Diversifying STEM Higher Education through Online Collaborative Instruction: The Case of an Engineering Ethics Course between an MSI and PWI

Brian Aufderheide; Otsebele E Nare; Garrick E. Louis; Andres Clarens

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Conference: ASEE Southeast Section Conference
Location: Arlington, Virginia
Publication Date: March 12, 2023
Start Date: March 12, 2023
End Date: March 14, 2023
Conference Session: Communications and Ethics
Tagged Topics: Diversity and Professional Engineering Education Papers
Page Count: 13
DOI: 10.18260/1-2--45002
Permanent URL: https://peer.asee.org/45002
Download Count: 82

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Paper Authors

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Brian Aufderheide Hampton University orcid.org/0000-0001-9251-4516

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Dr. Brian Aufderheide is Associate Professor in Chemical Engineering at Hampton University. He completed his PhD in Chemical Engineering at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. His areas of expertise are in advanced control, design, and modeling of biomedical, chemi

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Otsebele E Nare Hampton University

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Otsebele Nare is an Associate Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Hampton University, VA. He received his electrical engineering doctorate from Morgan State University, Baltimore, MD, in 2005. He has developed and taught a wide range of courses mainly in electrical and computer engineering. Has led multidisciplinary teams in multiple STEM programs. His research interests include System Level Synthesis Techniques, Multi-Objective Optimization, and K-20 Integrative STEM education.

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Garrick E. Louis University of Virginia

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Garrick Louis is Associate Professor of Engineering Systems and Environment (ESE), and Associate Professor of Engineering & Society at the University of Virginia. His research investigates local capacity building for sustained access to infrastructure-based services and sustainable development in low-income communities, with an emphasis on water and sanitation. Prof. Louis holds a BSc. In Chemical Engineering from Howard University, MSc. in Chemical Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, and a PhD in Engineering and Public Policy from Carnegie Mellon University. He received the 2000 Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers from the National Science Foundation, is a 2006-7 AAAS Energy Environment and Natural Resources Fellow, a 2014 Design and Health Faculty Fellow at the University of Virginia, and a 2015 Jefferson Science Fellow as Science Advisor to the Office of Global Food Security at the U.S. Department of State. Prof Louis is a Fulbright Specialist in Environment & Development and co-lead of UVA’s Resilient Urban Water Systems Working Group. He is the Director for Diversity and Inclusion in ESE.

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Andres Clarens University of Virginia

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I am a Professor of Environmental Engineering at the University of Virginia and Associate Director of the University’s Environmental Resilience Institute. Our group studies decarbonization of infrastructure systems. At large scales, our work explores the life cycle environmental impacts of the manufacturing, transportation, and energy sectors through projects in next-generation bioenergy, subsurface energy storage, and negative emissions technologies. At the molecular scale, we study the chemistry of CO2 in high pressure environments to support geologic carbon storage and the production of carbon-negative cements. Our work is supported by a range of federal agencies including the National Science Foundation and the Department of Energy. I have been a visiting professor at Utrecht University (Netherlands) and the Technical University of Argentina. Before coming to UVA I was a US Peace Corps volunteer in the Dominican Republic and I received a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Virginia, and an M.S.E. and Ph.D. in Environmental Engineering from the University of Michigan. I have three great kids and I love to backpack, fly-fishing, and travel with them.

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Abstract

This paper presents the results of a collaboration between a Predominantly White Institution (PWI) and a Minority Serving Institution (MSI) in delivery of their respective Engineering Ethics courses. The collaboration is based on a Mutual Benefit Approach to increasing diversity in research and education between a PWI and an MSI. The collaboration allows students to engage in a diversified classroom environment online, while remaining physically at their respective institutions. The intent is to build relationships between faculty and students at the respective institutions that could lead to other forms of collaboration, including joint research projects and opportunities for graduate study at the PWI for students from the MSI, where there is no graduate program. The joint courses are taught at the same time so that lectures and outside seminars of interest can be shared in a hybrid learning environment through the Zoom and Blackboard applications. The PWI course was directed to graduate students while the MSI course was for undergraduate engineering students. Four seminars were shared between the two courses covering a set of overlapping topics, namely, Professional Engineering Codes of Ethics, Corporate Ethics, Quality and Compliance, Intellectual Property, and Climate Ethics. The Climate Ethics presentation spurred the creation of a Life Cycle Analysis Carbon Tax Excel sheet, which included greenhouse gas emission calculations for electricity and steam generation along with direct process emissions. The carbon tax calculation was then used as a line item for Profit Loss sheet in a Financial Operational Model of the overall process of electricity generation. Student and instructor interest in this exercise suggested the benefit of creating collaborative homework assignments and a shared semester project in the next iteration of the course. Students and faculty from the MSI will be more active in using the chat board and other resources that the PWI has on their Ethics Center website. The collaboration resulted in an internal grant by the participating faculty at the PWI to support one-day exchange visits between the two classes at each other’s respective institutions. This will extend the gradual process of immersion in a diverse environment by giving the students, what would be for most of them, their first experience in the classrooms, labs, and dining halls of a PWI or MSI campus. The grant will also provide an opportunity to conduct a formal research study of student, faculty, and institutional perceptions of the project and identify ways to improve and extend it. As the MBA collaboration increases, our hypothesis is that students and faculty at both institutions will grow more fluent in interacting with each other in a diverse environment, which they would not have been able to accomplish at their respective institutions. This will pave the way for other joint courses, joint research proposals, and access to graduate programs at the PWI for students from the MSI.

Citation
Format

Aufderheide, B., & Nare, O. E., & Louis, G. E., & Clarens, A. (2023, March), Diversifying STEM Higher Education through Online Collaborative Instruction: The Case of an Engineering Ethics Course between an MSI and PWI Paper presented at ASEE Southeast Section Conference, Arlington, Virginia. 10.18260/1-2--45002

TY  - CPAPER
AB  - This paper presents the results of a collaboration between a Predominantly White Institution (PWI) and a Minority Serving Institution (MSI) in delivery of their respective Engineering Ethics courses.  The collaboration is based on a Mutual Benefit Approach to increasing diversity in research and education between a PWI and an MSI.  The collaboration allows students to engage in a diversified classroom environment online, while remaining physically at their respective institutions. The intent is to build relationships between faculty and students at the respective institutions that could lead to other forms of collaboration, including joint research projects and opportunities for graduate study at the PWI for students from the MSI, where there is no graduate program. The joint courses are taught at the same time so that lectures and outside seminars of interest can be shared in a hybrid learning environment through the Zoom and Blackboard applications. The PWI course was directed to graduate students while the MSI course was for undergraduate engineering students.  Four seminars were shared between the two courses covering a set of overlapping topics, namely, Professional Engineering Codes of Ethics, Corporate Ethics, Quality and Compliance, Intellectual Property, and Climate Ethics.   The Climate Ethics presentation spurred the creation of a Life Cycle Analysis Carbon Tax Excel sheet, which included greenhouse gas emission calculations for electricity and steam generation along with direct process emissions.  The carbon tax calculation was then used as a line item for Profit Loss sheet in a Financial Operational Model of the overall process of electricity generation. Student and instructor interest in this exercise suggested the benefit of creating collaborative homework assignments and a shared semester project in the next iteration of the course. Students and faculty from the MSI will be more active in using the chat board and other resources that the PWI has on their Ethics Center website. The collaboration resulted in an internal grant by the participating faculty at the PWI to support one-day exchange visits between the two classes at each other’s respective institutions. This will extend the gradual process of immersion in a diverse environment by giving the students, what would be for most of them, their first experience in the classrooms, labs, and dining halls of a PWI or MSI campus. The grant will also provide an opportunity to conduct a formal research study of student, faculty, and institutional perceptions of the project and identify ways to improve and extend it.  As the MBA collaboration increases, our hypothesis is that students and faculty at both institutions will grow more fluent in interacting with each other in a diverse environment, which they would not have been able to accomplish at their respective institutions. This will pave the way for other joint courses, joint research proposals, and access to graduate programs at the PWI for students from the MSI. 
AU  - Brian Aufderheide
AU  - Otsebele E Nare
AU  - Garrick E. Louis
AU  - Andres Clarens
CY  - Arlington, Virginia
DA  - 2023/03/12
PB  - ASEE Conferences
TI  - Diversifying STEM Higher Education through Online Collaborative Instruction: The Case of an Engineering Ethics Course between an MSI and PWI
UR  - https://peer.asee.org/45002
DO  - 10.18260/1-2--45002
ER  -