Atlanta, Georgia
June 23, 2013
June 23, 2013
June 26, 2013
2153-5965
Systems Engineering
14
23.982.1 - 23.982.14
10.18260/1-2--22367
https://peer.asee.org/22367
454
Roger is the President and Founder of LIMBS International and a Professor of Mechanical Engineering. With over 16 years of undergraduate curricular development experience, Dr. Gonzalez joined UTEP as Director of the Leadership Engineering Program. He earned his Ph.D. in mechanical engineering and his M.S. in biomedical engineering from The University of Texas at Austin and his B.S. in mechanical engineering from UTEP. Gonzalez was awarded the prestigious National Institutes of Health (NIH) National Research Service Award (NRSA) for his postdoctoral work in neuromuscular control and musculoskeletal biomechanics while working as a research scientist at Northwestern University Medical School and at the premier Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago. His scholarly efforts have focused on musculoskeletal modeling, dynamic modeling of human movement and neuromuscular control with applications to upper extremity neuroprosthesis and on the effects of knee ACL-deficiency on osteoarthritis. Roger has received several National Science Foundation (NSF) grants and NIH grants, along with various support from foundations for his international humanitarian endeavors. He founded and currently serves as CEO and President of LIMBS International (LIMBS.org) a non-profit entity which develops low-cost prosthetic devices for under-developed areas of the world. Gonzalez has worked with students in Africa, Asia, Europe, Australia, and Latin and South America on various international engineering research and humanitarian projects. He also has been awarded the American Society of Engineering Educators Teaching Award and the Minnie Stevens Piper Foundation Award as a Texas Piper Professor of 2008. He also serves as an engineering program evaluator for ABET (Accrediting Board for Engineering and Technology).
Presenting a New Opportunity for Engineering Students: Introduction of an Undergraduate Degree Plan in Leadership EngineeringIntegration of engineering and liberal arts education is central to developing the engineer of theconceptual age. The art and science of engineering is key to providing engineers with thetechnical and system thinking capacity needed to achieve leadership in our complex modernsociety. The US is at a tipping point regarding global competitiveness in technologicalinnovation, and to a very large extent, humanity is critically dependent on the duopoly oftechnological innovation and liberal thinking for improvement of quality of lifestyle. This hasbeen recognized within landmark reports across almost a century (Mann 1918), Wickenden 1929,Duderstadt 2008, Sheppard et al 2008, and the National Academies 2010; see “Rising Above theGathering Storm, Revisited: Rapidly Approaching Category 5”). The interplay betweentechnology and society guides our future humanity. To contribute and support leadership in thisinterplay, we are creating a new degree program in Leadership Engineering. The University ofTexas at El Paso (UTEP) initiatives respond earnestly to the call from students, alumni,businesses, and civic organisations, including the National Academies, to visualize and actuate anew paradigm for engineering education (Schoephoerster & Golding 2010). The drafted UTEPLeadership Engineering degree program status is an attempt to address this call. The degreeprogram is consistent with providing leadership in a new age, characterized as the conceptual ageby Alan Greenspan in 1997, and later made popular in Daniel Pink’s “A Whole New Mind.”Pink (2005) sees (quote): “The future belongs to a very different kind of person with a verydifferent kind of mind. The era of “left brain” dominance, and the Information Age that itengendered, are giving way to a new world in which the “right brain qualities”- inventiveness,empathy, meaning - predominate.” To address these needs, the new program features problem-based learning across disciplines and situated learning through professional practice experiences.In this contribution we will share the details of planning for the new undergraduate program inLeadership Engineering at UTEP. Included will be the contextual development of the program,the parameters considered as key, and the finalized degree plans. The program features will beexplained including engineering accreditation, and tracks and stems that provide flexibility forstudents.
Gonzalez, R. V., & Villa, E. Q., & Golding, P., & Ramos, J. A. (2013, June), Presenting a New Opportunity for Engineering Students: Introduction of an Undergraduate Degree Plan in Leadership Engineering Paper presented at 2013 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Atlanta, Georgia. 10.18260/1-2--22367
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