Paper Authors

Abstract

NOTE: The first page of text has been automatically extracted and included below in lieu of an abstract

Knowledge of Contemporary Issues Held By Engineering Students

Abstract The Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET) has ruled that students should have a knowledge of contemporary issues. In this regard, it is obvious that, today, engineering is conducted on a global scale and is becoming very important for the nation as well as the whole world. Therefore, every student should pursue knowledge of contemporary and past information regarding various engineering issues. This paper presents the level of understanding of typical contemporary issues held by the engineering students. It also compares the knowledge of students enrolled at other engineering schools. The data may be utilized by institutions to measure and compare the level of contemporary issues held by their students. Introduction Today it is believed that future engineering students will be enrolled in programs that need fundamental changes. For example, at present programs in U.S are falling short in attracting and retaining those who should form the vanguard of the next generation of engineers. According to some sources, the enrollment in engineering programs is decreasing. The present educational system was generally developed in the 1950s and was suitable for that time5. But today’s first- year engineering students were not even born when this occurred. Today, engineering programs should be conducted on a global scale with industrial practice activities heavily required along with team work projects. Unfortunately, however, some engineering educators discourage teamwork by labeling it as a process in “cheating”1. It has been written that currently engineering students are prepared for jobs that don’t yet exist using technologies that haven’t yet been invented in order to solve problems we don’t even know we have5. In addition changes are needed in engineering education to address the 3Ns: numbers, needs, and new knowledge5. There also is a need for professionals to make changes in the practice of engineering. The 1986 failure of the space shuttle Challenger has become a classic example, with the conflict between engineers and managers providing the kind of dramatic tension that assists students to remember the facts and issues8,10. Such case studies may be categorized as recent history, incidents that remain fresh in the minds of professionals. It is important to introduce various other case studies in the class room as they will help students to gain knowledge on contemporary issues. It may be stated that design is a timeless endeavor and failure an ageless problem. The construction industry may be considered as an example. The nature of construction can be classified as complex, vast, pervasive, diverse, changing and finally evolving. Many research and development programs are being undertaken by the industry. They are conducted mainly for construction companies to excel in regards to strategies driven by cash flow, profit, project schedule and project backlog which means accumulation of unfulfilled orders held by the firm.

• Citation

• Format
  • APA
  • APA - LaTeX bibitem
  • MLA
  • MLA - LaTeX bibitem
  • Bibtex
  • EndNote - RIS

Koehn, E., & Vaska, K. G., & Paruchuri, K., & Koehn, J. (2009, June), Knowledge Of Contemporary Issues Held By Engineering Students Paper presented at 2009 Annual Conference & Exposition, Austin, Texas. 10.18260/1-2--4866