This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).
This engineering education research award to Kansas State University will employ researchers to integrate the concepts of alternative energy and sustainability into the electrical and computer engineering (ECE) curriculum. These concepts will be part of required courses at the freshman level as well as in design projects used in upper-level classes. The project team uses active learning techniques to emphasize solar and wind energy as well as energy conservation. These techniques will include student-led experiments in renewable energy as well as sustainability focused discussions and writing assignments during the senior seminar. The extent to which these activities result in greater awareness of sustainability will be measured. This work is expected to serve as a model for recruiting and preparing the next generation of electrical and computer engineers to meet the growing needs in alternate energy and sustainability, while transforming the ECE curriculum to aid in recruitment of future students needed for this new workforce.
