David Billington, a professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, has been named the 2005 Walter L. Robb Engineering Education Senior Fellow by the National Academy of Engineering (NAE).
His appointment will begin on Jan. 1, 2005, and last for two years. During that time, Billington will extend his introductory engineering course curriculum for CEE 102: Engineering in the Modern World to other schools.
Billington will work to improve and expand instructional materials in order to allow faculty at other institutions to adapt his course to their curriculums, according to an NAE press release.
"The thrust of this present NAE Fellowship is to help in the dissemination of this [course]," he said.
To accomplish this goal, Billington will be working with NAE's Center for the Advancement of Scholarship on Engineering Education (CASEE).
He will conduct summer workshops to explain the dynamics of his course. At the conclusion of his two-year fellowship, he will present the results of his efforts at an annual CASEE meeting.
Billington described his course as a chronological look at engineering innovations over the years. The goal of his class is "to start with a steam boat and to end up with a computer," he said.
The course — which has been offered every fall since 1985 — has "gradually evolved" over time, Billington said.
CASEE Director Norman Fortenberry said Billington's work "relates to diversifying the population of people involved in engineering."
Billington is striving to teach "different ways of thinking about the world [and to make] people more aware of the utility of engineering," Fortenberry added.
Billington said he believes the fellowship will also help him to improve the course at Princeton.
"The idea of teaching this material to other professors forces us to clarify, to enrich, to enlarge what we've done," he said.
CEE 102 is currently offered in two branches: one that fulfills the ST distribution requirement for non-engineering students and one that fulfills the HA requirement for engineering students.
Billington's efforts to attract students to engineering will not end after the fellowship expires.
There will be "continuation through the people he actively engages," Fortenberry said. "Those faculty can touch generation after generation of students."
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