France: Risk Assessment in Engineering
May 30 - June 27, 2009
ENES 458F (4 credits)
Risk in engineering has become a strategic economic issue due to society’s ever-growing safety requirements. Industry must be increasingly irreproachable with regard to risk, which must be evaluated and mitigated constantly whatever the field of activity in question: chemical, metallurgy, nuclear, agribusiness, packaging, plant and equipment, pharmaceutical, waste treatment, transport, Internet, data management, etc.
The engineer in charge of safety must be able to evaluate the likelihood of an accident and communicate appropriately and efficiently with scientists, employees, the media, economists, lawyers, sociologists, medical personnel, elected officials, or administrative authorities. The multiplicity of techniques involved makes the theme of “risk” one that demands a multidisciplinary teaching approach.
This four-week program is open to all majors, but may be particularly beneficial to students planning a career in engineering or other technology related fields. The curriculum is designed for students who are highly motivated, both academically and personally, and who are seeking to actively engage in the challenges of a new learning environment. The course will provide you with an understanding of risk in engineering, beginning with an overview of the techniques used to evaluate risk. Risk in specific domains will be discussed, including fire and explosions, chemical plants, financial domain, software development, environment, and nuclear plants. Several field trips will be organized, including a missile factory, an armor factory, a nuclear plant, and a wine producer.
Students pursuing a Minor in International Engineering will be able to apply ENES458F to their minor. The requirements for the Minor in International Engineering include language, culture studies, or internationally related studies plus an engineering study, research, or work experience abroad. About 15 hours of French for beginners will be taught.
The course will be taught in Bourges, France, a community in central France located on the Yèvre river about 150 miles south of Paris. It is the capital of the département of Cher and also was the capital of the former province of Berry. The city has a long tradition of art and a rich history. The Gothic Cathedral of Saint Etienne, begun at the end of the twelfth century, is listed as a World Heritage Site. Other sites of importance include the Palace of Jacques Cœur and a sixty-five-hectare district of timber houses and grande homes.
Accomodations
Students will be hosted in various houses shared with French families (arranged by our partner institution, the Ecole Nationale Supérieure d'Ingénieurs de Bourges, ENSIB). This will provide a unique experience of French culture.
The students will travel by train or chartered bus.
Sites to be visited include: MBDA (missile factory), Belleville nuclear plant, NEXTER (ammunition factory), Nançay observatory, cathedral of Bourges, and Sancerre wine cellars.
Faculty and Staff
Dr. Michel Cukier is an Associate Professor at the Center for Risk and Reliability in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Maryland. He earned his doctorate from LAAS-CNRS, Toulouse, France in 1996 on coverage estimation of fault-tolerant systems. From 1996 to 2001, he was a member of the Perform research group in the Coordinated Science Laboratory at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, working on adaptive fault tolerance and intrusion tolerance. His current research interests include security quantification, intrusion tolerance, distributed system validation and fault injection. He is member of the IEEE.
For program and course information, please contact Caine Francis in International Engineering Programs at 301-405-5432.
For questions about the application, registration and pre-departure logistics, please contact the Study Abroad Office.