Adding an International Senior Design Component into the Civil Curriculum

Abstract

Abstract International exposure as well as project-based service learning for undergraduate students has gained much attention for their positive impact on students. Additionally, ABET engineering criteria require international exposure for all undergraduates. As such, a goal of the University of Pittsburgh is to have fifty percent of our students directly participate in an international experience. Over the past few years the university has offered a senior design service learning engineering experience as part of the Senior Capstone course. This has provided evidence that service learning is a valuable educational tool to develop a sense of value and direction, teach team dynamics and communication skills, challenge the students’ mindsets, and engage them in a community. This paper will discuss how the typical Capstone course is modified to include an international component. Over the past four years undergraduate students were given the opportunity to design potable water systems for two poor rural Ecuadorian villages and two villages in Panama that did not have a reliable water source. The paper will discuss the creation of a new course that allows the university to offer an international design experience within the traditional Capstone course, and it will further compare the outcomes of the international service learning frameworks to the standard senior design projects.