Jay B. Brockman, associate dean for educational programs and associate professor of computer science and engineering at the University of Notre Dame, was one of only 49 engineering researchers and educators invited to participate in the National Academy of Engineering (NAE)’s first Frontiers of Engineering Education (FOEE) symposium.
Nominated by fellow engineers or deans for their development and implementation of innovative educational approaches to engineering and covering a variety of disciplines, these young faculty members met in Herndon, Va., from Nov. 15 to 18 to share ideas regarding best practices and research in engineering education and explore innovations to help them build a stronger infrastructure for 21st-century engineering education.
“In our increasingly global and competitive world, the United States needs to marshal its resources to address the strategic shortfall of engineering leaders in the next decades,” said Edward F. Crawley, the Ford Professor of Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and chairman of the first FOEE. “By holding this event, we have recognized some of the finest young engineering educators in the nation and will better equip them to transform the educational process at their universities.”
Brockman, who joined the Notre Dame faculty in 1992, oversees college-wide educational initiatives. He also solicits federal and industrial funding to support innovative educational opportunities for engineering students.
During his tenure in the College of Engineering, Brockman has played pivotal roles in the development of the Bits-to-Chips program (a joint educational initiative between the computer science and engineering and electrical engineering departments) and engineering course EG10111/10112.
Most recently, he published “Introduction to Engineering: Modeling and Problem Solving,” which helps students “see the world through the eyes of an engineer.” The book’s goal, like that of the University’s first-year engineering course sequence, is to facilitate the successful transition of students from thinking like high school students to thinking like engineers.
Brockman’s research interests include the design of digital systems and integrated circuits, computer architecture, high-performance computing, multidisciplinary design optimization and engineering education, especially the bridge between high school and college.
_*Contact*: Jay Brockman, "jbb@nd.edu":mailto:jbb@nd.edu_