One of the objectives of the Foundation Coalition is to bring the core competencies into all aspects of the engineering curricula. At Texas A&M University it became apparent that the students were not understanding connections between all of the engineering science courses and were often undervaluing the courses that they did not perceive to be "in their major." Texas A&M had already piloted an Engineering Science Core Program under a curriculum and course development grant from NSF. (Interested readers may want to read about the evolution of the sophomore program.) Then, in November 1994 a team of faculty members from engineering, mathematics, physics, and English started meeting to review and reform the courses that engineering sophomores take. The team used the following guidelines in developing a set of sophomore courses for engineering majors:

1. the sophomore courses must build on the freshman coalition year;the sophomore program must be for all engineering majors;
2. the approach would be based on the conservation and system accounting principles developed in the NSF Engineering Science Core Program;
3. the program should integrate across the courses;
4. the courses must involve teaming and active learning;
5. the courses must involve technology in the classroom learning environment; and
6. the courses must be teachable by a large set of faculty.

The faculty team developed a sophomore-year curriculum that integrated mechanics, thermodynamics, materials, electric circuits and systems, and some heat transfer, fluids, and strength of materials, as well as physics, Calculus III, differential equations, and technical writing.

References for further information

1. Glover, Charles, J., and Carl A. Erdman, "Overview of the Texas A&M/NSF Engineering Core Curriculum Development," Proceedings, 1992 Frontiers in Education Conference, Nashville, Tennessee, 11–14 November 1992, pp. 363–367.
2. Glover, Charles J., K.M. Lunsford, and John A. Fleming, "TAMU/NSF Engineering Core Curriculum Course 1: Conservation Principles in Engineering," Proceedings, 1992 Frontiers in Education Conference, Nashville, Tennessee, 11–14 November 1992, pp. 603–608.
3. Glover, Charles J., K.M. Lunsford, and John A. Fleming, Conservation Principles and the Structure of Engineering, 3d ed., New York:McGraw-Hill College Custom Series, 1992.
4. Pollock, Thomas C., "TAMU/NSF Engineering Core Curriculum Course 2: Properties of Matter," Proceedings, 1992 Frontiers in Education Conference, Nashville, Tennessee, 11–14 November 1992, pp. 609–613.
5. Pollock, Thomas C., Properties of Matter, 3rd edition, New York:McGraw-Hill College Custom Series, 1992.
6. Everett, Louis J., "TAMU/NSF Engineering Core Curriculum Course 3: Understanding Engineering via Conservation," Proceedings, 1992 Frontiers in Education Conference, Nashville, Tennessee, 11–14 November 1992, pp. 614–619.
7. Everett, Louis J., Understanding Engineering Systems via Conservation, 2nd edition, New York:McGraw-Hill College Custom Series, 1992.
8. Glover, Charles J. and H.L. Jones, "TAMU/NSF Engineering Core Curriculum Course 4: Conservation Principles for Continuous Media," Proceedings, 1992 Frontiers in Education Conference, Nashville, Tennessee, 11–14 November 1992, pp. 620–624.
9. Glover, C.J. and H.L. Jones, Conservation Principles for Continuous Media, 2nd edition, New York:McGraw-Hill College Custom Series, 1992.
10. Erdman, Carl A., Charles J. Glover, and V.L. Willson, "Curriculum Change: Acceptance and Dissemination," Proceedings, 1992 Frontiers in Education Conference, Nashville, Tennessee, 11–14 November 1992, pp. 368–372.
11. Griffin, R., L. Everett, P. Keating, D. Lagoudas, E. Tebeaux, D. Parker, W. Bassichis, and D. Barrow, "Planning the Texas A&M University College of Engineering Sophomore Year Integrated Curriculum," Fourth World Conference on Engineering Education, St. Paul, Minnesota, October 1995, vol. 1, pp. 228–232.
12. Everett, Louis J., "Experiences in the Integrated Sophomore Year of the Foundation Coalition at Texas A&M," Proceedings, 1996 ASEE National Conference, Washington, DC, June 1996.
13. Everett, Louis J., "Dynamics as a Process, Helping Undergraduates Understand Design and Analysis of Dynamics Systems," Proceedings, 1997 ASEE National Conference.
14. Griffin, Richard, Louis Everett, and Dimitris Lagoudas, "Development of a Sophomore Year Engineering Program at Texas A&M University" Proceedings, 1997 Frontiers in Education Conference, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, November 1997.