Seamless Transition from Academia to Real-world (STAR): A Collaborative Partnership to Producing Industry Ready Graduates

University Of Cincinnati Main Campus, Cincinnati OH

Investigators

Abstract

The project aims to bridge competency gaps between industry workforce needs and what is provided in a traditional engineering education program. The team is developing a model in which students work on real-world industrial problems that will have a direct bearing on fundamental engineering concepts in all four years of the mechanical engineering program. They are identifying problems that can be broken down into sub-problems and mapped to a selected set of key concepts taught in clusters of core courses. These case problems are being presented under a virtual company framework. Students post their work in the virtual company repository during different stages of the process so that the instructor, industry partners, and other students can view the solutions and procedures and provide periodic feedback. This is enabling students to learn to assess their own work and that of their peers. Industry experts meet with students to discuss the pros and cons of the solutions from a real-world perspective. Since the problems span multiple courses, students need to develop the ability to synthesize knowledge acquired from different courses in order to develop complete solutions. The team is making their material available so that other programs, depending on their connections with industrial partners, can directly use the case problems developed under this project, customize the case problems to meet local industry needs, or adopt the general model and develop their own case problems. The evaluation effort under the direction of an independent, qualified individual, is using a quasi-experimental approach with a pre-post test and a comparison group to examine the project effects. Broader impacts include the strong connection to industry, the dissemination of materials and results, and a special focus on the involvement of individuals from underrepresented groups