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Working Title: Balance in Advancements of Engineering

Working Thesis: Maintaining competitiveness in the rapid developing Engineering field requires balance. The balance comes from everyday workload, improving skillsets, adapting to change, and having good communication skills in order to maintain resilience in the field.

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These offered elements under engineering courses at Georgia Tech allows prospective students to develop their communication skills in the written and oral sense in order to build a strong start to their careers.

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More Schools Come on Board

Shortly after the program was introduced in the School of Mechanical Engineering, Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE) and Materials Science and Engineering (MSE) followed suit. Lisa Rosenstein developed both in-house programs in 1998 and directed both until 2014 when she moved to CEE full time to focus on the School's growing program. Rosenstein believes that the College's in-house model of teaching engineering communication is a "defining feature of a Georgia Tech engineering education." She has even expanded the program to an international level by embedding communications instruction into the structural engineering courses in the CEE London Study Abroad program. She has received the most positive feedback from students like Aaron Bivins, who have started their careers and discovered the long-term benefits of these communication courses.

"The ability to synthesize complex technical material into succinct reports that were intelligible to non-engineers was a tremendous advantage," said Aaron Bivins, PhD candidate, CEE. "I learned to place a premium on my ability to communicate both in writing and in oral presentations. With Dr. Rosenstein's help, I've won two nationally competitive fellowships -- the EPA STAR Graduate Research Fellowship and a Fulbright-Nehru Graduate Research Fellowship."

Christina Bourgeois was brought onboard in May of 2000 to introduce the communications program to the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE). With a background in writing center administration, she took the initiative to put in place a physical communication studio where students could receive individualized instruction and assistance from trained ECE graduate teaching assistants, as they prepared documents, research posters, resumes, elevator pitches, and presentations.

"I want to create a culture of communication here in ECE," said Bourgeois. "I want students to know that engineers are communicators and that communication is the X-factor-it's what will set them apart and set them up for success."

Bourgeois' goal is to expose students to writing and communications from the minute they begin their first year at Tech, in order to help them develop a sense of confidence and comfort with everything from approaching professors about research opportunities to writing and presenting papers to attending their first career fairs.

"The techniques I've learned for crafting resumes, as well as presentations, will provide me with a capable template that will serve me well into my career," said Quentin Truncale, an undergraduate in ECE. "Personally, this program has helped me maximize the impact of past internships, while also shaping what I expect to get out of future experiences."

Although the communication programs are differentiated by discipline, they are conceptually the same and frequently collaborate to provide their students with the most advantageous experiences. The directors host joint workshops, most notably geared towards the National Science Foundation fellowship, and co-teach classes whenever possible.

For more than two decades, the in-house communications program has become deeply ingrained within almost every department of engineering at the College. And the directors and faculty have developed a unique system that allows students to cultivate their skills both inside and out of the classroom.

Several other Schools in the COE also have long-standing in-house engineering communications programs. The program in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering (ChBE) is directed by Jacqueline Mohalley-Snedeker, and the program in Industrial and Systems Engineering (ISyE) is directed by Dr. Judith Norback. The new program director for MSE is Dr. Alena Alamgir.

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The Importance of Communication in Engineering

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Shortly after the program was introduced in the School of Mechanical Engineering, Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE) and Materials Science and Engineering (MSE) followed suit. Lisa Rosenstein developed both in-house programs in 1998 and directed both until 2014 when she moved to CEE full time to focus on the School's growing program.

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Engineers (Computer Engineers to be specific) requires balance in workload, improving skillset and technology, and communication to remain competitive in the field

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Engineers (Computer Engineers to be specific) requires balance in workload, improving skillset and technology, and communication to remain competitive in the field

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Source 1: Opportunities in Engineering Careers

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Source 1: Opportunities in Engineering Careers

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In order to build opportunities as inventor-engineers, you need to develop communication skills or build a team revolved around communication for customers. In order to arrive from conception to communication, these skills need to be developed along side daily work to compete in the field.

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Planning to add another source involving business with customers.

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Engineers usually have to focus on fixing or improving current technologies and concepts. However, while they have to consider the potential improvements, they also have to consider costs and benefits to the situation.

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Source 5: 14 Tips for Becoming a Successful Engineer

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Source 5: 14 Tips for Becoming a Successful Engineer

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Engaging in continuous professional development with enthusiasm to learn new skills is a vital point of being an engineer. Refining problem-solving skills can be improved on at any time during an engineering career. Embracing change as technological and conceptual developments occur allows the engineer to be flexible.

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Source 6: What are the Top Challenges in Computer Science Engineering Profession?

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Source 6: What are the Top Challenges in Computer Science Engineering Profession?

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Computer engineers have to maintain their position in the field by adapting and learning new technologies such as programming languages where they have to continuously update their skills. If today’s engineers don’t expand their knowledge and skills, they will lose their competitive edge over other prospects for a job. Balance is the common theme referred to in this article as it also mentions the business aspect of being in a community of computer engineers in general with its customers. The article concludes that being trusted as a leader and skilled worker in the field will lead to better opportunities.

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Source 3: The Scaffolding Instruction of New Engineering Talent Programming Ability Based on C Language Course.

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Source 3: The Scaffolding Instruction of New Engineering Talent Programming Ability Based on C Language Course.

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Learning new programming languages is an asset to develop in general knowledge. For this example, two classes were taught a C Language course in order to determine what is the more efficient method of learning between the two. Having more efficient learning allows engineers to quickly adapt to new technologies and concepts.

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Source 2: Improving Engineering Design: Designing for Competitive Advantage

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Source 2: Improving Engineering Design: Designing for Competitive Advantage

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To use design effectively, the design-engineer must commit to continuous improvement both of products and of design and production processes. Improving skillset is another factor that has to be balanced with everyday work competitiveness. Having effective education on the goal of improving daily work is something all engineers have to do.

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Balance: Continuing to Learn New Concepts

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Balance: Continuing to Learn New Concepts

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Maintaining Balance in the Engineering Field

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Maintaining Balance in the Engineering Field

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Balance of workload, learning new concepts, and communication