Conference Session

Educating Graduates in Engineering For A Flat World

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Carolyn Percifield, Purdue University; David Bowker, Purdue University; Demetra Evangelou, Purdue University; Mi'schita' Henson, Purdue University

Tagged Divisions

International

abilities or “soft” skills demanded by employers and the councils advising our engineering deans, and identified as career critical by engineering education interest groups such as ABET Criterion 3: A-K, the National Academies, and the Council on Competitiveness are important. In fact, they have identified a strategy path for the engineering curriculum that embraces the NAE aspirations (see Table 1 below). Ironically, while successful faculty are indeed very accomplished at these non-technical skills, they are a bit confounded when asked how to achieve a curriculum that provides the requisite technical foundation, allows students to graduate in a reasonable time, and incorporates these

Conference Session

New Trends in ECE Education I

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Ronny Veljanovski, Victoria University; Alex Stojcevski, Victoria University

Tagged Divisions

Electrical and Computer

stakeholder expressed that ‘soft/generic skills’ were competencies that the university engineering graduates needed to develop further. Based in this feedback, senior management at VU reviewed many teaching and learning Figure 1: Electrical Engineering PBL year 1 program styles that have strong emphasis on generic/soft

Conference Session

Innovations in Mechanical Engineering Education Poster Session

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Nihad Dukhan, University of Detroit Mercy; Michael Jenkins, University of Detroit Mercy

Tagged Divisions

Mechanical Engineering

AC 2007-1598: STUDENT/TEACHER ROLE SWAP IN HEAT TRANSFERNihad Dukhan, University of Detroit Mercy Nihad Dukhan is an Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Detroit Mercy, where he teaches courses in heat transfer, thermodynamics and energy systems. His ongoing pedagogical interests include developing undergraduate research programs, service-learning programs, and assessing their impact on students’ soft skills. His technical research areas are advanced cooling technologies for high-power devices. Dr. Dukhan earned his BS, MS, and Ph.D. degrees in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Toledo.Michael Jenkins, University of Detroit Mercy Michael G. Jenkins

Conference Session

FPD3 -- Professional Issues for First-Year Courses

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Karen High, Oklahoma State University; Rebecca Damron, Oklahoma State University

Tagged Divisions

First-Year Programs

DesignChallenge” was modified in the fall 2006 semester to include an explicit question aboutthe students perspective on the activity: Was the “Airplane Design Challenge” a goodway to learn to understand the similarities and differences between product and processdesign? This question acted as the central idea students could develop through thereflections and definitions traditionally required of the assignment. Dr. High, Dr. Damron(an English faculty member) and another English faculty member assessed the studentsfor critical thinking and writing ability using university-wide assessment rubrics.BackgroundIncreasing attention has been given to the development of what have been called the“soft” skills in engineering, which the recent accreditation

Conference Session

Outreach Projects and General Energy Education

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Robert Fletcher, Lawrence Technological University

Tagged Divisions

Energy Conversion and Conservation

within their academic year.• A major benefit to students was the development of project management skills, and gave them an opportunity to see how all the pieces of a project fit together such as the procurement of equipment, the scheduling of activities, dealing with outside vendors, and how to manage the coordination of multiple project teams. Students especially learned about Page 12.1563.9 contingency plans and what to do when something did not work as intended• “Soft skills” development for students was a major byproduct from this project. These included such things as true collaborative

Conference Session

Recruitment and Retention

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Mary Anderson-Rowland, Arizona State University; Patti Culley, Arizona State University

Tagged Divisions

Minorities in Engineering

students are so limited, they end up listing soft skills, such as“Team Player” or Organizational Skills”, which are important to include on the resume, but arebetter demonstrated through examples and experience.We advocate an objective. It helps the student clarify the focus of the resume, which isextremely important for an effective resume. It also lets the employer know that the student isfocused. Even a freshman resume can give the objective (to obtain an internship where they willbe able to apply their skills to help a company). It is strongly recommended that students avoid Page 12.801.4stating what they want from a position such as “an

Conference Session

Engineering Education in the Arab World / Mid-East Region

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Suzanne Scott, The Petroleum Institute; Jamal Ahmad, The Petroleum Institute

Tagged Divisions

International

, STEPS I presents students with a well-defined design-and-build problem, and then leads them through the process using the concepts of guided design.The students are also given extensive instruction in the application of soft skills that areimportant to successful design, namely teamwork, project planning, and professional oral andwritten communications. Faculty advisors from engineering and communications programsserve the role as mentors for this project. During the first three years of the program’sdevelopment, the STEPS II semester was characterized by a similar format to STEPS I, but withdiscipline specific design-and-build projects. After three years the program’s new Coordinator,Dr. Jamal Ahmad, and Co-mentor, Dr. Suzanne Scott, looked

Conference Session

Engineering Without Borders: Programs Involving Students

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Margaret Pinnell, University of Dayton; Eger Bill; Phillip Aaron, University of Dayton; Charles Schreier, University of Dayton

Tagged Divisions

International

, USA[28] Hazelton, B, Bull, C. Appropriate Technology: Tools, Choices and Implications, November 1988.[29] Pinnell, M.F., Chuck, L., Developing Technical Competency and Enhancing the Soft Skills of Undergraduate Mechanical Engineering Students through Service-Learning, Proceedings of the 2004 ASEE Annual Conference and Exposition, ASEE, 2004. Page 12.951.11

Conference Session

Redefining the Boundaries of Engineering and Liberal Education: Contributions to the Year of Dialogue

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Erin Cech, University of California-San Diego; Kara Boettcher, Montana State University; Heidi Sherick, Montana State University

Tagged Divisions

Liberal Education

to remain in technical positions while working towards becoming experts within theircompanies14,15,16. Higher-level people on the technical career ladder often mentor, consult, andmanage other technical employees, all the while, gaining the monetary and emotional rewards ofmoving up in their careers. Though devised to maximize productivity and employee jobsatisfaction, the technical career ladder misleads employees to believe they can avoid developingnon-technical skills such as communication and managerial skills. In actuality, as engineersprogress through the technical career ladder, soft skills will still be required to effectivelymanage and mentor other technical employees and relay ideas to non-technical co-workers.These strictly

Conference Session

EMD Curriculum Design

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Rashmi Jain, Stevens Institute of Technology; Ozgur Erol, Stevens Institute of Technology; Anithashree Chandrasekaran, Stevens Institute of Technology

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Management

range from the technical, such as knowledge and application ofscience and engineering science as well as design competencies, to so-called "soft skills" such asrelating to effective teamwork, communication skills, ethics, life-long learning, etc. Programoutcomes are used to ensure that the program curriculum is aligned with the program objectives.The program outcomes are linked to the School of Engineering-level Curriculum Outcomes18.The outcomes of all programs are also designed to be consistent with the requirements of Criteria3 of ABET Engineering Criteria 2000.The Course Outcomes Assessment process at Stevens includes a two-pronged approach - thecourse survey and the Student Performance Assessment (SPA). The course survey solicitsstudents

Conference Session

Multidisciplinary Engineering Poster Session

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Stephanie Sullivan, East Carolina University; Rick Williams, East Carolina University; William Howard, East Carolina University; Jason Yao, East Carolina University; Paul Kauffmann, East Carolina University

Tagged Divisions

Multidisciplinary Engineering

TheEngineer of 2020. Professionals who graduate with engineering degrees of any discipline maydirectly use their undergraduate technical knowledge as well as use, in more general terms, theirengineering problem solving approaches in many fields. Today’s engineers work in traditionalas well as non-traditional fields perceived completely different from any design theory studied inthe classroom. Many industries, from mainstream business and consulting to design andmanufacturing, desire to hire engineers for their learned way of thinking and ability to applyavailable resources to improve quality of product, service and thus human life. A well-roundedengineer, with effective technical knowledge and analytical skills as well as effective soft skills

Conference Session

Direct Measures of Student Performance

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Donald Carpenter, Lawrence Technological University

Tagged Divisions

Civil Engineering

. The hybridnature of the course has also been well received with the students who are not accustomed toonline, hybrid, or distance learning within the college of engineering at the author’s homeinstitution. Finally, the course serves as a direct assessment vehicle for the soft programoutcomes. As such, this course can serve as a model for other institutions that are trying to coveradditional “soft skills” in a typically packed technical

Conference Session

Design Projects

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Frederick Berry, Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology; Patricia Carlson, Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology; William Eccles, Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology; Bruce Ferguson, Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology; Daniel Moore, Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology; Mihaela Radu, Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology; Terry Schumacher, Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology; David Voltmer, Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology; Mark Yoder, Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology; Edward Wheeler, Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology

Tagged Divisions

Design in Engineering Education

increased student responsibilities in the latter two courses. Students provide thecritiques of many of their colleagues’ first drafts of written documentation; this frees the faculty to focus on thedesign process and to help teams hone their later drafts. No formal data has been collected, but anecdotal dataindicates strong faculty support for the revised design sequence—both from an educational point of view and from aworkload point of view.Though faculty support for the course is strong and widespread throughout the ECE department, not all facultymembers are willing or qualified to teach the design courses. The teaching of “soft skills” associated with designcourses makes many faculty members uncomfortable; they prefer the mathematically-based

Conference Session

How to Effectively Teach Using Teams

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

William Riddell, Rowan University; Eric Constans, Rowan University; Kevin Dahm, Rowan University; Jennifer Courtney, Rowan University; Roberta Harvey, Rowan University; Peter Mark Jansson, Rowan University; Paris von Lockette, Rowan University

Tagged Divisions

Civil Engineering

discuss how CEE students at Rowan University are taughtdesign in a multidisciplinary, PBL environment, and to discuss how mechanics andcommunication are integrated into the design projects. Sophomore Engineering Clinic Iand II (SEC I and SEC II) are the innovations that allow this to be accomplished. SEC Iand SEC II afford the CEE students at Rowan University an integrated courseworkexperience for 1) learning and reinforcing material that is directly covered the CEEcurriculum, 2) gaining familiarity with material that is not explicitly covered in the CEEcurriculum, 3) developing formal communication skills, 4) developing into designers, and5) acquiring the so-called “soft skills” reflected in ABET 2000 A-K criteria.Sophomore curriculum for CEE

Conference Session

Integrating Mathematics, Science, and Engineering

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Günter Bischof, Joanneum University of Applied Sciences, Department of Automotive Engineering,; Emilia Bratschitsch, Joanneum University of Applied Sciences, Department of Automotive; Annette Casey, Joanneum University of Applied Sciences, Department of Automotive Engineering,; Domagoj Rubesa, Joanneum University of Applied Sciences, Department of Automotive Engineering,

Tagged Divisions

Mathematics

project, for some tasks a team of four is approved. One of them is designated bythe team as project leader and assumes the competences and responsibilities for this position.This structure promotes the development of certain generic skills, like the ability to work inteams, to keep records and to meet deadlines. Up to three groups are assigned with the sametask. In this way competition is generated, which in turn increases the students’ motivation.While in the second semester the main focus is on the acquisition of programming abilitiesand on soft skills, the tasks of the third semester projects focus more on the subject area of thecomplementary courses. Those courses typically are Engineering Mathematics, Mechanics,Strength of Materials, Machine

Conference Session

ChE: Assessment

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Ronald Terry, Brigham Young University; W. Vincent Wilding, Brigham Young University; Randy Lewis, Brigham Young University; Danny Olsen, Brigham Young University

Tagged Divisions

Chemical Engineering

asked to evaluate individual student’s abilities in these areas by providinga single composite score ranging from 1 (not proficient) to 4 (proficient). The composite score isbased on direct assessments obtained from rubrics or other quantifiable measures. The rubricused in the senior laboratory course has 39 components from which a written report is graded.Similarly, an oral communication rubric has 27 components. This extensive rubric providesdetailed feedback to each student. These scores are combined across the several classes involvedto provide a composite measure of proficiency for each student.The written and communication “soft” skills are often hard to track unless a grading rubric orsome other comprehensive measure is used. One method

Conference Session

TC2K Methods and Models

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Gregory Watkins, University of North Carolina-Charlotte; Nan Byars, University of North Carolina-Charlotte; Deborah Sharer, University of North Carolina-Charlotte

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Technology

require projects were identified. For eachcourse measurement, a student opportunity, in terms of an assignment, test question, laboratoryresult or observation, or a portion of a project, was explicitly defined. Care was taken to ensurethat for each outcome, measures were taken from a variety of different sources, for example, atest question, a laboratory observation and a peer evaluation, rather than three different testquestions.This was effective for most performance criteria, and also most competencies within Criterion 2.But it was determined that the so-called soft skills, such as a recognition of the need for, and anability to engage in lifelong learning, and a respect for diversity and a knowledge ofcontemporary professional, societal and

Conference Session

EMD Program Design

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Philip Gerhart, University of Evansville; Douglas Ramers, University of Evansville; Greg Rawski, University of Evansville

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Management

nothing special about this degree that would set them apart from other qualified candidates. Besides the technical skills, soft skills are used to screen/select candidates for supervisory positions.6. Would you consider hiring a graduate with an engineering management degree (as described by the enclosed curriculum)? Why or Why not? • Yes. We are seeing an increasing amount of emphasis placed on being able to analyze a businesses’ operational performance which often requires someone with some engineering skills as well as a strong business background. These types of individuals are seldom found in engineers who have taken a typical path through an engineering

Conference Session

Experiential and Service Learning

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Larry Bland, John Brown University

Tagged Divisions

Multidisciplinary Engineering

Gordon13that the effectiveness of management seminars and "soft-skill" courses is questionable. Whetheror not seminars could or should have an impact on sustained general management capability wasnot evaluated and should be further evaluated in future research.The technical participants had a different attitude toward non-formal education that was wellsummarized by this comment: (1) "Seminars always influenced us. Technical seminars came into play time and again preparing you to do jobs. ...You can force the (seminar) selection by knowing somebody in the country is an expert and asking them to conduct a seminar to meet your specific needs. ..Technical seminars permitted you to do your job better. ...Those were the easiest

Conference Session

Engineering Management Program Management / IE and EM Program Mangement / Engineering Management Program Management

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Rose Mary Cordova-Wentling, University of Illinois-Urbana Champaign; Raymond Price, University of Illinois-Urbana Champaign

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Management