The Importance of Accreditation in Materials Education
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The Importance of Accreditation in Materials Education D.E. Mikkola Introduction The strength, vitality, and development of the materials professions are determined largely by the quality of education of their new members. While this truism applies to any profession, it is critically important that it be recognized in a rapidly changing and evolving area such as the materials field, which includes activities in materials engineering, ceramic engineering, polymer engineering, and metallurgical engineering. The recent development of tools and techniques that allow relating details of atomic and electronic structure to material properties, the discovery of new classes of materials, many of which are complex integrations of metals, ceramics, and/or polymers, along with the rich diversity of new processing methods that yields improved properties and new materials concepts, are examples that emphasize the dynamic and exciting nature of the field. The primary responsibility for monitoring, evaluating, and certifying the quality of engineering and engineering-related education in colleges and universities in the United States lies with ABET, the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology. (For a discussion of accreditation in chemistry, see "Chemistry Education Programs Relevant to Materials Science" by P. Lykos in this issue.) ABET, working with the engineering professional societies, develops acc r e d i t a t i o n p o l i c i e s a n d criteria a n d conducts a comprehensive program of evaluation of first professional engineering degree programs. Programs meeting the prescribed criteria are granted accredited status. In addition, ABET impacts higher education through initiating and sponsoring studies, conferences, and seminars. ABET (earlier ECPD) was founded in 1932 by the engineering community and its seven o r g a n i z i n g societies, i n c l u d i n g AIME r e p r e s e n t i n g metallurgical a n d materials engineering. Currently, the engineering profession, through 19 Participating Bodies and 4 Affiliate Bodies, provides the membership for ABET's Commissions and Board of Directors. The objectives of ABET are to serve the public, industry, and the profession in general by stimulating improved engineering education through: encouraging curricular improvement in existing programs; helping to develop educational models for establishing new engineering p r o g r a m s ; and identifying for prospective students, student counselors, parents, potential employers, public bodies, and officials those engineering pro-
Students in an undergraduate processing laboratory.
grams which meet ABET criteria. Simply described, ABET provides institutions with a means, through direct onsite visitation, of h a v i n g e n g i n e e r i n g programs formally evaluated against criteria developed by the profession. Programs meeting the criteria are awarded a term of accreditation lasting u p to six years. For students the process can be viewed as consumer advocacy. For the institution there are several positive aspects. Indivi
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