Board 381: Serving Community Needs while Sharpening Engineering Skills

Urszula Zalewski; Marianna Savoca; Monica Bugallo

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Conference: 2024 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition
Location: Portland, Oregon
Publication Date: June 23, 2024
Start Date: June 23, 2024
End Date: June 26, 2024
Conference Session: NSF Grantees Poster Session
Tagged Topics: Diversity and NSF Grantees Poster Session
Page Count: 10
DOI: 10.18260/1-2--46966
Permanent URL: https://peer.asee.org/46966
Download Count: 55

Paper Authors

biography

Urszula Zalewski Stony Brook University

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Urszula oversees experiential education initiatives including successful implementation of experiential learning opportunities including internships, student employment initiatives and community outreach programs. Urszula brings her expertise in career readiness, employer relations, and assessment. She expertly builds strong collaborations among on campus and off campus stakeholders, and has expanded high impact practices leading to student success and has raised more than $1Million in grants to support capacity building in experiential education & community engagement. Urszula is a faculty teaching service-learning courses in STEM academic programs and customized graduate courses for industry partners. She has earned a master's degree in Management & Policy from Stony Brook University and a BS/MBA from the University of Economics in Krakow, Poland.

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Marianna Savoca Stony Brook University

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Marianna Savoca is both an administrator and faculty member. She teaches career development, leadership, and external relations, collaborates with faculty on research and programmatic initiatives, as well as oversees internships and practicum experiences

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biography

Monica Bugallo Stony Brook University orcid.org/0000-0003-2963-1474

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Monica Bugallo is a Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering and Faculty Director of the Women In Science and Engineering (WISE) Honors program at Stony Brook University. She received her B.S., M.S, and Ph. D. degrees in computer science and engin

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Abstract

This project, A National Model for an Undergraduate Women in Science and Engineering (WISE) Program, includes a novel experiential course, Service Learning in STEM, which aimed to create opportunities for students to apply their technical skills to community based problems. Incorporating service projects as part of required curriculum ensures that all students have access without the burden of additional credit hours. Moreover, the innovative partnership with career services has brought a diverse group of non-profit agencies from the local area to the program through its existing relationships. Agencies present their projects and students choose; 5-6 teams are assigned to each project. Projects vary from term to term. Examples include: coordinating Hack-a-thon on 3D modeling, creating digital tools to spread awareness on human trafficking, building a trebuchet by using mechanics and physics behind it, building a balloon powered cardboard car or constructing a digital map for circular economy programs to divert waste from landfills. Weekly meetings between agency and team are coordinated by a student team leader and held to co-develop the process, deliverables, timeline and implementation plans. Students complete bi-weekly personal journal reflections to unpack their experience throughout the term. Projects are presented at the end of the term with agency representatives attending. Peer evaluations are conducted, as well as periodic surveys and focus groups to understand the efficacy of the experiences for both students and community partners. Students report high satisfaction with the experience, pointing to several gains: deeper understanding of the plight of communities in need (e.g., homeless, seniors, underprivileged kids), skills they honed during the project (e.g., essential skills such as organizational, communication, presentation, teamwork, creative problem solving, perseverance, leadership), and technical skills (e.g., project design, data collection, analysis, visualization, project management), along with the feelings of pride and personal fulfillment from the intrinsic rewards of seeing their positive impact. Community partners appreciate the intensive project work, and the deeper connections they make with the institution. While feedback from students and community partners is overwhelmingly positive, a surprising finding was that students prefer educational and social justice projects (~78%), not necessarily those involving highly technical problem solving. Future iterations of the program will require deeper interrogation of these preferences.

Citation
Format

Zalewski, U., & Savoca, M., & Bugallo, M. (2024, June), Board 381: Serving Community Needs while Sharpening Engineering Skills Paper presented at 2024 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Portland, Oregon. 10.18260/1-2--46966

TY  - CPAPER
AB  - This project, A National Model for an Undergraduate Women in Science and Engineering (WISE) Program, includes a novel experiential course, Service Learning in STEM, which aimed to create opportunities for students to apply their technical skills to community based problems. Incorporating service projects as part of required curriculum ensures that all students have access without the burden of additional credit hours. Moreover, the innovative partnership with career services has brought a diverse group of non-profit agencies from the local area to the program through its existing relationships. Agencies present their projects and students choose; 5-6 teams are assigned to each project. Projects vary from term to term. Examples include: coordinating Hack-a-thon on 3D modeling, creating digital tools to spread awareness on human trafficking, building a trebuchet by using mechanics and physics behind it, building a balloon powered cardboard car or constructing a digital map for circular economy programs to divert waste from landfills. Weekly meetings between agency and team are coordinated by a student team leader and held to co-develop the process, deliverables, timeline and implementation plans. Students complete bi-weekly personal journal reflections to unpack their experience throughout the term. Projects are presented at the end of the term with agency representatives attending. Peer evaluations are conducted, as well as periodic surveys and focus groups to understand the efficacy of the experiences for both students and community partners. Students report high satisfaction with the experience, pointing to several gains: deeper understanding of the plight of communities in need (e.g., homeless, seniors, underprivileged kids), skills they honed during the project (e.g., essential skills such as organizational, communication, presentation, teamwork, creative problem solving, perseverance, leadership), and  technical skills (e.g., project design, data collection, analysis, visualization, project management), along with the feelings of pride and personal fulfillment from the intrinsic rewards of seeing their positive impact. Community partners appreciate the intensive project work, and the deeper connections they make with the institution. While feedback from students and community partners is overwhelmingly positive, a surprising finding was that students prefer educational and social justice projects (~78%), not necessarily those involving highly technical problem solving. Future iterations of the program will require deeper interrogation of these preferences.

AU  - Urszula Zalewski
AU  - Marianna Savoca
AU  - Monica Bugallo
CY  - Portland, Oregon
DA  - 2024/06/23
PB  - ASEE Conferences
TI  - Board 381: Serving Community Needs while Sharpening Engineering Skills
UR  - https://peer.asee.org/46966
DO  - 10.18260/1-2--46966
ER  -