Integrating Engineering Disciplines Into A Common First Year Engineering Program

In the fall of 2000, Michigan Technological University started a common first year program for all engineering students. One of the goals of this program was to introduce first year students to the engineering majors available on campus. The Engineering Fundamentals faculty found it fairly simple to incorporate Mechanical and Civil Engineering problems into this program, but the other disciplines presented challenges in finding applications that matched the knowledge level of first year engineering students. For the 2002-03 school year, the faculty worked on bringing Chemical, Biomedical, and Electrical Engineering assignments into the classroom that can be solved using tools taught in the first year program. The faculty relied greatly on the input and knowledge of the respective departmental faculty to develop illustrative problems. In Fundamentals of Engineering I (ENG1101), a Chemical Engineering problem introduced students to the concept of mass balances. This problem was used to illustrate how to properly set-up and document engineering problems, design and use spreadsheets, and observe the effect of changing process variables on an overall design. The students also learned technical writing skills by summarizing the project in a short report. Additionally, ENG1101 students were given a problem where they had to use unit conversions to solve a Biomedical Engineering problem. In Fundamentals of Engineering II (ENG1102), an Electrical Engineering project introduced the students to control logic design. Starting with a conceptual 3D model of the mechanical design, the project required the team to develop a system configuration diagram, energy budget, functional specifications, and control logic program. The project stressed the design process within a multidisciplinary team. These activities and their development are outlined in this paper.