Fall 2009
The Keller Center supports courses that have interdisciplinary content integrating engineering, natural sciences, social sciences, and humanities that are of broad interest to students from across the University. Many of these courses have no prerequisites. They are cross-listed in undergraduate course offerings under engineering and bear the label EGR.
CEE 102B/EGR 102B/MAE 102B Engineering in the Modern World (ST)
Lectures and readings focus on bridges, railroads, power plants, highways, airports, harbors, automobiles, aircraft, computers, and the microchip. Historical analysis provides a basic for studying urban problems by focusing on scientific, political, ethical, and aesthetic aspects in the evolution of engineering over the past two centuries. The precepts and the papers will focus historically on engineering ideas including the social and political issues raised by these innovations and how they were shaped by society as well as how they helped shape culture. Professors: David P. Billington, Michael G. Littman
CHE 260 / EGR 260 Ethics and Technology: Engineering in the Real World (EM)
The course examines engineering as a profession and professional responsibilities of engineers. Case studies are used to distinguish engineering from science and business, and the ethical responsibilities associated with being a professional. Ethical principles are reviewed to explore how engineers should address technology implementation. Simple quantitative decision making concepts, including risk-benefit analysis and optimization methods are introduced to compare technology options on a quantitative basis. We will consider the ethical conflicts between utilitarian (quantitative) theories engineers favor and duty theories (Kantian ethics). Professor: Jay B. Benziger
COS 109/EGR 109 Computers in Our World (QR)
Computers are all around us. How does this affect the world we live in? This course is a broad introduction to computing technology for humanities and social sciences students. Topics will be drawn from current issues and events, and will include discussion of how computers work; what programming is and why it is hard; how the Internet and the Web work; security and privacy. Professor: Brian W. Kernighan
Taken concurrently with EGR/MAT/PHY 191. An integrated course that covers the material of PHY 103 (General Physics: Mechanics and Thermodynamics) and MAT 201 (Multivariable Calculus) with the emphasis on applications to engineering. Math topics include: vector calculus; partial derivatives and matrices; line integrals; simple differential equations; surface and volume integrals; and Green's, Stokes', and divergence theorems. Students enroll in both 191 and 192. Professors: Ingrid C. Daubechies, Jennifer L. Rexford
EGR 250/251/350/351/450/451 Engineering Projects in Community Service (EPICS)
In the Engineering Projects in Community Service (EPICS) program, students earn academic credit for their participation in multidisciplinary design teams that solve technology-based problems for local not-for-profit organizations. The teams are: multidisciplinary--drawing students from across engineering and around the university; vertically-integrated--maintaining a mix of sophomores through seniors each semester; and long-term--each student may participate in a project for up to six semesters. The continuity, technical depth, and disciplinary breadth of these teams enable delivery of projects of significant benefit to the community. Professors: Michael G. Littman, Winston O. Soboyejo
EGR 492 Technical Innovation and Foreign Policy
This course analyzes how technical innovation in the private sector serves to create or resolve international disputes. Students learn to assess the impact of rapid, discontinuous technical innovation on foreign policy outcomes, and how to trace the underlying scientific source of these innovations. They learn how business managers and government regulators grapple with technical innovation. Students also become handy with basic decision-tree analysis. From a theoretical perspective, this course focuses on the interface between regulatory policy and markets, between the theory of public goods and the hard realities of private profit. Professor: James J. Shinn
EGR 495 Special Topics in Entrepreneurship - A Collaboratory for Social Entrepreneurship
(SE Lab)
Design/development of innovative social ventures -- often technology driven -- addressing major global challenges: poverty alleviation and international development, health and human rights, energy and environmental sustainability, peace and security, education. SE Lab fuses theoretical and practical approaches, offering an overview of social entrepreneurship and parallel development of team-based action projects. Lab participants collaborate, brainstorming idea development, designing innovative/feasible solutions/plans for the problem/opportunity chosen. Classes combine lectures, case discussion, and small group workshops. Professor: Gordon Bloom
ELE 431/EGR 431/MAE 431/ENV 431 Solar Energy Conversion (QR)
Principles, designs, and economics of solar conversion systems. Quantity and availability of solar energy. Physics and chemistry of solar energy conversion: solar optics; quantum processes; optical excitation; and transport of excitations, electronic, and ionic charge. Methods for conversion: photovoltaics; photoelectrochemistry; photocatalysis; photosynthesis; and solar thermal conversion. Energy collection, transport, and storage. Economics: life cycle costing; and societal value of renewable energy. Professors: Emily Carter, Sigurd Wagner
ELE 491/EGR 491/ORF 491 High-Tech Entrepreneurship
This "hands-on" practical course introduces students to the analysis and actions required to launch a successful high tech company. Using several conceptual frameworks and analytical techniques, it addresses the challenges of evaluating technologies for commercial feasibility, determining how best to launch a new venture, attracting the resources needed to start a company (e.g. people, corporate partners, and venture capital), preparing comprehensive business plans, structuring business relationships, and managing early stage companies toward "launch velocity" and sustainable growth. Professor: Ed Zschau
MAE 228/EGR 228/CHE 228 Energy Solutions for the Next Century
This course will deal with issues of regional and global energy demands, sources, carriers, storage, current and future technologies and costs for energy conversion, and their impact on climate and the environment. Students will learn to perform objective cost-efficiency and environmental impact analyses from source to end-user on both fossil fuels (oil, coal, and natural gas), and alternative energy sources (bio-fuels, solar energy, wind, batteries, and nuclear). We will also pay particular attention to energy sources, technologies, emissions, and regulations for transportation. Professors: Jay B. Benziger, Yiguang Ju
MAE 244/EGR 244 Introduction to Biomedical Innovation and Global Health (ST)
The course will focus on introductory biomedical innovation in three specific areas: Biomedical Implants; Nanotechnology and BioMEMS for Cancer Detection and Treatment; and Ceramic Water Filters for Water Purification. Topics will include basic concepts in cell and molecular biology, as well as fundamentals of materials science and bioengineering. The course will demonstrate how biomedical innovation has had an impact on global health and enterprise in the developed and the developing world. Professors: Karen A. Malatesta, Winston O. Soboyejo
MAE 437/EGR 437 Introduction to Innovation Process Management
In today's hypercompetitive global marketplace, innovation is the lifeblood of any business enterprise and the engine of economic growth. This course exposes students to all fundamental aspects of the technological innovation process, from idea/concept development through critical success factors to commercialization. It also covers the basic management practices required to excel--in a complex technological society--in the craft of successful innovation and prepares students to become technology-savvy entrepreneurs, leaders, executives, and/or managers of industry or government. Professor: Karl H. Zaininger
MAE 445/EGR 445 Entrepreneurial Engineering
This course builds on the technical foundations established in the engineering program, and extends the scope to include the business, financial, and marketing components that lead to successful entrepreneurial ventures. Students will be directly engaged in the process of identifying, creating and exploiting entrepreneurial opportunities. Entrepreneurial design will be introduced and developed. Students, working in small multidisciplinary teams, will identify, design and prototype a highly marketable, consumer product. Classic and modern market analysis, manufacture and distribution will be introduced along with business planning & finance. Professor: Daniel M. Nosenchuck