WIP: A Novel Methodology for Assessing Mechanical, Electrical, and Civil Engineering Programs with an Emphasis on Institutional Type

Understanding the current curricular state of undergraduate engineering program curricula is essential to the growth and evolution of engineering as a discipline. By characterizing various institutions that exist in our nation we can better understand how those programs might be uniquely affecting the training of engineering students. Currently little work has been done to explicitly compare engineering degree program curricula in mechanical, electrical, and civil engineering, but the work that has been done is limited in scope and depth. More importantly, no work as of yet has attempted to examine whether there are significant differences in how minority serving universities might be uniquely preparing their students or if there are innate advantages at more “prestigious”, degree programs of some universities. Understanding the differences between degree programs of universities of varying minority serving levels and university types could bring some insight as to how all universities might better serve diverse student populations on their campuses. This work will examine an assortment of university types that provide mechanical, civil, and electrical engineering program options for their students. These universities span a range of institutional types such as the Morrill Act of 1862 Land Grant institutions, Historically Black College and Universities (HBCUs), Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSIs), and Association of American Universities (AAU) membership universities. This work in progress aims to begin an inquiry into this topic with an ultimate goal of developing a repeatable methodology to assess engineering curricula from the three largest degree granting disciplines of Mechanical, Electrical, and Civil engineering.