Developing Essential Business and Engineering Skills through Case Competitions

Abstract

Jim Kimpel joined the faculty of the Katz Graduate School of Business at the University of Pittsburgh in 2012 following a 27-year career in industry. His industry experience includes work in the fields of marine outfitting; software design and consulting; medical devices; and heavy equipment. Jim held operational positions in production supervision; master scheduling; materials management; and industrial engineering. In an IT capacity, he served as a software engineer; systems analyst; project manager; manager of programming, quality assurance, and architecture; director of IT governance and program management; and director of business service demand management. He leverages his industry experience to enhance classroom learning. In his three-year teaching career at the University of Pittsburgh he has won four "student choice" teaching awards from undergraduate and master's students alike. Jim holds a BS in Computer Systems and Mathematics from Grove City College, an MS in Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering from the University of Virginia, and a DSc in Information Systems and Communication from Robert Morris University. Dr. Karen M. Bursic, University of PittsburghAssociate Professor and Undergraduate Program Director for Industrial Engineering at the University of Pittsburgh. She received her B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. degrees in Industrial Engineering from the University of Pittsburgh. Prior to joining the department she worked as a Senior Consultant for Ernst and Young and as an Industrial Engineer for General Motors Corporation. She teaches undergraduate courses in engineering economics, engineering management, and probability and statistics in Industrial Engineering as well as engineering computing in the freshman engineering program. Dr. Bursic's recent research has focused on improving Engineering Education and she has 20 years' experience and over 20 publications in this area. She has also done research and published work in the areas of Engineering and Project Management. She is a senior member of the Institute of Industrial Engineers and the American Society for Engineering Education (where she currently serves as the Chair of the Engineering Economy Division) and a registered Professional Engineer in the state of Pennsylvania.c American Society for Engineering Education, 2016 Developing Essential Business and Engineering Skills through Case Competitions AbstractThe intersection of business and engineering is being discussed now more than ever as companies are demanding that new hires graduating from baccalaureate engineering degree programs have a level of business expertise to complement their technical skill sets. Companies also expect business students to have an understanding of technical concepts to be effective working in teams composed of employees with both business and engineering backgrounds.With corporate investment and engineering project funding decisions more reliant upon company financial statements and stock price impact, now more than ever, it is crucial for engineers and business people to...

Development of Modern Entrepreneurship: Competition and Cooperation

“…The theoretical basis of this research consists of the works of various authors on the issues of competition in the sphere of entrepreneurship in the conditions of market economy, which include (Havlicek et al, 2013;Breckova and Havlicek, 2013;Liu et al, 2017;Mohamad et al, 2017;Piovesan et al, 2016;Crowley and Jordan, 2016;Lynch et al, 2016;Albekov et al, 2017). The work also uses the materials of publication of scholars and experts in the sphere of business cooperation and integration, which include (Pociovalisteanu and Thalassinos, 2008;Bogoviz et al, 2016;Bezrukova et al, 2013;Kravets et al, 2013;Melese et al, 2017;Geldes et al, 2017;Ivanova et al, 2017;Hapsoro and Suryanto, 2017;Akopova and Przhedetskaya, 2016;Medvedeva et al, 2016;Kormishkin et al, 2016).…”

Work in Progress: Engineering Economy Taught Across Engineering Disciplines

“…Engineering Economy courses are traditionally motivated by the needs to meet the ABET accreditation requirements [1] [2] and mainly capstone design course requirements [3] such that students know how to evaluate the financial viability of capital investments from a business perspective. Recently, the demands of industry/employers have pushed for curricular changes in the integration and teaching of engineering economy for graduates to be adequately prepared for industry [1] [4]. In particular, Rogers [1] summarizes the outcome of the ABET and ASEE studies.…”