Booting Up

Broadening the program can also help prove that some of the successful projects it has already funded can work in other disciplines. For instance, Texas A&M University used its TETC grant to overhaul and enhance its core gateway electrical engineering course, ENGR 111. The department was losing half its freshmen within the first two years. The new version of the class places more emphasis on design, and there is more "understanding and applying" than "memorizing and reproducing." There's also more mentoring available. In fall 2001, before the changes, the school had 126 electrical engineering graduates; in fall 2004, the number rose to 204. Now, Texas A&M has received a National Science Foundation grant to enhance entry-level courses in all its engineering departments.

While TETC will continue to fund projects, it also wants to evolve into an organization that's primarily a catalyst in reforming science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) education. It sees itself in the future helping schools find other funding sources-both state and federal-and honing their proposal-writing tactics. It also wants to build on its success to continue influencing the legislature so lawmakers won't ignore the problem. "Left to its own devices, there would a waning interest," Almgren says. "But this problem isn't going away-our needs in industry are greater than ever." That also includes ongoing efforts to raise public awareness of the issues and to help Texans understand why STEM education, and the recruitment and retention of engineering students, is important to all of them. Thirty years ago, Almgren notes, National Instruments was just three engineers with an idea. With 2,400 people employed today, the company and its employees are contributing millions of dollars to the state's coffers. "The payback," Almgren says, "is big time."

Thomas K. Grose is a freelance journalist who writes for a number of national publications.

Copyright American Society for Engineering Education Sep 2006
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