Undergraduate Program
Welcome to Engineering Innovation and Leadership
"Engineering the Future, One Leader at a Time"
Engineering Innovation and Leadership (E-Lead) is a new and flexible degree designed to provide students with a diverse foundation of engineering knowledge, leadership theory, innovative skills, and an understanding of business. Founded on character, competence, and capacity, these three pillars shape how students mature and progress towards becoming leaders who influence and inspire their community. We view leadership as a cycle in which leaders continuously develop innovative and adaptable traits in themselves and go on to influence others.
E-Lead is redefining the way engineering is taught by using an innovative curriculum that mixes engineering, innovation, and leadership skills in real-life scenarios and projects to help students learn how to take initiative for the future. E-Lead changes the classroom setting by creating a collaborative studio environment that requires students to network and build teamwork skills that are necessary for an adaptable leader.
E-Lead offers a unique major that focuses not only on core Engineering studies, but on business acumen and leadership skills as well. The E-Lead major enables students to focus within engineering by selecting a concentration of Innovation Engineering, Biomedical, Civil, Computer Science, Electrical, Mechanical, or Metallurgy & Materials Engineering. In addition, the E-Lead major provides students the opportunity to pursue a multidisciplinary emphasis with electives in other fields that complement engineering, such as business and education.
A Foundation in the 3 Pillars of Leadership
CHARACTER - COMPETENCE - CAPACITY
E-Lead structures its core curriculum around the three pillars of leadership: Character (Who you are), Competence (What you know), Capacity (What you can accomplish). To achieve this, the Engineering Innovation and Leadership faculty and students cultivate an environment where individuals are mentored to develop an understanding of themselves, to become people of integrity, and to nurture selflessness. From project managing to research, students have the ability to take initiative and excel at diverse roles that will broaden the future possibilities available to them.
Program Educational Objectives (B.S. in Engineering Innovation and Leadership)
Graduates of the B.S. in Engineering Innovation and Leadership Program will:
- Value the role of engineering and leadership for the betterment of community and society.
Elaboration: Our graduates will value and will demonstrate their ability to recognize leadership opportunities and to take initiative for beneficial change. They will understand the broad social, economic, and ethical implications of their endeavors both inside and outside of engineering, and they will be cognizant of their professional, civic, and societal responsibilities. - Inventively cultivate success in their field by demonstrating technical competence and problem solving skills, which will foster success in a variety of postgraduate environments, including professional practice and graduate school.
Elaboration: Our graduates will have a solid grounding in fundamental principles of engineering, mathematics, and science, and they will apply this knowledge to a variety of systems inside and outside of engineering. They will be able to develop inventive solutions that are responsive to technical, social, economic, and cultural considerations and constraints among others. - Possess attributes for assuming increasing levels of professional responsibility
Elaboration: Develop Character, Competency, and Capacity. Our graduates will also develop a deep understanding of engineering, mathematics, science, business, and entrepreneurship. They will build on this foundation by engaging in independent learning to identify and to respond to emerging technical and societal developments.
Student Outcomes (B.S. in Engineering Innovation and Leadership)
By the time of graduation from the Program, students will have:
- An ability to identify, formulate, and solve complex engineering problems by applying principles of engineering, science, and mathematics
- An ability to apply engineering design to produce solutions that meet specified needs with consideration of public health, safety, and welfare, as well as global, cultural, social, environmental, and economic factors
- An ability to communicate effectively with a range of audiences
- An ability to recognize ethical and professional responsibilities in engineering solutions and make informed judgments, which must consider the impact of engineering solutions in global, economic, environmental, and societal contexts
- An ability to function effectively on a team whose members together provide leadership, create a collaborative and inclusive environment, establish goals, plan tasks, and meet objectives
- An ability to develop and conduct appropriate experimentation, analyze and interpret data, and use engineering judgment to draw conclusions
- An ability to acquire and apply new knowledge as needed, using appropriate learning strategies
- An ability to recognize leadership issues and to apply leadership principles
- An ability to recognize the need for and to apply business acumen in an engineering context