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Alumni FSAE Posts-----Original Message----- Sent: Monday, May 22, 2006 12:16 AM Hello Prof. Somerscales, I have finished composing a video with the clips you suggested, and added a few of my own comments in some extra short takes. I have made a digital video, and burned it on CD. I would need to know where to mail the CD to in order to get you the video if it is still useful. I hope so. I mention it in the video, but I will restate it here. If Rensselaer does not realize the value of the FSAE Program as a teaching tool, then they do not deserve to be among the top universities in the country. One of the most significant challenges faced by graduating students, and in my opinion specifically engineering graduates, is that they will be faced with roles in multi-disciplinary teams. Even in laboratory R&D, engineers face time pressures to complete assignments, and remain on budget with their work. Knowing what to do, is only a small percentage of your success, and of the companies positive development. Being able to execute your task within a project team, requires understanding and capabilities of team work, and appreciation of the strengths of the individuals you work with. Without this, it is quite difficult to be productive in a modern organization. The F.SAE program is probably the most effective real world scenario which provides students an accurate case demonstrating these necessary skills in order to deliver. In fact, the actual current situation with Rensselaer, unfortunately, is also a perfect example of real world situations of having to manage your sponsors, and upper level managers. Rensselaer should be more aware of what their role here is, and understand that success in the competition will only be achieved when the organization truly gets behind the team and starts to see it as a bright example of student self participation and team development training, while applying engineering problem solving, creativity, innovation, and managing the process of execution and project delivery. If they fail to see this, then they will be hindering the future students graduating from Rensselaer which will not have the benefit of this training. Please let me know where I can send the video, Sincerely, |