Development of a Portfolio of Case Studies

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Development of a portfolio of case studies to support recruitment and teaching of undergraduate courses in Materials Science and Engineering

Awarded to: Dr Irene Turner

Institution: University of Bath

Funded in: 2001

Project description: The aim of this project is to produce a series of case studies that could be used to support the recruitment and teaching activities of the department.

Background: The Department of Engineering and Applied Science has, until recently, been primarily involved with the teaching of undergraduate degrees in Materials Science and Engineering. These single honours degrees are now being phased out and replaced with undergraduate degree schemes in Sports Engineering and Sports Technology. In addition to this, the Department has a long history of providing 'service' teaching of a wide range of Materials Science and Engineering courses to other departments within the University.

The current portfolio includes introductory courses in Materials Science and Engineering for building engineers, electrical engineers and natural scientists. We also provide more specialist undergraduate teaching in Materials Selection and Design and Aerospace Materials for Sports for the sports scientists and technologists and natural scientists and have an input into Environmental units provided for both biologists and natural scientists. This portfolio is set to expand with requests for the provision of courses in automotive materials, biomaterials, polymers and composites. The department is also currently developing proposals for a new undergraduate degree in General Engineering that will include a specialist stream for Materials Science and Engineering.

Objectives: The objectives will be to provide an exciting and interesting range of case studies that can be used to:

• Support both existing and future undergraduate teaching of Materials Science and Engineering at undergraduate level.
• Improve public awareness and stimulate interest in the area of Materials Science and Engineering in the wider community.
• Help to attract good quality students into the subject area.

Deliverables:

• It is anticipated that the output will be in the form of hard copy of the case studies that can be reproduced to use as brochures, leaflets and posters and that can be mounted on a website for wide access.
• The case studies will be used to support a range of teaching activities inside and outside the department. In addition, they will be reproduced as a brochure that can be distributed to prospective undergraduate students on schools visits, at UCAS recruitment fairs and departmental and University open days.
• The case studies will be mounted on a website to be accessed from both inside and outside the University. Links could be provided to the UK Centre for Materials Education website, the Institute of Materials website and other sites as deemed appropriate. Individual case studies could be submitted to Materials World for publication.