As geographical boundaries continue to become meaningless in an emerging global economy, engineering graduates must possess technical skills that transcend their own economic, political, and cultural systems. In order to remain competitive, it is critical that future generations of engineers understand how to develop, integrate, and deliver technology in a global economy. Department Chair, Dr. George Huang, is committed to helping our students gain this knowledge through firsthand experience. As part of his commitment, he helped develop a student trip to Taiwan for senior engineering students. During the trip students collaborated with local engineering students on design projects, participated in a number of cultural information sessions and engineering seminars, visited local industrial sites, and even took part in a few site seeing adventures.

Providing opportunities to increase the cultural awareness of our students will continue to be a vital portion of the engineering curriculum in upcoming years. If we expect our students to innovate technically on a global scale, it is critical that we provide them the opportunities necessary to expand their communication and personal interaction skills across multiple cultures. For this reason, we are actively working on expanding our international offerings and look forward to providing students with this opportunity.