In 1988, a major five-year program known as E4 and entitled "An Enhanced Educational Experience for Engineering Students" was launched by Drexel University and the National Science Foundation. This program focuses on the revision of the lower division engineering curriculum, and includes the Introductory Engineering Laboratory (IEL). This project uses the IEL as a physical and intellectual foundation to develop a new Advanced Engineering Laboratory (AEL). The AEL is integrated with the IEL with respect to philosophy, perspective, organization, program, and equipment. The objectives are 1) to capitalize on developed student skills while focusing on sophisticated specialized or interdisciplinary experiments; 2) to enhance the scope, efficiency and effectiveness of existing upper-division laboratories; 3) to develop new experimental configurations; and 4) to serve as a model facility and strategy for providing a diverse, sophisticated and cost-effective environment for teaching the theory and practice of modern engineering experimentation. This phase of the project addresses the analysis, design, and prototype development and testing of the AEL.
