Dr James Abbott, Head of the School of Engineering and Computing, The Sino-British College, USST, was invited to speak at the Shanghai STEM+ Summit at Shanghai Nanyang High School on 19 November, 2016. As a guest and keynote speaker, Dr Abbott gave a presentation entitled “Inter-disciplinary Engineering Education: Can We Teach Art and Science Together?”
At the summit, academics and experts from all over the world including the United States, Canada, the UK and Israel, gathered together to discuss STEM+ teaching and staff development in the forms of lectures, workshops and presentations. Policies and practice in relation to STEM education in various countries and regions were also discussed as one of the key elements of the event.
The abbreviation STEM stands for Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics. Originated from the United States, STEM is a brand-new concept for education, which focuses on enhancing students' awareness for innovation and ability for problem solving. It also encourages students to study science, technology, engineering and mathematics while providing training for science and technology literacy. STEM+ refers to STEM programmes that also incorporate subjects such as art, music, and the humanities.
The keynote presentation given by Dr Abbott focused on engineering and arts, detailing the linkage between music and physical acoustics. He also introduced the concept and practice of engineering education at SBC with a special emphasis on inter-disciplinary study. In this way of teaching, students are provided the opportunities to improve their inter-disciplinary knowledge and ability based on engineering, as well as the understanding of relationship between study and daily life.
In his presentation, Dr Abbott also have a brief introduction about the School of Engineering and Computing at SBC, including teaching of syllabus such as industrial management, industrial automation, process control, manufacturing operations management, materials engineering, signal processing and industrial networking, as well as the tailor-made academic English language programme at SBC.
Dr James Abbott is presently a Senior Lecturer and Head of the School of Engineering and Computing at SBC. He has worked extensively in engineering teaching and academic programme development in the US. For example, while at the The Cooper Union college in New York City, he developed a new PG and UG engineering curriculum including new subject courses and a teaching laboratory related to inter-disciplinary studies in acoustics and music.
He has also held appointments at the University of California at Berkeley, Harvard University, and New York University. He received his Ph.D. in Physics from the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology (MIT) in 1991, and was awarded the Goodwin Medal, the highest teaching award for a graduate student. His research interests include acoustic materials and active noise control, and he has worked previously at Bolt Beranek and Newman, Stanford Research Institute, and as a Senior Test Engineer for Apple, Inc.
