Lectures -

• Week 1 (8/27/08):
  • Lecture: introduction of the course, instructor, and coaches.
  • In-class activity: interviews and presentation of students.
  • Homework #1: students (individually or in groups of 2) interview faculty members to find out why they chose their field (about 1/2 page; remember to include the faculty member's name) (due 9/24/08).

• Week 2 (9/3/08):
  • Lecture: video - engineering failures
  • In-class activity: research engineering failures and present the top 3 in your discipline
  • Homework: N/A

• Week 3 (9/10/08):
  • Lecture: video - An Inconvenient Truth: A Global Warning
  • In-class activity: N/A
  • Homework #2: create (or update) your resume (due 9/17/08)

• Week 4 (9/17/08):
  • Lecture: guest lecture - career services overview and writing effective resumes - Kristen Todd.
  • In-class activity: discussion.
  • Homework #3: (a) revise your resume and (b) write a few sentences on what you learned about resume writing that you did not know before (due 9/24/08).

• Week 5 (9/24/08):
  • Lecture: guest lecture on intellectual property, entrepreneurial activities - Chris Moulding
  • In-class activity: project discussion/team formation
  • Homework #4: write-up (1 page) project proposals (due 10/8/08)

• Week 6 (10/1/08):
  • Lecture: what is engineering and what do engineers do? - postponed due to project
  • In-class activity: puzzle contest.
  • Homework #5: write an essay (no more than 1 page), describing what engineering means to you and then list top ten reasons why you want to be an engineer (with the first reason being most important, etc) (due 10/22/08).

• Week 7 (10/8/08):
  • Lecture: guest lecture on robotics - Gaurav Sukhatme
  • In-class activity: brief presentations (and discussion) of project proposals (part 1).
  • Homework: N/A

• Week 8 (10/15/08):
  • Lecture: N/A
  • In-class activity: brief presentations (and discussion) of project proposals (part 2).
  • Homework: N/A

• Week 9 (10/22/08):
  • Lecture: activity with coaches (surprise).
  • In-class activity: N/A
  • Homework: N/A

• Week 10 (10/29/08):
  • Lecture: guest lecture on engineering ethics - Raymond Rakhshani
  • In-class activity: discussion, project progress reports due and time to work on project
  • Homework #6: find a real-world example of a breach of engineering or social ethics and write a (1/2 page) summary (due 11/5/08).

• Week 11 (11/5/08):
  • Lecture: discussion - graduate school, to go or not to go?
  • In-class activity: research grad schools and salaries; time to work on project
  • Homework: N/A

• Week 12 (11/12/08):
  • Lecture: problem solving and computational thinking
  • In-class activity: time to work on final project.
  • Homework #7: find one example of use of computational thinking in your discipline and write a (1/2 page) summary about that (due 11/19/08) - Cancelled.

• Week 13 (11/19/08):
  • Lecture: N/A.
  • In-class activity: bridge building contest
  • Homework: N/A.

• Week 14 (11/26/08):
  • Lecture: project presentations.
  • In-class activity: groups present projects (part 1).
  • Homework: N/A.

• Week 15 (12/3/08):
  • Lecture: project presentations and wrap-up.
  • In-class activity: groups present projects (part 2).
  • Homework: N/A.

• Project description: (PDF)
• Project milestones:
  • Project proposals: written part (1-2 pages) due in class on 10/8/08; brief presentations (10 min each) done in class on 10/8/08 and 10/15/08.
  • Project progress reports: written reports (1-2 pages) due in class on 10/29/08.
  • Final project presentation and report: written report (5-7 page) due in class on 12/3/08; presentations (20 min each) done in class on 11/26/08 and 12/3/08.
• Things to cover in your project proposal:
  • Team/Company Name
  • Roles/responsibilities of all team members
  • Product Name
  • Main idea behind your product (what is it suppose to do, you don't need to necessarily know how, at this point)
  • How does your product address some aspect of sustainability
  • What is your target market/product users
  • Motivation for why some people might be interested in buying/using your product
  • Timeline (set of milestones that you've set for your team, and who takens main responsibility for those milestones)
• Coaches' registration presentation. (PPT)
• Now that the teams for the class projects have been finalized, each group member needs to e-mails a commitment form (please modify with your information) to the instructor with a copy of your e-mail to your team members and the coaches. Basically, you have to agree to receive the same grade as your team members no matter what happens.
• Project final report outline: (PDF)