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CORVALLIS - The College of Engineering at Oregon State University has received a three-year, $1.1 million grant from the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation that will support development of new ways to recruit, retain and educate engineering students, especially women and minorities.

The grant is one of nine made by the foundation to leading programs of engineering education, as part of its Engineering Schools of the West Initiative. This effort is aimed at improved undergraduate engineering education and increasing the number of engineering graduates.

"This grant will enable OSU to energize and inspire first- and second-year engineering students, by developing coursework that is much more hands-on, interesting and fun," said Toni Doolen, an OSU assistant professor in industrial and manufacturing engineering. "Receiving this level of funding for curriculum enhancement is exceptional."

There are a number of planned enhancements, Doolen said. OSU will provide personal digital assistants to students in wireless lecture halls; let students touch and tear apart objects in the classroom that illustrate real-world engineering theory; and expand outreach programs to high school students.

Assistant professor David Porter said many students enroll in engineering because they want to make a difference in the world.

"Unfortunately, what often gets lost in the first two years of a typical engineering curriculum is how the equations and theories scratched on the chalkboard relate to solving real-world engineering problems," Porter said. "This grant will enable us to change that."

OSU will try to keep engineering students engaged and enthused from day one, Doolan said.

"Statics, for example, is often a dry class, but it can be taught using something as common as a paper punch," Doolen said. "Once students understand the theory as it applies to an object they use every day, they can quickly apply the theory to more complex problems."

This initiative will aid OSU in some of its key goals, Doolen said, which include attracting the best students and developing work-ready engineers who can do applications-focused research in the job market.

Some of the funding from the grant will also be available to faculty who teach engineering students other subjects such as statistics, physics and chemistry. OSU is also expected to collaborate with the other institutions receiving the Hewlett Foundation grants to share their ideas and innovations.

The Hewlett Foundation, incorporated as a private foundation in California in 1966, was established by the late Palo Alto industrialist William R. Hewlett, his wife, Flora Lamson Hewlett, and their eldest son, Walter B. Hewlett. The foundation's broad purpose is to promote the well-being of mankind by supporting selected activities of a charitable nature, as well as organizations or institutions engaged in such activities. Further information can be found on the web at www.hewlett.org.