COURSE HISTORY

In fall 1998 Dean Frank Incropera established a committee whose mandate was to outline an agenda by which Notre Dame could “achieve preeminence in undergraduate engineering.” The committee’s report, published in February 1999, set forth two recommendations:

1. First-year Experience: The College of Engineering must embark upon a plan to enhance the first-year experience of those students considering entry into the college.

2. Learning Paradigm: The college must embark on a plan to establish a new learning paradigm focused on developing leadership, teamwork, experiential learning, the use of information technology, interaction among students, student/faculty interaction with industry, and student interaction with faculty (both formal and social).

Course goals for students:

• To understand what engineering is and how it is practiced;
  
• To have developed and be able to apply fundamental engineering skills, including problem-solving, written and verbal communications, basic programming, and other computer skills;
  
• To have gained practical design experience as part of a multidisciplinary group effort.

A “pilot” version of the course was introduced to 25 students in the 1999/2000 academic year.  The full-scale course was deployed for all engineering intents in fall 2000.