Background
NCEER was launched in 2007 from existing engineering education research efforts at Northwestern, in a national atmosphere that is calling for more rigorous engineering education research. The goals are to improve educational processes to insure that US engineers retain strong engineering fundamentals, and are in the best position to adapt to new challenges, including globalization, throughout their careers. We call this "adaptive expertise." One might call this approach to changing engineering education a theoretically-motivated and "evidence-based" approach, as opposed to a "we think this is a good idea" approach. Engineering education research requires the methods of learning science, including quasi-experimental design and qualitative research, but also requires participation from the engineers. This is an unusual combination of different communities. Work in McCormick and other NU schools over the past decade allows NCEER to be one of the few organizations nationally that is positioned to create these synergies and pursue this new kind of engineering education research.
Some of the existing programs from which NCEER Scholars are drawn include the Segal Design Institute (Segal) and several NSF-funded projects: the VaNTH Engineering Research Center (ERC) in Bioengineering Educational Technologies, the National Center for Nanotechnology Learning and Teaching, the Center for Connected Learning, and the Spatial Intelligence and Learning Center, all of which have components at Northwestern.
Vision
Engineering and engineering education in the future will be radically different. The engineering profession will require technical expertise combined with creativity and tempered by sophisticated appreciation of human needs. Through a focus on research, NCEER will illuminate the path to most effectively educate tomorrow’s "transformative engineers."
