An Integrated Systems Lab And Curriculum To Address Ie Program Criteria

ABET program criteria for industrial engineering require programs to demonstrate that “graduates have the ability to design, develop, implement, and improve integrated systems that include people, materials, information, equipment, and energy” and to include “in-depth instruction to accomplish the integration of systems using appropriate analytical, computational, and experimental practices.” Faculty in the industrial engineering program at Tennessee Technological University have developed an integrated junior-year curriculum supported by an Integrated Systems Laboratory and related projects. The projects provide opportunities for students to apply their newly acquired tools in an integrated setting prior to enrolling in the capstone course. Project requirements can include work measurement, work design and ergonomics, engineering economics, simulation, statistical analysis and experimental design, project management, and technical communication. In addition to a description of the laboratory and projects, the rationale and a description of the curriculum is presented. Also included is a preliminary analysis of the impact of this approach on student learning.