Abstract:

To continue the lifelong learning process, many engineering professionals seek further education beyond the MS degree. The natural next step for education is the PhD, however, signing up for such a degree means making a significant time commitment (3 - 5 years) and involves significant hurdles such as publishing in a required journal in the field. Often the goal is not to quit their day job and begin working for a major university but rather to enable them to engage in part time teaching and mentoring to give back to the community. Given this goal, the requirements of the PhD may be too severe. In the student market, any prominent universities have opted for the Doctor of Engineering Degree (D. Eng.) which involves advanced study and a detailed research product focusing on application rather than theoretical research. The George Washington University has had great success in launching two such D. Eng. degrees: The D. Eng. in Engineering Management and the D. Eng. in Cyber Security Analytics. Furthermore, the University has made these degrees available in an online format to make it even more attractive to the engineering professional who cannot afford extra time to drive to and from campus. In this poster we discuss the curriculum development, the e-delivery plan, and mentoring plan for the research phase. We discuss the lessons learned along the way and suggest possible new topic areas for such a degree.

Keywords:

Engineering Curriculum Development, Novel STEM Online Program.