Conference Session

Mentoring Graduate Students

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Heidar Malki, University of Houston; Michael Gibson, University of Houston; Enrique Barbieri, University of Houston; William Fitzgibbon, University of Houston

Tagged Divisions

Graduate Studies

are in Microprocessors, Signals, Systems, and Control, and has published over 60 articles in control theory and applications. He has been the PI/Co-PI of projects from NASA, NSF, the Louisiana Board of Regents, the Gulf South Research Foundation, the University of Houston, the Professional Surveyors Educational Foundation, AT&T, and others.William Fitzgibbon, University of Houston William E. Fitzgibbon, III earned both his BA and PhD degrees from Vanderbilt University y. He is currently serving as Dean of the College of Technology of University of Houston and holds professorial rank in both the Department of Mathematics and the Department of Engineering Technology of the

Conference Session

Mentoring Graduate Students

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Wesley Stone, Western Carolina University; Chip Ferguson, Western Carolina University; Aaron Ball, Western Carolina University

Tagged Divisions

Graduate Studies

industry to access universityresources—personnel and facilities. Engagement is the title typically used to describe thisrelationship between industry and academia. The engagement process at Western Carolina hasbeen successful in coupling graduate students with industry projects, and now it is being used toprovide undergraduate students with that same exposure. One of the benefits of thisundergraduate involvement is that there is now a conduit in place to generate additional interestin the graduate program, as well as a means for student and faculty to interact in an industrialproject setting. The next step in this progression is to couple graduate students withundergraduate students, as they embark on challenging projects that will benefit

Conference Session

New Trends in Engineering Graduate Education

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Phillip Sanger, Western Carolina University; Aaron Ball, Western Carolina University; Michael Clare, Western Carolina University; Chip Ferguson, Western Carolina University; John D. Graham, Western Carolina University

Tagged Divisions

Graduate Studies

Engineering and Technology at Western Carolina University in Cullowhee, North Carolina. He holds a B.S. and an M.S. from Appalachian State University, and earned his doctorate from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. His areas of interests include fluid power, advanced machining, prototyping systems, and applied research.Michael Clare, Western Carolina University Michael Clare is a graduate student of Engineering Technology at Western Carolina University pursing a Masters of Science in Technology. He earned his B.S at Western Carolina University in 2004 and, at the time of this project, Mr. Clare was a senior in the Engineering Technology program.Chip Ferguson, Western Carolina

Conference Session

Mentoring Graduate Students

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Shashi Marikunte, Southern Illinois University-Carbondale; Frances Harackiewicz, Southern Illinois University-Carbondale; John Nicklow, Southern Illinois University-Carbondale; Lizette Chevalier, Southern Illinois University-Carbondale

Tagged Divisions

Graduate Studies

interest in participating in the seminarseries. The success of this pilot project at the department level provided the incentives toexpand the project to the college level. Thus, starting Fall 2005 the training seminar wasexpanded to the college level to include all the departments within the College ofEngineering.Training ProgramThe objective of the training program was to supplement the University’s mandatoryworkshop for teaching assistants. The training was in the form of a series of seminars Page 11.268.3designed to enhance teaching and professional skills of graduate students. The seminarfulfills three-fold need of the students. One is the need for

Conference Session

New Trends in Engineering Graduate Education

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

David Wells, North Dakota State University

Tagged Divisions

Graduate Studies

best focused in the coursework. The researchshould be guided with a looser rein.Intellectual Character of Graduate Study: Increasingly, engineering work in both industryand in academic preparation is undertaken in project form, most often through multi-disciplinaryteams. In the graduate education context, engineering students are traditionally expected toundertake, complete and document an independent project of significant scope. The ‘significantscope’ dimension often clashes with ‘independence’, as many of the relevant problems incurrent-day engineering are multi-disciplinary, or at least multi-dimensional, and are bestaddressed by teams.The graduate disquisition is intended to be a substantive intellectual product. The project nature,as

Conference Session

Mentoring Graduate Students

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Sharnnia Artis, Virginia Tech; Glenda Scales, Virginia Tech; Odis Griffin, Virginia Tech

Tagged Divisions

Graduate Studies

agraduate of CLOIP), while the students served as interns in the program. Consistent with theoriginal course learning objectives, the primary learning objective of the CLOIP was to ensurethat the interns gained experience on how to design and develop training programs using a socio-technical system designed perspective. The use of role play allowed the students to participate ina real-world learning environment.To enhance the role play scenarios and facilitate subsequent course assignments, an executivefrom industry served as the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of ACME, Inc., another fictitiouscompany. The CEO was responsible for assigning the teams semester projects and serving as acourse resource. The course was organized to provide student

Conference Session

Mentoring Graduate Students

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

LaRuth McAfee, State University of New York-Stony Brook; David Ferguson, State University of New York-Stony Brook; LaRuth McAfee, State University of New York-Stony Brook

Tagged Divisions

Graduate Studies

, anddeveloping alliances with student and faculty colleagues. Students generally learned these skillsthrough experience, but felt that universities should do more to encourage such habits early in astudent’s career.Related research includes current studies by Prof. Christine Grant (North Carolina StateUniversity) on minority faculty, Prof. Fitzgerald Bramwell (University of Kentucky) onbaccalaureate origins of natural science doctorates, and Associate Dean Janet Rutledge(University of Maryland – Baltimore County) on attrition rates of minority graduate students.Future work on this project includes working with and expanding the aforementioned studies,and conducting an online survey of graduate students on various campuses. The outcomes ofthis study will

Conference Session

New Trends in Engineering Graduate Education

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Wayne Whiteman, Georgia Institute of Technology

Tagged Divisions

Graduate Studies

comprehensive database forease of tracking and an accurate historical record, along with a savings to administrativepersonnel required to assemble this report data.ConclusionsThis automation project was completed as an “in-house” project by the Computer Support Groupof the Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering in collaboration with the Office of StudentServices and the Finance Office. The initial, one-time cost was substantial but is estimated to berecouped by cost savings during the second year the system is in place. Routine maintenanceand upgrading is completed by the Computer Help Desk personnel in the Woodruff School withminimal costs.The new automated system has reduced the amount of paperwork and inefficient services thatwere being provided

Conference Session

Mentoring Graduate Students

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Shekhar Bhansali, University of South Florida; Ashanti Pyrtle, University of South Florida; Louis Martin-Vega, University of South Florida; Peter Betzer, University of South Florida

Tagged Divisions

Graduate Studies

disciplines (Figure 2). Each of these studentshas a unique research experience as they progress to be the next generation of technologyleaders, who possess: a) multidisciplinary research proficiency b) an international researchprospective c) an industry/business perspective and d) technical communication and leadershipskills. Page 11.802.4B. Florida-Georgia Louis Strokes Alliance for Minority Participation -Bridge to Doctorate Project (FGLSAMP-BD)The “Bridge to Doctorate” (BD) program started as an extension of the Florida Georgia LouisStokes Alliance for Minority Participation (LSAMP) undergraduate program. The goal of theLSAMP undergraduate

Conference Session

Graduate Student Experiences

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Carol Mullenax, Tulane University

Tagged Divisions

Graduate Studies

2006-766: TO BE OR NOT TO BE - REVISITING AN ANALYTICAL METHODUSING DEMOGRAPHIC DATA TO PREDICT ASEE STUDENT CHAPTERVIABILITYCarol Mullenax, Tulane University Carol Mullenax is finishing up a Doctorate in Biomedical Engineering at Tulane University while also employed by Bastion Technologies as a project manager on the NASA Non-Exercise Physiological Countermeasures Project in Houston, Texas. Page 11.1342.1© American Society for Engineering Education, 2006 To Be or Not To Be – Revisiting an Analytical Method Using Demographic Data to Predict ASEE Student Chapter ViabilityIntroduction

Conference Session

Graduate Student Experiences

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Scott Rogers, Georgia Institute of Technology; Jeremy Noonan, Purdue University; Jaemeen Baek, Georgia Institute of Technology; Sangil Lee, Georgia Institute of Technology; Ulas Tezel, Georgia Institute of Technology; Grant Michalski, Georgia Institute of Technology; Chia-Hung Hou, Georgia Institute of Technology

Tagged Divisions

Graduate Studies

relatively large margin.Master’s students are given the choice of pursuing a coursework, a special-research-project, or athesis curriculum. Most on-campus master’s students pursue a research-oriented curriculum.There is a fairly uniform distribution of tenure consisting of first-year, second-year, third-year,fourth-year, and fifth-plus-year students. There exists a variance in home country amongstudents, but the majority of students originate from the United States, South Korea, or Turkey. Page 11.130.3This program also has students from varied backgrounds; student undergraduate majors includeenvironmental engineering, chemical engineering, civil

Conference Session

New Trends in Engineering Graduate Education

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Kenneth Ports, QTS, Inc.; Dennis Kulonda, Florida Tech; Clifford Bragdon, Florida Tech; Carmo D'Cruz, Florida Tech

Tagged Divisions

Graduate Studies

University and a Ph.D. from N.C.S.U.Kenneth Ports, QTS, Inc. Dr. Kenneth A. Ports is currently Senior Scientist at QTS, Inc. in Cocoa Beach, Florida. Until recently, Dr. Ports was a Professor in the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department and Associate Dean in the College of Engineering at Florida Tech. Prior to Florida Tech, Dr. Ports spent 25 years in the microelectronics industry in technical, management, staff and internal consulting roles. He led several corporate programs, including project management, product to market, technology roadmapping, and strategic planning. He was corporate director of University Relations, and his duties included overseeing the research pipeline. He has over

Conference Session

New Trends in Engineering Graduate Education

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Ernest McDuffie; Elaine R. Milliam; Robert Kavetsky; Ronald Bennett; Eugene Brown

Tagged Divisions

Graduate Studies

on a leadership role in their respective communities.The paper will conclude with a discussion of the results of anevaluation of the program which was used to gather both studentand teacher/mentor input at the symposium, a listing of lessonslearned, and plans for the future development and extension of theprogram. Page 11.959.1IntroductionNavy’s civilian science and technology (S&T) workforce numbersome 22,000 strong. Of those some 4,000 charge 50% or more oftheir time to actual S&T projects and are considered to be the corepractitioners of S&T for the Navy. Almost half of those 4,000 holdPh.D.s1 with about half working at the Naval Research Laboratory(NRL) and

Conference Session

Graduate Student Experiences

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

John Norton, University of Michigan; Reginald Rogers, University of Michigan

Tagged Divisions

Graduate Studies

andhave become successful faculty at a wide range of institutions, from primarily undergraduateteaching-oriented schools to very competitive Research I universities. The UM ASEE studentchapter has had a long history of active involvement directing, organizing, and running variousservice projects. In recent years the student chapter served as essentially a service organizationthat offered various opportunities to organize and operate various teaching oriented sessions andpresentations that the members felt were unavailable from other sources and which appealed to awider CoE audience. The additional benefit of these activities was to help develop camaraderieand friendship between students of different backgrounds and disciplines.Examples of

Conference Session

Graduate Student Experiences

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Tammy VanDeGrift, University of Portland; Janet Davis, University of Washington

Tagged Divisions

Graduate Studies

. This might be even better experience, since classes will generally have fewer students at acommunity college or a small college or university. If you teach a full course, you will find thatit takes much more time than being a teaching assistant. You will be making all the decisions. Besure to document your contributions to the course, such as curriculum design, homeworkassignment development, project development, and new teaching approaches. Ask someone youtrust, as well as potential letter writers, to observe you in the classroom. Some research Page 11.1307.5institutions also have independent course evaluators—you may want to ask one of them