Achievement

A new course in fall semester 2012 built interdisciplinary team skills among IGERT trainees. Design for Global Sustainability: Electronics I (Purdue MSE 697), served 16 students – 13 at Purdue and three at Tuskegee. Faculty from 15 disciplines across physical sciences, engineering, and social sciences participated. The primary objective was to provide knowledge and skills to work on interdisciplinary teams through lectures, field trips, and projects. A second goal was to help students to gain an understanding of the perspectives of different stakeholders in global electronics. The course outputs were a group project to gain technical knowledge and a research paper and presentation to build communication skills. Student-faculty teams deconstructed electronic products (laptops, cell phones, game systems, LCD TVs). Student research papers contributed to the understanding of an issue affecting the sustainability of electronics. Final team presentations were videotaped.