Based on student, alumni, and employer feedback, the Purdue School of Mechanical Engineering is now offering a unique opportunity for students to hone and develop professional skills. Inspired by and in collaboration with the College of Agriculture certificate program, MEERCat is piloting a Leadership Development Program (LDP) to improve students’ leadership and professional skills and prepare them for the workforce. “We are thrilled to introduce this new opportunity for students in Mechanical Engineering,” says MEERCat Project Coordinator Ruth Rothstein. “We know the LDP focus on leadership and experiential learning will be an excellent complement to the outstanding technical education PME offers.”
As another initiative of MEERCat’s REvolutionizing computer science and Engineering Departments (RED) NSF grant, the LDP is an opportunity for students to improve communication, leadership, and entrepreneurial skills. LDP participants collaborate with a panel of engineering faculty and staff to select the skills they’d like to include in their customized portfolios, and develop hands-on strategies to cultivate them. Rothstein and the MEERCat team hope the LDP will position PME as a front-runner in developing the technical leaders of tomorrow, and will justify expansion into other Schools in the CoE and beyond.
Learn more about this great opportunity at https://www.purdue.edu/meercat/ldp/