Dr. Jones is Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, where he has taught courses in heat transfer, fluid mechanics, thermodynamics, computational fluid mechanics, and solar thermal analysis. Currently, he serves as associate dean for the 900-student undergraduate engineering program. His recent service-learning work on analysis and design of gravity-driven water networks has produced a textbook to be published by Wiley later this year. Abstract Villanova University has embarked on a

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... project-based approach for the required first year engineering experience. The two-semester sequence is divided into four ½ semester blocks with the first ½ semester block being the Core Course; this paper focuses on this first block. The Core Course is intended to cover material germane to the 5 engineering programs available at Villanova University (chemical, civil and environmental, computer, electrical and mechanical). This paper focuses on three major topic points: • A discussion on the motivation for the change in the freshman engineering experience; • Lecture details that take a geographically (and internationally) diverse set of freshman from different school systems and different learning backgrounds and provides the university-level engineering background that will enable them to successfully complete the mini-projects in the remaining three blocks in the sequence; and • Project details (both pedagogy and logistics) used in this first block to aid in student's understanding of the engineering method, the collection and interpretation of data, and the presentation of this data