Current Projects
Proposal documents for our current initiatives
Lunch with Deans
This initiative is aimed at increasing student-dean interaction within the College of Engineering. Students will be given the opportunity to meet and interact with deans over lunch. The lunches will be held on a bi-monthly basis, with a different dean attending each lunch. The lunches will be informal and a group of twenty students will attend. All those interested in helping please contact Shreyans Ranka at sranka2@illinois.edu.
Class Lecture Podcasting
Podcasting educational materials (lectures or review material) can be extremely beneficial to students during the learning process to help reinforce concepts learned in the classroom. There is a lack, however, of support and adoption of podcasting at the University of Illinois. We hope to launch an innovative program to foster the development of podcasting in the College of Engineering at the University of Illinois, eventually giving all students access to this great learning tool.
International Engineering Buddies
International Engineering Buddies aims to build a closer bond between international students and local students, and to help new international students to adapt and integrate into the U of I. Each international student could be paired up with a local student and start e-mail correspondence before the semester begins. Buddies would be introduced to each other during orientation, and they should meet consistently throughout the semester. Currently, we are working towards creating a student body that represents International Engineering students and running the program. E-mail Iris (mhsu7@illnois.edu) with any comments or to become involved.
Registration Information Reform
Everyday, many questions (usually similar) are phoned in to the engineering department's administration. The FAQ Wiki will create a space where answers to these questions can be compiled, saving time for both our administration and the people interested or curious about the engineering department. When then website is complete, we will need to find an administration member willing maintain the site when answers to questions change.
College of Engineering RSS Feeds
This initiative will consolidate existing feeds or create new feeds for the college of engineering, each department, and other areas of interest. These feeds would then be placed on one website. The site would also include information about RSS, like what it is and how to use it.
Engineering Quad Cam
In an attempt to help incoming and prospective students get a glimpse of the College of Engineering at the University of Illinois, we will install a live-feed webcam to overlook the engineering quad. This is primarily geared to get students excited about the College and to provide a way for students who are unable to visit UIUC in person own to view the Engineering campus. Upon completion, this will likely be integrated in the College of Engineering and be available for all students that are considering attending the University of Illinois.
Engineering 100 Projects
This initiative is intended to bring team projects to "Engineering 100", the half-term student-run orientation course for engineering, in order to underline the importance of teamwork in the engineering world. Currently, Engineering Initiatives board member Lars Bjaalie is collaborating with iFoundry (http://ifoundry.illinois.edu) in designing their "Engineering 198" class, an introduction to engineering for the 50 students in the 2009 iFoundry cohort. The course will revolve around project work, while also including the regular ENG100 curriculum.
College Promotional DVD
This initiative focuses on creating a promotional DVD for prospective students interested in Engineering at Illinois. The DVD answers questions frequently asked by high school students considering Illinois Engineering. It has been broken up into several clips, where each clip discusses a broad topic about engineering students (i.e. different fields of engineering, facilities and labs on campus, clubs and activities). Engineering Initiatives is filming the DVD with the help of Illini Film and Video and once completed, the DVD will be posted on the College of Engineering site. Please e-mail pdandaw2@illinois.edu if interested in helping out.
Senior Legacy Campaign
Senior Legacy Campaign initiative is focused on encouraging students in the College of Engineering to give back to the college and on easing the transition from students to active alumni. Through the creation of a student run board with alumni advisors and an organized giving structure, we hope to accomplish these goals. The main objectives are to obtain widespread participation (over large monetary amounts), foster an understanding within the student body that active alumni participation is vital to the college, and collect sustainable contact information from students. This should ultimately result in better alumni relationships and increased alumni giving within the College of Engineering.
Sustainability Through Recycling
Currently, a large amount of recyclable materials are discarded as trash across the engineering campus. This waste creates a less sustainable future and leads to extra labor and expense, since trash must be hand-sorted to remove these recyclables. This initiative's goal is to increase the amount of recycling on the engineering campus by provoking thought about recycling and its benefits, and making it easier to find recycling areas. Upon completion, these tasks may be integrated into current waste management practices, or they may be undertaken by a student organization.
Anonymous Student Feedback
Feedback is crucial in a learning environment. The Anonymous Student Feedback initiatives focuses on providing feedback to university employees from the students. This initiative is currently directed toward feedback for academic advisors, but plans to expand to professors as well. The feedback will be provided anonymously through a survey, and the results will be given to the advisors. The goal of this system is to improve the quality of the Engineering students' education through continued communication between faculty and students.
International Engineering Buddies
Freshman Checklist
A compilation of important To Dos will be made for the entire first year. With a collective document that shows important deadlines and activities, a freshman will be able to go through step-by-step and complete them. This list will be incorporated into the engineering 100 courses. It will be put in the handbooks used in this course so that freshman can access thelist whenever they want during the year.College of Engineering RSS Feeds
