This paper describes the course design and evaluation results for an online continuing education program designed for working engineers. Engineering educators have long recognized the value of reducing the gap between the classroom and work environments. Implementing experiential learning in the undergraduate classroom brings much needed context…

This article outlines the diversity of engineering leadership programs by comparing origin stories, definitions, program structure, instructional strategies, research, and program evaluation approaches of seven North American engineering leadership programs.

Recent studies have identified that engaging middle school students (grades 6-8) in STEM activities increases their chances of choosing STEM-related disciplines when entering college; however, very few university-sponsored opportunities are available for these students. This paper describes an outreach day for middle school students consisting of…

Following the decision at the KU Leuven to implement the educational concept of guided independent learning and to encourage students to participate in scientific research, the Faculty of Bioscience Engineering decided to introduce a bachelor thesis. Competencies, such as communication, scientific research and teamwork, need to be present in the…

In Mr. Wood's technology class, students learned about many aspects of engineering, including design of a product, teamwork, testing hypotheses, and testing the final product. In this article, the author describes how his class, particularly his team, applied everything they learned about the process to their kayak design challenge using the IDEAL…

Living in the Adirondack Park and being an avid outdoorsman has often resulted in the author's love of the outdoors working its way into class projects. In 2010, the author gave a group of 25 students in grades 9-12 a challenge that required them to design and construct a prototype inexpensive, lightweight kayak for backpackers and fisherman. In…

A laboratory-based class in flat-panel display technology is presented. The course introduces fundamental concepts of display systems and reinforces these concepts through the fabrication of three display devices--an inorganic electroluminescent seven-segment display, a dot-matrix organic light-emitting diode (OLED) display, and a dot-matrix…

This paper describes a complete lab work management framework designed and developed in the authors' department to help teachers to manage the small projects that students are expected to complete as lab assignments during their graduate-level computer engineering studies. The paper focuses on an application example of the framework to a specific…

Nanoelectronics has the potential, and is indeed expected, to revolutionize information technology by the use of the impressive characteristics of nano-devices such as carbon nanotube transistors, molecular diodes and transistors, etc. A great effort is being put into creating an introductory course in nano-technology. However, practically all…

After a discussion of experiential learning as an element in higher education and of the program evaluation process used in this study, six different but successful experiential learning programs in engineering are described and compared. From these comparisons some conclusions are drawn about important program elements. The six programs described…

Describes graduate and undergraduate program in Plant Engineering at Loughborough University of Technology, England. Central theme of program is that of failures which occur on plant. Almost all topics are related to deviation, maloperation, or failure in some way. (Author/JN)

North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University conferred three doctorates in engineering on African Americans this year, who along with two more earning degrees this summer will substantially increase the pool of African American engineering Ph.D's. The university's new program is hailed by some, but criticized by others as not…

Documents the approach and the design decisions taken during the establishment of a quality system for teaching activities in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Leeds. Describes the motivations for performing the work, how it was organized and resourced, the approach adopted, and the impact of the Higher Education…

This article describes the Gironacel[R] project--a virtual learning environment produced by the University of Girona. The purpose of this tool is to make it easier for students studying quality management courses within engineering schools to understand what the "quality culture" is and how to implement the ISO 9001:2000 standard in a…

Describes a program option for undergraduate chemical engineering students interested in biotechnology. Discusses how this program is deployed at the University of Southern Florida. Lists courses which apply to this program. Discusses the goals of teaching applied microbiology to engineering majors. (CW)