The Obstacles To Teaching Fuzzy Set Theory And Its Applications

One goal of an engineering curriculum is to produce graduates who are knowledgeable in current technology and practices. One of the better ways to do this is to provide a variety of senior-level technical electives in new and popular technology areas. The danger inherent in this is that many undergraduates are unprepared for exposure to these topics due either to a lack of prerequisite material or technical maturity. Further, inappropriately scoped technical electives can leave an undergraduate too specialized for their potential career path. This paper will address the issues of prerequisite material and specialization in the area of fuzzy set theory and its applications. It will be shown that there is little or no significant prerequisite material problems for most engineering majors and that an appropriate breadth-based approach to application areas can address the specialization issue. The results of teaching a quarter-long course in fuzzy sets for three years at the Milwaukee School of Engineering(MSOE) to electrical and computer engineers will also be presented.