U N I V E R S I T Y  O F  P I T T S B U R G H

ACIE (left to right) Shengnan Wu, Joel Townsend, Ozlem Arisoy, and Larry Shuman Photo by Jim Burke, CIDDE

InternationalizingIndustrial Engineering

Larry J. Shuman’s 2006 award-winning ACIE grant project, internationalizing the Undergraduate Industrial Engineering Curriculum, will support the integration of international engineering issues and perspectives into the industrial engineering curriculum for the University of Pittsburgh’s next generation of engineers.

Because the growing technological workforce and engineering graduates from developing countries, including India and China, are performing a number of functions previously performed by higher cost U.S. engineers,
Shuman notes that preparing engineers as competitive professionals in today’s global society requires employing an innovative approach.

Thus, students should be exposed to international perspectives, challenges, and approaches; and furnished with multi-cultural collaborative skills. He further notes that today’s engineers must function as systems’ integrators, working collaboratively across cultures, time zones, and languages to bring together manufacturing and design capabilities around the world. They must be prepared to practice their profession in an international marketplace (or setting). Shuman will work closely with industrial engineering colleague Jay Rajgopal, and Ozlem Arisoy, an industrial engineering graduate student.

The project has two major aspects. First, the undergraduate industrial engineering curriculum will be enhanced and expanded with the completion of two case studies for classroom instruction. The case studies will incorporate
cross-cultural issues and competencies required for international industrial collaboration and applications for a global society. Initially, these studies will be integrated into five core undergraduate industrial engineering courses with instructional modules, assignments, and projects. Introducing an international perspective to the six remaining School of Engineering departments also will be explored.

ACIE (left to right) Ozlem Arisoy, Joel Townsend, Shengnan Wu, and Larry Shuman Photo by Jim Burke, CIDDE

Next, collaborating with the Katz Graduate School of Business, Pitt’s undergraduate Department of Industrial Engineering will establish international partnerships. These partnerships will provide opportunities for engineering students to participate in crosscultural virtual team design experiences. Contacts have already been initiated in Brazil, China, Japan, India, Turkey, and Uruguay, and an initial focus has already been directed at India and
China. The project outcomes will be assessed with a survey, focus groups, and assessment of performances, comparing students under the current curriculum with students enrolled in the enhanced courses.

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