An innovative set of courses, implemented last fall semester in the MSE department, is introducing undergraduates as early as their sophomore year to the intricacies of industry workplace dynamics. Bulent Biner have sophomores, juniors, seniors, and graduate students working together in teams on industrially relevant research problems posed by companies like John Deere and Maytag. Here's how it works.
Students register for the integrated course appropriate to their level.
They're then divided into teams with representation from each level. Each team is assigned a project, for example, researching John Deere's corrosion resistant alloy development or Maytag's new enamel formulation or solving a problem in breaking a component. As students begin to analyze the problem, a hierarchy of mentoring gradually takes shape. Juniors learn to apply practical skills, contributing as working engineers. All this is accomplished within the existing curriculum by adding three courses - starting from the sophomore through senior years.