Are "Engineering" Graduates Prepared to Meet Their Employers?

The most important aspect of an educational program is to evaluate its merits in meeting the needs and concerns of those who hire its product, the graduates. The world of work is discussed and analyzed from varied viewpoints; individual wants and needs, how this relates to the employer-employee relationship, the attributes that most employers are seeking, and the specifi'c concems of industry in the technical spectrum. There are two sides to the work world-an employee is concerned about what he has to gain by considering a choice of employment: remuneration rewards, relevant work, challenging work, respect as an individual, social satisfaction, and the opportunity for career advancement; the employer will be concerned about what's in it for them should they hire the employee: basic skills, cooperative attitude, ability to communicate, loyalty, integrity, motivation, initiative, performance, and appropriate appearance. The "engineering" curriculum to meet these employee-employer needs is discussed and the reader is thus queried, depending upon their own frame of reference, to decide whether or not "engineers" are prepared to meet their employers.     

Education of the Engineer for Electrical Construction

A new and unique undergraduate program is being developed at Purdue University to educate engineers for work in the construction industry. Students selecting the electrical specialty option of the program will combine electric power engineering courses with management courses and with work experience on electrical construction projects to earn the degree of Bachelor of Science in Engineering (Construction). Active participation by the construction industry is an essential part of the program. Industry's desire for a more construction-oriented engineering graduate motivated the request for the program and motivates industry's support of summer internship opportunities. The curriculum is designed to provide the desired construction emphasis while offering a quality engineering education. In the electric power field, the result should be capable power engineers, better equipped for engineering practice.     

深化信息技术应用是落实科学发展观、改变经济增长方式的重要途径

目前我国制造业发展情况分析 1、近二十多年来我国经济获快速发展,极大地改变了我国的国际地位,人民生活水平不断提高,纵观现状,我国装备制造业发展现状与国际先进水平仍有较大差距.     

A computer-aided, total quality approach to manufacturing educationin engineering

This paper describes an ongoing study in improving entry-level engineering education through the deployment of new teaching and learning tools. We introduce a computer-aided interactive multimedia manufacturing courseware. To improve manufacturing education we need to change not only the process of teaching and learning, but also provide new tools and technology that promote efficient learning and make it widely available and continuously improving. To address this manufacturing education challenge, we are presently designing a program based on a new computer-aided education paradigm that embodies total quality management (TQM) and critical thinking (CT) concepts. An interactive multimedia manufacturing courseware lies at the heart of this new computer-aided education paradigm. The manufacturing engineering multimedia courseware (MEMC) includes: on-line lectures, audiovideo education tools, interactive computer software, on-line assignment and exams, information about faculty, and on-line evaluation tools to obtain users' feedback to enhance teaching. It also makes access available to related academia, industry, and government research and education information through the World Wide Web. In this paper, we briefly review the status of engineering education in the United States and describe the appropriateness of unifying the concepts of TQM and CT. Additionally, we provide details of how these concepts can be used in an educational model     

Generation NXT: Building Young Engineers With LEGOs

This paper describes key success factors for the implementation and development of a LEGO robotics engineering outreach program for elementary school students in West Texas. The outreach program not only aims at getting young students excited about engineering but at the same time aims at improving retention rates among electrical and computer engineering freshman-level college students by involving them as paid mentors. It particularly takes into consideration the rural character of West Texas, which provides hardly any electrical and computer engineering job opportunities, and the fact that a university with a college of engineering serves as academic hub for the area.      

Are required courses meeting industry demands?

In electrical engineering, the undergraduate curriculum is well defined but the course layout can cause students to lack the skills industry expects of interns and new full time employees. With their specific expectations, industry influences the choices that students make concerning internships, co-ops or even entering the workforce before finishing school. Does the university course layout enhance skills and knowledge or hinder students' preparation for industry? Most engineering programs recommend an internship to gain the soft skills needed to 'make it out there'. Most internships or co-ops in the United States are with individual companies. Students work on projects that maintain and develop products. While at the companies, students learn what to expect from that industry and tend to re-evaluate their engineering program on its design and information procedures. Some students then expect more from their university or leave for proffered jobs before getting their degrees. Still others do not have either opportunity. The author describes some of the experiences of internship students     

Microelectronic manufacturing engineering curriculum development

The author reviews the current status of semiconductor manufacturing education in US universities and identifies some shortcomings. He describes the development of an initiative in microelectronic manufacturing engineering curriculum that was recently implemented at Florida State University. This program utilizes an interdisciplinary curriculum to address the problems identified by the author. A workshop with representatives from Semiconductor Research Corporation (SRC) companies, university leaders and SRC managers was held to define appropriate curricula. In addition, a comprehensive independent survey which attempts to assess the current semiconductor industry needs in education is presented. Finally, the lessons learned, including specific recommendations of students, faculty, and industry representatives, are presented     

The new electrical and computer engineering curricula at Universityof California-Davis

In Fall 1993 the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department at the University of California, Davis introduced a new electrical engineering and a new computer engineering curriculum, each characterized by a well-coordinated junior core leading to a carefully chosen set of senior design elective courses. Through integration of a select but powerful set of computer tools into the junior core, students will be able to concentrate on understanding basic engineering principals while simultaneously obtaining important analytic and computer skills for senior elective courses. The number of required courses has been decreased but the number of units has remained roughly the same while maintaining the lower-division (freshman and sophomore) program essentially unchanged as required by the California higher education plan. The result is a curriculum that focuses on fundamentals through modern design techniques in such a way that both on-campus students and community college transfer students will be able to complete the engineering curriculum in four years     

Undergraduate field applications engineers: a successful experimentin electronic design automation technology transfer

The United States has lost its leadership position in semiconductor manufacturing. It is, however, still dominant in the production of electronic design automation (EDA) software which supports semiconductor integrated circuit design and manufacturing. Research on EDA software is performed primarily in US universities. Early use of such software by the US semiconductor industry should constitute a precompetitive advantage that would help to compensate for the US's tack of competitiveness in manufacturing; however, because of the different natures of universities and industry, a significant technology transfer gap exists between them. Universities produce prototype software as research results, whereas the semiconductor industry would prefer to have robust rather than prototype versions. To bridge the gap, it has been proposed that the EDA industry be emulated and undergraduate engineering students used as field applications engineers (UFAEs). This paper describes a reasonably successful first attempt at this approach to EDA software technology transfer and discusses as well what could be done in the future to improve upon it     

Integrative engineering program for modern converging technologies

The Chinese University of Hong Kong aims to produce a new breed of engineers who can adapt to the rapid development in high technology, particularly the modern converging technologies, by introducing an integrative engineering program which centers around electronics, computer science, information technology, and computer-aided engineering. The program was introduced in August 1988 and entered its second year with a first-year intake of 145. It is expected that the first-year intake will be doubled by 1994, and it is planned that in the near future, the integrative engineering program will include other disciplines, such as systems (manufacturing) engineering and materials engineering     

Test Men, Experts, Brother Engineers, and Members of the Fraternity: Whence the Early Electrical Work Force?

America's young electrical industry grew dramatically in the 1880's. As the technology boomed, thousands of new jobs opened. Industry leaders realized early on that many of these jobs would have to be filled by workers with specialized training?training that was not available anywhere. Although the manufacturers started in-house "test" and "expert" programs almost immediately, they were aware that such programs could not adequately educate the workers they would need. There were three contemporary groups of professional workers who might have, in various ways, supplied at least some of the necessary labor, but who in fact supplied very little: telegraphers, mechanical engineers, and physicists. The telegraphers, proprietors of the contemporary high technology, did not as a rule understand the science underlying it and were professionally ill-suited to change; the mechanical engineers, although claiming dominion over electrical engineering by virtue of their knowledge of machinery and power transmission, generally lacked any real interest or ability in the new art; and the physicists, who understood electricity (but often not engineering), were scarce and committed to their discipline. Industry looked to the schools (in which the physicists taught) for the new work force, and the schools provided it.     

Identifying electrical safety needs, implementing improvement, andmeasuring results

The management of an operating and maintenance contractor for a large government-owned facility recognized that, despite having an overall good safety program, the number of electrical safety incidents at the facility was on the increase. The severity of these incidents had also been increasing, as indicated by a serious shock and burn injury to a young, but trained and qualified, employee. Management decided that a serious effort was needed to significantly reduce (and, ideally, eliminate) electrical safety-related incidents. This paper describes comprehensive management/employee involvement in identifying the real problem areas, implementing improvement, and continually measuring performance. Although this effort was undertaken at a large facility with many people involved, the paper provides ideas that can be considered on both a large and small scale for those companies where similar electrical safety concerns exist     

Arcing fault hazards and safety suggestions for design andmaintenance

Significant progress has been made in understanding the hazards of arcing faults to maintenance personnel working on electrical equipment. The National Electrical Code (NEC) requires that equipment be installed the way it is listed and labeled. However, the NEC and product standards do not address the hazards associated when the equipment doors are open and a maintenance worker accidentally creates an arcing fault. Numerous workers are injured and killed each year while working on energized equipment. To address this, the IEEE Petroleum and Chemical Industry Committee formed an ad-hoc working group within their safety committee with the intent to raise awareness of electrical personnel to the hazards associated with arcing faults. Tests were run at a high-power test lab and analytical information was gathered to quantify the hazards associated with arcing faults. Arcing faults have many variables and the predictability is not certain. However, the work by many on this subject provides some good engineering analytical tools. These efforts have also resulted in industry awareness, safety training program materials, and guidelines for electrical systems design. This article highlights some of these findings and also presents some design considerations that will help reduce the hazards of arcing faults     

The Changing Role of the Laboratory in the Electrical Engineering Curriculum

Over the past years, the electrical engineering laboratory has developed from an apprenticeship into a stereotyped demonstration program. In general, this program has been held in low esteem by both faculty and students. An attempt is made here to present the beginnings of a program which will lead to a solution of the laboratory dilemma. A brief historical review of the development of the laboratory in electrical engineering curriculums is given, and the Projects Laboratory and the Undergraduate Research Participation Program that have evolved at the University of Oklahoma are described. Two examples of typical student work performed in these advance programs are presented. At the present time, these programs are restricted to upper-division students. These are usually seniors, though outstanding juniors may participate. As the program continues to grow, and faculty experience is gained, it is expected that the laboratory philosophy described here will make itself felt downward through the cirriculum.     

Microwave Educational Program: An Industry-University Alliance

Attracting high quality students to study microwave engineering has been difficult in recent years because the glamour fields of computer engineering and computer science have attracted many students away from the more traditional disciplines of electrical engineering. At the same time, the need for microwave engineers in both the commuications and aerospace industries has increased as the role of microwave technology has become more important in these businesses. This paper provides a model for an educational program which can be developed in a specialized area to quickly alleviate the shortage of a critical engineering skill in a timely and effective manner. It further describes the synergistic growth in microwave research and the catalyzation of microwave industry interaction which have occurred at the University of Massachusetts. Moreover, it describes the recruiting benefits to the sponsoring organization, Raytheon Company, and to many of its local subcontractors due to the increased stimulation of undergraduate interest in microwave engineering manifested by a tripling over a two year period of the number of electrical engineering graduates having a concentration in microwaves.     

欧洲海上风电工程实践回顾及未来技术展望

海上风电产业在欧洲已发展了近30年,目前已成为欧洲最主要的可再生能源发电形式之一,在未来可再生能源的规划中占有非常重要的地位.海上风电场在20世纪90年代初从丹麦、英国、瑞典和荷兰最早开展示范,由最初几万千瓦的规模逐步增长到几十万千瓦,到目前已发展到上百万千瓦.在这个产业化的过程中,欧洲风电行业积累了很多设计、监管及运行的经验.文中针对欧洲风电场发展过程,首先对不同发展阶段产生的一些主要技术问题进行了回顾,然后重点讨论了电气设计中的几个主要问题,从电气设计角度对工程实践的一些经验进行了总结,最后对未来风电场发展及并网技术方向进行了展望.     

现代建筑电气技术的发展与探索

分析了现代建筑电气技术形成的过程及其技术内涵,指出建筑电气技术综合应用了电工、电子、控制与信息技术,已成为电气工程领域的重要分支.现代建筑电气技术不仅拥有广阔的市场,而且已构成稳定的产业链,并将在智能化、数字化与绿色化的发展过程中达到新的高度.     

基于半导体照明新兴产业人才培养的本科工程教育研究

半导体照明是重要的新兴产业,日亚、Axitron、Osram、Philps、Cree等国际主要光源生产公司在传统照明及半导体照明领域中已经占据了一定的领先优势。我国的光源及照明生产企业也在奋起直追,发展非常迅猛,在人才需求方面也更为急切和严格。本文提出围绕新兴产业的人才需求,以国际工程师认证要求为培养目标,建立光源与照明等特色学科的专业课程和工程教育培养体系。各校需要根据当地产业集群发展和本校实际情况来因地制宜地开展工程教育教学和实践,以产学研结合的模式实现人才的综合培养。最终完善专业工程教育评价机制,力促半导体照明专业的工程教育系统地开展,培养符合国际水准的工程师。     

Introducing computer tools into a first course in electricalengineering

At a school where engineering students have immediate access to a personal computer, it is important that they become familiar with that tool early in their studies. In introductory engineering courses it is also important that the students learn to perceive the computer as a tool and not as an end in itself. Achieving these goals requires a careful integration of computer usage into such courses by the instructors. In this paper we examine this issue in the context of a first course in electrical engineering that has been taught at the US Naval Academy, and we present specific examples of assignments we have used in our effort to accomplish these goals