Toward An Interdisciplinary Graduate Degree In Technology
- Conference
- Location
-
Chicago, Illinois
- Publication Date
-
June 18, 2006
- Start Date
-
June 18, 2006
- End Date
-
June 21, 2006
- ISSN
-
2153-5965
- Conference Session
- Tagged Division
-
Graduate Studies
- Page Count
-
10
- Page Numbers
-
11.1345.1 - 11.1345.10
- DOI
-
10.18260/1-2--1374
- Permanent URL
-
https://peer.asee.org/1374
- Download Count
-
316
Paper Authors
Heidar Malki University of Houston
Heidar A. Malki received his B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. degrees in Electrical Engineering from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. He is a senior member of IEEE and associate editor for the IEEE Transactions on Fuzzy Systems. Dr. Malki was the general chair for the 1997 ASEE/GSW Conference and one of co-chairs of 1997 ICNN-IEEE International Conference on Neural Networks. Currently, he is Associate Dean for Research in the College of Technology and a professor in the Department of Engineering Technology at the University of Houston. His research interests are applications of neural networks, fuzzy logic, design of fuzzy logic controllers and their applications.
Michael Gibson University of Houston
Michael Lucas Gibson received a DBA and MBA the University of Kentucky. He has over thirty years of experience in information systems as a practitioner and an academician in information technology. Dr. Gibson has over fifty publications in academic and professional journals, such as IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering, Journal of Management Information Systems, Information & Management, Information Resource Management Journal, Journal of Database Management, International Journal of Software Engineering & Knowledge Engineering, and Computers & Operations Research. He also has over 60 published proceedings for conferences of professional and academic organizations, as well as a textbook, Analysis and Design of Computer Systems: A Comprehensive Methodology with CASE.
Enrique Barbieri University of Houston
Enrique Barbieri received the Ph.D. from the Electrical Engineering Department at The Ohio State University. He was Associate Professor and Chair of the Electrical Engineering & Computer Science Department at Tulane University (96-98). He is currently a Professor at the University of Houston, Chairs the Department of Engineering Technology, and co-directs the Texas Manufacturing Assistance Center (TMAC) – Gulf Coast. His teaching interests are in Microprocessors, Signals, Systems, and Control, and has published over 60 articles in control theory and applications. He has been the PI/Co-PI of projects from NASA, NSF, the Louisiana Board of Regents, the Gulf South Research Foundation, the University of Houston, the Professional Surveyors Educational Foundation, AT&T, and others.
William Fitzgibbon University of Houston
Abstract
NOTE: The first page of text has been automatically extracted and included below in lieu of an abstract
Toward an Interdisciplinary Graduate Degree in Technology Abstract
This paper presents a new interdisciplinary graduate program in Technology. This is a result of several years of study in revamping graduate programs in the College of Technology. This unique program consists of 1) core courses, 2) specialized tracks, 3) Practicum/Internship, and 4) thesis/project as shown in Figure 1. The proposed curriculum involves multidisciplinary programs such as Computer Engineering Technology, Electrical Power Engineering Technology, Mechanical Engineering Technology, Construction Management, Information Systems, Logistics Technology, and Technology Leadership and Supervision. Thus, it allows each program to have its own specialty while being flexible enough to grow other disciplines.
Introduction
The College of Technology (CoT) at the University of Houston offers Master’s degrees in Technology since 1992. These programs are very focused and technical in nature. In recent years, growing interest has emerged with regard to offering interdisciplinary graduate degrees in Technology. Thus, new innovative, interdisciplinary, and online degrees are being sought.
This paper presents a new interdisciplinary graduate program in Technology. The proposed program consists of 1) core courses, 2) specialized tracks, 3) Practicum/Internship, and 4) thesis/project as shown in Figure 1. The proposed curriculum involves multidisciplinary programs such as Computer Engineering Technology, Electrical Power Engineering Technology, Mechanical Engineering Technology, Construction Management, Information Systems, Logistics Technology, and Technology Leadership and Supervision. Thus, it allows each program to have its own specialty while being flexible enough to grow other disciplines.
The primary motivation for proposing an interdisciplinary graduate programs in technology is to capitalize on CoT resources to provide graduate degrees that integrate the different disciplines within the college. A secondary motivation is to elevate the research emphasis within the CoT. Establishing a CoT-wide graduate degree will provide a method of moving towards a doctoral degree in Technology, consistent with the objectives of a Research 1 university. A fundamental graduate degree program proposal would include core courses Technology/leadership/ Management, specialized tracks for various CoT disciplines (Concentrations), Practicum/ /internship, and thesis/project.
Literature Review
There have been increasing efforts to establish new innovative and interdisciplinary graduate programs both in engineering and technology disciplines in recent years. The U.S. “must rebuild its capacity for leadership of systematic technology development and innovation as a core corporate competence in American industry”1. An integrated, interdisciplinary graduate degree program can provide the foundation for future innovation leaders.
The paradigm shift is attributed to 1) sharing resources, 2) online offerings, and 3) providing multi-disciplinary education for students. There has been number of new initiatives reported in the literature. A totally hands-on online graduate program in information technology was introduced at East Carolina University2. Some of the issues of web-based graduate programs were also discussed3,4. Parmentier et al. proposed a multidisciplinary, innovative graduate curriculum
Malki, H., & Gibson, M., & Barbieri, E., & Fitzgibbon, W. (2006, June), Toward An Interdisciplinary Graduate Degree In Technology Paper presented at 2006 Annual Conference & Exposition, Chicago, Illinois. 10.18260/1-2--1374
ASEE holds the copyright on this document. It may be read by the public free of charge. Authors may archive their work on personal websites or in institutional repositories with the following citation: © 2006 American Society for Engineering Education. Other scholars may excerpt or quote from these materials with the same citation. When excerpting or quoting from Conference Proceedings, authors should, in addition to noting the ASEE copyright, list all the original authors and their institutions and name the host city of the conference. - Last updated April 1, 2015