The Pratt School of Engineering Class of 2006 has matriculated, but the curriculum changes scheduled to accompany them are only partially in effect.
Increased communication between Pratt and the departments of physics and mathematics, a cross-listed engineering and economics course, and technology changes to Engineering 53 are the only changes finalized a year after Dr. Barry Myers, associate professor of biomedical engineering, created a committee to overhaul the curriculum.
But the curriculum committee made other recommendations that--pending approval from Pratt Dean Kristina Johnson and Senior Associate Dean for Education Phil Jones--are set to follow in the next year, said Myers, who chairs the committee.
"I am very pleased by the enthusiasm and positive responses that we have received from students, the faculty and the administration to date," Myers said. "We plan to continue our work through this year as part of an ongoing effort of curriculum enhancement."
Last year, Myers said that he wanted to address the lack of direct first-year engineering courses, a FOCUS program in engineering, interdisciplinary classes and consolidation of similar courses taught across Pratt departments.
Of these goals, interdisciplinary cooperation has been most fully realized through the manipulation of a pre-existing economics and engineering cross-listed course, taught by Associate Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering Jeffrey Peirce. The course, which now incorporates more economic optimization theory, is modeled after similar courses taught at The Johns Hopkins University.
"I'm bridging the gap between economics and engineering," Peirce explained. "Many of Pratt's students come to Duke because of the [Trinity College] influences. A lot of our students do not go into hard-core engineering, and economics helps them compete in other jobs."
Economics is the largest second major in Trinity for Pratt students. Myers said he hopes similar collaboration with other departments will develop in the future.
Pratt is also increasing communication with the math and physics departments, in hopes of making first- and second-year math and physics classes more relevant to engineering, said senior Kyle Smith, who served on the curriculum committee. Smith said standing committees will meet each semester to try to make sure that the classes use examples more relevant to engineering.
The computing language used in the required Engineering 53 class will also change from C++ to Matlab. "I haven't used [C++] since that course," Smith said. "In undergraduate classes, Matlab is more practical."
For students planning to go to graduate school, which more often uses C++, Pratt is adding Engineering 153, an elective course taught in the spring semester using C++.
Some major pilot programs will be launched next year, Jones said.
Smith said he wishes more changes geared toward improving the first-year experience had been made, but classes like a required first-year design course were not possible because of many other requirements.
He also said he would like to see a first-year writing course focused on engineering--an idea he brought up to Myers once, but that has not yet materialized.
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