NSF Award
0234478
Vertical and Horizontal Integration of Manufacturing Courses in Engineering Curicula<br/><br/>The goal is to define a unique, novel model with strategies, processes and teaching tools and materials, to vertically integrate manufacturing courses and horizontally integrate mechanical engineering and industrial engineering courses, and to extend this model to other universities nationally. <br/><br/>Intellectual Merit of the Proposed Activity<br/>The proposed project will develop a streamlining process where students move fluidly from one course to another with continuity, are able to carry with them the knowledge and skills from upstream courses and visualize what is expected in the downstream classes. Students are able to interact with each other within manufacturing degree and with mechanical engineering and industrial engineering degrees. This holistic learning forms the foundation of a solid multi-disciplinary education. This project will form a strategy for inter-departmental collaboration, define a process for integration, and develop teaching tools, hands-on and web-based, for streamlining course progression and consolidating lecture and laboratory material for beta testing and later, dissemination.<br/><br/>Broader Impacts Resulting from the Proposed Activity<br/>The project will identify and establish collaboration between manufacturing, industrial engineering and mechanical engineering disciplines and between Kettering University and other beta-site universities as well as industry partners. The integration concept, new equipment and laboratory experiments, and product realization projects will be used in Kettering summer workshops for pre-college women (21st Century Women) and minority (Academically Inclined Minorities Program) to encourage and mentor underrepresented groups to study engineering. The outcomes of the project will directly impact Kettering's students and faculty, female and minority programs, beta-site universities and industry partners through developed laboratory projects, workshops and seminars, and will be published in diverse media such as Internet websites, CD-ROMs, conferences presentations, papers, laboratory manuals, and books for dissemination to broader audiences.
