Engineering Education Letters - Volume 2015, Issue 1

It is our pleasure to share with you some articles from the forthcoming inaugural issue of Engineering Education Letters (EEL), an open-access, peer-refereed journal that is intended to provide an international platform for dialogue and interaction among engineering education researchers and practitioners. This journal is inspired by and published in a region that is home to some of the world’s fastest-growing economies. The Gulf has embraced quality education as the catalyst for transforming carbon-based economies to knowledge-based economies.

The editors and the publisher of this journal are affiliated with Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and Community Development, a non-profit organization founded in 1995 as the driving force for Qatar’s national development goals. Qatar Foundation’s partnerships are designed to develop human capital and capacity necessary to meet Qatar’s immediate needs for technical expertise while fueling the nation’s economic expansion. To that end, EEL promotes and cultivates communication and exchange among engineering education institutions and communities around the world while showcasing innovation in engineering education.

This region offers a unique environment for engineering education because it controls a significant portion of the global energy and chemicals market. As such, the engineering discipline plays a critical role in the sustainability of regional economies, especially as they prepare for and adapt to shifting market forces. Therefore, the main aim of EEL is to highlight the role of economic, cultural and social factors in engineering education while providing a forum in which academics and researchers in engineering colleges, research institutions and industry can share their success stories and challenges in the advancement of engineering education. In particular, the journal endeavors to highlight models that contribute to the establishment of curricula and/or programs needed to produce highly skilled engineers to support the economies of this region, developing nations and the world.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank Maersk Oil Qatar, the exclusive sponsor and industry partner for Engineering Education Letters, for its pioneering leadership in supporting engineering education. Additionally, we are grateful to QScience, Texas A&M University at Qatar, members of the editorial board, and the reviewers and the contributors for this issue.

We hope you will enjoy this volume, and we look forward to your contributions and feedback to help us develop the quality of Engineering Education Letters. With your support, we can open a new window for the dissemination of research and project results that will improve the engineering education discipline in both developing and developed nations. The full version of the inaugural journal issue will soon be published online. Visit www.eeletters.org for submission guidelines or to register for updates. 15 May 2015 Doha, Qatar

Aditya Johri and Barbara M. Olds, eds., Cambridge Handbook of Engineering Education Research, Cambridge University Press, 2014, ISBN: 978-1-107-01410-7.

In this paper, we present and compare two different implementation approaches for a remote shape memory alloy (SMA) experiment development. The remote SMA experiment aims to offer students a hands-on experience in testing and control of an SMA wire actuator via remote laboratory platform. One approach is based on the LabVIEW remote panel and other one is based on a novel unified remote laboratory framework. The new remote SMA experiment based on a novel unified framework is implemented at Texas A&M University at Qatar (TAMUQ) for mechanical engineering teaching. With this new remote experiment, the user can remotely conduct the SMA experiment by using any portable device without installing any plug-in.

This is a position paper on connecting engineering education to the prevailing needs of society. Engineering is the foundation for national development and engineers work at the intersection of science, technology, and societal needs. Throughout history, engineering has played a crucial role in the advancement of commerce, development of society, and the pursuit of human welfare. The application of engineering to the problems of society is predicated on structured education programs. This paper addresses how engineering education is progressively important to society and what must be done to continually advance the quality and effectiveness of engineering education. The paper proposes 15 grand challenges for global engineering education, based on the premise of the 14 grand challenges for engineering published in 2008 by the US National Academy of Engineering and highlights the role of diverse disciplinary viewpoints needed to ensure that engineering education addresses economic, cultural, and social factors that impinge upon engineering solutions to societal problems. The premise of the paper is to spark more interest in research into models, techniques, and tools essential for making engineering education more robust in solving global society problems.

Radical change is being demanded of engineering education today–the result of the electronic-information revolution. Other information revolutions have occurred in the past; and each has led to radical changes in education. We look at some of these, giving particular attention to the little-recognized fast press revolution of the early 19th century. Perhaps these examples will help us to better see, and cope with, present change.

The Centre for Engineering Education in Universiti Teknologi Malaysia was established to expand engineering education research and promote research-based teaching and learning of engineering. Initially, it has the mission to equip Malaysia with the much needed technical and engineering manpower for a developing country. Through its focus on scholarly research and the culture of innovation the center is now providing the support towards fulfilling the great need for human capital among nations in the Asia region. This paper discuss the foundation for the formation of the CEE based on a R&D organizational framework and set out a range of evidence of the center's innovation performance and achievements since its establishment. The variety of services and supports offered by the center gave indication of its impact on the growth and accomplishment in the field of engineering education, both locally and internationally.

The manufacturing course is a common course in most Mechanical and Industrial Engineering programs around the world. In this course, various aspects of product design and manufacturing process selection are discussed. Students are occasionally given the opportunity to utilize and fabricate some parts by using the discussed manufacturing technologies. To bring further appreciation to the course, the Manufacturing Course in Qatar University has added innovation and entrepreneurship with active learning. Instead of teaching the course material in one daunting block, the faculty (mentor) used a “Just in Time Teaching” strategy by integrating engineering theory and product design within a business plan. The students were divided into groups, and each group had to address a societal need within Qatar. The students were given sessions about idea generation tools and creativity techniques. Once the problem had been identified and formulated, these groups were advised and coached to prepare a comprehensive business plan that included selection of materials, manufacturing processes, organizational structure, marketing of the product, market segmentation and penetration, break-even analysis and economic analysis, as well as environmental issues. From the course assessment and student course outcomes surveys, it was found that the interest and learning curve for students increased drastically for this manufacturing course compared to previous approaches. Besides improving the interest and learning curve, the approach had indirectly exposed the student to project management skills, economic analysis, lifelong learning, communication and teamwork. On the whole, the approach was an interesting and led to further enhancing the student's learning process by using different learning styles through varied and innovative teaching techniques.

An emerging engineering education model in the Middle East has been created by Texas A&M University to be part of a unique universal education model developed by Qatar Foundation. Texas A&M University opened its third branch campus in 2003 to offer Bachelor of Science degrees in four engineering majors: chemical engineering, electrical engineering, mechanical engineering and petroleum engineering. The main objective of the Qatar campus is to support Qatar's National Vision 2030 by building high-quality engineering education model and to prepare highly skilled engineers and scientists to sustain Qatar's industry and economic growth. This paper highlights the success story of this new engineering education model. Furthermore, this paper highlights the differences of Texas A&M at Qatar model compared to similar regional engineering education systems in the Middle East and East Asia. The success of this model in creating unique research program and internship models for its undergraduate students has already been highlighted in our paper to the International Division of the American Society for Engineering Education last year (Parsaei & Elbashir, 2014).