Engineering Your Future: An Introduction to Engineering

"Engineering Your Future" has been developed with the following goals and objectives....

To introduce students to the broad spectrum of the engineering profession.

To encourage students to explore the challenges, problems, issues, and functions of the various engineering fields.

To provide students with a perspective of the necessary written and oral communication skills used by engineers.

To introduce students to the professional character and ethical responsibility of engineers.

To provide students with an awareness of historic engineering developments and their impact on society.

To introduce students to the global scope of the present-day engineering community.

To present problem solving skills that will aid in the success of students in the classroom.

To assist students in applying common computer software, useful in their studies.

To introduce students to a design methodology for use in subsequent design courses.

To provide students with the latest statistics relative to the engineering community.

Dr. William C. Oakes received his B.S.M.E.. ('85) and M.S.M.E.. ('87) from Michigan State University. After receiving his masters, he accepted a position with GE Aircraft Engines where he worked primarily as a mechanical design engineer. He also became involved in campus recruiting and interviewing for GE. He returned to school at Purdue in Mechanical Engineering to earn his Ph.D. (received in '97). After receiving his Ph.D., he remained at Purdue University and is currently an assistant professor in Freshman Engineering where he teaches Introduction to Engineering and Introduction to Computer Tools, and also serves as an academic adviser. Other teaching responsibilities include teaching Fluid Mechanics in the Mechanical Engineering School and serving as an adviser to the Engineering Projects in Community Service teams, which are comprised of freshman through seniors from the Mechanical and Electrical Engineering programs. He's married and has three terrific daughters. In his spare time, he serves as the youth coordinator and Sunday school teacher at Sunrise Christian Reformed Church in Lafayette, IN.