Introduction

The Freshman Integrated Program in Engineering (FIPE) is a two-semester course at Arizona State University that brings together the traditional freshman engineering courses of Physics, Calculus, Engineering, and English. You may browse syllabi from selected semesters, intended to give a flavor of the schedule and topics covered by FIPE; links to course documents are included where applicable.

Design projects

The Engineering arm of FIPE is very important; one of the key aspects is the multi-week design projects given to students as part of their coursework.

Student teams

Another important aspect of FIPE is student teams. Training in team functions is given as an integral part of the course, rather than placing students into teams and expected them to "work things out". To head off potential conflict, some time is devoted explaining how to give (and receive!) constructive feedback. As the team decides what approaches to pursue on their design projects (see above), concept selection becomes very useful. Finally, presentation skills are a necessary component of FIPE; the students learn about some basic oral presentation guidelines that should serve them well throughout their engineering careers.

More information about FIPE is available, as well as papers written about FIPE.