Engineering Inc. - November/December 2009 - 11

dean of engineering at Penn State University (PSU). “We do need to make some changes so that our students can be very competitive,” he adds. The school’s new mantra, “educating world-class engineers,” includes emphasis on entrepreneurship, leadership and the global reach of the engineering profession. Six years ago, the engineering college added three minor degrees to complement its engineering majors. The Engineering Entrepreneurship minor, for example, includes business courses infused with engineering principles and is taught jointly by business and engineering faculty. The Engineering Leadership Development minor offers similar courses, but students also design devices for people in underdeveloped countries. The Product Realization minor integrates product and process design with manufacturing. The college now works with industry more than ever, Wormley says, with some 30 companies bringing their engineering challenges to students each semester. PSU strives to make its engineering students more globally aware through foreign language courses, classes in a foreign culture and an international work or study abroad experience. The school is also working to expand relationships with universities and corporations abroad to foster joint research projects. Engineering students learn about environmental issues at the university’s Center for Sustainability, a joint program with other PSU departments, to address the environmental, economic and social challenges of sustainability through hands-on research projects. In four years, courses also have been modified to incorporate environmental challenges. Wind energy studies have been added to aerospace and engineering classes, for instance. “The nuclear energy program has been revised substantially to prepare students to work in the new nuclear energy industry,” Wormley says, and the number of undergrads enrolling in the program has doubled. “We’re really trying to get students to think broadly when they start their engineering degree,” Wormley says, so that when engineers graduate they will be aware of the world, technically broad, able to work in multidisciplinary teams, and be innovative and creative. University of Florida gaineSviLLe, fLa. • College of Engineering • Inception: 1910 • Enrollment: 5,200 undergraduate, 2,700 graduate ENgiNEEriNg DisCiPliNEs: aerospace, agricultural & biological, chemical, civil, computer, electrical, environmental, industrial & systems, materials science, mechanical, and nuclear Collaboration, both inside the college and with outside organizations, is the key to a well-rounded education, says Abernathy. The college’s Integrated Product and Process Design program pairs senior interdisciplinary student design teams with companies in search of new products or processes. The team works with professional engineers to develop prototypes. “A number of these have resulted in products for their companies,” says Abernathy. And the experience often leads to employment. Keeping up with industry trends, UF now offers certificates in sustainable engineering to address infrastructure needs, as well as certificates in systems engineering. Abernathy believes the diversity of UF’s student body, coupled with a well-rounded education, helps the college produce some of the most highly qualified engineers in the world. “We’ve been told by a lot of our employers that our students are extremely adaptable, which I interpret to mean capable of working across many different kinds of boundaries—cultural and disciplinary,” Abernathy says. “They learn how to work in teams and how to be consensus builders and leaders. That combined with our emphasis on ethical practice keeps them at the forefront of engineering.” University of Florida, gainesville Cammy Abernathy, dean for academic affairs, UF College of Engineering t his fall, the University of Florida (UF) welcomed its largest freshman engineering class, with 1,170 undergrads joining its College of Engineering. Faculty hope to keep these young students engaged with more undergraduate “contextual learning” opportunities, collaboration with engineering professionals and corporations, and by fostering communications skills, ethics and the ability to work virtually, even globally, across the UF curriculum. For instance, “we’re working with Lockheed Martin to bring engineering examples into Freshman Calculus 1,” says Cammy Abernathy, who in July became the first female dean for academic affairs of the UF engineering school. “When a student learns differentiation, there will be an accompanying module that shows them how that’s important in designing a rocket arc or a component,” she says of the school’s revamped curriculum, which emphasizes the practical application of knowledge. ray CarSOn November / December 2009 eNGINeerING INc.

Engineering Inc. - November/December 2009

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