| Summary: | This record of study investigates twelve months of engineering industry
experience, a required internship of the Doctor of Engineering degree program at Texas
A&M University. The internship company was Schlumberger Limited. The record of
study begins with a brief introduction to the company. Three projects undertaken by the
intern during the internship are discussed. The projects show how a wide variety of
knowledge, both technical and practical, is required to solve engineering problems.
Issues facing newly graduated engineers in industry are discussed. Issues facing newly
graduated engineers exposed to industry for the first time are quite different than a
traditional engineering curriculum has prepared them to encounter. Industry today is
demanding a well-educated engineer capable of tackling technical problems in several
areas as well as engineers with the ability to easily communicate and interact with others
and develop leadership potential. Academia, industry, and society all have a highly
influential role in developing engineers. The engineer must consider the interaction of
technology and society when searching for a solution to optimize the benefit to all. The study further investigates academic challenges as well as the declining number of
engineers, international competition, industry responsibility, and observations made
during the internship period. Research has shown that in the next few year as the Baby
Boomer generation of approximately 77 million people begin to retire, the next
generation of approximately 44 million will have difficulty keeping up with technical
and scientific demands. Industry demand for science and engineering graduates is
beginning to overwhelm academiaâÂÂs ability to respond and produce. Few U.S.
undergraduates are continuing education in graduate schools. This leaves a large student
population base to be filled by international students. U.S. citizens accounted for only
35-percent of the total number of doctoral degree recipients in science and engineering
during the 2005 academic year. Observations made during the internship period will be
used to make recommendations to both industry and academia to help align industry
demands and academic abilities in order to produce engineering graduates that are ready
to accept the vastly different challenges encountered in industry.
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