Paper ID #42032Work-in-Progress: The Unique Impact of an Interdisciplinary ExperientialLearning Program on Undergraduate STEM Students’ Career ReadinessDr. Rea Lavi, Massachusetts Institute of Technology Rea Lavi received his Ph.D. degree from the Faculty of Education in Science and Technology, Technion—Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel. He is Lecturer and a Curriculum Designer with the NEET program, School of Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, where he teaches thinking skills to undergraduate students. His research interests in STEM education involve the fostering and
Paper ID #41319Connecting the Dots: Professional Networking for Engineering StudentsDr. Jessica A Kuczenski, Santa Clara University Jes is a Senior Lecturer and Chair of the General Engineering programs at SCU. She teaches a variety of courses including Introduction to Engineering, Introduction to Engineering Prototyping, Community-Based Engineering Design, Career Launch, and Senior Projects.Christelle Sabatier, Santa Clara University ©American Society for Engineering Education, 2024 Connecting the Dots: Professional Networking for Engineering
three semesters, starting from the initialoffering of the courses in Fall 2022, indicate that students’ perception of the course is largelypositive. Students in both courses found the courses very valuable in multiple ways. In the paper,detailed survey results will be presented and discussed. Areas for future work will also be shared.Introduction and MotivationAt Arizona State University (ASU), the Grand Challenges Scholars Program (GCSP) is a multi-year co-curricular program that typically spans the entirety of a student’s undergraduatecollegiate career. The majority of GCSP students start their journey in the program as incomingfirst year students or during their first year and continue in the program until they graduate fromtheir
].The second possibility for expanding access offers depth over breadth. Stacking multiple high-impact practices has been demonstrated to hold potential as a multiplier effect [13,4,14-15].Where experiencing a single high-impact practice is good, experiencing more than one can beeven better. In this study we ask, To what extent does stacking additional high-impact practiceson top of course-based PBL provide additional benefits for students? We examine this potentialvalue in terms of the range of benefits previously associated with PBL: developing professionalskills and mindsets, as well as building content mastery; improving self-efficacy and ownershipover learning; and career preparedness. We then extend these well-established impacts of PBLby
. What did you wish to get out of joining this team and did you get what you wanted through working on said team? 3. What has been the most useful experience or lesson you have learned from being on your respective engineering competition teams? 4. Tell me about a time you used a skill or experience from your engineering competition team outside of school? 5. What aspects of being on said engineering competition team were the most important to you? 6. Do feel that your engineering competition experience has helped open doors or helped in your career goals? If so, in what ways? 7. What do you feel that you’ve used the most in the real world or in your career, your a. class knowledge, or your experiences you
Scholars Program: Students’ Perceptions Across Three YearsAbstractThis work seeks to understand students’ perceived value of their participation in a multi-year co-curricular program, the Grand Challenges Scholars Program (GCSP), at Arizona State University(ASU) and explore how these perceptions vary between students at different class levels.Students in the GCSP engage in multidisciplinary, entrepreneurial, multicultural, research, andservice learning activities throughout their undergraduate collegiate career, in order to gaindiverse perspectives about global challenges related to a Grand Challenges theme (Health, Joy ofLiving, Security or Sustainability). At ASU, GCSP students are also encouraged to connect withtheir peers
reflections of members from a multi-disciplinaryteam. Even though the focus of this particular group is software based, the take-aways for multi-disciplinary collaboration will apply across non-software teams as well. Ultimately, this paperaffords an opportunity for educators to expand on examples of how multiple disciplines cometogether in the tech/engineering workforce. Additionally, the paper implores engineers to engagein lifelong learning as they interact with increasingly multi-disciplinary teams in the workplace.BackgroundMost students who choose to major in engineering do so to become a part of the community ofpractice of professional engineers [1], meaning that they want their college experience to includeadequate exposure to what a career
]. Undergraduate research experiences (UREs) are believed to be an important approach foractively engaging students, a key goal of these teaching reforms. Such experiences are seen as vital for thebroader aims of increasing inclusivity and expanding participation in STEM fields. UREs have madeimportant contributions to the career development and success of many students. Practitioners often credittheir early undergraduate research experiences as pivotal in shaping their professional paths [1]. Inrecognition of this, the National Science Foundation has provided substantial funding to give studentsvaluable opportunities to participate in UREs. These opportunities have been shown to help preparestudents for further studies and careers [1], [2], [3
financial need and help them to succeed instudies and careers within an urban setting. To achieve this goal, the collaborators have built onresearch, best practices, and evidence-based findings from other projects including severalcollaborators’ NSF/DUE S-STEM and STEP projects.2-1. GoalsThere are six overarching goals of the Urban STEM Collaboratory project. All project activities,evaluation, and research efforts were designed with these goals in mind. The six goals include:Goal 1. Increase the recruitment, retention, student success, and graduation rates of academicallytalented undergraduate mathematical sciences and engineering majors with financial need.Goal 2. Implement strategies and activities that contribute to student academic success
Biological and Agricultural Engineering at Louisiana State University and her Ph.D. in Biological Systems Engineering at Virginia Tech. Her research is related to hydrology, reclamation, ecological engineering, and engineering education.Dr. Saundra Johnson Austin, University of South Florida Dr. Saundra Johnson Austin has dedicated her career to promoting diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging of elementary, middle, and high school students in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education and careers. Her research is grounded in the effective implementation of STEM curricula in urban middle schools. She has published and presented on STEM education and organizational change. Dr. Johnson Austin
contributed to the training and development of faculty in developing and evaluating various engineering curriculum and courses at UPRM, applying the outcome-based educational framework. She has also incorporated theories on social cognitive career choices and student attrition mitigation to investigate the effectiveness of institutional interventions in increasing the retention and academic success of talented engineering students from economically disadvantaged families. She’s also involved in a project that explores the relationship between the institutional policies at UPRM and faculty and graduate students’ motivation to create good relationships between advisors and advisees.Dr. Christopher Papadopoulos, University of
addition, studies on students’ experiences ingraduate programs stress that interdisciplinary graduate students often struggle to developpositive senses of identity, belonging, and motivation necessary for pursuing interdisciplinarywork as early-career academics [25], [26], [27]. They are challenged to understand and integratediscipline-based expectations of Ph.D.s [15] and to find and sustain the kinds of collaborativeinterdisciplinary experiences necessary for their persistence in interdisciplinary engineering anddesign careers, often with little support [9], [17], [26], [28], [29]. These barriers suggest that weneed to develop more robust understandings first of how students conceptualize interdisciplinarywork, which in turn can help inform
CertificationStudies of STEM schools have presented mixed findings regarding the impact of certification onstudent achievement. For example, authors of a quantitative study aimed to understand thedifference in college and career readiness of fourth- and fifth-grade students attending STEMcertified and non-certified elementary schools [9]. The results of their study illuminated onesignificant relationship, such that students at STEM schools displayed higher English LanguageArts (ELA) median growth percentiles than students at non-certified schools. Findings amongother subjects and grade levels were insignificant, however. Similarly, a study of third- and fifth-grade students identified a positive relationship between attending a STEM-certified school
, “Work in Progress: Development and Facilitation of aNew Certificate/Class for Undergraduate Teaching Assistants in Engineering and ComputingPrograms,” in 2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition Proceedings, Baltimore, Maryland,USA: ASEE Conferences, Jun. 2023. [Online]. Available: https://peer.asee.org/44221[2] D. Lopatto, “Undergraduate Research Experiences Support Science Career Decisions andActive Learning,” CBE-Life Sci. Educ., vol. 6, no. 4, pp. 297–306, Dec. 2007, doi:10.1187/cbe.07-06-0039.[3] S. Kaul, C. W. Ferguson, P. M. Yanik, and Y. Yan, “Importance of UndergraduateResearch: Efficacy and Student Perceptions,” in 2016 ASEE Annual Conference & ExpositionProceedings, New Orleans, Louisiana: ASEE Conferences, Jun. 2016
-technicalaudiences, such as users, managers, and other professionals. Therefore, in addition toengineering coursework, technical oral and written communication skills help prepare studentsfor their future careers. The Society for Technical Communication defines technicalcommunication as “a user-centered approach for providing the right information, in the rightway, at the right time so that the user’s life is more productive” [2]. Over the past two decades,many institutions have established technical communication labs to guide and train students inthese technical communication skills, emphasizing oral and written communication for business,engineering, and the sciences over the humanities. Compared to technical communication labs, writing centers
to big University campusesAbstractThe primary purpose of a Satellite-University campus structure is to make higher education easilyaccessible to a diverse group of students in remote locations. The satellite campus aims to providethe same wholesome College / University experience as any other large University campus. Thecollege experience is one of the most exciting and transformative times in a student’s life. Thestudents not only look forward to a quality education in a discipline of their choice, but also get toexplore their true calling in terms of gaining, understanding, and honing their skillsets towardstheir dream career, while cultivating strong dependable relationships with their fellowcollegemates. The Satellite-University campus
thinking about sustainability in myfuture career, making sure the products I design will have a sustainable life cycle andwill not negatively impact society. I learned a lot from both my peers and the Brazilianstudents.Two students who participated in the program in 2022 wrote a paper discussing theirlearning experience in this program [7].Project example 2:In 2020, the students worked with Brazilian engineering students to perform a project incollaboration with Suzano, a sustainable paper pulp company located in Brazil. Suzanoprovided five areas the company would like to improve their sustainable practices. Thestudents were split into five teams, each focused on a certain sector of their business:(1) Inlet raw material transportation, (2) Outlet
Paper ID #42056Examining the Opportunities and Challenges of Using Artificial Intelligencefor Engineering Technical Writing CoursesDr. Susan J Ely, University of Southern Indiana Dr. Ely began her academic career at the community college level, after having worked as an engineer in areas of manufacturing, distribution, logistics and supply chain. She is the Director of Technology Programs and Assistant Professor in Manufacturing at the University of Southern Indiana. Research includes student retention and engagement, mentoring and support of women in engineering and lean applications in non-manufacturing environments.Dr
career, however, many lower-divisionprograms exclude hands-on projects, and are solely based on basic sciences courses such as mathand physics. Within the first and second years of engineering curricula, many programs report ahigher attrition rate [1-2] and a drop due to a variety of factors including difficultiesunderstanding concepts, classroom climate, and a lack of interest [1-3]. Experiential learningcourses offered during the lower-division years of an engineering program is one proposedsolution to increase retention.Experiential learning has demonstrated many proposed benefits such as increasing studentmotivation, allowing students to gain fundamental technical skills, and improving students’teammate and collaborative skills [4-7
University, where he also served as a research assistant at the Environmental Pollution Research unit, in Ile-Ife, Nigeria. As part of his contribution to science and engineering, Pelumi has taught as a teaching assistant both at Morgan State University and Obafemi Awolowo University. With passion to communicate research findings and gleaned from experts in the field as he advances his career, Olaitan has attended several in-persons and virtual conferences and workshop, and at some of them, made presentation on findings on air pollution, waste water reuse, and heavy metal contamination.Adebayo Iyanuoluwa Olude, Morgan State University Adebayo Olude is a doctoral student and research assistant at Morgan State University’s
has taught as a teaching assistant both at Morgan State University and Obafemi Awolowo University. With passion to communicate research findings and gleaned from experts in the field as he advances his career, Olaitan has attended several in-persons and virtual conferences and workshop, and at some of them, made presentation on findings on air pollution, waste water reuse, and heavy metal contamination.Dr. Oludare Adegbola Owolabi P.E., Morgan State University Dr. Oludare Owolabi, a professional engineer in Maryland, joined the Morgan State University faculty in 2010. He is the assistant director of the Center for Advanced Transportation and Infrastructure Engineering Research (CATIER) at Morgan State Universit
through challenges to success. Jordan described this process as “practicingengineering,” effectively internalizing iteration as the work of a successful engineer: “I think I'm a lot more confident than I was going into it. Especially with the projects we've been working on every morning– it gives me an idea on what engineering is actually like and what I would be doing on a daily basis if this was my career. I’d still like to make it my career, I like what I've been doing…. And because I was actually practicing engineering, instead of just learning the skills, and that definitely helps with confidence.” Student agency was also evident in how students talked about applying their confidencewith iteration and
life saving provisions available to one member ofthe household, was overlooked, especially given that many refugees have fled oppressivegovernments and might be fearful of how such identifying information could be used againstthem. (This example, and many others like it, also reinforce the need for the kind of training thiscourse provides, which equips students to think proactively about the potential consequences andethical implication of a technology, rather than controlling the damage it creates after it is toolate and has impacted lives, an important skill for any engineer, regardless of the particular paththeir career takes.) This technology also raised significant human rights concerns related toconsent and privacy [15]. These, and
AI. The aims ofthe investigation were to stimulate a campus discussion about large language models in highereducation and career preparation, to expose students and faculty to content and questionssurrounding the ethical use of LLMs, and to generate questions and directions for futureresearch. We formulated questions for a survey to gauge undergraduate students’ knowledge andperceptions about the ethics and use of LLMs in academic coursework. One section includeddemographic questions about students’ majors, ages, academic years, and grade point averages,another asked student’s questions about their familiarity with the use of LLMs such as ChatGPTin academic settings and their views on ethical uses of LLMs in education. A mixed
called From Intention to Action (FITA)(Meissner et al., 2014-17) to help with student retention and the students mental health. Thisprogram focuses on students struggling with leaving home and the stress surrounding competingfor grades and a career. FITA is a twelve-week program that provides students with guidance “todevelop an understanding of the strengths, challenges, and issues that…influence their abilities tosucceed". Carlton University increased student retention and now has an above-averagepercentage. 7Table 6 Student Mental Health Universities Medical/Doctoral Comprehensive Primarily British N/A
documentation, developer support,and reliability than older options, however these may not be barriers depending on the coursescope and goals. With that said, there may be courses that are better served by other softwareentirely. ROS mastery requires significant time and energy apart from that required to mas-ter robotics and other STEM concepts. However if a student aspires to a career in roboticsresearch and development, ROS mastery is likely well worth the initial investment.References [1] K. Scott and T. Foote, “2022 ROS Metrics Report,” Available at http://download.ros. org/downloads/metrics/metrics-report-2022-07.pdf (2024/02/07). [2] T. M. Santos, D. G. S. Favoreto, M. M. d. O. Carneiro, M. F. Pinto, A. R. Zachi, J. A. Gouvea, A. Manh
, computer engineering, psychology, and neuroscience. Due to the nature of the BCItopic, projects with hands-on experiences could be designed to facilitate practical, experientiallearning that will engage students and leave a lasting impact. Students will be exposed to cutting-edge technology and research areas through BCI courses which will ignite innovation andencourage them to contribute to the evolving field of neuro-engineering. Moreover, the nextgeneration of technologies will follow the user-centric design as there is more emphasis on humanneeds interacting with technology, so BCI courses will be aligned with modern engineeringpractices, which will open doors to diverse career opportunities in gaming, assistive technologies,healthcare
expectations. In Companion Proceedings of the 36th internationalconference on software engineering (pp. 291-300), May 2014.[ 2] Pujol-Jover, Maria, Lola C. Duque, and Maria-Carme Riera-Prunera. "The recruit requirements of recent graduates: approaching the existing mismatch." Total Quality Management & Business Excellence 34, no. 1-2: 57-70, 2023.[3] Agnieszka Czerwińska-Lubszczyk, Michalene Grebski, and Dominika Jagoda-Sobalak,“Competencies of Graduates – An Industry Expectation,” Management Systems in ProductionEngineering, vol. 30, no. 2, pp. 172–178, May 2022, doi:https://doi.org/10.2478/mspe-2022-0021.[4] Burnik, Urban, and Andrej Košir. "Industrial product design project: building up engineeringstudents’ career prospects." Journal of
customized to any engineering program[15].4. Objectives of this researchIn the VAx/HAx series, the content covered is highly effective for developing global competenceand closely aligns with the GAPC. As most participants are from engineering institutions, thelearning outcomes are beneficial for developing their future engineering careers. However,certain attributes could be hard to impart through traditional lectures alone. These attributesrequire practical application and experiential learning, which are more suitable for mobilityprograms. Since mobility programs are typically elective rather than mandatory for degreeacquisition, encouraging voluntary participation is essential. Understanding the motivation andincentive of the participants who
Computing/Engineering (W-SPiCE) was utilized as an incentive for women to enter the school as first year students and continue past their first year. The program focuses on learning about five degree options available to them for future careers, devoting one week of instruction and design to each area, with five different faculty leading the activities. A stipend of $2500 is awarded to the participants. The program is limited to no more than 15 students per summer who have demonstrated academic proficiency in their first year. Measure of Success: The proportion of women undergraduate students increased from 20.9% in Fall 2019 to 23.9% in Fall 2022. Improvements can be seen from 2021 to 2022 when the