Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering Online: A Journey of Challenges and Triumphs

In June 2005, three State University of New York (SUNY) campuses, namely Stony Brook University, the University at Buffalo, and Binghamton University, joined forces to provide a completely online electrical engineering program that would lead to a bachelor of science in electrical engineering (BSEE) degree. The program was put together to serve a nontraditional student body that is otherwise unable to achieve higher education in electrical engineering. The project was jump-started by an award from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. This multi-institutional approach was an effective medium for sharing the resources and revenue of the online offering of courses. The Sloan Foundation grant initiated a big step toward the "Learning Anywhere, Anytime" vision for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education. It helped to set up the infrastructure of an ambitious joint venture among the three SUNY campuses to collaborate on a jointly offered program.