Converging Technologies: The New Frontier in Engineering Education

Union College, Schenectady NY

Investigators

Abstract

PROPOSAL NO.: 0230544 PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR: Balmer, Robert INSTITUTION NAME: Union College TITLE: Converging Technologies: The New Frontier in Engineering Education NSF RECEIVED DATE: 06/04/2002 Abstract In recent years the intersection of a wide variety of industries and technologies have been used to create new products and solve new problems. Since these new technologies typically occur at the interfaces of science and engineering, we refer to this intersection as .Converging Technologies.. Union College has made a commitment to bring converging technologies into the engineering classrooms, integrating nanotechnology, mechatronics, bioengineering and pervasive computing into our undergraduate engineering program. To achieve our goals, we have undertaken the initial phase of planning - a full year of interdisciplinary discussions to identify our focus technologies, establish working groups, and outline preliminary goals. Our strategy does not include developing entirely new engineering or science programs; rather we want to build on our strengths as an engineering and liberal arts college to enhance and expand our curricula in an interdisciplinary way, eliminating the .silos. of traditional liberal arts and engineering programs. In the second phase of planning we will determine the impact of the Converging Technology program on college resources, and develop plans to allow integration of Converging Technology components into existing programs as well as the possibility of developing new programs within Converging Technology. Based on our initial discussions, we anticipate various engineering and science courses from the freshman through the senior years will touch on elements of these new emerging technologies, as well as provide enhanced exposure to the latest software tools. The program will also feature increased opportunities for industrial internship programs and further weave internationalism throughout the curricula.