Infusing a Concurrent Engineering Model into Academia

Many Community Colleges offer both AS and AAS degrees in Engineering Science and Engineering Technologies respectively. Unfortunately, students in different disciplines are often segregated from each other in core courses. We have designed two entry-level courses that are designed for both AS and AAS students to take together. In our Mechanical Design and Prototyping course both Engineering Science and Precision Machining students learn to use CAD and CAM software in lecture and then fabricate their designs using manual and CNC machines in lab. Faculty from both departments team-teach the course which entails a final design-build project and course competition. A series of short instructional videos have been created to supplement class instruction. Our Digital Electronics course is taken by both Engineering Science and Computer Technology students. This course has been developed and is taught by faculty from both departments. The course includes the use of discrete components and Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGA). A set of custom hardware components have been developed that can be interfaced to an FPGA and a microcontroller. Instructional videos help students prepare for laboratory exercises and the course concludes with a final design-build project. The overall goal of this project is to teach students how to work in multi-disciplinary teams and to make it easier for students to switch between AS and AAS programs. A Capstone Design course is being developed where small teams comprised of Precision Machining, Engineering Science, and Computer Technology students will solve a semester long design-build project.