JMU part of national engineering education initiative

In a letter presented to President Barack Obama on Monday, March 23, James Madison University and 121 other U.S. engineering schools committed to graduate more than 20,000 "Grand Challenge Engineers" over the next decade.

The National Academy of Engineering Grand Challenge Scholars Program is designed to prepare undergraduates to solve “Grand Challenges”— a set of 14 goals that use engineering to solve problems such as providing access to clean water, improving urban infrastructure and reverse engineering the brain. Dr. Bob Kolvoord, dean of the College of Integrated Science and Engineering, represented JMU at a Grand Challenge event in Washington D.C. on Tuesday, March 24.

Grand Challenge Engineers will be trained through special programs at each institution that integrate five educational elements:

1. Hands-on research or design project connected to the Grand Challenges
2. Real-world, interdisciplinary experiential learning with clients and mentors;
3. Entrepreneurship and innovation experience
4. Global and cross-cultural perspectives
5. Service-learning. 

The NAE Grand Challenge Scholars Program was founded by Duke University, Olin College and the University of Southern California and is endorsed by the NAE.