Transforming Engineering Education
As a systems engineer, Dr. G. Kemble Bennett has done his share of designing and managing complex engineering projects for NASA and the aerospace industry, and in running his own company. As Vice Chancellor and Dean of Engineering for The Texas A&M University System, Bennett now has the opportunity to apply his systems engineering expertise to engineering education through the National Science Foundation grant Transforming Organizations to Maximize Engineering Student Learning Across The Texas A&M University System.At the time the grant was awarded, the System had nine universities, all of which have engineering programs along the continuum from established to emerging programs: Texas A&M University; Prairie View A&M University; Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi; Texas A&M University-Kingsville; Texas A&M International University; Tarleton State University; Texas A&M University-Commerce; Texas A&M University-Texarkana; and West Texas A&M University. “Chancellor McKinney and I thought it would benefit all the programs, from the established ones to those just starting, to bring them together to share information and see how we can enhance engineering education efforts across Texas,” Bennett said.
Bennett serves as Principal Investigator (PI) and leads the NSF grant, which provides travel funds for engineering administrators and faculty to meet on the individual campuses and as a group with representatives from all of the nine programs. Many of these institutions have been awarded key NSF grants to improve engineering education, recruitment, and retention. The intent of the project is to learn to what extent the system can build on these individual initiatives and communicate best practices in engineering education developed through these projects.
“This project will help bring system engineering programs together to share what they have identified as exceptional practices at their campuses and their respective institution’s goals for improving student participation and performance. From this study, we can find out what priorities might emerge for improving engineering education statewide,” Bennett said.
Dr. Karan Watson, Vice Provost for Strategic Initiatives, Texas A&M University, and Regents Professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering, serves with Bennett as co-PI on the grant. They are joined by Dr. Jeffrey Froyd, Director of Faculty and Organizational Development, Texas A&M, as senior personnel on the grant.
Watson, a national expert on engineering education and diversity, leads many of the discussions associated with curriculum reform and undergraduate student retention. As ABET reviewers, both she and Froyd also provide information and suggestions for successful accreditation efforts and visits, especially to the newer programs.
“As PI on this project, my hope is to establish a national model for how a group of diverse institutions can collaborate to strengthen engineering education and to learn jointly from each other,” Bennett said.
