Academics

The department offers courses and research opportunities for students who aspire to a career in engineering education. To this end, we are pursuing the establishment of MS and PhD degree programs in Engineering Education. The department additionally offers courses on the practical application of research-proven best practices for engineering education. These courses are intended for students pursuing a career in another branch of engineering who wish to utilize research-proven education practices in the context of their chosen field. To this end, we are pursuing the establishment of an advanced certificate in Engineering Pedagogies and Practices.

Certain engineering topics such as introductory electric circuits, introductory programming, statics, dynamics, etc., are required to be taken by students in multiple engineering majors. Department of Engineering Education professors are the primary instructors for these lower-division engineering courses. The department is also developing a two-course, interdisciplinary lab sequence and a two-course, interdisciplinary capstone design sequence that can be taken as electives by students in any engineering major. We are pursuing the establishment of a BS degree program in Engineering Science that will similarly cut across multiple engineering majors.

Undergraduate students in every engineering major are required to take a course on technical communication. This course examines a range of communication skills including technical communication, oral presentations, visual design and data visualization. The Department of Engineering Education teaches this course; it also teaches a graduate-level technical communication course that can be taken, as an elective, by any interested graduate engineering students. The department also is pursuing the establishment of an undergraduate technical communication minor.