The ECE culminating design experience: analysis of ABET 2000 compliance at leading academic institutions
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Authors
Schnettler, Nicholas J.
Subjects
Advisors
Date of Issue
2006-05
Date
May 2006
Publisher
Monterey California. Naval Postgraduate School
Language
en_US
Abstract
The ABET (Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology) Criteria for Accrediting Engineering Programs serve as a mechanism for creating consistency in American engineering programs. A significant element of these criteria is the design component, which specifies the need for a culminating design experience at the conclusion of the undergraduate degree. Given the generality of the ABET criteria, educational institutions are granted some level of autonomy in their actual implementation of the design component. While many institutions have exploited this freedom to a positive end, others appear to have diverged significantly from the intended spirit of the criteria. This work chronicles implementation of the culminating design experience component in electrical and computer engineering programs at top universities across the United States. A customized classification system is employed to demonstrate each university's effectiveness in implementing the design component and its associated outcomes. The results of these classifications are used to illustrate shortcomings in current implementations as well as propose possible revisions to the criteria to prevent future problems.
Type
Thesis
Description
CIVINS (Civilian Institutions) Thesis document
Series/Report No
Department
Electrical and Computer Engineering
Organization
Identifiers
NPS Report Number
Sponsors
Funder
U.S. Naval Postgraduate School, CIVINS program
Format
Citation
Distribution Statement
Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited.
Rights
This publication is a work of the U.S. Government as defined in Title 17, United States Code, Section 101. Copyright protection is not available for this work in the United States.