Milestones mark progress along a path. Invented by Roman engineers and first used along the Appian Way, they provided both standards of measure and motivated travelers towards their destinations. The University of Cincinnati MILESTONES program is designed to provide students with particular skills – outside of the normal curriculum that will enhance their experiences in class, clubs, co-ops, internships, and while doing research in laboratories. The curriculum is flexible and will evolve with input from our corporate and industrial partners, research groups, national laboratories, and the National Academies. 

 

The MILESTONES program originated at Purdue University, motivated by a variety of factors and educational innovations. The first version was built out for the STEP camp (many thanks to Melissa Hale and all the staff and students who participated in that endeavor). During that rather intense week, high school students learned CAD, Arduino programming, and Robotics. It was an outstanding introduction to the kinds of problems we want them to be able to solve and the skills they need to do it. Skills that are often not part of traditional classroom topics. We expanded the number of MILESTONES as well as the number of students participating with the help of Purdue’s Office of Professional Practice. We found it necessary to deliver topics at a distance – especially for students participating in Co-op. Interestingly, one of the most popular MILESTONES was Geometric Dimensioning and Tolerancing (GD&T). Through the EPICS and VIP programs, these extracurricular experiences became curricular. Finally at the University of Cincinnati they were immediately integrated into the first year curriculum. 

 

To date, each Milestone has consisted of 2-10 sessions, each one lasting approximately two hours and they have been documented with electronic microcertifications. While the Milestones do not have to be completed in a specific order, they group into families of skills related to specific disciplines. Generally speaking – we focus on (1) Solid Prototyping and Manufacturing and (2) Electronics and App Development.