Getting Real Value Out of An Engineering Education

Eric Evenchick:

Succeeding in most engineering courses is a matter of memorizing material and passing an exam. Some courses will have lab exercises, but most of these boil down to following a predefined list of instructions as closely as possible, and collecting the highly predictable results.

To me, engineering is about applying knowledge to solve problems. Memorizing equations wont help you much with this, nor will repeating a list of steps. To get experience solving problems, you need real problems to solve.

This is where engineering student teams come in. These teams usually operate as extracurriculars, with only a handful of students participating.

These teams tackle problems that range from building a race car to designing nano-robotics. They need support with everything from software development to business and fundraising. My experience with student teams has been the most valuable part of my undergraduate education.

Posted by Jim Zellmer at June 18, 2013 12:06 AM
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