Reports on efforts by the Institute for the Certification of Engineering Technicians and the Engineering Technologists Certification Institute to construct job task inventories for all major fields of engineering technician/technologist occupations. (CP)

The 1978 ASEE Chemical Engineering Division Lecturer was Theodore Vermeulen of the University of California at Berkeley. Other chemical engineers who received awards or special recognition at a recent ASEE annual conference are mentioned. (BB)

Summarizes a survey of biochemical engineering education programs completed in the summer of 1977. (BB)

Provides a course description for a one-semester introductory unit in the fundamentals of surface interactions and their relationships to absorption and catalysis. (CP)

Discusses results of a survey of prominent engineers to determine their experience with technical writing and to solicit their opinions about its importance to them, its place in the engineering curriculum, and what should be included in a course in technical writing. (MB)

Examines three broad areas related to the formal learning of engineering. These areas focus on: (1) approaches to learning; (2) developing engineering curricula; and (3) curriculum planning for the future. Also considers whether current engineering curricula can accommodate needed changes. (JN)

Government programs and renewed industrial activity have combined with stable enrollments to create bright job prospects for civil engineers. Areas with good opportunities include highway reconstruction and rehabilitation, water-resource management, and new factory construction. The subspecialty of structural engineering has a growing need in…

Examines the current situation in engineering colleges (including the critical faculty shortage) and the role that a federal science and engineering policy should play in engineering education. Categories and goals for federal support are discussed with the belief that these policies can address the priority for quality in engineering education.…

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the American Society of Engineering Education (ASEE) launched a team competition to design a space glove. Discusses space glove specifications, the competition and competitors, team characteristics/membership, the judging process (with Kansas State University the winner), and lessons for…

Suggests five ways to make college proposal-writing assignments correspond more closely to the proposal-writing situations faced by engineers. They include emphasizing sales proposals over in-house planning or research and development proposals, using actual or fictional cases as the basis for assignments, and requiring oral presentations of the…

Engineers in industry were surveyed to identify what they think are important skills to emphasize in the general engineering curriculum. Results, based on 62 questionnaires (100 were mailed), are presented and discussed. One finding is that industry highly values reasoning and communication skills in addition to engineering skills. (JN)

The text of an interview with Erich Bloch, National Science Foundation (NSF) director, is provided. Among the topics/issues explored are NSF's role in policy research, mission and goals of NSF, establishment of NSF Engineering Research Centers, and national security issues involving access to supercomputers in universities that NSF is funding. (JN)

Describes an apparatus (built from domestic plumbing pipes and fittings) that uses only water and electricity (as consumables) to investigate basic mass and heat balances in a system with recycle. Also describes experiments using the apparatus. (JN)

Describes a course (given to junior/senior students with strong background in thermodynamics and transport phenomena) that covers the theoretical and practical aspects of properties estimation. An outline for the course is included. (JN)

Examines what higher educational institutions and education programs in industry provide as international training, focusing on the situation in Switzerland. Also provides information on what the International Association for the Exchange of Students for Technical Experiences is doing for engineering students worldwide. (JN)