Showing papers on "Engineering education published in 1984"

Toward a Definition of the Engineering Method.

Abstract: Study of the engineering method is important in order to understand our world. The environment of man is a collage of engineering problem solutions. Political alliances and economic structures have changed dramatically as a result of the telephone, the computer, the atomic bomb, and space exploration—all undeniably products of the engineering method. Look around the room in which you are now sitting. What do you find that was not developed, produced, or delivered by the engineer? What could be more important than to understand the strategy for change whose results surround us now and, some think, threaten to suffocate, to pollute, and to bomb us out of existence? This article redresses this situation by presenting a philosophically justifiable definition of Engineering Method that is gaining wide acceptance in the United States.

Construction Management Program

Abstract: The typical limitations of the existing construction management programs are the lack of an integrated approach to managerial decisions in real life construction environment, not enough emphasis on engineering design, construction methods and communication skills, and poor coordination between the undergraduate and the graduate studies. An effective construction management program should. integrate teaching on undergraduate and graduate levels and research. On the undergraduate level it should provide the students with a good insight into all managerial tasks in civil engineering projects. On the graduate level it should allow specialization in the various areas of interest both to the practicing engineers and also to students who wish to pursue an academic career. The program should strongly interact with research and engineering practice.

Reliability education: A historical perspective

Abstract: The authors provides a historical overview of the development of reliability in the USA: where have we been? where are we today? and where are we heading? He presents the beginnings and the current status of: undergraduate and graduate courses being taught; graduate degree programs; short courses; institutes; training courses; symposia and their transactions; texts and other publications; newsletters; societies involved; videotapes; televised courses; and movies. It is stressed that textbooks of not too highly mathematical nature, emphasizing practical applications, are needed, as well as university courses in the product assurance technologies. Professional engineering societies should sponsor more sessions of papers; more courses in the product assurance technologies should be videotapes; and more such movies produced. More courses should be beamed live to local industry and government organizations. Summer institutes for college teachers sponsored by the National Science Foundation and other groups should be revived.

Planning Education: Desirable for Civil Engineers?

Abstract: The education committee of the Urban Planning and Development Division of the ASCE undertook a survey of undergraduate civil engineering programs to ascertain educators' opinions on the appropriate role(s) of civil engineers in urban planning and development and the education and training necessary to fulfill that role. Findings indicated that while civil engineering and planning concerns often overlap and that there is a role for civil engineers in planning‐related issues, there appears to be little need or unmet demand for expanded training of civil engineers. Any changes in curricula are likely to be minor and incremental in nature.

The wired university: In a growing number of institutions, educators are integrating powerful personal computers and networks into a new learning environment

Abstract: The author describes how educators are integrating powerful personal computers and networks into a new learning environment. He discusses the educational uses of computers, with emphasis on engineering education, computer networks, the impact of computers on the institution, and the progress made by various institutions in implementing a computer-intensive environment.

Engineering curriculum design

Abstract: Recent developments in engineering education in Britain have concentrated on the addition of engineering applications to existing degree courses. It is suggested that this should be regarded as the first stage of a continuing development. A possible procedure for this development is discussed. It is shown that using information about the work done by engineers as the basis for engineering curriculum design has far-reaching implications for the content, structure, teaching and assessment of engineering courses. The full extent of these implications is not yet apparent and further research and continued experimentation are needed to provide a sound basis for the future development of engineering curricula.

Education: The challenges are classic

Abstract: Tbe question of U.S. preeminence in technology is shifting from the marketplace to the classroom. Product comparisons, highlighting the quality and reliability of U.S. goods versus Japanese goods, for example, are giving way to equally intense discussions about the quality of engineering education in these two countries. Among the major concerns is the question of lifelong learning and which syston better prepares its students for the rigors of ongoing professional development.

Health and Safety Legislation and Engineers

Abstract: Through legislation and other social forces the UK and other industrial societies appear to be expecting increasingly higher standards of health and safety to result from engineers' work. Engineers therefore need to know the controls of hazards required by law. They also have to consider their professional duty to anticipate new hazards.This paper gives the results of questioning small samples of UK engineers to assess their problems and needs under health and safety legislation. It includes a specification for engineering education and a description of the teaching in one undergraduate degree.

The Civil Engineering Degree: Education or Training?

Abstract: The limitations of the current four-year engineering curricula are examined, emphasizing the lack of liberal arts supplement to an undergraduate engineering education. While the importance of the engineering function in society is stressed, the increasing need for more policy conscious engineers is cited. In summary, it is suggested that the engineering degree be made a professional degree to be earned in graduate school after a liberal arts undergraduate education.

Linking Program Reviews to the Budget.

Abstract: Program reviews focused on program quality have led to categorical or focused funding that can enhance those programs.

Groundwater State of the Art: Is It Adequate?

Abstract: Representatives from academia, engineering firms, trade associations, and government outline what they believe are the major needs in research, equipment, education and government programs to clean up groundwater contamination. They see an emphasis in training more groundwater quality professionals instead of developing people, improving engineering skills by taking graduate students into the field, developing and implementing more automated monitoring and sampling equipment, acquiring greater knowledge on contaminant flow in fractured rock, silt, and clay, epidemiology, math modeling and chemical and biochemical interactions. The problems will come in inadequate financing that will force engineers to go into the lab to develop data that won't work under complex field conditions, social and economic pressure groups impeding sound scientific work by refusing to acknowledge its validity, and the refusal of state and federal governments to address the groundwater contamination problem now instead of delaying or facing the problem episodically rather than as one interrelated problem that also includes surface water.

A Communication Curriculum in Engineering Education: An Alternative Model

Abstract: Typical model curricula in engineering disciplines assume that training in communication will occur early in the students' academic career in the courses taken to meet the general liberal arts requirements of the university. This paper argues that this assumption defines communication as a preliminary skill to be learned as a prelude to technical study. An alternative view perceives increasing sophistication in the technical disciplines as requiring a simultaneous increase in sophistication in communication. The Program in Scientific and Technical Communication at the University of Washington is designed according to the latter view. Our courses address the needs of engineers as these needs emerge and change across the academic and professional life of the engineer.

An Innovative Approach to High Voltage Engineering Education and Research

Abstract: Power engineering education is faced with the challenge of the environmental problems that the power industry has experienced in recent years. One of the most important environmental issues to the nation, the power industry and power engineering education is the question currently being raised regarding high voltage transmission lines. This paper describes an approach to deal with these environmental problems from both education and research points of view. This approach has been found to be highly successful in educating students, farmers, managers, engineers and the general public about high voltage transmission systems.