Systems engineering includes the inception, analysis, design, construction and test of a complex system, and could well be employed in the solution of major national problems. (Author/IR)

Undergraduate engineering students should become intimately involved in three principal dimensions of engineering: analysis, synthesis and experimentation. (Editor)

The author asserts that most of the failures associated with technological progress are due to poor systems engineering, not to poor device engineering. (Editor)

Describes a 10-week survey course in catalysis for chemical engineering and chemistry students designed to show how modern chemistry and chemical engineering interact in the ongoing development of industrial catalysts. Includes course outline and instructional strategies. (Author/JN)

An oilwell drilling rig accidentally drilled into an underground salt mine, draining a lake and filling the mine, with water jetting out of the mine 400 feet into the air. An explanation of the jetting phenomenon is offered in terms of the laws of fluid dynamics, with supporting diagrams and calculations. (Author/JN)

Describes phenomena that can be effectively illustrated using microcomputers, techniques used to create these illustrations, and techniques used for displaying them in regular classrooms and over an instructional television network. Also describes microcomputer features required to apply the techniques, providing comments on the suitability of…

Interactive Simulation Language (ISL) is a highly interactive and graphics-oriented language. ISL use in senior design course and introductory system modeling/system behavior course is discussed (including instructional strategies, self-administered instruction, and problem assignment). A description of ISL (including block library and main menu)…

Describes skills training for engineering students in which a simple video system gives a sense of occasion to spoken presentations, offers instant feedback, and increases students' confidence in communicative ability. Use of video in refresher courses for engineers, for peer teaching, and by undergraduates tutoring secondary students are also…

Information from a sizeable sample of recent reports (N=269 programs) is presented to inform the engineering technology community of the most important factors in the accreditation process. Areas discussed (supplemented by data in tabular form) include physical facilities and faculty, administrative, curriculum, and student factors. (JN)

Describes a computer program which allows students to specify rather arbitrary sets of poles and zeros for the transfer function of a linear system. The computer evaluates/plots the systems impulse and step responses individually and displays them in reduced form along with the pole-zero plot. (JN)

Discusses reasons why the original van Deemter equation should no longer be taught and why three other equations, better representing chromatographic dispersion, are preferred. Also discusses underlying phenomena in terms that can be transmitted to sophomores. (JN)

Highlights a survey indicating that, of about 6500 chemical engineers graduating from U.S. schools in 1982-83, slightly fewer than half have job commitments or applications submitted to graduate schools in chemical engineering or other fields. Major reasons include recession and climbing enrollments. (JN)

Several successful approaches used to create an environment that helps faculty members achieve their own and their department's objectives are discussed. Includes discussions of faculty load for teaching and professional affairs, recognition/evaluation of academic excellence (promotion criteria and annual merit raises), educational/instructional…