

  13. Context and Goals for Technological Education • A New Century • New Innovation and Enterprise Models • New Technological Frontiers • Engineering Grand Challenges From Reference 1

  14. With New Speed From Reference 1

  15. Engineering Grand ChallengesSee the NAE website. Energy Environment Global Warming Sustainability Reducing Vulnerability to Human and Natural Threats Expand and Enhance Human Capability And Joy Improve Medicine and Healthcare Delivery From Reference 1

  16. Engineering Grand ChallengesAnnounced Feb. 15, 2008 • Make Solar Energy Economical • Provide Energy from Fusion • Develop Carbon Sequestration Methods • Manage the Nitrogen Cycle • Provide Access to Clean Water • Engineer Better Medicines • Advance Health Informatics • Secure Cyberspace • Prevent Nuclear Terror • Restore and Improve Urban Infrastructure • Reverse Engineer the Brain • Enhance Virtual Reality • Advance Personalized Learning • Engineer the Tools of Scientific Discovery From Reference 1

  17. Research Needs

  18. Nanotechnology & MEMS – Materials and Devices OpticalDevices and Systems Renewable Energy & Vehicular Technology ICs Systems, Controls & Automated Manufacturing Power Systems & Industrial Power Electronics RFID Medical Imaging Electromagnetic Fields and Applications Electrical Engineering Research Areas

  19. Undergraduate Program

  20. Immediate Impact – Undergraduate Program • Currently straight-line flow curriculum

  21. Immediate Impact – Undergraduate Program (2)

  22. Immediate Impact – Undergraduate Program (3) • Changes planned for undergraduate curriculum • Begin with system-level view • Condense core components to enable specialization • Provide additional hands-on experiences • Add multidisciplinary components • Solidify/provide additional experiences related to globalization, societal impact, etc. • Tie to research (NSF REU will help provide resources)

  23. Immediate Impact – Undergraduate Program (4) • Curriculum delivery methods • Emphasize interactive instruction • Support interactive instruction with demos and mini-lab components • Better utilize variety of supporting materials available on the web • GTAs to provide tutorials on Matlab, Spice, basic math skills,etc. • Promote extracurricular activities • Competitions directed toward motivating performance, outreach and recruiting • Promote/reward leadership

  24. There is a lot out there: • Experiential learning • Projects • Computer-assisted learning • CDIO (Conceive-Design-Implement-Operate) • Business Plan Competitions • UROP, UPOP (Undergraduate Research/Practice Opportunities Project) • Studio Learning • WebLab • Second Life …… etc. (Virtual World) • Entire new schools like Olin College From Reference 1

  25. General (simplistic) view of many factors involved in education (graduate) Graduate students Leveling/ Extracurricular Faculty/ Centers of Excellence Industry needs Grand Challenges/ Societal constraints Partners/ Collaborators Graduate Program Products Patents Services Publications Students not graduating in the program Professional Service

  26. Graduate students

  27. From Reference 2

  28. From Reference 2

  29. Partners/Collaborators

  30. The power of regional innovation clusters • Proximity of small companies and corporate labs to universities • Venture capital networks CV-Important roles of a Tier 1 institution

  31. Centers of Excellence

  32. Impact • Necessary for going beyond incremental advances • Facilitates bringing together highly skilled teams to solve big problems • Serves as a magnet to attract major resources

  33. Graduate Program

  34. Competitions • Promote centers of excellence • Promote spin-offs

  35. Challenges • Other players in the area • Emphasis on research/graduate program while also providing solid undergraduate instruction • Connecting/partnering with industry • Context of Tier-1

  36. Suggestions • Better understanding of the value-added concept • Skills in teaming (especially team-forming) • Understand makeup of teams required to accomplish different sets of tasks • Understanding relationships between value-added and sets of tasks

  37. References • Vest, Charles M., President, National Academy of Engineering, “Engineering Education for the 21st Century, ASEE Annual Conference, Pittsburgh, PA, June 23, 2008 • NDEA 21: A Renewed Commitment to Graduate Education, The Council of Graduate Schools, Final Statement November 2005. • Rising Above the Gathering Storm: Energizing and Employing America for a Brighter Economic Future, Committee on Prospering in the Global Economy of the 21st Century:An Agenda for American Science and Technology, National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Engineering, Institute of Medicine, 2007.

More Related