The MSE Department has surveyed its graduates, students, faculty, and members of its Outside Advisor Committee for more than 6 years. Data collected from alumni and students have been used to establish baseline data that are now used to identify trends and areas that need improvement. The Department has surveyed faculty and compared those survey results with alumni feedback to identify differences in what faculty and graduates feel are important issues. The Department has surveyed members of its Advisory Committee to obtain a longer view as to where the field is going, and what the Department can do to help graduates succeed in a changing environment and at the same time meet the needs of industry, the State, and the Nation.

The Department has learned, through the assessment process, that the program’s alumni are highly satisfied with the educational experience they received at the University of Arizona and that they feel better prepared for working in industry and at graduate school than their counterparts. Our Outside Advisory Committee, while providing valuable feedback, has also rated our program and our assessment process as one of success. Through the assessment process the Department has made changes regarding its curriculum concerning

• the importance of statistical design of experiments,
• the subject matter our students receive regarding kinetic processing of materials, and
• the breadth and extent our graduates are exposed to, and have a working knowledge of, software packages of importance to industry

The Department has also learned through the assessment process involving its Outside Advisor Committee of the need to produce graduates who have the ability to read technical manuals, setup equipment, and operate that equipment successfully. The point made by the Advisory Committee has to do with the fact that more and more engineering graduates find their first hire in small companies where the engineer faces exposure to a broad range of problems for which he did not receive specific instruction in while seeking his degree, but must now adapt to be successful. The Department is now responding to this suggestion.