Conference Session

Promoting ET Through K-12 Projects

Collection

2005 Annual Conference

Authors

John Marshall

Document 2005-744 Programmable Logic Controllers in the High Schools Improves College Enrollments John Allen Marshall, Ph.D. School of Applied Science, Engineering, and Technology University of Southern Maine Gorham, Maine 04038IntroductionToo few high school students understand that a technical career path can genuinely beexciting and neat. Some have the short-term view that good paying jobs are plentiful, sowhy take the really difficult courses. Many sell their own abilities short and convincethemselves that it is too difficult a

Conference Session

Faculty Development II

Collection

2005 Annual Conference

Authors

Justin Davis

moneystarts arriving. Many funding resources are available for new faculty which can help kick-startyour research program. Research Initiation grants are common within academia throughuniversities, conferences, and societies. Often the funding rate is much higher on thesethan from the standard funding agencies, although the dollar amount is usually fixed andis much lower. The length of the written proposal is also shorter, enabling many more tobe written within the same time. Early in a new professor’s career, quantity of grants ismore important than the dollar amount on them. Once you get tenure, then the dollaramounts are expected to go up.6. Advertise A part of a new professor’s success is networking. Successful professors

Conference Session

Program Delivery Methods and Technology

Collection

2005 Annual Conference

Authors

Howard Evans; Shekar Viswanathan

development of both ‘in classroom’ andinternet-based ‘online’ delivery formats are highlighted.Introduction Engineering Management leadership has become a highly sought out skill intoday’s competitive global technological marketplace. It is now a well recognized professionin most industries. Almost half of all engineers enter a management position within 10 yearsof graduation. In addition, an average engineer changes careers about five times as a result ofbeing trained on different skills and areas of specialty during her/his professional life time [1].Half of all registered professional engineers primarily utilize management skills rather thanpurely technical skills [2]. From small companies to giant global institutions

Conference Session

Best Zone Papers

Collection

2005 Annual Conference

Authors

Robert Powell; Michael Kwinn

different levels18% Gained an appreciation for other cultures12% Learned value in teamwork 9% Insight gained on direction of future military programs 9% Realized the role civilians (commercial companies and academic institutions) play in military readiness 9% The AIAD experience assisted in determining military career field 6% Need better two-way communicationThe feedback reveals the AIAD program is a very rewarding experience for cadets; and areflection of the direct correlation between the objectives desired in a work-based educationprogram. There were additional unforeseen benefits not articulated in a work-based educationprogram such as insight into career field designation and the valuable role of a

Conference Session

Math and K-12-Freshman Transitions

Collection

2005 Annual Conference

Authors

Fengfeng Zhou

knowledge essential for a career in science andengineering. It showed clearly that mathematics played a very important role in an engineeringscenario. Quite obviously, integrating math and physics together in an engineering circumstanceis an effective teaching approach. Its advantage can be seen more clearly by comparing it with aroutine teaching approach. The author once observed a class of teaching Coulomb’s law inwhich the teacher asked students to solve problems one after another using the law. In eachproblem, three or four electric charges with different quantities were placed at arbitrary locations.Although variations were made as to each charge’s quantity and location, students soon becametired because they were just repeating a tedious work

Conference Session

Attracting Young MINDs

Collection

2005 Annual Conference

Authors

Michele Auzenne; Jeanne Garland; J. Phillip King; Ricardo Jacquez

-supported opportunities, and 3) year-round advising support on career opportunities. This paper focuses on the challenges we faced indeveloping and maintaining the META program and presents the positive outcomes, such asstrengthened industry and community college relationships, engaging student activities, studentinternships, and the increase of students entering SMET fields, particularly civil engineering.The paper reflects plans for sustainability by further collaborations with our community collegeand industry partners.IntroductionRepresenting a joint effort of New Mexico State University, Santa Fe Community College(SFCC), Luna Community College (Luna CC), and five regional civil engineering industrypartners, the Minority Engineering Transfer

Conference Session

Undergraduate Retention Activities

Collection

2005 Annual Conference

Authors

Edward Evans; Francis Broadway; Sandra Spickard Prettyman; Helen Qammar

10.538.9responding to the prompt below, Emma, a sophomore student, spoke about how important her “Proceedings of the 2005 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition Copyright 2005, American Society for Engineering Education”industrial mentor was to the team, and to her. She learned a lot from her mentor, making her feelmore like an engineer herself. Prompt: One goal for PMT/VITDP is to prepare students for engineering careers. Describe some specific examples of what you are learning about engineering practice. How are you learning this (or how did you learn this) and from whom? I feel that this project is very helpful in giving me an idea of what a real engineering

Conference Session

Emerging Trends in Engineering Education Poster Session

Collection

2005 Annual Conference

Authors

Tia Sharpe; Robert Maher; James Peterson; James Becker; Bradford Towle

Engineering Educationexperience this year creating the new course and give several suggestions for other universitiesthat might be interested in creating a similar robot-based freshman course.Rationale for the new courseAs mentioned above, at nearly all of the nation’s universities freshmen engineering students takean introductory laboratory course.4,5,6 The manner in which the introductory material ispresented can profoundly influence a student’s enthusiasm and interest in subsequent coursework and, ultimately, a successful professional career. Realizing this importance, the MontanaState University ECE Department has devoted a considerable amount of time and effort refiningthe content of the freshman course, EE 101, and its method of presentation

Conference Session

Undergraduate-Industry-Research Linkages

Collection

2005 Annual Conference

Authors

John McMasters

truly student-centered approach with quality rather than quantity being anobjective at the undergraduate level, with much of the specialization in current programsdeferred to the graduate level and continued career-long learning opportunities.At the undergraduate level, we need to adopt a modern systems engineering perspective and do amuch better job of determining what really needs to be presented (and how to present it) in ourefforts to educate students to operate in a modern engineering environment, rather than merelythinking about what specific skills they may need in order to gain their initial job assignments, oras preparation for a graduate program in research. Instead of creating courses to meet specific(and too often parochial) needs

Conference Session

Workshop, Program, and Toolkit Results

Collection

2005 Annual Conference

Authors

David Devine

. Initial aspects of this career change were not completely positive. The visiting appointment was accepted much due to the loss of a job with an engineering consulting firm and occurred with less than 3 weeks before the first class began. This made the work of preparing to teach 3 classes for a first time instructor all the more challenging. Syllabi were prepared, classes were held, and grades were assigned for this first semester of teaching but the effectiveness of teaching was suspect and the amount of learning by students was questioned by the instructor. Student evaluations and comments from the Page 10.601.1 first year of teaching were below

Conference Session

Recruitment and Retention

Collection

2005 Annual Conference

Authors

Deborah Sharer; David Murphy; Stephen Kuyath

Engineering EducationIntroductionThe United States is facing a shortage of engineers because white female, African American,Latino, and Native American high school students traditionally have had little encouragement orhave exhibited little interest in pursuing careers related to these subjects1. Although they do notrealize it, these students are depriving themselves of many technical and scientific careerchoices, as well as access to high salaried occupations2.In 1995, women made up about 46 percent of the U.S. labor force but only about 9 percent of theengineering labor force3. If more women and minorities can be persuaded to purse a degree inengineering the imminent shortage can be averted. Although women currently comprise 52percent of high

Conference Session

Emerging Trends in Engineering Education Poster Session

Collection

2005 Annual Conference

Authors

Fanyu Zeng

, meetings, contact details, and schedules. • Project allows you set up project management information.The Microsoft Office Specialist exams evaluate and qualify your overall comprehensionof Microsoft Office or Microsoft Project applications, your ability to use their advancedfeatures, and your ability to integrate them with other software applications. Thisqualification helps to set students apart in today's competitive job market, bringingemployment opportunities, greater earning potential and career advancement, in additionto increased job satisfaction. Some research reveals: • Up to 83% of employers feel their Microsoft Office Specialist certified employees are more productive. • Up to 82% of employers believe Microsoft

Conference Session

Early College Retention Programs

Collection

2005 Annual Conference

Authors

Yvonne Ng

Taste of Engineering INTEGRATING ENGINEERING INTO A LIBERAL ARTS INSTITUTION Yvonne Ng Mathematical Sciences and Faculty co-Leader of Centers of Excellence for Women, Science and Technology College of St. CatherineAbstractStudies show that exposing students to engineering early in their college career increases their retentionin engineering programs. But how can such an experience be created at a liberal arts partner institutionthat has no engineering department? The College of St. Catherine, the largest Catholic women’sinstitution in the US, is the liberal

Conference Session

Writing and Communication I

Collection

2005 Annual Conference

Authors

Robert Askew; Cari-Sue Wilmot; Colley Hodges; Richard Bannerot

m ean to tal Statements Statements 5 4 3 2 1 A. Teaming skills will be very important to my career. 40 10 1 1 1 53 4.64 B I better understand how the audience of a report dictates the manner in which it is presented. 22 19 12 1 54

Conference Session

Emerging Trends in Engineering Education Poster Session

Collection

2005 Annual Conference

Authors

Steven Northrup

has instructed his students that they will be able, throughstaying in contact with their Capstone project advisor, to be part of a larger network of studentswhom they don’t personally know. They may, however, need each other at some point in thefuture. Swearengen et. al. states that “As outsourcing captures an increasing percentage ofengineering work, engineers will become ‘free agents’ in a professional services market. Long-term employment at a single company may become an exception. Thus responsibility for careerdevelopment shifts from employer to individual.”9 The network developed and maintained bystaying in touch with one’s former students may be beneficial to the students who findthemselves in a sudden career change. The sudden career

Conference Session

Emerging Trends in Engineering Education Poster Session

Collection

2005 Annual Conference

Authors

Warren Myers; Jack Byrd; Robin Hensel

experience for all students.• Implementation of a five-day Calculus 1 course comprised of three lectures and two recitations per week.• Continual tracking of student academic success and provision of academic advising and mentoring throughout the freshmen year.Beginning in the 2002/03 academic year, WVU College of Engineering and Mineral Resourcesinitiated a mandatory 1-credit hour engineering orientation course, ENGR 199, which met theuniversity requirement for an orientation course. All incoming engineering students took theengineering orientation course instead of the general university orientation course. In thiscourse, students were taught college and career “success skills” such as study skills,prioritization, and time management

Conference Session

IE Enrollment/Curriculum Development

Collection

2005 Annual Conference

Authors

Randa Shehab; Teri Rhoads; Teri Murphy

them to the industrial engineering program at the University of Oklahomaand what encouraged them to stay. Out of 45 IE students interviewed, 79 total comments(comprising 13 classifications) were identified addressing recruiting and only 27 comments(across 5 classifications) addressed retention. The majority of students (53%) reported that thenature of the degree was a critical factor in choosing IE as a major. This demonstrates theimportance of informing students about IE as a career option. For retention, it appeared thatstudent-faculty interaction had the strongest impact, as reported by 29% of the sample. Whilethis factor may be more difficult to implement, it was critical for students in our sample to haveinteraction with the faculty

Conference Session

Increasing Enrollment in IE/IET Programs Poster Session

Collection

2005 Annual Conference

Authors

Randa Shehab; Teri Rhoads; Teri Murphy

them to the industrial engineering program at the University of Oklahomaand what encouraged them to stay. Out of 45 IE students interviewed, 79 total comments(comprising 13 classifications) were identified addressing recruiting and only 27 comments(across 5 classifications) addressed retention. The majority of students (53%) reported that thenature of the degree was a critical factor in choosing IE as a major. This demonstrates theimportance of informing students about IE as a career option. For retention, it appeared thatstudent-faculty interaction had the strongest impact, as reported by 29% of the sample. Whilethis factor may be more difficult to implement, it was critical for students in our sample to haveinteraction with the faculty

Conference Session

Implementing the BOK - Can it Be Done?

Collection

2005 Annual Conference

Authors

Michael Robinson; Kevin Sutterer

CE 431 CE 303 Graph. Eng. Mech. of Structural Concrete Bldg Career Steel Des Eng. Econ Comm. Statics Matls Mech. I Des. I Systems Prep. CE 110 CE 101 CE 201 CE 320 CE 336 CE 441 CE 311 CE GIS

Conference Session

Interdisciplinary Education

Collection

2005 Annual Conference

Authors

Seth Bates; Patricia Backer

worked together todesign, manufacture, and assemble a product. The Learning Factory, a product of theManufacturing Engineering Education Partnership between three major universities (Penn State,University of Puerto-Rico-Mayagüez, University of Washington), is a practice-based,interdisciplinary project that involves teams of students from Business and Industrial,Mechanical, Electrical, and Chemical Engineering3. In the Learning Factory, students activelyengage in the product realization process and complete this entire process—from design conceptto finished hardware—throughout their educational careers. Senior design projects are cross-disciplinary and require the use of advanced design and manufacturing techniques. Our currentproject builds upon

Conference Session

A through K and Beyond

Collection

2005 Annual Conference

Authors

Norman Dennis

management seeks effective and efficient long-term ownership of capital facilities via systematic acquisition, operation, maintenance, preservation, replacement, and disposition. Goals include optimizing life-cycle performance, minimizing life-cycle costs, and achieving maximum stakeholder benefit. Tools and techniques include design innovations, new construction technologies, materials improvements, geo-mapping, database management, value assessment, performance models, web-based communication, and cost accounting. Including asset management recognizes that civil engineers, during their careers, are likely to be involved with some aspect of capital facilities

Conference Session

Women in IT Fields

Collection

2005 Annual Conference

Authors

Ken Yasuhara

. Employing a grounded theory-style method, we investigategender differences in how pre-major undergraduates are attracted to (or repelled by) the CS major.By also investigating how students conceive of CS as a discipline, culture, and career area, we notonly ask the students the question, Why or why not computer science?, but also discover how theyunderstand the question.We begin by discussing relevant underrepresentation research in Section 2. Section 3 presentsresearch questions and our methods. Survey analysis results in Section 4 are interpreted and dis-cussed in Section 5, and the paper concludes with a discussion of future work. Page

Conference Session

Manufacturing Program Innovation

Collection

2005 Annual Conference

Authors

Lenea Howe; Jr., Elijah Kannatey-Asibu

lecture onmanufacturing issues and topics. These seminars also provide students with theopportunity to interact with industry representatives who attend the seminars.The degree to which the ERC has succeeded in changing culture for the graduate studentsin the Center is addressed in the following statements by two of our graduates who wererecently hired by industry. These testimonials amplify the unique educational focus thatthe Center offered to assist them in their careers.“One of the most important aspects of my experience that helped me tremendously indeveloping my career was the higher, system-level view we gain in our ERC. I thankERC’s management for creating this high-level vision in the Center.” – Frashid M. Asl,Ph.D., Vice President, Risk

Conference Session

College/University Engineering Students K-12 Outreach

Collection

2005 Annual Conference

Authors

Brecca Berman; Gordon Kingsley; Donna Llewellyn; Marion Usselman

schools.STEP SpilloverGraduate FellowsAs anticipated, graduate students participating in STEP report improvement in their leadership,communication, and teaching skills. However other effects appear to be equally important, andwere included as new objectives in the grant renewal proposal. The spillover effects include:• Academic Content Mastery: Graduate students teaching high school students must convey knowledge so that it is comprehensible to students who come from varying achievement levels and backgrounds. This requires that knowledge be thoroughly understood, condensed and distilled to improve its efficacy.• Career Perspectives: Hands-on teaching experiences provide graduate Fellows with early opportunities to elucidate their interests in

Conference Session

Retention Issues

Collection

2005 Annual Conference

Authors

Dana Newell; Mary Anderson-Rowland

fall. The studentswere asked to complete a detailed time management schedule for the spring. The fall speakerwho had talked to the Scholars about time management was brought back in the spring to give afollow-up session. The students were amazed to see how much time they really had left beyondtheir scheduled time for attending classes, studying, working, eating, sleeping, commuting, andgetting ready time.A major project for the spring was to have each student write a good resume. This wasparticularly difficult for freshmen as they tried to focus their resume on college level activities inwhich they were just beginning to participate. An excellent Career Service representative metthe NACME Scholars twice to help them improve their resumes and

Conference Session

Issues in Computer Education

Collection

2005 Annual Conference

Authors

George Stockman

Session # 3620 Computing Fundamentals for IT and IS Programs George Stockman Computer Science and Engineering Michigan State UniversityAbstractInformation technology impacts the careers of all professionals and thus its concepts areimportant for education. Our Department developed a unique sophomore level course to providefundamentals to students with majors in Business, Telecommunications, or Engineering whowith a Specialization in IT. While the initial course was experimental in nature and theavailability was only guaranteed for

Conference Session

TC2K Issues and Experiences

Collection

2005 Annual Conference

Authors

James Higley; Jana Whittington; Joy Colwell

courses. In the assessment process, we found surprising results,particularly in the summative assessment process of collecting data for continuous improvementand ABET outcomes. Some possible explanations for the results will be offered.BackgroundIn the late 1990’s, engineering and technology educators received perhaps the greatest shock oftheir careers – accreditation was changing to outcomes-based assessment from a decades-old listof topics. After the shock wore off, it took several years of hard work for most educators just tounderstand outcomes-based assessment, let alone perform any meaningful assessments.The difficulty most engineering and technology educators have with outcomes-based assessmentcan be easily understood by studying the mental

Conference Session

Capstone/Design Projects: Electrical ET

Collection

2005 Annual Conference

Authors

Tyson McCall; Corinne Ransberger; Steve Hsiung

Conference Session

New Trends in Graduate Education

Collection

2005 Annual Conference

Authors

Preston McCrary; Chip Ferguson; Aaron Ball; Wesley Stone

, a strengthened partnership was created.Caterpillar:Western Carolina University has maintained a close relationship with the precision seals division Page 10.531.5of Caterpillar. Through part-time and class projects, students have gained valuable experiences “Proceedings of the 2005 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition Copyright © 2005, American Society for Engineering Education”in preparation for engineering careers. The following is an example of the type of projectscompleted by students at Western Carolina University.During the Spring semester of 2003, the Engineering

Conference Session

Teaching Outside the Box in Civil Engineering

Collection

2005 Annual Conference

Authors

Vincent Drnevich

ofsubspecialties or at least work with people in other subspecialties as their careers progressed.Furthermore, people with the broader vision were more likely to advance to leadership positions.This approach appears to have been appreciated by at least some of the students (typically thebetter ones) and there was more widespread ownership of the work, i.e. increased teamwork.Use of the Web for all Course Materials and Products - The worldwide web also is becomingan increasingly important component to the teaching, design, and construction processes. In themid-1990's, instructors of this course began using the web for course information so that studentscould get ready access to this information. In Spring 2001, the author with the assistance of hisco