Bringing Real World Engineering Experiences into the Classroom

Summary

The traditional undergraduate engineering curriculum does not offer much opportunity for students to practice the knowledge learned in their coursework directly in situations that represent the type of work they might be asked to do when entering the professional job market. This impact statement describes the continuing of efforts to bring experiences into the classroom more representative of professional job situations.

Situation

The traditional undergraduate engineering curriculum does not offer much opportunity for students to practice the knowledge learned in their coursework directly in situations that represent the type of work they might be asked to do when entering the professional job market. Thomas Friedman recently published a book titled "Hot, Flat and Crowded", in which he takes a look at the rapid changing of the world through climate change, population growth and globalization. This work is follow-on to his highly acclaimed "The World is Flat". In this 2008 book, Friedman urges the U.S. to become a world leader in developing 'green' technologies needed for the coming era he calls the “Energy-Climate Era”. Without becoming a leader in these technologies, he fears that the U.S. will be shunted aside by other nations. UGA began in 2007 new B.S. and M.S. degree programs in Environmental Engineering. These programs have Sustainable Development as a primary focus, and put a heavy emphasis on long-term, application oriented case studies and projects within the curricula. Graduating engineers will need to know both how to function as practicing engineers in their jobs, be they in industry, consulting, government or academia. I see my role as one to help UGA engineering students prepare for life outside the structured and somewhat sheltered environment they are now in as students and be ready to step into their future positions.

Response

Since coming to UGA in 2004, I have worked to establish contacts with local industries and within the UGA physical plant facilities, engineering groups and the Office of University Architects to explore potential class projects that could be integrated into courses taught within BAE. As my engineering outreach related activities have increased, this has allowed the establishment of contacts for potential collaborations and projects across the nation and around the world. (See my other Impact Report titled, “Integrating Sustainable Building Design Practices within UGA, the State of Georgia and Worldwide”). Types of projects selected are typically ones that would represent situations a consulting engineer may be asked to help solve, ideas for which I draw from my 20 years of experience in industry and consulting engineering positions and from the various collaborators. During 2008, I opened up my students to engineering problems that exist in real-world situations. For example, during the spring semester my students in ENGR 4650 (HVAC) first visited the Baldor Motor plant in Athens to witness a problem they had in one of the aluminum melt furnace rooms. This problem was that certain areas were getting overheated due to poor air ventilation and distribution within the room. The students were given a basic air distribution model I created for this room using the computational fluid dynamics software package AirPak and then given the charge of coming up with a potential solution to the problem and model it using AirPak. The students had several creative proposed solutions, and also used the model to identify the real problems within the room. At the end of the semester, the students met again with plant personnel to discuss their proposed solutions. This project in essence exposed the students to precisely what an outside engineering consultant would do if they were asked to evaluate this situation. During the fall semester of 2008, students in each of the three courses I taught were exposed to a number of real-world situations and projects. For example, the new ENGR 4660 course (“Sustainable Building Design”) has, as a core part of the course, students working as teams assisting in the design or analysis of three different sustainable design projects around Athens and in the region. These projects include: • Evaluation of options for the IDI, Inc warehousing and distribution company facilities (this also helps support the work being done under the contract from IDI by the Engineering Outreach program. • A parallel evaluation of potential 'green design' options for the Tate II expansion project on the UGA campus. • An evaluation of the Driftmier building for suggestions on what might be done to get that building up to meet the standards for the U.S. Green Building Council's LEED for Existing Buildings program. In addition, visits and tours were conducted for the ENGR 4660 students of the UGA rain garden on south Lumpkin, the UGA steam plant, and the new Art School building on campus. Outside speakers were invited to give presentations on a variety of addition subjects, including stormwater management, how the students can become active in the Green Building movement, and the University System of Georgia's energy management programs. The ENGR 4630 course (Residential Design) students were given the opportunity to tour a residential construction site at a local Habitat for Humanity construction site, as well having the opportunity to participate in the annual UGA Engineering Students workday at this same build site. Outside speakers arranged for this course include Ken Hix, former manager of the Athens-Clarke Country Building Inspection group on building codes, a representative from First American Bank on home financing as well as financing for a construction business, and a recent UGA engineering graduate discussing what it is like being a building contractor. In addition, the 4630 class was given a tour of the Huber building products research and test facility near Commerce, GA where Mr. Hix is now employed. The ENGR 3150 (Heat Transfer) students were given a tour of the UGA steam plant as well. In October 2008 I arranged for representatives of two Atlanta based engineering consulting firms that specialize in green buildings and energy efficiency to come speak to the UGA engineering students. They discussed the type of work that they do and what it is like to work in the 'real-world' as an engineer. This event was very well attended with over 40 students in the audience.

Impact

The ENGR 4660 course in essence is an initial experience with developing courses for the new Environmental Engineering degree program. Having student class projects based on actual design projects that are on-going in the area lets them actually see the site and what is to be done, and experience the process that design or consulting engineering teams are going through during the course of a project. This lets them realize that real-world projects require lots of trade-offs and design iterations. They also get to realize that most times there is more than one answer or solution to a problem, and the best solution (economically and environmentally) may not be obvious up front. Besides the field trip and real case-study project assignments, the ENGR 4660 in-class sessions have put more focus on group discussion and analysis of situations in building designs (and environmental impacts within society as a whole) than on just the traditional lecture format. Some lecturing is done to introduce topics and concepts that are outside what they had been exposed to in previous courses or experiences, but that is held to a minimum. Students really like this format and it seems to have increased participation and retention, which is important especially for an 8 am classtime. Students who have completed the courses I teach, or who I work with as faculty advisor for their student club, are more prepared for life outside the academic world. This is the primary reason for my making my career change approximately 10 years ago and it still is my main motivation for working at UGA. Potential collaborations for future projects and case studies for the UGA engineering programs, in particular the Environmental Engineering program, are being investigated with people and organizations across the nation and world. These collaborations are discussed in more detail as well with the other impact report titled “Integrating Sustainable Building Design Practices within UGA, the State of Georgia and Worldwide”.

Details

• Year: 2008
• Geographic Scope: National
• County: Clarke
• Program Areas:
  • Agriculture & Natural Resources