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le rn ing in i n us t ry )Th is co lumn p rovides exa mp les of cases i n which students h ave gai ned know ledge , insig ht. and experie nce in the

prac tice of c he mical engineering while in an indu strial se tt ing. Summ er internships a nd co-o p assig nments typify suchex periences; h owever, re ports of more unu sual cases a re also we lcome . Descri ption of t he analytical t ools used a nd t heskills deve lop ed d uring the project s ho uld be emp hasized . Th ese exa mples shou ld stimulate innovative approaches t obri ng rea l wo rld tool s a nd ex periences back to ca mpu s fo r inte gra tion into the c urricu lum. Pl ease s ubmi t manu script s toProfe ssor W . J . Koros, Chemical En gi nee ring D epartment , Unive rs ity of Texas, A ust in, T exas 78712.

F R O M T H E L S S R O O M T O

T H E W O R K P L EMotivating Students to earn in ndustry

A. H RISTIAN RI CKER ensse la er P olytechni c Ins t it ut e T roy 121 8

hat m ake s a s uccessf ul engi neer ? No o ne wo ulddeny that t ec hni cal ex pertise is c ritica l to m astering real -wo rld e ngi ne er i ng pro bl ems. Yet te chni

ca l m as tery is o nly h alf the battle; there a re also man y co mplex soc ial ski lls that must be learned in order t o make suc cessful u se of technical kno wledge in a wo rk place setting.

T he purp o se o f thi s a rticle is two fold . First, it w ill note afew ex am ples of spec ific nontechnical ski lls t hat can be

use f ul in m ana g ing th e da y-to-day wo rkpl ace rea lit ies of aBS-le vel e ngi ne er. Th ese s k ills and stra tegies are taken fro mthe a uthor ' s personal experie nce in wo rk ing a s a p rocesse ng inee r for thr ee ye ars at a m id- sized manuf acturing co nsu lting firm , as well as from co nv ers ations with and observation s of dozen s of co llea g ues working in va ried chemicaland m echani ca l produ ct des ign and m anufacturing se ttin gs .T he majority of th ese e ng ineer s were w ithin six ye ar s ofgradu atio n and we re in th e proc ess of l ea rning th e socia lsk ills n ece ss ary fo r moving up the corpora te ladder fro mtec hnically o rien ted p roc ess po si tions to more bu sin ess -o rient ed m anagerial fun c tions. It is hoped that th ese ob se rva

tio ns wi ll pro ve useful to e ngi neeri ng p rofe ss or s who haveno t wo rked for a n appreciab le amount of time a t the BS leveland w ho t her ef ore have ex perie nced t he indu strial se tt ing i na mu ch di fferent co ntext.

Second, th is a rticle w ill o utline seve ral ways i n w hich thene ed for ac q uiri ng t hese i nformal skills ca n be co mmunica ted to the vas t m ajo rity of students who w ill end th eired ucation at th e BS le vel. T he co nvey a nce of tec hnical co nce pts, ski lls , a nd informat ion is un doubtedl y what th e und erg radu ate e xperienc e is all about , but b y sug ges tin g some ofth e so cia l co ntext s w ithin w hich these s kill s w ill b e mobi-

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lized , e ngineering ed ucators ca n increase s tudent s' effective ness in putt ing th is technical m aterial to use in th e wo rkpla ce.

T here e xists a real need to a lert und ergraduates to th e facttha t exce ll ing in th e cl assroom, a ltho ug h critical, is on ly halfthe eq uati on i n pr eparing to be a n effe ctive profe ssio nal.Oth erwise naive s tudents n eed to be ex plici tly m ade awareof the see ming ly co mmonsense no tio n that one mu st ind eed

learn in indu stry in o rde r t o be a s uc cessf ul co rporatee ngin eer.

STU ENT PER EPTIONS

T his need i s illu st rated by a rec ent s ur vey of se ve nt y-s ixund ergraduat e e ngin ee rs a t Ren ss el aer Polytechni c Institut e(RP I) in wh ich 95 indi cated t hey had a very fir m o r a tleast a s om ew hat fir m idea o f w hat th e dail y wo rk ex perience of a n ave rage e ng ineer is like (see F igure I) . A closelook at the nu mber s ind icates tha t stude nts likely do not havethe fir m grasp of e ngineering wor kplace re alities that th eypro f ess.

For i nsta nce , there was no correla tio n b etween s tudent s '

A Chr is t ian Fricke gra duated Irom North Caro -lina St ate Univers ity with as degrees in chem i-cal engineer ing n b iochemistry He hasworked in a Merck P harmaceut icals produ ctionfacility s research assistant in moleculargenetics la boratory and s process eng ineerfor CTC a manufacturing consulting firm withheadquarters in J ohnstown Pe nnsylvania Heis c urrently a d octoral ca ndidate in the S ciencea nd Tech nolog y St ud ies pr ogram a t RPI

Copyrig ht Ch E Di vis ion of A SEE 19 99

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he r e ex ists a re al n e ed to al er t un d er gr du t es to th e f c t th t exce lling in the cl assroom, lthough cr itic al, i s on l y h lf the e quation in pr ep ring to b e an effec tive p rof essional. . . S uccess on

th e job . . . en t ai ls l e rnin g m n y comp le x soci al b eh vior s in ddition to tho se n ecessary fo r cla ssrooms uccess . al so e n ta il s d ev elopin g an entire ly n ew p er specti ve on w h t cons titu te s en gin ee ring.

Do yOIl ha ve a finn id ea of whatit is that enginee rs do a ll a dail yba sis ?

T L E

Overall Surve y Results 7 6 respondent s)

WORKPL E RE LITIES

Accordin g to o ne ea rly ' 80 s s tudy , tec hn ica l pro fessi ona ls typically spend o ve r a third of th eir wo rk we ek w riting,editin g, o r pr eparing report s.t'l If yo u al so i nclude co mposing letters, propo sal s , dr afting sc hedule s and procedur es ,taking fie ld n otes, a nd ge nerating o ther m ore in formal modeso f w ritten co mmunication, th en w r iting eas ily oc cupiesmore than h alf of the typ ical en gineer' s wo rk ex perience.O ral co mmunication also occ upies a ma jor portion o f thee ngin eer s time. Th is can include tim e spent in m eetings or onthe ph one wi th ve ndors or customers , tim e s pent on th e s hopfloor inter acting w ith technicians and wor ker s, e tc .

mul tiple potentially correc t so lutions. Inh is book D esign in g En gi neers , [2 J L oui sBu cciarelli characterizes t hes e fundamenta llysocia l aspect s of engi neering d esign and practic e i n th e fo llowing m anner :

rP[arti cipan ts in d esig n work wi thin a ri ch,multidim ens ion al enviro nmen t that reac he swell beyo nd the narrow co nfines of thei rown obje c t world s. A custom er s needs ar en01 given o r di scover ed , but must b e c re-at ed ; a n operator s capabi lities m ust be de-fi ned ; buildin g co des need in terpreta tion ;

cos ts mu st be tr ied budget limit s must be a greedup on. The ta sk mu st be o rgan ized int o subta sks; suppli-e rs l st be coaxe d to c omm it to a pri ce a nd d eli verydat e; the dropou t prob lem at Phot oq uik mu st be C Ol I -struc ted. All of thi s is designing. In a ll of this, c ho icesar e being ma de, dec isions fo reshadowed, and p ossibi li-ties discounted.

30 65 5 0

In o ther wor ds, worki ng eng ineer s mu st create a nd m anagefor mal and i nformal socia l stru c tures in or der t o ge neratebu ilt product s.

Su ccess o n th e j ob therefore e ntail s learnin g m any co mplex soc ial be havior s in addition t o tho se necessary for cl ass

roo m succes s . It a lso e ntai ls d evelopin g an e ntire ly n ewperspective o n what co nstitutes e ngineering . Without restructuring th e e ntire undergraduate ex perience t o inc orpora te th ese wor kplace l essons, e ngineering educators can n evert heles s prepare stu de nts fo r thi s impendin g paradigm s hiftby a t lea st br inging it to their a ttention . In addition , th ere ar eman y s pecific exerci ses th at ca n be ea sily inc orporated intoth e ex isting und ergraduate c urriculum t o reinf orce so me ofth e nontechn ical socia l sk ills n eces sary for succes s i n theco r porate w orkpl ace.

Very Fir m Idea:So mewh at Finn Idea :

No Finn Idea:No Idea Whatsoever:

Respons e to th e a llestion :

reported knowledge of w hat it i s th at e ngineer s do on a dail y basis and th eir perso nalrelations hip s. Student s w ho h ad no close relative s o r acq uain tances with engineering b ackgro unds (more t han 60 % o f th ose sur veye d)wer e j ust as like ly to ind icat e a f irm kn owledge of dai ly working r ealities as th ose w ithengineers in t he famil y. In th e a bsence ofactual engineer s to talk w ith and o bserve ,student c o nception s o f wo rkpl ace rea litie sar e vag ue and simplistic at b est.

Thi s s implistic view c an und ermin e a n

engineer 's ef fectiveness in acco mpli shing per sonal , profe ss iona l, and societal goa ls in the wor kp lace . In addition , th eappare ntly preva lent student attitud e o f believing th ey a lread y know what pro fessional wo rking r ealities a re a ll aboutcan se rious ly l imi t t he benefits to be ga ined f rom int ern a ndco -op ex periences. The se e xperience s provide th e ideal se ttin g for o bserving th e practical day-to-day soc ia l skills andstrategies n ecessary f or BS -Ievel success . In o rder t o realizethi s be nefi t, however , student s m ust be a ctive ly lookin g forth ese pote nti al lessons i n th e first pl ace .

UNDERGR DU TE SO I LIZ TION

Th e majority o f und ergraduate stud e nts fo rm th eir fir stco ncrete c onception of engi neeri ng th rough s urvey co ur sesand int roductory se minars th at are structur ed to help fre shman and fir st-semester so phomore stud ent s c hoo se a paricular di sci pline . At RPI , for exa mple, seco nd-semester fre shm an s tudents take a c ourse , titled E ngineering Se minar ,h at is designed to pro vide t he stud ent w ith informati o n

relati ve to th e various engi nee ring f ield s and c urricularar eas. ' Th ese type s of s urvey co urses g enerally foc uson the e nd p roduct s of e ngi nee rin g wo rk . In o the r w ords,he y e mp hasize what it i s th at th e va rio us di sciplin es

accomp li sh . The y leave und ergr aduat e s w ith a fee ling

hat th ey und erst an d w ha t it i s tha t e ng inee r s d o , b utwith ou t a n appr eciation for th e socia l realities of howh ese task s a re ac complis hed.

T hi s d istin ction is s ig nificant. Undergraduate c our seworkfosters t he percep tion th at the e ngineering work ing ex perien ce is one of solvi ng hig hly conceptual, we ll-defined , sc ience -based p roblem s in a largel y indi vidualized se tting, wit hempha sis on arrivi ng at a s ingle, objectively co rrec t so luion. But th e reality t hat workin g e ngineers e ncounter is o ne

of solvi ng h ighly pract ical , und e fined , pro cedural-based probem s in a n extre mel y tig ht-knit soc ial se tting , result ing i n

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Ta ken t ogeth er, th ese two ac tivitie s co mpri se by fa r thebulk of a n engi neer ' s wor k week . In the work place se tt ingth at the vast m ajority of gra du ates w ill enter , typical e ng ineer s wi ll l ikel y use o n ly 10 % of the ir techn ica l bac kgro und10 % or so of the tim e. O f course , the specific 10 % wi ll varywidely fo r eac h indi vidual , mak ing techn ica l br ead th wi thin

the c urric ulu m e sse ntial. But the fac t remain s that m os tof

awo rking BS-I evel e ng ineer ' s tim e wi ll be spent no t ac tive lyso lving t echnical probl ems, but in stea d commun icatin g potenti al technical so lut io ns to others . E ngi ne ers ' e ffectiveness , re putation , and ca reer succes s wi ll be based o n tec hnical ex pertise, ye t det ermin ed by how we ll they man age totran slat e thi s experti se int o ac tion th rou gh masterin g s uchno ntec hnica l wo rkp lace skill s as e ffecti ve co mmuni catio n,org anization, and p ersuasi on .

Thi s is, of co urse , not a o ne- way flow of i nformation . Foreve ry memo that is w ritten or prese ntation th at is g ive n,so meo ne (pres um abl y) read s and l istens . T he successful en

g ineer a lso ha s to take i n a nd interpret an e normo us amo unto f written and ve rb a l inform ation . Or ganiz ing and m ak inge ffec tive use o f thi s informati on req uir es goo d cr itica l reading a nd li stening s kills. G iven the e normous amou nt of inform ation ge ne ra ted i n th e typical co rporate wo rkplace ,qu ickl y a nd ef f ec tive ly se parating the wheat from the c haffis an imp ortant s ki ll in itse lf .

T he vas t m ajority of a BS engi neer 's t ime i s taken up w ithboth taki ng in and com municating inf ormation. Su ccess requi res po ssess ing t he non tec hnical ski lls n ecess ar y to fir strecog nize and then co nvinc e a nd o rga ni ze o the rs t o ac t oninformation th at is imp or tant.

ONVEYING WORKPL E RE LITIES

So, ho w ca n yo u a lert e ngineer ing und erg raduate s to t hisreality ? O ne s trategy is to sug gest that ef fectiv e co mmunicatio n is an esse ntial en gi neerin g ski o ne th at c an b e j ust asimport ant as any t echni ca l ability . In the wo rd s o f hi storianHen r y Petro ski . s o me o f th e m ost a cco mplish ed engineer s of a ll tim e have paid a s mu ch attent io n to t heir wor dsas to the ir numb er s, to the ir se nten ces a s to t heir e q uatio ns ,and to th eir re ports as to th eir desig ns. Pointi ng o ut tostuden ts the v ita l importance of mastering effec tive w riting,read ing , speaking, and listeni ng re inforce s th e no tion of

e ng inee ring p ractice a s a soc ial ac tivity.

Yet th ere a re man y o the r nontech nica l skills that area lso imp ortant to success at the BS leve l. If prese nt ed tost udents at a ll , the se s kills are most o ften c om m uni ca ted inthe m ost ge neral of te rm s, w ith successf ul e ng inee rs d esc ribe d as poss essin g curi osity, perseve rance, se lf-co nfide nce, c ommo n se nse, and so fo rth . W hat undergraduates need is a re so urc e th at h ighli ght s the importance ofspec ific skills , motivated by a co ncre te so cial co ntex t andpi cture of the d ay-to-da y realiti es o f cor pora te e ngi nee ringpr actic e . Th e key is to m ot ivate students t o a ppreciat e the

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co m plex soc ial rea litie s of e ngi neering pr ac tice by givi ngthem a tangibl e fee l for the wo rkp lace se tting that most wi llfind th emselves i n.

Usi n g Po pular u lt ur e O ne reso urc e fo r ac co mpli sh ingth is is the comic s tr ip Dilbert. In m any respects, Dilbertis an entirely acc urate e thnographic acco unt of the typical

BS-I evel e ngineering exper ience . Accor d ing t o o ne lead ingman agement co nsultant .I It ' s not a co m ic strip, it' s a doc umen tary t provides the bes t wi ndow into th e reality ofco rpora te l ife that I' ve eve r see n. It th erefore provide s anexce llent reso urce for un dergraduat es ' ( o r an yo ne e lse , fo rth at m att er ) intere sted in th e daily inter action s o f pra ct icingco rpo rate e ngi nee rs . Dilb ert ca n be rea d as pro vidin g ve ryspec ific , co ntex tuali ze d ex a mples of th e man y wo rkplac eissu es a nd challenge s th at BS -Ieve l enginee rs mu st co nfrontand ove rco me in th e process o f ap pl y ing th ei r tech n icalkn o wl edge to rea l-wo rld prob lems.

O f co urse, i llu stration d oe s not i mpl y prescript ion . Di lbe rt

sho uld cer tainl y not be taken a s illu strating a so cia l idea l ormod el for how e ng ineeri ng professio nal s ought t o nav iga tethese iss ues. can, h o weve r, of fer a v iew of what so me of

these issues are a nd m otivate s tudents t o c ontemp la te h owthey wo uld m anage sim ilar c ircumstances in a mor e co nstru c tive m anner. Dilbert provide s an a lternative in sider' sper spective th at , if pr esent ed a s ser ious soc ial sa tire andcritique, ca n be a va luable l earning too l fo r pr eparing for therea lity of the e ng ineering wo rkplace,

k ing Dilber t as ser ious soci al comme ntar y ca n pr epar e s tud ents for ma kin g the leap from view ing c orporateeng inee ri ng a s a p ure ly tec hni ca l ac tiv ity to see ing it as a

technicall y mediat ed , ye t esse ntially social, endeavor. It canalso pre vent the d isillu sion me nt co mmonly ge ne ra ted by theex perience o f re a lizi ng that d ai ly wo rkpl ace rea liti es ar equ ite di f fe rent fro m n ai ve und e rgraduat e preconc eptio ns.

Di scussin g pecifi c Strategie s A tr ul y co m pre hens ivelist of speci fic soc ial skill s use ful f or man ag ing Dilber tlike s itua tions in a co nstructi ve manner wo uld b e alm os tinf ini te in l ength . Thi s sec tion m erel y presents five s tra tegies th at ca n be par ticul arl y c rit ica l t o w orkplace succes s. N ewly m inted BS -Ievel co rporate e nginee rs usually learnthese str ateg ies o nly after a so m etimes painful a nd p otentially d amaging pe riod of tria l and error. Di scussin g th eseimportant nontechn ica l skills wi thin th e co ntext o f appropriate und ergraduate co ursework ca n be nefit grad uate s by acce le rating t heir o n-the-job l ea rnin g c urve e no rmous ly.

I. Save ev eryt hing th at crosses yo ur d esk Undergraduate educa tion r einforce s the notion that when so methin g is done, it' s ove r with . With th e e nd of eac hse mester , textbooks are re turned t o the bookstore andclass note s are re legated to recycled paper b in s. Butin th e rea l wor ld , project s neve r rea lly co me to a nend. Y ou neve r know w he n, say , a cos t ana lys is donefor a long-for gotten proposal mig ht co me in h an dy .

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Sav ing old wo rk (ev en d raft wo rk) can preven t futureduplicati on of effort.

2 D ocu ment everythin g in writi ng Th ere is no suchthin g as an un ambiguou s ve rba l o rder.

3 Learn to use a da ily pl ann er So me co rpo ra tionsprovide a stan dard da yplann er sys tem free o f chargeto technica l emplo yees, but eve n if their use is notoffici ally enco urage d, dayplanners are an esse ntialtoo l fo r maintaini ng o rder in personal a nd p rojectschedu les (plan ning meetin gs, schedul ing travel,kee ping n otes, mainta in ing con tacts , etc.) . Undergradu ates a re used to having orde r imp osed forthem ests, project deadlin es , cla ss times, coursemat erial s, e tc., are a ll or gani zed in adva nce. T hisleave s novice eng inee rs co mpl e tely unpr ep ared forthe job of c reating th eir ow n order fro m th e chao s ofdai ly eve nts. A goo d da ypl ann e r sys tem i s anindispen sab le tool for mana ging th is proc ess .

4 Use the plus a i th rul e One of the most diffi cultth ing s to learn i n manag ing co mplex t echn ical ef fortsis how to acco unt for the unex pec ted. Eve n th e mostdetai led , well-researc hed proposal or project plan ca nbe subj ect to unanti c ipated d elays, se tbacks, cos tove rruns, and in stance s of Mur phy s Law i n ac tion .Plannin g for the unfores eeable is a m anageme nt skillthat ca n only b e learned thr ou gh e xper ience. In th emea ntime , beginning engi neers c an instea d simp lyass um e that a ll but the mos t straig htfo rward t asksw ill tak e 2 lon ger a nd cost a t least 2 more thanexpec ted. Eve n if noth ing g oes wro ng. co ming in

sign ifican tly und er budget a nd ahead of sc hedu le canbe much pr eferable to the a lternative for a ll in volved .

5 L earn w here a nd when t o compro mis e A cr itica lskill for m ana ging wo rking r el at ionsh ips is knowi ngw hen an issue is imp ortant e nough t o batt le ove r. On eengineer w ho is employed b y a large tool and hom eapplianc e manu facturer c har ac terize s th is as realizingthat the sun d oesn t rise a nd se t on a toas ter ove n.M aintainin g an u ncompro mi sing s tance on, say, theco lor o f a new produ ct ca n make co llaborationimpossib le. But n o com pro mise should eve r be mad eon any aspect of eng inee ring desig n, pro duction , ormanagement that infringe s on the health or socia lwe lfare of o ther s. Stud ent s should recogniz e that theywill have to make such distinctions for them selves andthat the an swer s wi ll rar ely be clea r-cut and obvio us.

P racticillg Wo rkplace Strategie s ill the Cla ss room Inaddit ion to simply d iscu ss ing the a forementio ned stra teg ies,there a re a lso many relatively s imple . straightforward t eaching t ec hniqu es that ca n be e mployed t o help s tudents d eve lop p osi tive so c ial wo rki ng skill s like goo d co mmu nication , o rganiza tion. planning , pat ience, e tc . Once aga in, prese ntin g a trul y comprehen sive list wo uld b e impos sib -

Willie / 999

this is mere ly a co llection of seve n spe cific ac tivitie s toillu strate t he breadth of possibi liti es .

I P e r ormi ng peer e va luatio ns fo r student o ra l pr s en -rations Having undergraduate s eva luate o ne anoth er spresent ation s in a structur ed mann er wo uld focu slistenin g skills and give s tudents p ractic e in recogniz

ing key points , ini tiating c ritical discu ssion , etc.2 P ra ct ic ing g iving oral a nd written equipm ent

op erat ion and sa mpling p rocedure d ire cti ons Unitop labs provide a plethora o f oppor tunit ies fo rsha rpening i nterpersona l co mmun ica tion skills. F orexa mpl e, s tud ents co uld ac tivel y di rect a nd observeeac h other ra ther th an pa ss ivel y followi ng T Ainstru ctions. Also, s tuden ts co uld b e requir ed toge nera te written operation and sampling proce dure s forsubsequent l ab gro ups to follow . Th ese ex per ienceswo uld highli ght the importance o f preci sion a nd clarit yin g iving b oth wri tten and verbal di rection.

3 Swapping notes or lab reports A nother p otentialunit- ops exe rcise wo uld b e to req uir e g rou ps toexc hange n otes a nd ge nerate re ports based on eac hothe r s dat a. Thi s wo uld h ighl ight th e importance ofprese rving da ta and other in formati on for unexpectedfuture u ses while al so stressi ng the nece ssity ofpreci sion and clari ty in a ll fo rms of engineeringco mmunication.

4 Wr iting and pr ese ntin g s ta ndard bu siness c ommuni-cation s Practice in w riting and spea king can beco mbined with aidin g s tudents i n the ir j ob sea rch.Fir st, s tude nts could b e as ked to re sea rch andpro duce a short report a nd prese ntation on a particular i ndustry or mar ket. Th en students co uld ge neratea resu me a nd lett er of a pp lica tion to an appropr iatecompan y based on th e ir researc h. Thi s wo uld giv estudents pra ctice in eva luati ng what is impo rtant toindi viduals workin g w ithin other orga niza tions, whileat the same time reinfor cing prop er business communica tio ns etiquette . sharpe ning bu siness research skills ,etc. Stud ents co uld al so ga in va luable experie nce fromattending d epartmen tal se minars and prod ucing shortmem os o r similar co mmu nications detailin g keyinformati on presented , summ arizing discuss ions , etc .

5 P rodu cing deta iled pr oject pl an s Seni or designcours es a lso pro vid e a we alth of opportunities forpra cticing n ontech nical , real-world, socia l an dorga niz ational sk ills . Fo r exampl e, stud ents co uld berequir ed to ge nerate deta iled p roject proposa lso utlin ing specifica lly what is to be don e and h ow itwill b e acco mplished, co mplete with a breakdown ofac tivities. t imelines for co mpletion, etc. Th is wo uldgive students ex perience i n orga niz ing wo rk a ndde legati ng res pon sibility in a fo rmal and co nsideredfashi on. Coupling thi s activity w ith a propo sa l

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prese ntation wo uld al so g ive student s practice incl early artic ulatin g and advocating a prop osed co urseof ac tion . A lso, r equiring peri odic project updat eswo uld prompt s tudents t o mana ge de lays andsetbacks in an orga nized fashion .

6 . Deali ng with vendors. Ano ther g ood senior desig n

ex perience wou ld be to ask s tudents not ju st to mode la process, but to al so locate , spec out , and price thespecific eq uipment n ece ss ary to mak e the process run.Thi s co uld b e done by simp ly g iving st udents access toa T homas R egister (now avai lab le on the In ternet ) anda tele phone. Thi s wo uld expos e students to the rea litiesof u ncertainty and wou ld likel y req uire manage ment oftime a nd (imag inary) cost overru ns.

7 . Rotatin g g ro up m embers a nd respo nsibilities . Performing we ll o n corporate-en gineeri ng project team smea ns respo nding co nst ructively to c hange. T his ca nbe si mulated in th e classroom by re quiring stud e nts toperio dically res huffle project , lab , and ho meworkgro ups . S imilarly, specific roles s uch as coor dinator ,no te taker, etc ., ca n be rotated within gro ups. Havingto con stantly fill new rol es and interact with differen tindividual s wo uld sharpe n both leader sh ip a nd co llaborative , coo perative in terpersonal sk ills.

In ge neral , implementing th ese ac tivitie s wo uld r equireso me extra TA wor k an d addi tional time spent in providingmore quali tative feedback o n assignments. But a ll of the sesugge stio ns can be i ncorporated into e xisting co urseworkwith a m inimum of c urricular d isruption.

Outlinin g t he P ositi ve Qu a lit ies o f Succ ess Finally,s impl y presenting a few specific co ntext s of engineerin gpractice can also motivate s tudents to beg in t hink ing aboutthe co ntrasts betwee n th eir undergraduate educa tional ex perien ce a nd th eir imp endin g BS-I evel wo rking rea lity . Forexamp le , successful e ngineers (w hether e mployed in sales ,processing, design , management , o r any ot her ca pacity) areoften ca lled u pon to

R ecognize probl ems th at a re n t a ppare nt(For exa mple , being abl e to walk t hrou gh a pr od uctionfl oor nd see op port uniti es or cos t-savings , o r r ecogni zesubtle ethical q uestions that others o verlook . )

Define pr oblems th at a re n ebulou s(Problems in th e re al world rar ely co me numb ered fo reasy refe rence.)

C hoose sol utions th a t are r ealistic(A skill that d oesn t necessaril y mean limitin g the ran geof possible so lutions o ten th e mo st s uc cessf ul engineersar e o nes who r ecogni ze th e pra ctical possibilities o fsee ming ly impra ctical approa ches.)

P la n h ow to m ake so lutio ns wo rk(A p rocess that in cludes marshalling resour ces, motivating others , k eeping people o n ta sk , recogni zing potential

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pitfalls , and a compl ex combi nation of man y otherd isc ret e social s kills. )

Convince others to follow(This in volves recog ni zing th at th e importan ce a ndur gency o f a prob le m a nd th e fe asibility of a so lution ar e dir ectly proporti onal to th e skill and clarity

with whi ch t hey ar e p resented an d defin ed . ) Coo perate in dea ling with conti ngencie s

(This in volves reali zing that exe rcising pati ence andund erstandin g with one s group m emb ers ge nerates t hecoo p erat ive so lidarity n ecess r y fo r o vercoming cri ses.)

Undergraduat es should view t hem se lve s as continuall ystrivi ng to meet this po sitive idea l through the con stant acquisition of co nstructive prac tical socia l sk ill s .

ON LUSION

In summar y, und ergraduate e ngineering stu dent s like lyco nfu se fa miliari ty wi th what engineer s produce wi th whatprofessio nal e ngineers ac tua lly d o o n a daily basi s. T hi sco nfusion is reinforced th rough int roductory e ngineerin g s urvey course s a nd an overall c urriculum that empha sizes thebuilt prod uct s and techni cal aspects of engi neering ov er thesoc ial p roces ses throug h wh ich these prod uct s are gen erated.A lthough students are give n an o pportunity f or dir ect exposure t o e ngineering w orkplace realities th rough int ern a ndco-o p ex perience s, th e afo rementioned pr econception s areco unt erpro ductive to using these exp eriences in the contextof developin g genui ne, conscio us ins ight into the e ssentialsoc ia l as pect s of engineering practice.

Engineering educators wo uld b enefit s tudents b y simpl yale rt ing th em to the fact t ha t th e crea t ive, challengin g process of learnin g to do engineering wi ll not en d , but on lybegi ns, at graduation. Likewi se, und ergraduate s wo uld benefi t fro m be ing presented w ith co ntextualized exa mple s ofthe daily wo rkplace r ealities of co rpora te en gineering life.Taking a few moment s to i llustrate th e soc ial side of e ngineering p ractice, along wi th devoting so me curric ular effortto re inforci ng the se aspect s of engineering work , would helpmotivate s tuden t s to th ink abou t their professio nal fu ture s inco ncrete t erms a nd pr ovide und ergraduates w ith a co nstructive co ntext f or developing positive professional soc ial ski lls .In th e e nd , th is wo uld re sult in mo re re flexive , more effective e ngineering professio nal s.

R F R N S

1. Engi neeri ng S emin ar , Rensselaer Ca talog 996 -97 , RP IPu b licati on s , Tro y, NY , 3 17 (1 996 )

2 . Bu ccia r elli , Lou is L. , Designin g En gineers , M IT U niv er si t yPr ess , Cambridg e , MA , 149 (1 994 )

3. La m pe , D .H., Engineers Inv i s ibl e Activity: Writin g, Technol ogy Rev., 73, A pril (1983 )

4. P etro sk i , H ., E n gi ne ers a s W riter s , m er. Scientist , 423,S eptember October (1993)

5. Levy , S ., Dilbert s World , Newsweek, 53, August 12 (1 99 6 )

Chemical En gin eering E duca tio n