Introduction to Engineering: attract students and strengthen the pipeline

California has developed statewide consortia with the common goal of promoting engineering education. The five regional consortia in the California Engineering Career Pathway Consortia (CCPC) include Sacramento, Santa Clara, San Diego, Oxnard and Riverside. The vision of the Sacramento CCPC is to create a viable and proactive team of university, community college, high school, business and community leaders to address development of engineering education at all levels of the academic and technical education spectrum. This paper presents results from an "Introduction to Engineering" course that has been successfully Offered (concurrently) at Cordova High School and California State University, Sacramento. The course focuses on fundamental problem solving skills while highlighting the interconnections among the various engineering disciplines. Students in this course perform experiments on wind tunnels, surveying, optical engineering, analog and digital electronics. Through the Accelerated College Entrance (ACE) Program, high school students are able to complete the course for college credit and receive valuable hands on experience in CSUS laboratories. This course serves as an excellent motivational tool and helps attract students to engineering and engineering technology programs.