Engineering Academy

If you have had a conversation with me anytime in the past 5 years, it probably touched on the idea of a four year engineering program. On and off for that period of time, on the back burner of my brain I have been struggling with the idea that engineering education could be significantly better.

Here is the problem as I see it, in 2000 ABET identified the outcomes of an engineering education. They call them a-k (see below). The way that every university attempts to meet these outcomes is to have a student take 45 courses taught essentially independently of one another. For the most part these courses are taught in a lecture, homework, exam format. If you look at these outcomes, some are covered very well (a, b, e, and maybe k). But what about c, d, f, g, h, i, and j? Is taking one ethics course enough? How about two writing courses?

I, for one, do not think so. I think all of these outcomes should be addressed in practice over and over again for four years. Some colleagues from across the country and I have developed an alternative model. I will share it with you over the next few days.

Outcome a: "an ability to apply knowledge of mathematics, science, and engineering"
Outcome b: "an ability to design and conduct experiments, as well as to analyze and interpret data"
Outcome c: "an ability to design a system, component, or process to meet desired needs within realistic constraints such as economic, environmental, social, political, ethical, health and safety, manufacturability, and sustainability"
Outcome d: "an ability to function on multi-disciplinary teams"
Outcome e: "an ability to identify, formulate, and solve engineering problems"
Outcome f: "an understanding of professional and ethical responsibility"
Outcome g: "an ability to communicate effectively"
Outcome h: "the broad education necessary to understand the impact of engineering solutions in a global, economic, environmental, and societal context"
Outcome i: "a recognition of the need for, and an ability to engage in life-long learning"
Outcome j: "a knowledge of contemporary issues"
Outcome k: "an ability to use the techniques, skills, and modern engineering tools necessary for engineering practice"

Steffes Heater

You may have heard by now I am trying to do my part on reducing our dependence on oil. Unlike those who buy hybrids I am also looking to do so while saving money for myself (not to offend any of you who own a hybrid).  So with the high propane prices on the horizon I set to look for an alternative heat source for this and future winters.  The candidates were indoor wood, outdoor wood, wood pellets, electric plenum heater, electric storage heater.  The criteria I considered were purchase price, installation cost, and operation costs.  The winner hands-down was the above shown electric storage heater.  Made in Dickinson, ND by the Steffes Corporation, this unit is filled with 500+ pounds of bricks.  At 10:30 PM the off-peak ($.039 /kwh) electricity begins to charge the bricks while heating the house. The power goes off at 7:00 AM and the heater then distributes heat for the whole rest of the day.  Cost with installation was ~$2500. To this point, the heater has taken the full load of keeping our house warm. The propane furnace hasn't been on at all.  Granted, the electricity does come from coal burning when I would much rather have it come from a nuclear plant, but more importantly I am not burning propane and am saving money.  I would recommend this heater to anyone.

Civic Responsibility

Last Thursday I attended the fall gathering of the former HCC and ICC Engineering students who now live and work in northeastern Minnesota. I am the defacto leader of this group. All told 40 of us gathered at Zimmy's in Hibbing for socializing and dinner. I brought along 2 current ICC students, Deven and Amanda. They each spoke to the group to tell them about our current initiatives. We usually ask a guest speaker to enlighten us on some profession related topic. I contacted 4 different people without any luck. So I then invited myself to be the guest speaker. After much hemming and hawing, I agreed:)

The topic was civic responsibility. I started by asking each engineer in attendance to write down on an index card why they entered engineering. There were many repeat answers: for the money, cause I liked math and science, because Ron told me too. I actually predicted these answers before the speech while driving over. But there were 4 people who provided the answer I was looking for - "because I wanted to make a difference".

When you get to my stage in life, by this I mean past half-way in your working career, you begin to ask yourself questions like "am I making a difference?" or "when all is said and done will I be proud of what I have accomplished?". (See previous post about reflecting in solitude in the deer stand.)

As I said at the dinner Thursday night, this is a pretty easy question for me to answer. All I had to do was look around the table and there were many impressive people who, I believe, would tell me I made a difference in their lives. My profession provides this opportunity.

However, my deer stand reflecting, brought me one step further. Do my former students who are now engineers have this same opportunity to make a difference? I believe they do.

For some of us this opportunity is directly through our work. In other cases, we can use our abilities outside of work to make a difference. Things like serving on city commissions or church construction committees or any of many different places where people with our backgrounds in problem solving can be used. In fact we can also make a difference in places where our being an engineer has nothing to do with the contribution.

About five years ago I added up the number of volunteer hours I had spent coaching in Hill City. The number was over 500. I know that the number now is at least double that. Can coaching make a difference? You bet it can. In fact it led at least 12 of the people I coached straight to ICC and into careers in engineering.

TBL: The ultimate message at our dinner and in this posting is this: "We have a responsibility to our profession, our communities, and our own children to dedicate our time and talents to helping others."

Hunting Recap

Geez. Looks like it has been awhile since I posted? Well...deer season ended about 3 hours ago. I spent as many daylight hours as possible in the woods and took my annual vacation from teaching to do so. Ronnie and I had a blast. We did not shoot the elusive big buck. In fact we only shot one deer the whole time. But we were in the woods... mostly in solitude reflecting on life. And we were together spending time at nights and lots of driving to and from hunting camp. I would not trade one minute of it. Ronnie had knee surgery just five days before opener, yet still saw to it to spend all this time with his old man. His bag for the year was 5. He got two in the early season, two with his bow, and one during rifle season. For a lifetime score his has now pulled to within 3 of me. I lead 18-15. A lead that I am sure will soon be relinquished.

Goin' Huntin'

It is my absolute favorite time of year. Minnesota rifle deer season. In the next 10 days I will spend the lion's share of daylight hours in pursuit of the whitetail deer. While the destination might be a trophy buck, the journey is time spent communing with mother nature in a pure way. The sounds and smells of the late fall woods and the time spent with my son and father make this a journey I would never miss.

If you are going out, stay safe and good luck. If you are not, you are missing out.

Election Night

VOTER TURNOUT:

I've never seen anything like this in my life. This is my seventh presidential election. Most of those were characterized by voter apathy with low voter turnout. Today is just the opposite. People are engaged. Many who have never voted before, voted today. There is energy in the air. I see it in my students, I see it in the polling place. As we ate at Applebees tonight, 9 out of 10 people who walked in the door, had I voted stickers on. It is cool.

RACE:

Though I don't think of myself as old, I guess as an about to be grandpa maybe I am. I grew up in a time when my parents and grandparents were outwardly racist. I've seen racism both blatant and subtle at work throughout most of my life. Now we are on the verge of having a black president. Heck I'll call it right now - at this moment Obama leads 102 to 34 - Obama will win.  This is amazing. I couldn't be prouder to call myself an American. Sure racism is still out there, but more than 50% of Americans are looking past race to elect a black man to our highest office.

TRANSFORMATIONAL FIGURE:

Last week, Colin Powell endorsed Barack Obama saying "I think he is a transformational figure".  

As a child, my grandmother talked about JFK as if he walked on water. Kennedy was a transformational president. In my life, the closest we have come is Reagan. I voted for him. He instilled in me a great level of patriotism which led to my joining the military.

I agree with Colin Powell and I have great hope that this president will transform our country in ways that we cannot yet mention - "Change We Can Believe In".

TBL:

I hope you voted. Of the seven elections I've voted in, my candidate was unsuccessful 3 times. Life goes on whether our candidate wins or not. But by voting, we are making our effort to have our voice heard.

P.S. JP - The other night I drove past Khan's Mongolian Barbeque in Park Rapids and thought about the time we ate there - that must be over 10 years ago already!