Fessenden Honors in Engineering Program: More Information
The Fessenden Honors in Engineering Program (FHEP) was founded in 1991 by two engineering students—Mike Fasolka, a materials science and engineering student, and Ted Kostek, a mechanical engineering student—as a yearlong program for freshman engineering students at the University of Pittsburgh.
According to Fasolka:
"During the spring of 1991 I began having discussions with Ted Kostek and Dr. Alec Stewart [physics professor and dean of the University Honors College] about the nature and purpose of undergraduate engineering education.
"During these discussions some things became apparent to us. First, we decided that by and large, the School of Engineering does an excellent job in training students for the engineering profession, especially after these students enter their chosen departments.
“However, while it forms the foundation on which an engineering education is based, we came to the conclusion that this technical knowledge must be supplemented with a regimen of other ideas if a student is to be an effective engineer. These supplementary topics are especially important for first-year students, who often know little about what engineers do and why they are educated the way they are."
The crux of FHEP, then, is to augment the technical, classroom aspect of engineering with a discussion of nontechnical topics, enabling emerging engineers to better understand the profession, its responsibilities and mandates, and its relation to society at large. This contemplation is of particular interest to future leaders of the engineering profession, high-tech companies, and public policy debates.
Science and engineering, like other things in life, contain gray areas and paradoxes. To many this is a surprise. Natural and engineering science textbooks present a logical procession of ideas, in which each new concept assimilates placidly into an expanded web of technical knowledge (truth?). In reality, the interplay of crisp scientific logic with real-world externalities (ethical considerations, risk of failure, public scrutiny and protest, etc.) complicates the practice of engineering.
FHEP encourages engineering introspection early in one’s academic career, so that the ideas kindled by the seminar lead toward an increasingly sophisticated perspective on the profession in later years.
Furthermore, FHEP emphasizes the importance of a liberal education for engineers—or, as Dean Stewart phrases it, engineers who can "read, write, and think across the disciplines." In a society and economy largely driven—perhaps defined—by its technology, engineering questions are rarely purely technical, and social or humanistic questions often involve a technical element.
To function effectively, and to prevent estrangement from the world at large, engineering professionals must obtain fluency in the humanities as well as the sciences. Or, as Albert Einstein phrased it, "Concern for mankind himself and his fate must always form the chief interest of all technical endeavors. ... Never forget that in the midst of your diagrams and equations."
The weekly seminar is student-led by a team of upper-class preceptors. There, older students act as mentors for the younger students. Similarly, the FHEP preceptors (FHEPsters), who participated in the program themselves as freshmen, lead seminar discussions and offer guidance to first-year engineering students.
FHEP aims to spark enthusiasm for the profession, hone critical thinking about technical and societal issues, expose participants to new viewpoints and appreciations, and provide guidance about obtaining a superior education at the University of Pittsburgh (in addition to, and as distinguished from, a superior technical training). The FHEPsters also develop a strong sense of camaraderie, participate in hikes and educational excursions, and have a genuinely enjoyable time.
Incoming freshmen in the Swanson School of Engineering interested in the FHEP seminar should express their wish to join to their engineering advisor.