Field Experiences for Undergraduate Engineers

现场方法是工程学的重要组成部分，在本科课程中往往被忽视。罗文大学（Rowan University）工程学院正在将现场采样和测量方法纳入其工程课程。在大一和大二的工程诊所中，使用了选定课程和模块的实验室部分的预先计划的野外练习，而在大三和大四的工程诊所中，使用了开放式野外练习。这些努力通过调整和统一新泽西理工学院化学工程系（传统的、特定的实验室实验）和科罗拉多州立大学化学工程系（学科特定的工程设计项目）的实验室方法，扩展了罗文目前的工程诊所。跨学科的互动是改编自克拉克森大学土木与环境工程系正在进行的工作。本项目支持购买现场设备，用于获取水、空气和沉积物样本，测量现场基本的土壤、水和大气参数，并对现场进行调查/测绘。在预先计划的活动中，学生完成与传统实验室练习类似的特定任务，只是活动是在室外使用现场设备进行的。在开放式活动中，学生决定他们需要收集什么媒体，需要进行什么实地测量来解决开放式问题。

Field methods are an important part of engineering often ignored in the undergraduate curriculum. The College of Engineering at Rowan University is incorporating field methods, both sampling and measurement, across its engineering curriculum. Preplanned field exercises in laboratory components of select courses and modules are used in Freshman and Sophomore Engineering Clinics, and open ended field exercises are used as part of Junior and Senior Engineering Clinics. These efforts extend current engineering clinics at Rowan by adapting and unifying the laboratory approaches at the Chemical Engineering Department at New Jersey Institute of Technology (traditional, specific laboratory experiments) and at the Chemical Engineering Department at Colorado State University (discipline specific engineering design projects). The cross-disciplinary interactions are adapted from work going on at Clarkson University's Civil and Environmental Engineering Department.This project is supporting the purchase of field equipment which is used to obtain water, air, and sediment samples, measure fundamental soil, water and atmospheric parameters in the field, and survey/map field sites. In preplanned activities, students complete specific tasks similar to traditional laboratory exercises, except the activities are conducted outside using field equipment. In open-ended activities, students determine what media they need to collect and what field measurements they need to make to solve open-ended problems.