2025 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Everyday products are part of a massive global supply chain. Entire industries depend upon multi-national cooperation. The international marketplace impacts countless communities and distributes opportunity (unevenly). This project uses globalization as a tool in the engineering classroom to help engineering students concretize globalization by exploring its inertia, its pros and cons, and how to prepare to be an engineer in a globalized world.

Mechanical, electrical, and civil engineering students participated in an engineering economics course at [UNIVERSITY]. The students were assigned a research project to explore how globalization is a part of their lives – as citizens and engineers. Students focused their exploration around a product, industry, or community. They explore the interrelationship between that product/industry/community and the global economy. The written submissions and in-class discussions are analyzed, and the result is a set of themes characterizing engineering students' global perceptions and how to develop their global understanding. These students will undoubtedly be a part of a worldwide economy, and this project provides insights into their perceptions and curiosities about globalization.