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Communication IS Engineering: Responding to Needs of Industry in a Capstone Course Abstract

Research has shown that consulting engineering firms need newly graduated junior engineers to be skilled in communication, especially writing. In response to this plea from the civil engineering industry in Salt Lake Valley, University of Utah has designed a capstone course in its Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering that focuses on written, oral and team communication besides technical and design elements. The course incorporates communication instructors from the CLEAR program who collaborate with faculty, lecture in the class, consult with students and assess assignments in an effort to ensure a higher level of communication competency in graduates.

Introduction

Undergraduate curriculum capstone courses in Civil and other engineering disciplines attempt to fulfill a host of objectives. Most notably, they incorporate design projects and teamwork to fulfill specific criteria of the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET). They provide their students with an opportunity for synthesis, employing the technical skills they have learned in the program, and introducing elements of professional practice that will ease their integration into industry after graduation.

In order to meet the needs industry has for young engineers, many universities have incorporated mock corporate environments and real-world clients into the capstone course. Besides familiarity with a team work environment and real clients, preparation for professional work in the field of civil engineering requires extensive practice writing and presenting engineering reports. This paper will present research exposing industry’s need for junior engineers with higher levels of communication skills in Salt Lake City, as well as University of Utah’s (U of U) program created to fill that need. Specifically, it will examine the Professional Practice and Design capstone course in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, which incorporates an innovative, interdisciplinary approach to engineering and communication education. This approach involves a partnership between the department and consultants from the U of U Center for Engineering Leadership, funded by the CLEAR grant (Collaboration, Leadership, Ethics, And Research).

While finishing their graduate degrees in Communication, Rhetoric and Composition, and English, these consultants collaborate with Engineering faculty to develop and implement written, oral and teamwork communication education in various departments within the College of Engineering. In the Civil and Environmental Engineering department, faculty and consultants have developed a capstone course intended to provide students with a unique opportunity to learn and practice written, oral and team communication in a simulated professional firm environment. They produce and present a Proposal, Feasibility Study, and Preliminary Engineering Report with 75% drawings and specifications for their community client, making the course a design, communication and professional practice intensive experience.

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Large Seagrave, J. (2006, June), Communication Is Engineering: Responding To Needs Of Industry In A Capstone Course Paper presented at 2006 Annual Conference & Exposition, Chicago, Illinois. 10.18260/1-2--838