Title:

ASME Vision 2030 – Creating the Future of Mechanical Engineering Education

Speaker:

Dr. Allan Kirkpatrick

Affiliation:

Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO

When:

Tuesday, October 12, 2010 at 11:00:00 AM   Add to Calendar

Where:

MARC Building, Room Auditorium

Host:

Dr. Al Ferri
al.ferri@me.gatech.edu
404-894-3204

Abstract

The role and scope of mechanical engineering practice has been transforming rapidly. What mechanical engineers do, and how they do it, is changing due to the expansion of the discipline’s boundaries, impact of the globalization of engineering and manufacturing, increased professional expectations, and rapid technological innovation. In 2009, the ASME Center for Education formed an engineering education task force, ASME Vision 2030, to help define the knowledge and skills that mechanical engineering graduates should have to be globally competitive in the 21st century. The Vision 2030 task force has identified the challenges of sustainable engineering, energy, and human health as ones where mechanical engineers should lead development of innovative and sustainable solutions. Based on industry and engineering educator survey data, the task force has found that there is a strong need to strengthen two aspects of the undergraduate mechanical engineering curriculum: practical experience, and curricular flexibility. These survey results indicate that successful mechanical engineers in industry will, in addition to technical knowledge, need to have depth in problem-solving skills, innovation, communication, and global team collaboration. To strengthen the ‘practical experience’ component of the students’ skill set, the task force has recommended that Mechanical Engineering curricula contain a multi-year design/build spine, e.g., a semester-long design course in each of the freshmen, sophomore, and junior years, and a two semester senior capstone design experience. Professional skills such as problem solving, teamwork, leadership, entrepreneurship, innovation, and project management would be central features of the design spine. To provide more curricular flexibility for incorporation of new applications and emerging technologies, programs would designate a mechanical engineering core, which all students would be required to complete.

Biography

Dr. Allan T. Kirkpatrick is a Professor and former Head of the Mechanical Engineering Department at Colorado State University. He has BS and PhD degrees in Mechanical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. His research interests are in engineering education and the applied thermal sciences (fluid jet mixing, combustion stability). Dr. Kirkpatrick is also the Director of the CSU Industrial Assessment Center. He has authored two books and numerous journal and conference publications in these areas. He is active in ASME as a member of the ASME Council on Education, and is currently the Editor of the ASME Vision 2030 project on Mechanical Engineering Education.