Implementing International Requirements In Undergraduate Industrial Engineering Programs
- Conference
- Location
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Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
- Publication Date
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June 22, 2008
- Start Date
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June 22, 2008
- End Date
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June 25, 2008
- ISSN
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2153-5965
- Conference Session
- Tagged Division
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Industrial Engineering
- Page Count
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8
- Page Numbers
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13.711.1 - 13.711.8
- DOI
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10.18260/1-2--3996
- Permanent URL
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https://peer.asee.org/3996
- Download Count
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294
Paper Authors
Karen Bursic University of Pittsburgh
Karen M. Bursic is an Assistant Professor and the Undergraduate Program Director for Industrial Engineering at the University of Pittsburgh. She received her B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. degrees in Industrial Engineering from the University of Pittsburgh. Prior to joining the department she worked as a Senior Consultant for Ernst and Young and as an Industrial Engineer for General Motors Corporation. Dr. Bursic has done research and published work in the areas Engineering and Project Management and Engineering Education. She is a member of IIE and ASEE and is a registered Professional Engineer in the state of Pennsylvania.
Kim Needy University of Pittsburgh
Kim LaScola Needy is an Associate Professor of Industrial Engineering at the University of Pittsburgh. She received her B.S. and M.S. degrees in Industrial Engineering from the University of Pittsburgh, and her Ph.D. in Industrial Engineering from Wichita State University. Prior to her academic appointment, she accumulated nine years of industrial experience while working at PPG Industries and The Boeing Company. Her research interests include engineering economic analysis, engineering management, integrated resource management, and sustainable engineering. Dr. Needy is a member of ASEE, ASEM, APICS, IIE, and SWE. She is a licensed P.E. in Kansas.
Abstract
NOTE: The first page of text has been automatically extracted and included below in lieu of an abstract
Implementing International Requirements in Undergraduate Industrial Engineering Programs Abstract
Recognizing that engineering is an increasingly global profession, the Department of Industrial Engineering (IE) at the University of Pittsburgh is committed to providing its graduates with the skills they need to compete on an international basis. This commitment has led to the recent development and institutionalizing of an international requirement for all of our undergraduate students. All students will be required to take course work with a global studies emphasis. Most of our students will also participate in one of any of a number of available international travel/study experiences. The experience can range from a full semester abroad to an approved academic program with a short term foreign travel component. Factors influencing the decision to require students to obtain this international experience included the increasing demand for engineers capable of working in a global organization and who possess cross-cultural awareness and understanding of global business practices. In addition, ABET outcomes h (the broad education necessary to understand the impact of engineering solutions in a global, economic, environmental, and societal context) and j (knowledge of contemporary issues) have certainly influenced the move. In this paper, we will describe our international requirement and discuss and compare it with similar efforts currently underway at other engineering programs across the country.
Background and Motivation
Universities across the U.S. now recognize that responding to globalization is key to the success of American competitiveness. This global theme was defined and identified in well known works such as Thomas Friedman’s The World is Flat [1] as well as Educating the Engineer of 2020 [2] from the National Academy of Engineering. International experience actually provides students with a distinct advantage to potential employers. The cover story of the summer 2007 edition of the American Society for Engineering Education’s Prism [3] magazine provides further evidence of this trend. Most companies and organizations no longer conduct business from a regional or even U.S. perspective, but rather from a global perspective. Because the IE field traverses both the engineering and business world, it is particularly important that IE curricula provide students with this advantage.
A challenge facing engineering educators is how best to take advantage of the global, flattened, technology-enabled playing field to improve engineering education, and as Friedman, and others have proposed, enable the U.S. to retain its lead in innovation and university education and research. Further, to meet and exceed accreditation requirements, it is necessary to demonstrate that program graduates have the broad education necessary to understand the impact of engineering solutions in a global, economic, environmental, and societal context as well as knowledge of contemporary issues. [4]
Bursic, K., & Needy, K. (2008, June), Implementing International Requirements In Undergraduate Industrial Engineering Programs Paper presented at 2008 Annual Conference & Exposition, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. 10.18260/1-2--3996
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