Feasibility Of A Fully Online Undergraduate Mechanical Engineering Degree For Non Traditional Learners
- Conference
- Location
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Honolulu, Hawaii
- Publication Date
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June 24, 2007
- Start Date
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June 24, 2007
- End Date
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June 27, 2007
- ISSN
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2153-5965
- Conference Session
- Tagged Division
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Continuing Professional Development
- Page Count
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13
- Page Numbers
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12.739.1 - 12.739.13
- DOI
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10.18260/1-2--2973
- Permanent URL
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https://peer.asee.org/2973
- Download Count
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787
Paper Authors
Frank Fisher
Stevens Institute of Technology
orcid.org/0000-0003-4476-5040
Dr. Frank Fisher is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken, NJ. Dr. Fisher earned BS degrees in Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mathematics from the University of Pittsburgh, Masters degrees in Mechanical Engineering and Learning Sciences (School of Education and Social Policy), and a PhD in Mechanical Engineering, all from Northwestern University. Professor Fisher is co-Director of the Nanotechnology Graduate Program at Stevens (www.stevens.edu/nano), and is a recent recipient of the Harvey N. Davis Distinguished Teaching Assistant Professor Award.
Hamid Hadim Stevens Institute of Technology
Dr. Hamid Hadim is an Associate Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Stevens Institute of Technology. Professor Hadim also serves as the Undergraduate Program Director in the department. He received BS, MS, and PhD degrees in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Kansas. His research areas include multidisciplinary design and dptimization, thermal design and analysis in electronics packaging, and thermal convection and fluid dynamics in porous media.
Sven Esche Stevens Institute of Technology
Dr. Sven K. Esche is an Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken, New Jersey, USA. In 1989, he received an undergraduate degree in Applied Mechanics from Chemnitz University of Technology (Germany). After working for three years at Mercedes Benz AG in Stuttgart (Germany), he obtained M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Mechanical Engineering from The Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio, USA in 1994 and 1997, respectively. His current research interests include multi-scale modeling of thermo-mechanical processing of metals, integrated product and process design under conditions of uncertainty and risk as well as remote sensing and control of distributed devices with special focus on remote laboratories.
Robert Ubell Stevens Institute of Technology
Robert Ubell is Dean of the School of Professional Education at Stevens, and launched the school's first online graduate program, WebCampus.Stevens, in 2000. Earlier, Ubell held a number of positions in publishing, including vice-president and editor-in-chief of Plenum Publishing Corporation, editor of the National Magazine Award-winning monthly, The Sciences, and American publisher of the premier British science weekly, Nature. Ubell is the author or editor of five books and more than 50 scholarly articles.
Constantin Chassapis Stevens Institute of Technology
Dr. Constantin Chassapis is a Professor and the Director of the Mechanical Engineering Department at Stevens Institute of Technology. His research interests are in knowledge-based engineering systems; computer-aided design and manufacturing; structure-property modeling and characterization of polymers and polymer composites as well as in remotely controlled distributed systems. He has been an active member in ASME and SPE, and he has received a best paper award from SPE’s Injection Molding Division, the distinguished Assistant Professor Award at Stevens Institute of Technology, an Honorary Master’s Degree from Stevens Institute of Technology, and the Tau Beta Pi Academic Excellence Award.
Abstract
NOTE: The first page of text has been automatically extracted and included below in lieu of an abstract
Feasibility of a Fully Online Undergraduate Mechanical Engineering Degree for Non-Traditional Learners Abstract
Although there are a number of online degrees available online today from some of the most respected educational institutions in the US, very few of these are accredited undergraduate engineering programs. Of interest here is an online program specifically designed and developed to address the many mid-career employees and non-traditional students who have yet to earn an undergraduate engineering degree, especially those in business and industry and at military installations. In this paper, we present the results of a study which seeks to address how best to develop, implement, and assess a fully accredited online undergraduate engineering program. Of particular importance is to identify and address critical elements of such a program, including: potential student populations, faculty requirements, curriculum requirements, admissions criteria, accreditation requirements, implementation resources (faculty, technical equipment, financial), collaboration with other institutions, and laboratory requirements.
Successful development of such a program will enable access to superior engineering education by under-represented populations, students in remote locations, and students who are otherwise constrained with regard to traditional undergraduate engineering programs due to family or employment obligations. If successful, such a program could become a model for other undergraduate science and engineering curricula and programs offered online.
1.0 Introduction
Although there are a number of online degrees available online today from some of the most respected educational institutions in the US, few accredited undergraduate engineering programs exist. Particularly lacking is an online program specifically designed and developed to address the many mid-career employees and non-traditional students who have yet to earn an undergraduate engineering degree. To address this need, our institution has sought to address the feasibility of the development of an innovative ABET1-accredited online undergraduate mechanical engineering degree program. Of particular importance is to identify and address critical elements of such a program, including: potential student populations, faculty requirements, discipline selection, curriculum requirements, admissions criteria, accreditation requirements, implementation resources (faculty, technical equipment, financial), collaboration with other institutions, laboratory requirements, etc.
As discussed in more detail in two recent review articles,2,3 undergraduate engineering education has lagged behind other fields in generating online degree programs. Thus, while there exist a significant number of online engineering programs leading to Master’s degrees,4 very few online programs leading to Bachelors degrees in engineering have been developed to date (see Table 1). Among these existing programs, only the University of North Dakota (UND) offers ABET accredited degrees in the traditional disciplines of chemical, civil, electrical and mechanical engineering.
Other institutions have attempted undergraduate engineering programs online that have encountered certain benefits and obstacles.5 Recognizing that this presents an opportunity for an
Fisher, F., & Hadim, H., & Esche, S., & Ubell, R., & Chassapis, C. (2007, June), Feasibility Of A Fully Online Undergraduate Mechanical Engineering Degree For Non Traditional Learners Paper presented at 2007 Annual Conference & Exposition, Honolulu, Hawaii. 10.18260/1-2--2973
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