The International Virtual Design Studio

The ever increasing globalization of engineering practice has led to the realization that undergraduate students must be made aware of the global nature of the profession and the technologies that allow engineers the world over to collaborate on projects. To this end a pilot program called the "International Virtual Design Studio" (IVDS) was undertaken jointly by the departments of mechanical engineering at Union College in Schenectady, NY and the Middle East Technical University (METU) in Ankara, Turkey, wherein students from each institution are joined as a team to pursue their senior design projects across international boundaries and culture differences. Using a combination of interactive video and Internet communications, the two parts of the team undertook a single design and build project, sharing databases and designs electronically, communicating both by e-mail and in real time through periodic video conferencing, and building their respective portions of the final design at the individual institutions. The team members met each other in person at the end of the project when they came together in Ankara to assemble the final design and participate in the design competition with the remaining teams from METU. The IVDS provides students with a real-world design experience, international cultural interaction, and team building and project management experience. The success of this program has led to plans to expand it to include other disciplines and additional universities throughout the world