Development, implementation and assessment of a common first year end-of-semester engineering design project in an integrated curriculum

摘要

At the newly established University of Maine's Brunswick Engineering Program, an integrated curriculum is under development that covers the equivalent of the first two years of the B.Sc. in Mechanical, Electrical, Civil and Computer Engineering. Upon completion of the program, the students finish their degree following the traditional curriculum at the home campus. The program emphasizes a theory-simulation-experimentation approach that during the first semester is reflected in two core courses: IEN110 Integrated Engineering 1, and IEN120 Engineering Studio 1. These courses cover the equivalent of first semester courses in calculus and physics, introduction to engineering and engineering design, and engineering computation, and introduce CAD and a high level programming language (MATLAB).