Design of a Senior Laboratory Sequence to Guide Students in Multiple Academic Programs Towards Workforce Preparedness

This paper describes the integration of upper division experiential laboratory and project courses in the chemical engineering, biological engineering, and environmental engineering programs at Oregon State University. Student enrollment has doubled during this 5 year process. The yearlong integrated curriculum is built around a theme of “college to career” transition and targets a wide array of learning objectives. This paper focuses on three: experimental methodology, communication, and project management. It is demonstrated that the dramatic changes have been implemented while successfully maintaining positive student perceptions as measured with student course evaluations.