New MEng Program off to a Quick Start
The College of Engineering now offers a new Master of Engineering (MEng.) degree program in Global Automotive and Manufacturing Engineering (GAME), thanks in large part to the work of two ME faculty, Professors Huei Peng and S. Jack Hu. Peng and Hu played key leadership roles in the development of the program. Since Hu is now directing the Michigan Interdisciplinary and Professional Engineering (InterPro), Professor Peng and Professor Jan Shi serve as co-directors of the program.
The GAME program represents an evolution of the College's interdisciplinary and professional education. The ME has bee a leader in such an effort. It led the development of MEng. in Manufacturing in 1993 (Professor A. Galip Ulsoy was founding director) and developed its own MEng. in Automotive Engineering in 1995 (Professor Dennis Assanis was founding director). Both grew to about 100 students each in their peak times and have been part of InterPro since 1998.
More recently Hu and Peng saw the need for a new degree program that integrates elements of both automotive systems and manufacturing. "It's critical that students studying design know about manufacturability, and vice versa," said Peng. The two also saw the need for such a program that is available to professional engineers globally. In 2004 Peng and Hu began working with leaders of the General Motors Technical Education Program on the new degree program. Collaboratively, UM and GM leaders performed global needs assessment and designed the new curriculum to address these needs. They envisioned a program that would cultivate a global community of technical leaders with several attributes: outstanding depth and breadth in core engineering disciplines; knowledge of related management and systems issues; the ability to work virtually and collaboratively and to lead global teams.
Launched in Fall 2005, GAME's first year was a tremendous success. One hundred thirty three students from General Motors enrolled, hailing from the United States, Australia, Mexico and Canada.
What sets the program apart, said Hu, is how it incorporates carefully selected courses from nearly two dozen universities around the world. All students must take a course in "High Performance Distributed Technical Teams," taught by the University of California at Los Angeles. Other partner universities include Stanford, Purdue, University of Illinois, Chalmers University in Sweden, Tec de Monterrey in Mexico, etc. To reflect the truly global nature of education, a student can take up to 12 credits of pre-approved courses from these partner universities and transfer them to UM toward their degree. "That way we can provide the best educational experience for these global students." said Peng. Most engineering schools allow only six transfer credits, he explained.
The leadership team meets monthly to oversee and further improve the 30-credit-hour program.
Admission requirements are similar to other master's programs in Engineering, with an additional requirement of at least one year of industrial experience.
"Working with GM, we've done something unique," said Peng. "It's a one-of-a-kind partnership characterized by inter-disciplinary content, multi-university curriculum design and delivery and our expertise in serving global audiences."
