SIUE’s Onal to Present at Frontiers of Engineering Education Symposium
Southern Illinois University Edwardsville’s Sinan Onal, PhD, an assistant professor of industrial engineering in the School of Engineering, is one of “70 of the nation’s most innovative, young engineering educators.” He will present at the National Academy of Engineering’s (NAE) 7th Annual Frontiers of Engineering Education (FOEE) Symposium to be held Oct. 25-28 in Irvine, Calif.
“Dr. Onal took the pedagogy of senior design course to another level in the industrial engineering program,” said Hasan Sevim, dean of the SIUE School of Engineering. “The recognition of Dr. Onal by the NAE is a testimony to the caliber of our faculty who espouse the teacher/scholar model and strive to make it a reality for SIUE students.”
“I am extremely excited to meet and exchange ideas and visions with colleagues from a variety of majors and institutions who are interested in and working on engineering education,” Onal said. “I believe it is critical to be open to suggestions and learn from one another’s experiences.”
Onal will share his innovative capstone project model with engineering educators from across the nation. His educational approach, as demonstrated in his senior design course, emphasized the significance of interdisciplinary collaboration by featuring professional guest speakers from industry and medical schools.
“Throughout the course, my students consistently expressed how this course provided a real-life experience and real-life connections to what they were learning in theory,” Onal said. “Most of them expressed an interest to continue with further studies on engineering problems in the biomedical industry.”
According to Onal, the opportunity to present at the FOEE Symposium will further advance his vision through collaboration with colleagues.
“Our world is changing rapidly with advances in technology and engineering,” added Onal. “But in this ever-changing globalized world, we as educators should not forget, and should constantly remind our students, that our innovations should serve for the betterment of our society, our nation and all of humanity. These advances show that trying to achieve success individually is no longer relevant, nor desirable.
“Success is achieved through collaboration and teamwork. Staying on the forefront of technology is only enabled through interdisciplinary collaborations.”
Photo: Sinan Onal, PhD, assistant professor of industrial engineering in the SIUE School of Engineering.
