This project aims to increase the commitment of freshman engineering students to the pursuit of engineering as an academic major and profession and increase the number of women and underrepresented minorities matriculating into engineering. Innovative learner-centered materials and strategies will capture the interests of students with diverse backgrounds, while encouraging higher-level thinking. Freshmen and prospective engineering students will be given an opportunity to explore topics of their choice in an engineering foundation course. Web-based lines of study, referred to as Elective Units, also offer topics, including vignettes, based on Grand Challenges. Interviews with leading experts describing each challenge and emphasizing the important role that engineers play in solving these problems will be recorded. Students will use the vignettes and reference materials to decide which Elective Unit(s) they wish to study. Desire-to-Learn (D2L) web-sites will be created for each Elective Unit and will provide access to a variety of educational experiences that should appeal to a wide range of learning styles. Student feedback and assessment will be used to enhance and refine the Elective Units. A workshop will be conducted to educate the instructor team on the benefits of learner-centered education strategies, as well as the technology and tools that are available to enhance student learning through the Elective Units. Student performance on assignments, projects, quizzes and tests will be evaluated to assess the effectiveness of the teaching methodologies. In addition, students will be surveyed to evaluate whether their commitment to engineering is enhanced as a result of the Elective Units. Enhanced commitment to engineering should help to achieve the long-term goal to increase the recruitment and retention of students, particularly underrepresented students, in the College of Engineering.