Improving the Linkage Between Applied Mechanics and Materials Science in the Engineering Curriculum: Model Curricula and Multi-Media Courseware

该项目致力于当前工程师在应用力学和材料科学领域的教育。尽管这两个领域在研究和工业领域的联系越来越紧密，但这一趋势并未渗透到大多数大学的工程课程中。应用力学和材料科学通常由不同的系教授，每个系的目标、重点和语言都有很大的不同；这些内在联系的学科之间的直接关系很少包括在课程材料中。这个项目通过以下方式将这些学科与工程课程联系起来：1.在成功的初步结果的基础上，将目前不同的课程整合到典型的本科工程课程中；2.用于工程课程的课件，利用最近在科学研究和教学技术方面的创新；3.未来开发基于力学和材料的集成和综合的研究生课程的基础；以及4.利用互联网、互动媒体和研讨会，使教学学院的两个社区在内容和有效的学习方法方面走到一起。

This project addresses the current education of engineers in the subjects of applied mechanics and materials science. Although these two fields are increasingly linked in the research and industrial communities, this trend has not filtered down to the engineering curriculum in most universities. Applied mechanics and materials science are often taught by different departments, each with vastly different goals, focus, and language; direct relationships between these intrinsically connected subjects are infrequently included in course material.This project links these disciplines in the engineering curriculum through 1. a model for integrating currently disparate courses in the typical undergraduate engineering curriculum, building on successful preliminary results; 2. courseware for use in engineering courses that takes advantage of recent innovations in scientific research and instructional technology; 3. foundation basis for developing, at a future time, graduate curricula that based on the integration and synthesis of mechanics and materials; and 4. use of the Internet, interactive media, and workshops to bring the two communities in instructional academe together in content and effective learning methodologies.