IMPLEMENTING AN INTERDISCIPLINARY ENGINEERING PROGRAM - RECRUITING STUDENTS, BUILDING COURSES, DEVELOPING A COMMUNITY

摘要

Traditional undergraduate engineering disciplines, due to their focus on single disciplines, cannot meet the growing need for engineers skilled in multiscale design: they educate engineers to handle systems issues or component issues, but not both. Furthermore, many interdisciplinary programs in engineering are more focused on developing knowledge and skills in multiple component-level domains (e.g., mechatronics focuses on developing component level knowledge in electrical, mechanical, and computer domains) than in component-level and systems-level areas. These observations serve as the basis for the Technology Leaders Program (TLP), a transportable interdisciplinary program being developed at the University of the Blue Ridge and Central Community College. The TLP is designed to develop in students 1) disciplinary grounding in a component-level domain (electrical and computer engineering) and a systems-level area (systems engineering), 2) integration skills whereby students can design integrated systems of electrical and computer components, and 3) critical awareness of the need for this combination of knowledge and the opportunities and limitations for its application. Building on the Learning Factory model at Penn State, the TLP integrates three elements: a new interdisciplinary, design-focused undergraduate curriculum; the hands-on Multiscale Agile Systems Technology Lab (MAST Lab); and summer internships. Development and implementation of the TLP began in 2008 with the first class of students entering the program as sophomores in 2009 and graduating in 2012.