Global Engineering Work Practices (ENGE 5984)

Offered: Spring 2010 (Eval: 3.7/4.0), Spring 2009 (Eval: 4.0/4.0)

Upon graduation, many students will find themselves working in engineering organizations and teams that span the globe. In this course, we will explore issues, challenges, and opportunities facing engineers working across national boundaries. We will consider when and why it makes sense to outsource and off-shore work, and the impact of geographic distance, time zones, language, and culture on the coordination of work. We will have hands-on experience with technologies to support distant collaboration and students will work on a globe-spanning project. By the end of this course, students should have a better understanding of how to make strategic decisions about off-shoring, have a principled understanding of the challenges of global work, and be better prepared to participate in these work arrangements.

Ethnographic and Qualitative Research Methods (ENGE 5984)

Offered: Fall 2009 (Eval: 4.0/4.0), Planned offering: Spring 2012

This course will introduce you to the basic tools and concepts of qualitative and ethnographic research. We will comprehensively cover two qualitative research methods used regularly by social scientists – participant observation and interviewing – and briefly review complementary methods such as surveys and video data collection. Through a combination of readings, assignments, and in-class activities you will develop the skills required to evaluate and undertake field based research. We will also briefly reviews themes including the strengths and weaknesses of each of these methods, the kinds of methods appropriate for different research questions, and ways of evaluating researchers’ claims based on the evidence they present, BUT this class is primarily about ‘doing’ research. Therefore, substantial effort is expected from class participants. If you are undertaking a research project or plan to do so soon after this class, this course will be particularly helpful to you. When appropriate, the instructor will share examples of field notes, interview transcripts, and other data from his own research.

Foundations of Engineering Education (ENGE 5014)

Offered: Fall 2008, Spring 2008 (3.6/4.0), Fall 2011

This course is designed to introduce students to fundamental issues, questions and approaches to engineering education. You will be exposed to a range of literature pertaining to Engineering Education. Engineering education is a multi/interdisciplinary field and scholars in this field draw on work in diverse academic traditions. Therefore, in addition to the primary journal of the field, Journal of Engineering Education, we will be reading articles from several different fields such as learning sciences, organizational studies, communication, science and technology studies, psychology, anthropology, management, and sociology. We will cover a range of topics including learning theories, collaboration, designing learning environments, institutional issues in education, the use of technology in learning, identity, and current topical issues in engineering education.

Exploration of Engineering Design (ENGE 1114)

Offered: Spring 2011 (3.0/4.0)

This is an introduction to design for first year engineering students majoring in disciplines other than computer engineerin. Course objectives include:

Engineering Exploration (ENGE 1024)

Offered: Fall 2007 (3.3/4.0)

This is an introductorty course for first year engineering students.Having successfully completed this course, the student will be able to:
• demonstrate a basic understanding of the design process;
• demonstrate basic facility with hands on design and design evaluation, accomplished by working in teams;
• demonstrate a knowledge of the disciplines of the Virginia Tech College of Engineering;
• demonstrate an understanding of professional ethics and application to real-life situations;
• apply the scientific method to problem solving including use of software where applicable;
• graph numeric data and derive simple empirical functions;
• develop and implement algorithms that focus on object oriented approaches;
• describe basic concepts associated with working in teams.

Engineering Design for Social Development (ENGE2984/CS2984)

Offered: Fall 2011

This course prepares engineering students to design engineered artifacts specifically for social development. Technologies such as wind and solar power, the Internet, and mobile phones are already playing a major role in developing countries with significant potential for positive impact on human lives. What might be the impact if that technology was specifically designed for users in these countries? The objective of the course is to answer this question. The course brings together students and faculty from various disciplines who are interested in developing new technological products, computational devices, and applications for people in Africa and Asia. The utilization of engineering expertise for social development issues is of interest to many students but they lack opportunity to learn how to achieve this successfully. This is a hands-on interdisciplinary course.

Co-instructors: Susan Wyche (CS) & Akshay Sharma (Industrial Design)

Research and Dissertation (ENGE 7994/ENGE 5994)

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Additionally, at Stanford I co-taught or was a teaching assistant for the following courses: