Enhancement of Green Energy Manufacturing Engineering Education through Project Based Learning and Leadership Workshops.

This paper describes enhancement of green energy and manufacturing subjects using a project based learning and leadership workshops as an educational strategy in a new manufacturing engineering program. There are a number of challenges facing green energy manufacturing from industrial perspective. For example, green energy manufacturing is a complex and technology-concentrated set of processes; therefore, it requires a very specialized and experienced workforce. In this paper, a LEGO® based project and various "Green Energy Manufacturing (GEM)" leadership workshops, which are used to enhance student's professional success, are introduced. Basically, a semester long GEM project using LEGO® and a few general and technical leadership workshops were arranged and delivered during the Industrial, Manufacturing and Systems Engineering (IMSE) Day. The paper is aimed at integrating green energy into the manufacturing engineering curriculum and to cultivate leaders in the field among minority and female engineering students. Successful completion of the course will lead to excellence in green energy and advanced engineering education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]