As part of the Electrical Engineering program at the Univesity of Southern Maine, students are typically introduced to Two's Complement algebra and representation, a method to include negative numbers in the binary representation of integers that is widely used in microprocessors and related digital systems. The traditional, procedural method to…

This data brief presents federal academic science and engineering obligations data from 19 agencies participating in the fiscal year 1998 Survey of Federal Science and Engineering Support to Universities, Colleges, and Nonprofit Institutions. Data are collected on Federal science and engineering support by funding agency, type of institution,…

This paper reports findings from a comprehensive evaluation of the first national electronic mentoring program that matches female engineering students with mentors working in industry. The program being evaluated--MentorNet--uses a combination of on-line tools, computer databases, mentoring specialists, and campus and industrial contacts to…

The knowledge of exponential development, the multiple aspects of social problems, the fast technological advancements and the growing availability of advanced hardware and software are increasing demands on undergraduate engineering education and practice. Therefore, it is imperative that engineering teachers become able to accomplish much more…

This paper shares a cognitive intervention approach to teaching thinking to first-year students in engineering and applied science courses in Singapore. The theoretical underpinnings of the Cognitive Modification Intervention (CMI) are based on Feuerstein's Theory of Structural Cognitive Modifiability. Embedded in this theory is the Theory of…

This paper explains the educational changes in the Water Resources Engineering program offered by the Universidad Nacional del Litoral in Santa Fe, Argentina, for the last 20 years at the undergraduate level. The need for modernizing the engineering teaching program occurred due to changes in the social system in which the concepts of development…

This study reports the results of the pre and post mathematics test administered to student participants of the 2001 Summer Bridge Program, sponsored by the Minority Engineering, Mathematics and Science Department (MEMS) at the University of New Mexico (UNM). There was a four-week time span between the administration of the standardized test,…

Universities are often accused of being "ivory towers" that are divorced from the "real worlds" of industry and commerce. Similarly, it is argued that academics teach "yesterday's science," and that they are unaware of modern developments in technology and engineering. When it is realized that the research budgets of…

This paper evaluates the performance of engineering institutions in graduating minority freshmen. The four indices identified include: (1) the total number and proportion of minority graduates; (2) the proportion of full-time minority freshmen who earned a bachelor's degree in engineering; (3) the retention rate of minorities relative to the…

To enhance the nation's economic productivity and improve the quality of life worldwide, engineering education in the United States must anticipate and adapt to the dramatic changes of engineering practice. The Engineer of 2020 urges the engineering profession to recognize what engineers can build for the future through a wide range of leadership…

The three-two plan has been developed, chiefly in recent years, as one method of attacking the problem of the proper allocation of time in undergraduate engineering education between the liberal and technical subdivisions of the curriculum. The growth in the number of such programs is a clear indication that this relatively new development is…

The Personalized System of Instruction, devised by Keller and Sherman in the 1960's, is a course format that has been winning wide acceptance among university teachers in the past few years. In this article we indicate the main advantages that we see in the format, the modifications that we have made to adapt it to our needs, and some of the…

Article describes the Television College established by the Thomson Foundation and the courses of training offered there for producers and engineers. (Author)

The metric system will soon be adopted in the United States. Engineering college educators can play a major role in this revision. Various suggestions are listed for teachers, authors and others. (PS)