First Year Engineering Experience with Project Centered Research

In the 21 st Century, our educational institutions exist in a climate of accelerating global change.This climate necessitates that engineers understand a systems approach and function as integrators in a complex global society with ever increasing and demanding problems to solve.Engineering has a direct and vital impact on the quality of life for all people, locally and globally.Consequentially, it is incumbent upon our educational systems to see that the education of future work forces must include a problem solving systematic approach to projects.Such an approach will produce engineers capable of imparting knowledge integrated from a holistic view and applying a systems approach to practical solutions.The old principles where an engineer understands a single system and attempts to assemble the resulting systems from that perspective are no longer viable.Engineers of the 21 st Century will face issues in an exploding environment, expanding their vision from local issues to worldwide concerns while interacting with businesses globally.