MESSAGE FROM THE CHAIR
ngineering
education is continually evolving as our students’ backgrounds
and cultural diversity evolve and grow. This creates new demands for
us as faculty to create a stimulating learning environment that provides
the students with educational opportunities that motivate them to learn
science and engineering fundamentals and apply them in current and emerging
real-world applications that advance the public good. That is the real
essence of responsible engineering practice. As an engineering faculty
member at UW-Madison and as chair of the National Academy Committee
on Engineering Education, I see this as one of our most important challenges
in the coming years.
|
Department to celebrate 120th anniversary
of Engineering Mechanics
in October 2007
CELEBRATE THIS MILESTONE
Join us during Engineers' Day on Oct.
26 and 27, 2007 for lunch, lab tours and dinner on Friday as well
as a gathering on Saturday morning before the Badger Homecoming
football game. E-mail Mike Corradini at corradini@engr.wisc.edu
if you plan to attend any of the events. |
In 2005, the college formed a seven-member 2010
task force following a National Academy of Engineering workshop. The
task force has met weekly to discuss ways to re-create a college of
the future. The task force has sought input from the UW-Madison community
by hosting two college-wide meetings and four smaller focus group meetings,
which provided invaluable perspectives and ideas. More recently, the
task force formed the 2010 Roundtable—a group of two-dozen members
of the college (two from EP) charged with understanding the changing
environment for higher education and its implications for the College
of Engineering and developing an action plan that includes changes in
course curriculum and delivery to meet the new challenges in undergraduate
education.
To transform the planning to reality, the 2010
Task Force solicited proposals that provide innovations in contemporary
undergraduate engineering education. I am proud to say that of the 29
proposals submitted eight proposals were from EP faculty working as
part of a larger interdisciplinary team and five of 11 proposals funded
via discretionary funding involved faculty and staff from EP:
• Certificate in risk, reliability
and uncertainty in decision-making
• Engineering for energy sustainability certificate
• Energy and sustainability introductory course
• UW-Chinese university summer program
• Engineering problem-solving with computers.
In my view, this is only the beginning of the
innovations and activities needed. For UW-Madison to be recognized and
regarded as truly an innovative national and international leader in
engineering education, we need to do much more. It has been suggested
that we form an “engineering school of practice” where engineering
students at the BS and MS level address real-world needs in a design
and problem-solving environment with practicing engineers as well as
faculty. This could create a new avenue of activity for our faculty
and interested engineering alumni to engage and challenge the students
in a novel ways. I invite you to provide your opinions on these activities
and follow their evolution at: www.engr.wisc.edu/2010/.
Michael
L. Corradini, Chair
147 Engineering Research Building
1500 Engineering Dr.
Madison, WI 53706-1687
Tel: 608/263-1646
Fax: 608/263-7451
E-mail:
corradini@engr.wisc.edu
