(622b) Engineering in the Global and Societal Context: Four Credits, Three Weeks, Two Faculty, One Course

Students who study abroad have higher graduation rates and higher GPAs than students who do not study abroad, and also report on the importance of this “transformative” experience to their lives.  Unfortunately, semester-long study abroad can be challenging to schedule within the restrictive engineering curriculum.  Therefore, a short-term intensive study abroad option was created specifically for engineering students.  ENGR 290: Engineering in the Global and Societal Context was established in 2004 as a cross-disciplinary engineering elective to expose students to the impacts that environment, history, and culture have on engineering practice outside of the US. 

ENGR 290 has been taught in Great Britain, Switzerland/Germany/France, Sweden/Norway, Brazil, China, Argentina, and Costa Rica.  Students travel throughout the target country for three weeks in late May / early June, lead by 2-3 Engineering Faculty.  Course goals include developing an understanding of the interrelationships between engineering practice, culture and regulation as well as developing a greater understanding of higher education within the host country.  This is accomplished through visits to industrial sites, significant infrastructure, cultural and historical sites, and universities.  Students are assessed on their engagement with the course, daily journal entries, and a significant term paper, among other assignments. 

While not limited to chemical engineering students, the course has been taught by four of the chemical engineering faculty.  In this talk, we will share specific benefits of this course for chemical engineering students and faculty.  We will also discuss course outcomes and the extent to which the course has been successful in achieving them.