GNE 330/530:
Professional Engineering Skills
Seminar

The GNE 330/530 Course is a series of six half-credit (0.5) seminars that span six semesters in the undergraduate engineering curriculum. This course was required for all undergraduate students enrolled in Paper Engineering and Bioprocess Engineering programs, though it was open for all to enroll.  Students from the undergraduate Environmental Resources Engineering program and undergraduate students from the Beijing University of Chemical Technology (through the BUCT-ESF Bioprocess Engineering 3+1 Degree Program) also participated in the course throughout its tenure. Graduate students were also welcome to enroll in the course under the 530 course code.

 

Students typically started the course in the first semester of their sophomore year and continue the course through six semesters until the end of their senior year. This created a 3-credit course spread over a 3-year period. This was by design. Ideally, this allowed students to not only delve into each topic with more care, but to bond and form peer-to-peer relationships throughout their experience in the course.

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The goal of GNE 330/530 was to provide engineering students with introductory knowledge and skills regarding Professional Engineering topics and "soft" skills. Each semester, one of six topics were covered in the course. Every six semesters, the topic rotation restarted. By the end of the seminar series (six semesters), students gained knowledge and skills about each of the topics to apply in the workforce upon graduation. This course also contributed to addressing a number of ABET Accreditation Outcomes (select Outcomes from 1-7 and previously select Outcomes from a-k) and SUNY-ESF College Learning Outcomes.

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The course was led by Dr. Gary Scott as the official Course Instructor. For many years, the course was taught with the assistant of a Graduate Student, generally one awarded the Joachim Assistantship or Fellowship Position. Joachim Assistants would rotate the responsibility of teaching GNE 330/530 each semester to allow other duties to be completed by the rest of the Joachim Assistants and to give each Graduate Student the opportunity to develop their teaching skills. 

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For the Fall 2016, Fall 2017, Fall 2018, Fall 2019, Fall 2020, Spring 2021, Fall 2021, Spring 2022, and Fall 2022 semesters at SUNY-ESF, I have been responsible for facilitating GNE 330/530 with Dr. Gary Scott as my Advisor and Faculty Mentor. My involvement in the course analysis, design, development, implementation, and evaluation evolved with each semester and with the knowledge from my Master of Science in Teaching and Curriculum from Syracuse University, as well as my participation in the Future Professoriate Program at Syracuse University.

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This course not only gave me the opportunity to practice my instructional design and development skills, it also granted me the privilege of meeting many students, learning about them and myself, and growing through self-reflection as an educator, a mentor, and a person. I am grateful for each semester that I taught GNE 330/530 and while each semester had its ups and downs, I would not change the experience. This has been a crucial part of my professional and personal development. Below, you can find information about each semester that I taught GNE 330/530, including course topics, course materials, student work, course feedback, and a reflection of my experience with each semester.