Integrating Professional Practice into the Engineering Curriculum: A Proposed Model and Prototype Case with an Industry Partner

We present a case for a dramatic shift in the university-industry relationship for engineering programs, following recommendations from two 2008 reports on the future of engineering education. The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching report Educating Engineers: Designing for the Future of the Field established the “imperative for teaching for professional practice” in engineering education by providing the “engineering equivalent of the clinical dimension of medical preparation” that includes a “place to explore professional practice”, not unlike the clinical sites utilized for the preparation of physicians. Dr. James Duderstadt’s report Engineering for a Changing World recommends the establishment of “graduate professional schools of engineering that would offer practice-based degrees at the post-baccalaureate level as the entry degree into the engineering profession,” again using the training of physicians as an appropriate model. He also recommends the formation of “Discovery-Innovation Institutes,” academia-industry-government partnerships for engineering, a cross between academic medical centers where education, research, and practice are synergistically united within one unit, and corporate R&D laboratories that link fundamental discoveries to innovative products and services through applied research. To meet these recommendations, we propose the transition of engineering education to a medical center model that includes the following key elements: Clinical Experiences at the Post-Baccalaureate Level Incorporation of Clinical Experiences into Program Learning Outcomes Appropriate Mix of Research and Clinical Faculty Industry Ownership of Professional Practice Training Clinical Sites – industry practice based laboratories, internships, and collaborative research We have initiated the first step toward development of a medical center-type model by establishing a prototype for the practice-based education of engineers through a partnership with Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Company. This paper describes the partnership initiatives aligned with the key success factors listed above. With this successful prototype case in hand, we are replicating this model with multiple companies, large and small, and across a variety of professionally-oriented Master’s degree programs in the College. We believe that the medical center model for engineering education and research will provide an optimal means to educate and train engineering students for preparation as effective professional engineers. As designed, this well-integrated cooperative approach for university-industry partnerships also promotes innovation, commercialization, and economic development.