DOING GOOD PAYS OFF

A DECADE AGO, Purdue University electrical and computer engineering professors Leah H. Jamieson and Edward J. Coyle decided their students needed to get out more. So they launched EPICS, or Engineering Projects in Community Service. The program's goal jamieson says, was "teaching our students leadership skills in conjunction with real-world experiences. At the time, this challenged traditional engineering education, in which students are given hypothetical problems to solve and write about." And, as the title suggests, they also wanted the projects to benefit the community. The initial program had 40 students in five teams. Past projects include constructing wetlands and introducing engineering principies to elementary school students. This year, 400 students in 20 teams are enrolled in EPICS. Projects include efforts to trim home construction and energy costs for Habitat for Humanity and designing special toys for learning-disabled children. Moreover, EPICS is now offered at 15 other universities, with more than 1,350 students participating.

That success led the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) to award Jamieson,Coyle and William C. Oakes with the 2005 Bernard M.Gordon Prize, which recognizes innovation in engineering education. The prize includes a $500,000 cash award, split evenly between the recipient and his or her institution. Jamieson, EPICS' director Coyle, who heads EPIC's Entrepreneurship lnitiative,and Oakes, EPICS's codirector. declined to pocket their prize cash, so the entire $500,000 went to Purdue, which-of course -used it to the endow the EPICS program. -TG