Dean’s Message

As the field of engineering evolves, it is natural that we reassess our approach to the way we teach it. Theories are important, but a lecture cannot fully capture the engineering experience. This year, we took our first steps toward a new, more holistic approach to engineering education — a curriculum that combines both traditional theory and a hands-on component — which I hope will excite students and alumni alike.

The Case School of Engineering has been piloting a course where students learn engineering principles the traditional way — by building something. We’re calling it the Roger E. Susi First Year Engineering Experience, and we expect it to become a signature piece of the Case education.

In this new course, first semester students are tinkering, problem solving and getting hands-on experience on team projects. In addition, these team projects provide valuable lessons in how to communicate effectively and work well on a team — lessons our students will carry into the workforce. In their second semester, we’ll have students address and solve a problem working with a local community group. We hope to expand these hands-on and community engagement classes next fall and eventually offer them to all of our first years — some 500 aspiring engineers.

Much of this harkens back to the way many of us learned engineering, before the field became crowded with new knowledge and demands. It took some creative work by our faculty and administrators to fit the hand-on courses into an already rigorous curriculum, but I think they’ve done it.

The approach was made possible by a generous donation from alumnus Roger Susi ’77, whose $2 million gift will build the Roger E. Susi Laboratory where the new classes will take place. I know that many of you believe, as Roger does, that engineers learn by doing and that our engineering students will benefit greatly by seeing how things really work and how to approach and solve real problems.

I look forward to your feedback as we share the excitement of engineering with a new generation.

Best regards, Venkataramanan “Ragu” Balakrishnan Charles H. Phipps Dean, Case School of Engineering