Engineering Outreach News

Updated 05/03/07
See important update to "GRE Changes" article(below)

With a database of more than 30,000 people, Outreach must engage in cost-cutting measures, reducing the number of newsletter publications two per year. We encourage you to bookmark and check the Outreach web site regularly: www.engr.udel.edu/outreach

ENGINEERING OUTREACH ADVISORY COUNCIL RECOMMENDATIONS
Throughout the year, Engineering Outreach is fortunate to be able to call on representatives from Boeing, Cable Testing Services, Dade Behring, DelDOT, Duffield Associates, DuPont, ILC Dover, Rohm & Haas, and W. L. Gore & Associates who comprise the Engineering Outreach Advisory Council. In September, this group of advisors gathered with Dean Eric Kaler, Outreach staff and faculty representatives from each of the engineering departments to review Outreach accomplishments and make recommendations for future programming. New course suggestions for which Outreach is already laying the groundwork include a revised Project Management for Civil Engineers short course (two days including sample group project), Engineering Economics for Civil Engineers, additional hands-on composites manufacturing short courses, and various engineering forensics topics. Outreach is also investigating avenues to a short course on machine and equipment design - Design for Manufacturing - as well as one or more short courses providing an overview and then more in-depth understanding of polymer technology. Input continues to be sought to narrow the focus for a short course dealing with standards and regulations.

OUTREACH ENGINEERS MENTOR UD UNDERGRADUATES
As UD's Women in Engineering Mentoring Program entered its fourth year, Engineering Outreach was again the key to matching women engineering professionals with our undergraduate women engineering students. Engineering alumni and other Outreach participants have again volunteered and recruited their peers to help with this program that both
mentors and mentees find extremely rewarding and have commented that they wished such a program had existed during their own undergraduate experience.

Using engineering discipline as the first matching criterion, 54 mentors have been matched with 96 mentees to date - and those numbers historically grow during the second semester. The first WIE Mentoring Program reception for this year took place in September, when the students and their mentors had a chance to meet face-to-face and begin the mentoring relationship that has been continuing through e-mails, worksite visits, etc. The second reception for this year will take place on Sunday, February 18th. If you are interested in helping with this low-effort/high-impact program, contact Kathy Werrell (302-831-4863; werrell@udel.edu).

UD RANKED 11TH AMONG THE NATION'S TOP ENGINEERING GRADUATE SCHOOLS
The Princeton Review has published its first-ever list of the nation's Top 20 Graduate Engineering Programs. This is based on validated institutional and program-specific data collected over the past two academic years. At the top of the list is UC-Santa Barbara, followed by Duke, UVA, Michigan State, Johns Hopkins, Maryland, Rice, UT-Austin, GA-Tech, NotreDame, University of Delaware, Lehigh, Washington, UNM, Ohio State-Columbus, and UC-SanDiego, RPI, Toledo, Dartmouth, and Michigan-Ann Arbor.

Criteria used included "GRE scores, undergraduate GPA, percentage of applicants accepted and percentage of top undergraduates applying."

GRE CHANGES WERE TO HAVE BEEN EFFECTIVE SEPTEMBER '07 -
THESE CHANGES HAVE BEEN DEFERRED!
The Educational Testing Services website (www.ets.org) has announced that:
"In consultation with the Executive Committee of the Graduate Record Examinations® (GRE®) Board, ETS has cancelled plans to launch the revised GRE General Test. While ETS and the Board remain committed to improving the test, on balance, and after thorough review, it became clear that full access to the test for all students could not be confidently assured. The decision to cancel the launch was made with the best interests of test takers and score users in mind."

Keep in mind that applications to the graduate engineering degree programs at UD require officially-reported quantitative and verbal GRE scores. (To view departmental admission requirements, go to www.engr.udel.edu/outreach/ and click on the department of interest.) Scores are considered valid for a period of five (5) years. It is recommended that you schedule as much as two months in advance to take the exam. To make an appointment to take the GREs by computer on UD's Newark campus, call 302-831-6717.

FE REVIEW UPDATE
The National Council of Examiners for Engineering and Surveying (NCEES), writers and scorers of the two exams required for becoming a licensed engineer, has added a new section - biology - to the general engineering portion of the Fundamentals of Engineering (FE) exam. This was spurred by the very fact that virtually all engineering disciplines now encompass a biology component. Engineering Outreach is also updating its FE review course, originally videotaped in 2000, to help people prepare for this challenging first step to licensure.

The 14 three-hour sessions will take place 9 am-noon and 1-4 pm each Saturday beginning February 10, 2007, taped as the "live" classes meet in one of UD's studio classrooms. This provides an excellent preparation for the morning portion of the exam, as well as a good foundation for the afternoon exam session. You may register to attend the class "live" as it is being recorded, or register to receive the lecture on DVD approximately one week following the class. The registration fee ($745) includes the cost of course notes plus the NCEES FE Sample Questions and Solutions booklet for the discipline you plan to choose for the afternoon portion of the exam. For more detail or to register, go to www.engr.udel.edu/outreach/short-courses/index.html.

UD'S NEW STUDENT INFORMATION SYSTEM
Fall Semester'06 has seen transition from UD's Student Information System to a new web-based UDSIS/PeopleSoft system. Although such massive changeovers inevitably have quirks to resolve, UD's IT staff has been tirelessly addressing those issues to make UDSIS an efficient, user-friendly system. An important feature of UDSIS is that it assigns a personal identification number that is distinct from the student's social security number (SSN).

To begin taking courses through Engineering Outreach, your first step will still be to complete the EO Course Application Form (www.engr.udel.edu/forms/outreach/course-app.html). This information allows us to determine if you have the prerequisites needed for the course(s) or program you wish to pursue, and also provides the information needed for us to get you set up in the UDSIS system. We will acknowledge receipt of your course application. Once you are set up in UDSIS, we will send your new 9-digit UD ID number to you via e-mail, instructing you to go to https://metal1.nss.udel.edu/cgi-bin/auth/network to set up your UDelNet ID (user name) and password. If you have previously taken courses at UD, the system has already assigned a non-SSN number to you (which may be five or nine digits). Using this same link will allow you to find out your non-SSN UD ID number to be used when accessing your UD student records.

K-12 OUTREACH UPDATES
Reporting on a recent study by the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE), Thomas K. Grose indicates that "… engineering graduation and enrollment rates at U.S. universities are not keeping up with the country's increasing demand for engineering talent. … Moreover, on a per capita basis, less than 5 percent of all undergraduate degrees were awarded to engineers [in the 2004-05 academic year], compared with almost 8 percent in 1985 (ASEE Prism, October 2006)." Legand Burge, Dean of Engineering, Architecture and Physical Sciences at Tuskegee University, urges all engineering schools to mentor not only the students in their area schools, but also the teachers, counselors and parents "… because not only do they often not push them [pre-college students] into science and math, they push them away."
UD's Engineering Outreach is responding with an increase in its pre-college activities. In addition to a growing number of specially arranged tours of UD laboratories and visits to high schools throughout the year, and its two pilot programs this past summer - a workshop for high school math and science teachers as well as an engineering camp for 7th through 10th grade students (see below) - Outreach launched a K-12 Outreach web page detailing such activities and providing additional resources for math and science pre-college teachers (www.engr.udel.edu/outreach/k-12/)

ENGINEERING COOL STUFF CAMP
This past summer, Outreach piloted its Engineering Cool Stuff Camp, when 18 rising 7th through 10th grade students spent five days on the UD campus doing hands-on engineering activities - and it was such a hit that we plan to expand the camp to seven days this summer, July 5-13, 2007, 9 am to 3 pm. The camp promises to once again be a great experience for students interested in math, science or engineering.

The 2006 camp experience taught the budding engineers and scientists to work in teams through a variety of activities in sophisticated facilities that most students will not see until they enroll in college. After building crystal models, they learned the patience required to grow good crystal structures, making their own rock candy crystals over the course of the week. The excitement of building and racing solar-powered cars was such that no one seemed to notice the 90+ degree temperature on the tennis court race track! Building flying robots allowed the students to understand a bit about aerodynamics and the analogies with fluid mechanics, and an introduction to oxidation processes was followed by creating beautiful oxidized titanium jewelry and medals. They even had the opportunity to climb into the wave tanks in UD's ocean engineering lab, where they built breakers and studied the resultant wave motion and movement of particles.

Throughout the week, the campers were reminded to look around for their own design opportunities. The engineering design process was introduced and, at the camp's end, the students presented their own designs to parents, faculty and staff at the Engineering Cool Stuff Fair. A goal for the 2007 camp will be for the students to actually build models of their own inventions. Currently, plans are underway to expand some of the 2006 activities while adding new ones. We are also seeking outside funding in order to expand these opportunities without significantly increasing the registration fee. Watch the K-12 website for more details as they are developed.

ENGINEERING FOR HIGH SCHOOL MATH/SCIENCE CLASSROOMS
June 20 & 21, 2007 are the dates announced for the second Engineering Concepts to Enhance Secondary Math & Science Curricula workshop for teachers. Workshop sessions are currently being planned and will include more hands-on activities this year to complement the faculty research presentations. Teachers use the engineering concepts from those presentations to design math and science lessons that are more exciting and relevant for their students.

In June '06, 15 teachers from eight area high schools plus the DE Department of Education attended the pilot of this renewed effort (last held in 1999) to provide teachers with an understanding of some leading-edge engineering research that they can use in their classrooms to engage their students while addressing State math and science standards. In addition to visiting several engineering labs, they saw presentations on alternative energy sources such as solar cells and biomass technology, they learned about bio-based composite materials, and also developed an understanding of beach erosion and replenishing.

Thanks to funding from Agilent Technologies and UD's Engineering Outreach Program, teachers received a $150 stipend for their participation in the 2006 workshop. Similar funding is being sought for the 2007 experience.

TAX TIDBIT!
Outreach student Baiba Akkerman wrote the following: "I'm excited about taking the math course because of the challenge and because I think Prof. Greenberg is an excellent teacher. I also did some searching on the web and found out that there's a tax credit for higher education (even for "old" grad students), so I feel a little better about the cost of the class." Thanks, Baiba, for passing this along! ( http://www.irs.gov/individuals/article/0,,id=96273,00.html )

CONGRATULATIONS!
Colleen Arnold, an environmental engineer with the City of Wilmington, has been accepted into the PhD program where she is working with Professor D. DiToro. Colleen's undergraduate degree is from UMass-Amherst, and she had begun graduate studies there and at Manhattan College prior to moving to Delaware. Daniel Richardson, a research associate at UD, has been accepted into the PhD program in civil engineering with a concentration in structural engineering. Michael Gettings, a civil engineer with DelDOT, and Charles (Chuck) Shaw, a civil engineer with Geo-Technology Associates, have been accepted into the master's program in civil engineering. Michael’s focus is structural engineering and Chuck is pursuing geotechnical engineering. David Lowry, who holds a BS in mechanical engineering from Penn State and is employed at the Army Research Lab in Aberdeen, has been accepted into the materials science master's program. Two other ARL employees have been accepted into UD master’s programs that they will pursue on a part-time basis through Outreach: Jeremy Schea in electrical/computer engineering, and Jared Rochester in mechanical engineering.

Paul Lara, a mechanical engineer with the Naval Surface Warfare Center, Carderock Division in Maryland, completed his Master of Engineering, Mechanical (MEM) degree in August, entirely through distance learning. Aaron Halterman, a mechanical engineer with Lockheed Martin in Liverpool, NY, began that same MEM program this fall.

Ardalan Faghri, a civil engineer with Edwards & Kelcey, completed his Master of Civil Engineering (MCE) degree, concentrating in transportation engineering, while MCE degrees were also awarded to Anne Germain, a civil engineer with the Delaware Solid Waste Authority and Thomas Wirth of Geo-Technology Associates, both concentrating in geotechnical engineering. Bryan Morgan's MCE with a concentration in structural engineering went well with his DelDOT position in bridge management. Kristin Rose, an engineer with Survice Engineering, completed her master's degree in materials science and engineering. Brian Banks completed his MS in Electrical & Computer Engineering entirely through distance courses. He had begun his graduate studies through the National Technological University before transferring to UD’s distance program.

Chinmoy Goswami and Bogdan Malesevic have completed three of UD's graduate courses in composite materials and have been awarded the Graduate Certificate in Composite Materials. Located in Wisconsin and Illinois, respectively, they were able to complete these courses entirely through distance format.

UPCOMING ENGINEERING OUTREACH SHORT COURSES
*designed to meet industry-identified needs *
Go to:
http://www.engr.udel.edu/outreach/short-courses.html

BRINGING COURSES TO YOUR WORK PLACE
If there is a group of 10 or more individuals at your workplace who are all interested in a particular course (either an existing course or one to address a new topic you have in mind), you may wish to have us bring the course to you. In the past, we have taken courses to Abbott Pharmaceuticals, Dade-Behring, DuPont, Merck, Rodel, New Holland N.A., and Wyoming DOT. We are happy to explore that possibility with you to see whether it makes more sense for you to come to campus or have us bring the course to you. (One word of caution: if we bring the course to your worksite, you should pretend that you are off-site for the course so that you will not be tempted to run back to your office at breaks and thus lose the networking advantage of continuing education courses!) If you are interested in having a course brought to your worksite, contact Kathy Werrell (302-831-4863; enggoutreach@udel.edu).

An Equal Opportunity/ Affirmative Action Employer
The University of Delaware is committed to assuring equal opportunity to all persons and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, gender, religion, ancestry, national origin, sexual orientation, veteran status, age, or disability in its educational programs, activities, admissions, or employment practices as required by Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, the Americans with Disabilities Act, other applicable statutes and University policy. Inquiries concerning these statutes and information regarding campus accessibility should be referred to the Affirmative Action Officer, 305 Hullihen Hall, (302) 831-2835 (voice), (302) 831-4552 (TDD).