Calls for transformation in engineering education over the past twenty years have been frequent, persistent, and forceful, with a specific emphasis on the skills required for the Professional Formation of Engineers (PFE). American competitiveness and economic/national security are at stake. Well-trained engineers moving swiftly along the PFE continuum and capable of leading in a complex, globalized world will own the future. Purdue’s Engineering Former Dean Leah Jamieson co-authored an influential blueprint that forms the basis of our proposal for revolution in the Mechanical Engineering (ME) program at Purdue. Revolutionary change simply cannot occur until we address two crucial facets of our academic organization: emotion and culture. Faculty, students, and staff hold emotionally-driven, deeply personal beliefs about what higher education is and should be, and in turn these beliefs shape the local culture within ME in both positive and negative ways.
Learn more on how we plan to influence the culture of ME on our RED grant project site.