The Massachusetts Institute of Technology started the first US chemical engineering program six score years ago. Since that time, the chemical engineering curriculum has evolved. The latest versions of the curriculum are attempts to broaden chemical engineering to add product engineering, biology and nanotechnology to the traditional process…

Laboratory-based courses play a significant role in engineering education. Given the role of electronics in engineering and technology, laboratory experiments and circuit simulation IT tools are used in their teaching in several academic institutions. This paper discusses the characteristics and benefits of both methods. The content and structure…

Undergraduate education in the STEM fields (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) needs improvement, a conclusion that multiple national reports over the past two decades have reached. Critiques of STEM education may emphasize different aspects of the STEM undergraduate education problem. Nevertheless, each delivers one clear and…

This multi-year study of undergraduate engineering education in the United States initiated questions about the alignment of engineering programs with the demands of current professional engineering practice. While describing engineering education from within the classroom and the lab, the report on the study offers new possibilities for teaching…

A comparative study was conducted between the minimum required number of humanities and social science credits for graduation at top-tier undergraduate universities in the US and similar, English-medium universities in the Arabian Gulf. It was found that on average the US universities required students to complete a higher proportion of humanities…

Current methods of teaching basic amplifier design at the undergraduate level need further development to match today's technological advances. The general class approach to amplifier design is analytical and heavily based on mathematical manipulations. However, the students mathematical abilities are generally modest, creating a void in which…

Efforts to reform and improve teaching and learning in the undergraduate science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) disciplines have grown increasingly stronger and more focused over the past two decades. Since the early 1990s, some notable unifying developments have given coherence to such initiatives, as well as other developments…

Female enrollment in engineering has been historically low. Researchers claim chilly classroom environments and societal expectations of gender and work as reasons why so few women pursue engineering. This qualitative study explores the effects of required cooperative education on a female student's choice of and persistence in an undergraduate…

There are many professional benefits to pursuing undergraduate design opportunities and capstone projects to both students and faculty advisors. Using a case study on a group of graduates and undergraduates who took part in the Hydrogen Ambassador Competition in 2005 this study will examine the benefits and challenges from the point of view of all…

This study analyzes the images of engineers and engineering that students construct over the course of their undergraduate engineering educations. Students in their first year of study to become engineers knew very little about the work they would be doing as an engineer and their expectations were more specific, hopeful, and high status than…

This paper focuses on how the notion of a trajectory of identification can be traced between different timescales and different sets of data that pertain to the student. The development of a specific student's trajectory is traced through his ability to talk-engineering along two different timescales: the entire four years of undergraduate…

This publication contains the papers presented at the 5th Annual Conference of National Academy for Integration of Research, Teaching and Learning (NAIRTL) and the 9th Galway Symposium. Presenters from across Ireland and overseas share their perspectives. The theme of engagement touches on the very heart of what a "higher" education…

On the basic of exploring the relationship of industry engineering and operational research technique, the thesis analyzes the location and utility of the operational research education in the whole industry engineering subject education. It brings forward the system design about operational research and relative class among industry engineering…

Remote and virtual laboratory classes are an increasingly prevalent alternative to traditional hands-on laboratory experiences. One of the key issues with these modes of access is the provision of adequate audiovisual (AV) feedback to the user, which can be a complicated and resource-intensive challenge. This paper reports on a comparison of two…

The 1996 Advisory Committee report to the National Science Foundation, "Shaping the Future: New Expectations for Undergraduate Education in Science, Mathematics, Engineering, and Technology," called for many changes in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) education. The committee's overriding recommendation was that "all…