![[Toolbar]](/pix/ribbon.gif){kind=small}
xx307@po.cwru.edu -- About this server -- Copyright 1994-2001 CWRU -- Unauthorized use prohibited
Posted 10-19-00
CLEVELAND -- Case Western Reserve University's Case School of Engineering has received a $60,000 grant from Learn and Serve America -- an arm of the Corporation for National Service based in Washington, D.C. -- to support new engineering-based community service courses. The Microsoft Corporation also has donated $86,000 in software to support these courses, which will begin in spring 2001.
"CWRU has joined a consortium of five schools that are sharing in a $350,000 grant -- Georgia Tech University, Iowa State University, Purdue University, and University of Wisconsin," said Donald Feke, associate dean of academic affairs. "The members of the consortium plan to launch programs modeled after Purdue University's Engineering Projects in Community Service (EPICS) program, which was established in 1995 and has received support from major educational institutions and industry," he added.
The Case School of Engineering provided matching funds to help in getting the grant. The University already offers Freshman Engineering 101, which provides underclassmen with an opportunity to gain real-world engineering design experience by activities in community service.
"CWRU aims to offer upperclassmen community service courses in several different departments. "The opportunity for our students to learn is enormous, and clearly the community benefits," said Feke. "Without the help of our students, many of these projects might never be completed due to their expense."
CWRU plans to offer the new community services courses in spring 2001. The course will be designed for upperclassmen and will pilot in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.
"We want students to have real-world, hands-on experience and continue community service throughout their undergraduate education," Feke said. "These new courses will allow juniors and seniors to work in multi-disciplinary teams to design, build, and deploy technology-based solutions that aid the local community. Student teams will collaborate with community service and educational organizations as well as alumni mentors as they approach these real-world problems," he added.
The University consortium is organized to include common projects under way at each consortium site, but each school also will be expected to develop individual projects that are appropriate for the local community.
"John Spencer, vice president of Microsoft Corporation, and a member of the Case School of Engineering Visiting Committee, was instrumental in helping Purdue to develop the EPICS Program and was actively involved in helping CWRU apply for the grant and receive software to aid in the courses," said Feke.
Others involved were Glenn Odenbrett, director of CWRU's Office of Student Community Service; Frank Merat, chairman of the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science; and Arthur Hucklebridge, associate professor in the Department of Civil Engineering, who also teaches engineering 101.
"We are working diligently to get the courses outlined and up and running quickly," said Feke.