National Academies Press: OpenBook

Engineering Undergraduate Education (1986)

Chapter: Front Matter

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 1986. Engineering Undergraduate Education. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/589.
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ENGINEERING EDUCATION AND PRACTICE IN THE UNITED STATES , ~ . . nglneermg Undergraduate c.ucatlon Panel on Undergraduate Engineering Education Committee on the Education and Utilization of the Engineer Commission on Engineering and Technical Systems National Research Council NATIONAL ACADEMY PRESS Washington, D.C. 1986

NATIONAL ACADEMY PRESS · 2101 ConstitutionAve., NW · Washington, DC 20418 NOTICE: The project that is the subject of this report was approved by the Goveming Board of the National Research Council, whose members are drawn from the councils of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the Insti- tute of Medicine. The members of the committee responsible for the report were chosen for their special competences and with regard for appropriate balance. This report has been reviewed by a group other than the authors according to procedures approved by a Report Review Committee consisting of members of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the Institute of Medicine. The National Research Council was established by the National Academy of Sciences in 1916 to associate the broad community of science and technology with the Academy's purposes of furthering knowledge and of advising the federal government. The Council operates in accordance with general policies determined by the Academy under the authority of its congressional charter of 1863, which establishes the academy as a private, nonprofit, self-governing membership corporation. The Council has become the princi- pal operating agency of both the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Engineering in the conduct of their services to the government, the public, and the scientific and engineering communities. It is administered jointly by both Academies and the Institute of Medicine. The Natior~al Academy of Engineering and the Institute of Medicine were established in 1964 and 1970, respectively, under the charter of the National Academy of Sciences. Support for this work has been provided by the National Science Foundation, the Department of the Air Force, the Department of the Army, the Department of Energy, the Department of the Navy, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Addi- tionally, assistance has been provided through grants from the Eastman Kodak Company, Exxon Corporation, the General Electric Company, the IBM Corporation, the Lockheed Corporation, the Monsanto Company, and the Sloan Foundation. Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 85-63485 ISBN 0-309-03642-9 Printed in the United States of America

Preface This report of the Panel on Undergraduate Engineering Education is one in a set of companion reports that formed the basis of the overall study by the Committee on the Education and Utilization of the Engi- neer, performed under the auspices of the National Research Council. The work of this panel occurred during a period in which the engi- neering educational resources of the nation were subject to severe stress, primarily as a result of forces outside the control of the engineer- ing educational community. First-year enrollments doubled in a rela- tively short period of time, acute faculty shortages developed in several important disciplines, and fluctuating economic conditions influenced the support structure of engineering education. These factors, com- bined with the relatively rapid changes in technology, created an aware- ness that there were limits to the viability of our system of engineering education. Consequently, the direction of the panel's work was influenced by these factors, and its scope included topics that bear on the viability o the system. Hence, the quality, size, and diversity of the prefreshman pool was included, as well as consideration of those factors most impor- tant in the effective utilization of faculty resources. Because of the strong influence of graduate study and research on undergraduate engi- neering education, the panel examined the forces that have led to the creation of a two-tiered system of engineering programs {i.e., in research institutions versus low-research institutions) and the conse- quences of this system. . . .

1V PREFACE Although the panel considered the overall forces that have shaped and constrained engineering curricula, no attempt was made to con- duct a detailed review and assessment of the various curricula. Matters of curricular development and possible reform were not central to the purpose of the overall committee effort, and such a review and assess- ment are most properly within the domain of the individual disciplines and those organizations responsible for maintaining standards. The material in this report provides the comprehensive substantive background for the work of the full committee pertaining to undergrad- uate education. The panel is pleased to see that many of its most signifi- cant findings, conclusions, and recommendations are included in Chapter 4 of the full committee report, * and that its work is reflected prominently in the recommendations which appear in the Executive Summary of that report. This is evidence of the pivotal role of under- graduate engineering education in the techno-economic future of our nation. This report results from the work of the panel members who so generously contributed their time and professional expertise to this major effort. I would like to thank them for their valuable contributions and assistance. Finally, I wish to thank terrier A. Haddad for his stimu- lating guidance to the entire committee effort and Vernon H. Miles and William H. Michael, Tr., whose staff support was vital to the work of the panel and to the production of this report. Edmund T. Cranch Chairman * Engineering Education and Practice in the United States: Foundations of Our Techno-Economic Future {Washington, D.C.: NationalAcademy Press, 1985~.

Panel on Undergraduate Engineering Education EDMUND T. CRANCH, Chairman; President, Worcester Polytechnic Institute j now President, Wang Institute of Graduate Studies) EUGENE M. DELOATCH, Dean, School of Engineering, Morgan State University, Baltimore, Maryland DONALD G. GLOWER, Dean, College of Engineering, Ohio State University WILLIAM R. GROGAN, Dean, Undergraduate Studies, Worcester Polytechnic Institute CHARLES E. SCHAFFNER, Executive Vice-President, Syska & Hennessy, New York, N.Y. WILLIAM R. UPTHEGROVE, Regents Professor of Engineering, School of Aerospace, Mechanical and Nuclear Engineering, University of Oklahoma SHEILA E. WIDNALL, Professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology DONALD TRITSCHLER, Consultant, Shrewsbury, Massachusetts v

Committee on the Education and Utilization of the Engineer iERRIERA. HADDAD, Chairman {IBM, Ret. ~ GEORGE S. ANSELL, Dean of Engineering, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Now President, Colorado School of Mines) JORDAN J. BARUCH, President, Jordan I. Baruch Associates ERICH BLOCH, Vice-President, IBM Corporation Now Director, National Science Foundation) DENNIS CHAMOT, Associate Director, Department for Professional Employees, AFL/CID EDMUND T. CRANCH, President, Worcester Polytechnic Institute Now President, Wang Institute of Graduate Studies) DANIEL C. DRUCKER, Dean of Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana [now Graduate Research Professor of Engineering Sciences, University of Florida at Gainesville) FRED W. GARRY, Vice-President, Corporate Engineering and Manufacturing, General Electric Company JOHN W. GEILS, Director of ~ES/ASEE Faculty Shortage Project lAT&T, Ret. ~ AARON T. GELLMAN, President, Gellman Research Associates, Inc. HELEN GOULDNER, Dean, College of Arts and Science, Professor of Sociology, University of Delaware JOHN D. KEMPER, Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of California at Davis EDWARD T. KIRKPATRICK, President, Wentworth Institute of Technology V1

COMMITTEE MEMBERS . . V11 ERNEST S. KUH, Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, University of California at Berkeley W. EDWARD LEAR, Executive Director, American Society for Engineering Education LAWRENCE M. MEAD, OR., Senior Management Consultant ~ Senior Vice-President, Ret. I, Grumman Aerospace Corporation M. EUGENE MERCHANT, Principal Scientist, Manufacturing Research, Cincinnati Milacron, Inc. Now Director, Advanced Manufacturing Research, Metcut Research Associates, Inc. ~ RICHARD I. REDPATH, Vice-President, Ralston Purina Company FRANCIS E. REESE, Senior Vice-President, Monsanto Now retired) ROBERT M. SAUNDERS, Professor, School of Engineering, University of California at Irvine {Chairman, Board of Governors, ACES, 1983 CHARLES E. SCHAFFNER, Executive Vice-President, Syska & Hennessy JUDITH A. SCHWAN, Assistant Director, Research Labs, Eastman Kodak Company HAROLD T. SHAPIRO, President, University of Michigan MORRIS A. STEINBERG, Vice-President, Science, Lockheed Corporation DONALD G. WEINERT, Executive Director, National Society of Professional Engineers SHEILA E. WIDNALL, Professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology Staff WILLIAM H. MICHAEL, JR., Executive Director VERNON H. MILES, Staff Officer AMY ~ANIK, Administrative Assistant COURTLAND S. LEWIS, Consultant Government Liaison LEWIS G. MAYFIELD, Head, Office of Interdisciplinary Research, National Science Foundation

Contents Executive Summary. 1. The Goals of Undergraduate Engineering Education Curricular Change, 10 Faculty Role, 11 2. Undergraduate Students......................... Demographic Forces, 12 Factors Affecting the Quality of High School Graduates, 17 The Increasing Role of Women in Engineering Education, 23 Co-op Education, 27 Factors Influencing Graduate Study, 32 The Role of Minorities: Present and Future, 34 3. Faculty Student: Faculty Ratios, 44 Difficulties in Maintaining Faculty Versatility, 47 Obsolescence Among Faculty Members, 49 Faculty Development Programs, 51 Use of Part-Time or Adjunct Faculty, 52 Overenrollments in Electrical and Computer Engineering, 54 The Role of Women and Minorities, 5 6 Educational Technology in Teaching, 59 1X 9 . 12 . 44

x 4. The Curriculum.......... A Record of Change, 70 Science Versus Engineering, 71 Curricular Compression, 72 The Four-Year Constraint, 73 Recent Proposals, 74 5. The Role of Laboratory Instruction. Purposes of Laboratory Work, 77 Faculty in the Laboratory, 77 Experience for a Career, 79 The Industrial View, 79 Scientific Understanding, 80 Practicing Engineers Do Experiments, 81 A Lab Curriculum, 81 Impact of High Technology on Laboratory Equipment, 82 Keeping Current, 83 Characteristics of Future Laboratories, 83 6. The Two-Tiered System . . . Effects of Federal Funding, 86 Industrial Support, 87 Graduate Centers The First Tier, 87 The Second Tier, 88 The Need for Balance, 88 CONTENTS .. 70 . 76 . 86

ENGINEERING EDUCATION AND PRACTICE IN THE UNITED STATES

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