Conference Session

Product Development and Manufacturing

Collection

2013 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Jay R Porter, Texas A&M University; Joseph A. Morgan, Texas A&M University; Wei Zhan, Texas A&M University

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Technology

System for the Hearing Impaired. The second reason for this change is the current job market for graduates. Virtually allrecent former students now have careers that support either specific products or large systemsthrough their life cycle, performing functions such as testing, product engineering, applicationsengineering, sustaining engineering, and systems integration. To a large degree, this can beattributed to the dramatic change in the program faculty. Today, all faculty members havedegrees in engineering fields and the majority of the faculty has five plus years of industryexperience supporting products and systems. Thus, the new program not only emphasizes thetechnical aspects of electronics and communications, but now includes

Conference Session

Issues in Engineering Technology Education

Collection

2013 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Christopher R Conty, Editor On Behalf of You

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Technology

Initially, ET programsbenefited – especially in Electronics & Energy (oil & gas). But then many traditional technicaljobs disappeared – partly despite & partly because of the personal computer age, even as theeconomy improved overall. Would-be ET majors, seeing recent graduates not find jobs, shiftedto software (programming) over hardware. Meanwhile, those “good with their hands” (& ears)who’d have previously chosen automotive or manufacturing careers, now needed to learn how toread & apply computer schematics just like their more abstract-thinking electrical/ electronictech peers. So while engineering enrollments rebounded again after the "tech" recession of theearly 1980's, as they always had before, technology &