HOBOKEN, N.J. ¯ A group of faculty from Stevens Institute of Technology has won first-place recognition for “Best Paper” delivered recently at the American Society of Engineering Education (ASEE) Zone 1 Conference held at the US Military Academy at West Point. ASEE Zone 1 covers the entire north eastern portion of the US and Canada.
The paper, titled, “Promoting Systems Thinking in Engineering and Pre-Engineering Students,” co-authored by Dr. Rashmi Jain, Dr. Keith Sheppard, Elisabeth McGrath and Dr. Bernard Gallois, is based on a number of linked educational initiatives.
“The context of engineering is one dominated by systems,” said Dr. Sheppard. “In order to better prepare graduates with a systems perspective and the competencies to be effective in system design, we discuss initiatives to promote the development of systems thinking, both in undergraduate engineering and even earlier within high school programs that are engaging students to learn about engineering.
“The paper describes integrated curriculum innovation, in which graduate-level coursework, in response to the significance that has been placed on this area by industry, led to efforts to embed systems concepts into the core engineering design sequence for undergraduates at Stevens starting in their Freshman year. These efforts have also prompted educational research at Stevens to develop the academic underpinnings and effective pedagogical approaches for teaching in the context of the relatively under-developed scholarly foundations of systems engineering.”
Stevens’ Center for Innovation in Engineering & Science Education (CIESE), funded by a $500,000 grant from the Edison Venture Fund, has a program to go an important step earlier in the educational path by training high school teachers to include systems concepts and global perspective in their curriculum development aimed at encouraging interest in engineering.
“Engineering’s role in society, as well as its practice, will change dramatically in the 21st century,” said CIESE Director McGrath . “The design, operation, and maintenance of complex systems from those critical to homeland security and aviation, to information security, new product development, and environmental remediation, necessitates that engineers transcend discipline-specific boundaries to develop a systems perspective.”
“As outlined in this paper,” she continued, “we are working with our partners to develop materials that bring concepts and skills associated with global and systems engineering to secondary school students as part of a broader effort to increase the number who experience engineering and in so doing recognize engineering as a desirable path for their education and careers.”
About Stevens Institute of Technology
Founded in 1870, Stevens Institute of Technology is one of the leading technological universities in the world dedicated to learning and research. Through its broad-based curricula, nurturing of creative inventiveness, and cross disciplinary research, the Institute is at the forefront of global challenges in engineering, science, and technology management. Partnerships and collaboration between, and among, business, industry, government and other universities contribute to the enriched environment of the Institute. A new model for technology commercialization in academe, known as Technogenesis®, involves external partners in launching business enterprises to create broad opportunities and shared value. Stevens offers baccalaureates, master’s and doctoral degrees in engineering, science, computer science and management, in addition to a baccalaureate degree in the humanities and liberal arts, and in business and technology. The university has a total enrollment of 2,040 undergraduate and 3,085 graduate students, and a worldwide online enrollment of 2,250, with about 400 full-time faculty. Stevens’ graduate programs have attracted international participation from China, India, Southeast Asia, Europe and Latin America. Additional information may be obtained from its web page at www.stevens.edu.
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