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Introduction
In correspondence with the National Development Plan of Taiwan, the College of Engineering leveraged its strengths in multiple fields to establish the Undergraduate Program of Intellectual Creativity Engineering (UPICE). The UPICE aims to cultivate students' problem-solving and creative thinking abilities. Core training in Artificial Intelligence (AI) combined with focused course concentrations prepare students for careers in civil engineering, materials science, manufacturing, and other fields.
Our program applies Problem-Based Learning (PBL) to enhance students' critical thinking skills and creativity.
UPICE also often collaborates on joint courses and interdisciplinary research projects.
Objectives
1. Course Planning
- This program aims to develop creative and intelligent engineering talents. The curriculum of this program includes AI courses, hands-on courses, brainstorming sessions, program design, interdisciplinary courses, and internship opportunities associated with social responsibility, etc., in a way that works closely with engineering-related industries.
- This program will offer calculus, engineering mathematics, AI, creativity, and other fundamental courses. There will also be English classes to hone our students' professional English skills. Students will utilize problem-based learning (PBL) in their interdisciplinary studies, which places great emphasis on timely communication between teachers, teaching assistants, and students, and relies on timely and interactive teaching modes such as lectures, design thinking, brainstorming, and result demonstrations.
- This program offers professional engineering courses in Smart Manufacturing, Smart City, and Smart Materials. Our students can choose a combination of one or two fields to develop their professional skills, depending on the nature of the issue they want to address.
2. Objectives
- Cultivate intelligent and creative engineering talents with interdisciplinary integration and problem-solving skills.
- Cultivate intelligent and creative engineering talents with industrial experience, who can apply their knowledge in related industries.
- Cultivate intelligent and creative engineering talents with an international perspective and overseas experience.
- Cultivate intelligent and creative engineering talents with self-learning skills, communication skills, and the ability of systematic integration.
- Construct an innovative education platform that centers around the students, with the college at its core.
3 Major Professional Fields
Smart Manufacturing
The low birth rate worldwide has contributed to a labor shortage and rising labor costs. On top of this, with shorter product lifespans, a rapidly-changing market, insufficient talents and technologies, as well as a wide gap between the human capital demand and supply, certain upstream and downstream SMEs cannot keep up with major corporations and as a result, the industry's worldwide competitiveness suffers. To address these issues effectively, Germany proposed the "Industry 4.0“ concept in 2012, using a “Cyber-Physical System” (CPS) that integrates modern information and communication technologies with traditional manufacturing to build "smart factories." The US also initiated its "Advanced Manufacturing Partnership (AMP)" program, with the goal to become the global manufacturing leader once again. Japan implemented the "National Robot Plan" to develop future factories where humans and robots coexist as well as develop robots for medical care and other types of services.To develop the industry's global competitiveness, Taiwan implemented the "5+2 Industry Innovation Plan" in May 2016. Among them, the "Smart Machinery Industry Promotion Program" utilizes smart technologies (including smart machinery, IoT, big data, human-robot collaboration systems, etc.) to build a smart machinery industrial ecosystem, while also mitigating the impact of a changing labor population structure and boost productivity to create the next wave of growth momentum for our industry.
Talents in the smart machinery field require expertise in fields such as component modules, intellectualization of machinery, production line integration technologies (such as Cyber-Physical Systems), sensors, signal analysis, health diagnosis and preventive maintenance, machine design optimization, processing optimization, Internet-connected machinery, analytics, electromechanical integration, controllers, deep learning and so on. The greatest difference between smart machinery and traditional development methods is the need to study human systems. Humans are born with sensors, including eyes, ears, nose, mouth, and skin, which send signals through the nervous system to the brain for analysis. To achieve the same functionality, machinery will require sensing capabilities, the ability to transmit information, and the ability to learn to analyze and make judgments. The ability to transmit information is the same as the nervous system. To conduct analysis and make judgments, signal capture and data analysis are required. All these technologies depend on software/hardware integration, particularly IoT, which is just like a human's nervous system. In the past, most machine and manufacturing-related departments emphasized the development of hardware and thus lacked training in software skills. Therefore, this field's main goal is to cultivate talents with the capability to integrate software and hardware, which will make up for the software skills that traditional programs lack.
The smart machinery courses will be based on smart manufacturing know-how and supplemented with manufacturing network integration technology, smart manufacturing technology, IoT data analysis and application, and PBL hands-on projects based on intelligent manufacturing. These courses will teach students about the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), data collection and analysis, AI, human-robot collaboration, and other software/hardware integration capabilities. Therefore, teachers from departments such as mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, computer science, and industrial engineering will be teaching these courses. Hands-on sessions that go with projects will stay in line with the needs of the industry and equip students with the capability for interdisciplinary integration.
Smart City
Smart City is the concept to utilize various information technologies and innovative ideas to integrate a city's structure and services to increase the efficiency of resource usage and improve the city's governance and services as well as the quality of life of its residents. A new generation of information technologies, including AI, big data, IoT, cloud computing, and 5G, can be fully implemented in a city's governance and all sorts of businesses and industries, using innovative methods to achieve precise and dynamic management, in order to improve a city's management, as well as the residents' quality of life, and build an environmentally-friendly and sustainable city.This course builds on the expertise of existing civil and environmental engineering, with more emphasis on innovation and diverse interdisciplinary applications. Smart analysis of big data helps reach a fine balance between development and environmental protection to help build a "smart environment." The Internet and remote monitoring technology allow a smart city to keep track of air pollution, and preventive measures can be taken according to the weather forecast to prevent poor air quality issues. The analysis of real-time traffic and other data can reduce traffic jams and mobile sources of air pollution, and realize "smart mobility." In addition, digital data analysis can also be used in smart building, smart monitoring, smart governance, smart disaster prevention, and other fields. Smart decisions based on digital data analysis can steer a city's development to be aligned with a more humanized goal of sustainability.
Smart Materials
This college, which is located in central Taiwan, the key area for the manufacturing of smart machinery and optoelectronics, established the Undergraduate Program of Intellectual Creativity Engineering in the academic year of 2021 in response to the government's Forward-looking Infrastructure Development Program, which promotes the applications of the AI industry. The program has utilized the expertise from all departments in the college and planned "Smart Materials,“ "Smart Manufacturing," and "Smart City" courses to cultivate a new generation of intelligent and creative talents in AI and engineering technologies. Among these three fields, the course planning for "Smart Materials" includes the following elective professional courses in the "Materials" and "Chemical Engineering" fields of this college to help students learn about the fundamentals and characteristics of various materials and processes, establishing a basic understanding and knowledge about material applications:Introduction to Chemical Engineering, Introduction to Electronic Materials, Introduction to Materials Science, Instrumental Analysis, Introduction to Polymer Systems, Water Treatment Thin Film Technologies, Practice in Process Design, Principles of Physical Metallurgy, Thin Film Manufacturing Process, Material Design and Selection, Electronic Materials, Material Analysis, Introduction to Electrochemical Energy Materials, Polymer Materials, and Circular Economy.
Our courses related to AI and creativity will develop the students' creative thinking, guiding them to incorporate what they learn in professional materials and chemical engineering courses, to inspire innovative applications of materials. This college also offers internship opportunities to help students learn by working in professional sites outside the university or country and accumulating real-world experience in the industry while gaining an understanding of the world's applications of and expectations towards materials. These real-world internship experiences will be incorporated into our "Creative Design of AI Products" course, where learned theories will be put into practice to help students develop smart materials that are more in line with society's development and can be used in creative product ideas.
All the divisions within this college are working closely with their respective industries while providing students with opportunities for diverse learning and for putting their knowledge to use, which includes the Intelligent Automation and Precision Machinery Research Center, Intelligent Minimally-Invasive Device Center, Unmanned Vehicle Research Center, and Intelligent Packaging Research Center.
AI is a key factor in bringing smart connectivity to electronics, and "Smart Materials" are the foundation for the manufacturing of diverse, intellectualized electronics, as well as the core for the development of intellectual creativity engineering. The R&D and design of crucial smart materials are the top priority in order to enhance the feasibility of intellectual creativity engineering. Interdisciplinary talents with the capability of integration need to be cultivated to bridge AI with key materials and expand the applications of smart materials. This field will help students with developing innovative skills and apply AI in mechanical engineering technologies and techniques, through its fundamental and professional lessons, accompanied by internships outside the school/country. Students will be guided to develop in related fields such as energy, optoelectronics, precision machinery, medicine, and agriculture to explore the diverse possibilities of the application of smart materials.
Organizational Structure
Future Development of Students
This program aims to develop advanced technology talents with AI expertise, the capability of integration and innovation, and an international perspective to promote the industry's development and improve society's quality of life:
(1) AI and Programming: Students will graduate with professional knowledge in fields such as AI and programming, which can be utilized in the digital technology industry, digital technology application industry, and innovative digital technology industry. By taking fundamental programming lessons, students can learn a third, technology-based language. As Taiwan is not an English-native country, learning programming languages can not only improve students' English abilities but also enhance their logical thinking abilities.
(2) Creative Thinking: To cultivate talents with hardware domain know-how, talents that can integrate interdisciplinary innovative applications, as well as talents with design thinking.
(3) Interdisciplinary Combination: Professional knowledge and skills including information software and data analysis are required for the integration of software and hardware skills, as well as the establishment of a software-hardware talent collaboration platform.
(4) International Perspective (language and cultural understanding): In addition to international exchanges, our program offers basic English and western culture courses to improve the students' English language skills and help them strengthen their ability to adapt to a globalized working environment.
After graduating from this program, students can work in the following fields and industries: technological R&D supervisor, system architect, system analyst, programmer, database administrator, information security, technical support, data analyst, information system consultant, project manager, product manager, marketing, medicine, creative, language translation, financial transaction, investment robots, language assistant, collaborative industrial robot and unmanned vehicle, etc.
Program Logo
The logo was designed by the first students of this program and selected via voting.