Page 121 - Educating the Engineer of 2020: Adapting Engineering Education to the New Century

Educating the Engineer of 2020: Adapting Engineering Education to the New Century
http://www.nap.edu/catalog/11338.html

104 EDUCATING THE ENGINEER OF 2020

• experience working independently, as a member of a team, and
as a leader of a team
• performance before an audience that includes experts
• international/intercultural immersion experience
• substantial constructive contribution to society
• ability to communicate logically and persuasively in spoken,
written, numerical, and visual forms
• development of self-sufficient individuals able to articulate and
activate a vision and bring it to fruition

All of these goals are to be accomplished in an environment of personal
attention and concern.
Additional curricular objectives are listed below:

• demonstrate significant creative artistic expression
• aquire significant work experience in a corporate or business
culture
• show ability to apply basic business practices necessary to bring
a product to the marketplace

The many ways these goals could be implemented in real cur-
ricula were openly and widely debated for months. One of the reali-
ties of starting a college from a clean slate is that faculty groups are
small, and there is a natural tendency for these groups to seek con-
sensus. The college leadership was concerned, however, that con-
sensus might close off discussions of truly innovative ideas and cre-
ative (sometimes wild) concepts that are “outside the box.”
Nevertheless, from the wide menu of possibilities, choices had to be
made that would meet the realities of a four-year time constraint,
Accrediting Board of Engineering and Technology (ABET) accredi-
tation requirements, reasonable cost, and many other factors, at the
same time, remaining true to the founding principles.
To move the selection process forward, the provost established the
Curriculum Decision Making Board (CDMB), a group of five faculty
members and one student partner. This group was charged with the
task of describing the first Olin curriculum. Three of the five faculty
members of the CDMB were elected by the faculty using a Copeland
ballot, and two were appointed by the provost. The student partner was
selected by the student government group. The members of the CDMB
were Professors Steve Schiffman and Mike Moody (cochairs), Rob

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