Northern Arizona university's "design4Practice" sequence: Interdisciplinary training in engineering design for the global era

Introduction of computer technology, changing corporate structures, and global competition have significantly changed modern corporate design contents, placing increasing emphasis on individual problem-solving creativity, interdisciplinary collaboration, and teaming and project management skills. NAU's Design4Practice program explicitly teaches these skills within a novel curriculum centered around a carefully crafted sequence of project-oriented courses. This paper discusses our efforts to extend the program to provide international training opportunities, including integration of the Design4Practice curriculum with that of partner institutions abroad, support for joint projects, and international teaming in interdisciplinary project-oriented courses.