Project Details

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Stretch Assignment Application for Professional Development

Company: School of Engineering Design and Innovation

Major(s):
Primary: CMPSC
Secondary: CMPEN
Optional: ESC, IE

Non-Disclosure Agreement: NO

Intellectual Property: NO

The School of Engineering Design and Innovation (SEDI) is centrally housed within the College of Engineering and provides students with the critical skills necessary to succeed as engineers through cornerstone engineering and a variety of professional development programs. SEDI Faculty provide a diverse set of technical and professional skills that align with nearly all departments within the College of Engineering. Additionally, many of the SEDI programs span the entire Commonwealth, positioning SEDI to facilitate collaboration between students and faculty at any Penn State campus. However, to date, there is no streamlined method for communicating professional and/or technical development opportunities across all these stakeholders. The primary goal of this project is to create a web-based “Stretch Assignment” database for promoting professional and technical development opportunities for full-time employees across the College of Engineering. In this case, “Stretch Assignment” is defined as a temporary opportunity with a finite period of performance that would provide new knowledge or a new skillset to assist the employee in their professional and technical development. Stretch Assignments would typically be conducted in addition to the employee’s regular responsibilities and would not require a job change. Initially, the target audience for this application would be faculty, but staff may also be included. Stretch Assignments may or may not be paid opportunities and would be categorized as aligning with Administrative, Teaching, Research, or Service. The student design team is expected to develop an application that will be ready for deployment by Summer 2025. The application should be hosted on a PSU website and allow for both front-end user engagement as well as back-end administrative management. Additionally, an administrative dashboard should provide a real-time look into the platform’s utilization.