Dan Budny's Statement

Associate Professor Civil Engineering Department & Director Freshman Engineering Program Large Picture
B74A Benedum Hall
University of Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh, PA 15261
Website: http://www.pitt.edu/~budny
Email: budny@pitt.edu
Office (412) 624-6474, fax (412) 624-2827

In my research and teaching I focused on the development of programs that assist entering freshman engineering students, including academically disadvantaged students, succeed during their first year.  Of particular note are the highly successful counseling and cooperative learning programs for first-year students that were created within the Freshman Engineering Departments at the University of Pittsburgh.  One of the most significant changes our program has made in the past few years is the expansion of the curriculum to include a major writing to learn component.  We have used writing to accomplish many goals, as a means of helping students discover what engineering is and why they want to become one, to the ethical and social responsibilities of the profession.  We have also researched the ability of writing to help the students understand the connection between science and engineering.

I have numerous publications and presentations on engineering education within the American Society for Engineering Education within the Freshman Programs and the Educational Research and Methods Divisions.

Listen to What Dan Budny Has to Say About TURNITIN…….	MOV	RMVB	WMV
His background.	[1mb]	[937k]	[968k]
How many students?	[590k]	[569k]	[638k]
Turnitin found a curriculum problem.	[1.54mb]	[1.52k]	[1.83mb]
To warn students or not to warn students?	[1.16mb]	[1.12k]	[1.38mb]
Look at Turnitin hits.	[1.19mb]	[1.17k]	[1.42mb]
Freshman mistakes.	[2.1mb]	[1.99k]	[2.44mb]
Repeat offenders.	[412k]	[353k]	[443k]
Advantages of Turnitin.	[1.48mb]	[1.4mb]	[1.69mb]