The Historically Black Colleges and Universities Undergraduate Program (HBCU-UP) through Targeted Infusion Projects supports the development, implementation, and study of evidence-based innovative models and approaches for improving the preparation and success of HBCU undergraduate students so that they may pursue STEM graduate programs and/or careers. Howard University will implement a Targeted Infusion Project entitled: Integrating Innovation in Engineering Design. The goal of the project is to strengthen engineering education by integrating innovation into the undergraduate engineering curriculum. This is accomplished by including design thinking in the introductory engineering course and through the establishment of a laboratory space where students will actively engage in innovation. The course will move from a stimulation model of instruction to authentic involvement in the learning experience. The shift to authentic involvement experiences, using design thinking, is an attempt to mitigate current attrition trends. Project efforts will enhance the quality of the undergraduate engineering experience, promote positive retention and achievement results, and broaden the participation of innovative engineers in the nation's workforce.
Innovative engineering design places focus on the cognitive processes surrounding creativity and the environmental contexts that optimize student engagement. Redesign of the engineering course curriculum will incorporate a design thinking framework of designing, ideating, prototyping, and testing; as well as the establishment of an innovation space in which students can actively engage in innovation through design projects. Fundamental components of design thinking that distinguish it from conventional engineering design concepts are interdisciplinary collaboration, imagination, and questioning. The innovation space will be open and flexible so as to facilitate small group work, classroom-style instruction, and auditorium-style presentations and seminars that can be webcast out or in from global locations. The project's objectives will be accomplished by engaging faculty, industry, and university partners as mentors and as facilitators of workshops in the newly-created innovation space. This project seeks to equip all engineering students at Howard University, most of whom are from groups severely underrepresented in engineering, with the skills and opportunities needed to become innovative engineers.
