E³ Mission: Engineer
About the program
Many students don’t fully understand what they’re signing up for when they enroll in engineering programs. Mission: Engineer is designed to help incoming students unlock the secrets of the engineering world, and understand what it means to operate as a responsible, conscientious engineer in today’s fast-paced, high-stakes environment.
Participants will be divided into specialized teams and tasked with a series of covert challenges over the course of the mission. These include digital modeling of a team insignia, design operations, and even basic code manipulation. Alongside these hands-on assignments, guided discussions will expose agents to key principles of engineering: the design process, ethical decision-making in the field, and an exploration of how their unique skills and passions could align with the engineering world. By the end of the mission, participants will have a clearer picture of their potential engineering path in this high-tech, high-impact world.
This class is part of E³: Exploring Engineering Essentials. The UVA School of Engineering and Applied Science has created a series of classes that can be taken individually or together to help aspiring engineers learn more about the foundations of engineering and what is possible when you apply the same framework to different topics.
This is an in-person course that meets daily in Fairfax, 9am – 4pm EST. Tuition cover materials, meals (lunch/snacks), and transportation to any offsite excursions.
Meet the Instructor
Ben Goldschneider – UVA School of Engineering & Applied Science Assistant Professor
Professor Goldschneider is part of UVA Engineering’s First-Year Engineering Center, which has a dedicated cohort of faculty who both teach and advise first-year engineering students. The Center offers a two-semester Engineering Foundations course sequence that gives first-year students a common foundation across engineering disciplines and integrates engineering design skills with academic advising, sociotechnical issues, communication skills and career development programming.
Skills you will learn
- Explore multiple engineering disciplines
- Learn and apply the engineering design process
- Explore engineering ethics
- Apply computer design and rabid fabrication tools
Out of the classroom
- Get out of the classroom and visit local companies with your peers. Each Friday Field trip is specific to the class and aimed at bringing the learning alive.
Please note: All information is subject to change at the discretion of UVA Northern Virginia.