Conference Session

Emerging Information Technologies

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Barbara E. Brazon, Penn State University; Mary Lynn Brannon, Pennsylvania State University, University Park

Tagged Divisions

Computing & Information Technology

to the Fast Track/Phased Construction (Figure 1)software model. The role of each group was defined in the model method10. Each group had twoto three people to execute the task.The Fast Track model was chosen as the courses project management model because the modeldemonstrates a non-linear development process to the students. The model further identities thedeliverables required for each project phase and the structure of the model indicates that alldocuments need to be stored in a central repository to provide easy access to all team members.The requirement of this centralized document repository emphasizes how important interactivecommunication and availability of documentation shared between all stakeholders is critical forthe success of

Conference Session

Innovations in Computing Education

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Alejandra J. Magana, Purdue University, West Lafayette; Aidsa I. Santiago-Román, University of Puerto Rico, Mayaguez; Nayda G. Santiago, University of Puerto Rico, Mayaguez; Cesar A Aceros; Brandeis H Marshall, Purdue University; Eric T. Matson, Purdue University, West Lafayette

Tagged Divisions

Computing & Information Technology

of the IEEE and the ACM.Cesar A AcerosBrandeis H Marshall, Purdue UniversityEric T. Matson, Purdue University, West Lafayette Page 22.1347.1 c American Society for Engineering Education, 2011 Students’ Understanding of Computational Problem-Solving TasksIntroductionComputational thinking embodies multiple reasoning processes or ways of thinking whichtranscend time and disciplines. As a result, computational thinking represents a skill-set that ischanging the way we think by providing an extension to our cognitive faculties 1 . These changesare impacting science, technology, and society “on

Conference Session

Curricular Issues in Computer-Oriented Programs

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Reza Sanati-Mehrizy, Utah Valley University; Evan Jackson; Ali Sanati-Mehrizy, Pennsylvania State University; Paymon Sanati-Mehrizy, University of Pennsylvania; Afsaneh Minaie, Utah Valley University

Tagged Divisions

Computing & Information Technology

approved by the project manager and ateam of specialists who would rate the photos and classify the information with the correctscientific names before being published to the site for the world to see.Anyone who has access to the Internet can see the application through the following URL:http://science.uvu.edu/timp/. Currently, only the Professors involved in this project and thestudents who built the site can add or modify samples to the collection. We began developing aphoto upload tool for anyone to be able to add to the collection later.Working on the project, we discovered that the photos are hi-resolution, and are very slow toload in a web browser. After realizing that the photos we were given were too large to display insets of more than 1

Conference Session

Information Systems and Computing Potpourri

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Guy Johnson, Rochester Institute of Technology

Tagged Divisions

Computing & Information Technology

location-based data acquired on the university campus. Many objects located on campus (artwork,benches, emergency telephones, recycling containers, building entry doors, etc.) are not fullydocumented on existing campus maps. No printed map can include everything, but in many casesthese are needed for visitors or even students in an emergency situation. Directions for Mapping Project 1 Goal: Use the GPS to gather data points and import into a map. Summary: Using a GPS device (e.g. the Garmin eTrex Legends), capture 20 thematic waypoints on campus and create a map using ArcGIS with these points imported and displayed on a basemap of your own choosing. Use available basemaps from the ESRI resource web pages. Keep a

Conference Session

Effective Projects and Experiments in Instrumentation and Control

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Mohamad A. Mustafa, Savannah State University; Asad Yousuf, Savannah State University; Jeff Kesling

Tagged Divisions

Instrumentation

. The first stationwill usually be a benchmark. A benchmark is a permanent point published by federal, state, Page 22.1302.2provincial, and municipal agencies. These points are established, known elevations and are set toresist vertical movement.To determine the elevation at a station, first, the level needs to be placed at a location such that itcan sight the rod at both a previous and the next station, and should be as close to equidistant toboth as possible. The first reading is to determine the backsight (BS), found by recording the rodmeasurement at the benchmark, also called STA 1. All readings taken on a point of knownelevation are

Conference Session

Collaborations, Accreditation and Articulation Issues for International Engineering Education

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Yuemin Zhao, China University of Mining & Technology; You-jun Tao, China University of Mining & Technology

Tagged Divisions

International

cultivation of innovation and creative ability in engineering education [1]. It is strategic important to engineering construction and personnel training fordevelopment of accreditation of engineering education under this background. The goal ofaccreditation of engineering education is to construct quality control system for engineeringeducation in China, and promote the reform of engineering education and further improve thequality of engineering education. To establish accreditation system for engineering educationwhich is linked up with the registered engineer, construct contact mechanism of engineeringeducation and business, enhance adaptability that of personnel training of engineeringeducation for industry development; To promote mutual

Conference Session

International Experience, Effective Instruction, and Student Exchange Programs

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Fanyu F. Zeng, Indiana Wesleyan University

Tagged Divisions

International

will continue in a larger student population.1. IntroductionResearch studies previously conducted by the author and other researchers find that today’ssuccessful and innovative educational approaches must focus on critical thinking, logicreasoning, and problem solving.1,15 Higher education institutions in the US have made enormousefforts to use newly designed curricula and adopt new techniques in teaching and learning inorder to significantly improve student’s learning outcomes and educate students to become wellinformed critical thinkers and deeply motivated problem solvers who can think critically, analyzeproblems, and discover innovative solutions. This effort also helps meet ever changing demandsfrom rapidly changing business and working

Conference Session

Developing International Engineering Research, Course Enhancement, Leadership of, and Online Engineering Education

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Bahawodin Baha, University of Brighton; Ogai Ahmadi, Kabul University, Afghanistan

Tagged Divisions

International

Leadership of Science and Engineering Education in AfghanistanAbstractManagers and leaders, with the required skills and levels of competency are essential for anyorganization, especially for educational institutions and specifically in countries that have beendevastated by decades of war and instability. This paper presents the results of an investigationon the leadership and management practices at higher education in the subject of Science andEngineering in Afghanistan.1. IntroductionThe development in Science, Engineering and Technology has revolutionized the world and hassignificantly improved the quality of life in more developed countries. However, the realbenefits of these developments have not reached the people

Conference Session

Qualitative Research Programs & International Research Experience from Around the World

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Kevin Kelly, Dublin Institute of Technology; Brian Bowe, Dublin Institute of Technology

Tagged Divisions

International

knowledge, skills andunderstanding to choose the appropriate research method or mixture of methods in anyparticular context.The nature of research methods and methodologies courses has come in for intensescrutiny across many disciplines over many years. Scientific based research is widelyviewed by engineers, to be rigorous and objective driven, using empirical methods inexperiment driven systemic methods that test hypotheses and justify conclusions. Suchpositivist traditions sometimes argue that such a truth can never be confirmed, onlydisconfirmed, i.e. the concept of falsifiability [1]. This paper effectively raises a number ofepistemological issues and questions the absence of qualitative research withinengineering education.Petroski [2] refers

Conference Session

A Global Engineer: International and Domestic Engineer

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Charles Pezeshki, Washington State University

Tagged Divisions

International

achieve success would have a very differentprofile and relational structure from the previous one.Spiral DynamicsIn the ‘50s, a different approach toward understanding relational dynamics was pioneeredby Clare Graves, a professor at Union College, and further advanced by Don Beck andChris Cowan, students of Graves and authors of [1]. Graves, originally performingresearch to validate Maslow’s Hierachy of Needs in a relational context, found thatMaslow’s Hierarchy was incomplete. He found that societies and individuals traversedwell-defined relational modes dependent on the challenges faced by those societies attheir particular moments of crisis. Further, these modes were split into two dominantforms – “I” modes, where some aspect of an individual

Conference Session

A Global Engineer: International and Domestic Engineer

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Claudio da Rocha Brito, Science and Education Research Council; Melany M. Ciampi, Safety, Health and Environment Research Organization

Tagged Divisions

International

, Austria, IGIP’2010 in Trnava, Slovakia, ICECE’2005 in Madrid, INTERTECH’2004 in Ba-hamas, INTERTECH’2006 in New Jersey, USA, EDUCON’2010 in Madrid. Abroad she has taughtcourses and lectures in five continents over 30 different Countries. Page 22.1442.4 c American Society for Engineering Education, 2011 The discussions after the Bologna Process in Europe: The Global Engineer Claudio da Rocha Brito1, Melany M. Ciampi2 1 President of Science and Education Research Council 2 President of Safety, Health and Environment Research

Conference Session

Collaborations, Accreditation and Articulation Issues for International Engineering Education

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Salahuddin Qazi, State University of New York, Institute of Technology; Yasin Akhtar Raja, University of North Carolina, Charlotte, Center for Optoelectronics & Optical Communications; Syed Muhammad Hassan Zaidi, NUST School of Electrical Engineering & Computer Science

Tagged Divisions

International

authorscontacted the office of International Science and Engineering (OISE) at NSF. The OISE supportsprograms to expand and enhance leading edge international research and education opportunitiesfor U.S. scientists and engineers, especially at the early career stage. It specifically works to build Page 22.1264.3and strengthen effective institutional partnerships throughout the global science and engineeringresearch and education community, and it supports international collaborations in NSF's nationalpriority research areas 1.While keeping this objective in mind, a proposal was submitted to NSF office of InternationalScience and Engineering for holding

Conference Session

Study Abroad, International Exchange Programs, and Student Engagements

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Joerg Mossbrucker, Milwaukee School of Engineering

Tagged Divisions

International

Longitudinal StudyAbstractThe Milwaukee School of Engineering (MSOE) and the University of Applied Sciences Lübeck/Germany (FHL) have a well-established, dual-accredited, bi-directional exchange program inElectrical Engineering that is completely integrated into the curricula of both institutions. Thebasic layout of this tuition-neutral exchange program is shown in Figure 1. MSOE and FHLstudents spend the first two years at their home institution. During the first half of the secondyear, the students express their desire to participate in the exchange program. After fulfilling allacademic requirements, students from both universities spend their third (Junior) year together atFHL and their fourth (Senior) year together at MSOE. The full academic year

Conference Session

Int. Engineering Education: Developments, Innovations, and Implementations

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Sebastian M. Pfotenhauer, Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Joshua Jacobs, Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Julio A. Pertuze, Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Daniel T. Roos P.E., Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Dava J. Newman, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Tagged Divisions

International

stagnation and low growth” and find “a highproportion of their educated emigrate” 1.Furthermore, around the globe schools of engineering have become significant economicplayers. Engineering departments at MIT, Stanford, or Caltech are a main sourc of innovationand technology emergence of their region, and significant contributors to local and nationalwelfare 8,9. Accordingly, current theories of innovation assign an active, quasi-entrepreneurialrole for universities in the national innovation system (see e.g. 10). This global shift towards anentrepreneurial university paradigm has led to a re-thinking of engineering education along thelines of innovation, entrepreneurship, socio-economic systems and university-industry linkages.In 2005, the

Conference Session

Robot Mania!

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Eli M. Silk, University of Pittsburgh; Ross Higashi, Carnegie Mellon University; Christian D. Schunn, University of Pittsburgh

Tagged Divisions

K-12 & Pre-College Engineering

two decades, they have increasingly become anaccessible way for K-12 students to learn about engineering design.1 Simple robots provide aconcrete form for younger students to explore issues related to structures, mechanisms, andbehaviors through the design of the robots using building blocks, motors, sensors, andprogrammable bricks.2Increasingly a common context for learning with robots has been in robot competitions.3 Aprimary goal of these competitions is to build students’ interests in engineering, but also theirskills in engineering as well. Especially in robot competition settings that aren’t specifically tiedto a formal course, the theory is that students will be motivated to test and learn about moregeneral ideas by building a robot to

Conference Session

K-12 and Pre-College Engineering Poster Session

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Janice S. Pawloski, Grand Valley State University; Charles R. Standridge, Grand Valley State University; Paul D. Plotkowski, Grand Valley State University

Tagged Divisions

K-12 & Pre-College Engineering

model for an effective partnership to stimulate K-12 participation in STEM extra-curricularactivities between industry, engineering college, and K-12 schools is shown in Figure 1. Figure 1: Model of Industry, Engineering College, K-12 School PartnershipA corporate foundation finds a mechanism for empowering K-12 extra-curricular STEMprograms using the resources of an engineering college. As a result, funding and humanresource support can be used to empower student groups and their teachers / mentors to start andmore effectively participate in extra-curricular STEM programs such as National ScienceOlympiad and FIRST Robotics. Human resource support includes funds administration,assistance with mentoring, and assistance with program

Conference Session

Engineering as the STEM Glue

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Mitchell J. Nathan, University of Wisconsin, Madison; Candace Walkington, University of Wisconsin, Madison; Rachaya Srisurichan, University of Wisconsin, Madison; Martha W. Alibali

Tagged Divisions

K-12 & Pre-College Engineering

reveals the consistent ways that teachers and students produce cohesion (1) byprojecting to past and future modal engagements, and (2) by coordinating representations andmaterials that are simultaneously present during modal engagements. Together, projection andcoordination create cohesion-producing opportunities to thread the mathematics throughdisparate representations, material forms and events. This work alerts us to the importance ofexplicitly addressing the need to produce and enforce cohesion across the range of materialforms, representations and activities that students confront in typical learning experiences.MotivationThe pool of engineers in the United States is neither large enough nor diverse enough to meet thecurrent needs of a

Conference Session

Engaging Families and Exciting Girls with Engineering

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Ming-Chien Hsu, Purdue University, West Lafayette; Monica E. Cardella, Purdue University, West Lafayette; Senay Purzer, Purdue University, West Lafayette

Tagged Divisions

K-12 & Pre-College Engineering

. Page 22.1139.1 c American Society for Engineering Education, 2011 Parents’ Perceptions of and Familiarity with EngineeringIntroductionThere is a growing concern in the engineering community that the interest among youngpeople in engineering is declining. There is a need to strategically plan how a strongerengineering workforce in the United States can be accomplished 1. While some efforts hadbeen made in improving undergraduate education and recruitment, other efforts, like thisstudy, focus on K-12 education and how we can improve students’ understanding ofengineering at early ages. Furthermore, recent studies have provided evidence that learningengineering content, especially engineering design, can

Conference Session

Innovative Program and Curricular Development

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Eugene Rutz, University of Cincinnati

Tagged Divisions

K-12 & Pre-College Engineering

engineering design Information Solutionprocess (see Figure 1) as a model fordeveloping an appropriate solution, the Communicateworking group first sought to clearly identifythe issue and define the problem to be Identify Alternatives Implement Solutionsolved. As a matter of primary importance,the collaborators first defined the learninggoals for the students1 – to increase students’ Select Best

Conference Session

Descriptions of Outreach Programs

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Ranji K. Vaidyanathan, Oklahoma State University

Tagged Divisions

K-12 & Pre-College Engineering

effectiveness ofSTEM education priorities of the country.1 An effective STEM education effort will provide thetechnical skills and quantitative literacy needed for individuals to earn livable wages and makebetter decisions for themselves, their families and their communities. In the new global andchallenging economy, the country will need a well-educated STEM workforce that isscientifically, mathematically and technologically literate in order to compete against othernations.1Despite its excellent prior record, the United States now lags behind other nations ininternational comparisons of student performances in science and mathematics. Reportedly, thereis an interest and achievement gap among groups such as African Americans, Hispanics

Conference Session

Research and Models for Professional Development

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Cher C. Hendricks, Georgia Institute of Technology; Barbara Burks Fasse, Georgia Institute of Technology; Donna C. Llewellyn, Georgia Institute of Technology

Tagged Divisions

K-12 & Pre-College Engineering

. Participants in this study were Fellows and the teachers with whom they worked.Both groups are described in detail in this section. The Institutional Review Boards (IRB) of boththe university and participating school systems approved this study. All participants signed IRB-approved informed consent documents. Pseudonyms are used throughout this paper to protect theidentity of the participants. SLIDER Fellows: Cohort 1, 2010-2011. A joint application was developed to allowgraduate students to apply for both programs, SLIDER and STEP Fellows, or to select to focuson only one if they had a firm preference. Although some applicants chose to be considered forboth programs, some experience with or knowledge of robotics, LEGOS, and/or applied

Conference Session

Integrating Technical Research into Professional Development and K-12 Classrooms

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

John D. Carpinelli, New Jersey Institute of Technology; Howard S. Kimmel, New Jersey Institute of Technology; Linda S. Hirsch, New Jersey Institute of Technology; Levelle Burr-Alexander, New Jersey Institute of Technology; Kwabena A. Narh, New Jersey Institute of Technology; Rajesh N. Davé, New Jersey Institute of Technology

Tagged Divisions

K-12 & Pre-College Engineering

, 2003. Page 22.1552.2 c American Society for Engineering Education, 2011 Translating Research Experiences into Classroom Practice: An RET ProjectIntroductionMost K-12 teachers have not been trained to incorporate engineering and technology topics intotheir classroom lessons and there is a lack of high-quality curricular materials in these areas 1.Comprehensive professional development programs are needed for teachers to address the newskills and knowledge needed for improved classroom teaching and learning 2,3 if we expect themto integrate engineering concepts into their

Conference Session

K-12 and Pre-College Engineering Poster Session

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Terence J. Fagan, Central Piedmont Community College; Gerald D. Holt, Project Lead The Way

Tagged Divisions

K-12 & Pre-College Engineering

feedback for CPCC as a central location to the unique experience.Survey ResultsThe survey results presented are in the same order as outlined above in the Survey section. Sixout of nine questions are shown due to their relevance to the paper. The results are shown in twoforms: the graph form represents the number of students on the vertical axis and the Likert scaleon the horizontal axis. The graph provides both visual and numerical data representation. Thetable represents the same data in percentage form to give the reader the actual percentagenumbers. Page 22.1201.6Teamwork and communication skills 1

Conference Session

Descriptions of Curricular and Model Development

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Amy Hsiao, Memorial University of Newfoundland

Tagged Divisions

K-12 & Pre-College Engineering

tobecome an engineer in the future. The key demographics of the respondents are shown in Table1. Average Age 38.3 Average Years Teaching 13.4 Average Number of Students in Your School 212.3 Table 1: Key demographics of the respondentsThe respondents taught a range of science courses from several levels of General Science,Mathematics, Chemistry, Biology, Physics, Environmental Science, Health, Physical Education,Earth Systems to Technology and Robotics. In response to the question asking respondents todescribe in general what engineers do, or to define what “Engineering” is, the results revealed

Conference Session

Engineering Education Research in K-12

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Kristen B. Wendell, Tufts University; Merredith D. Portsmore, Tufts University; Christopher George Wright, University of Tennessee, Knoxville; Chris Rogers, Tufts University; Linda Jarvin, Tufts University; Amber Kendall, Center for Engineering Education and Outreach, Tufts University

Tagged Divisions

Educational Research and Methods, K-12 & Pre-College Engineering

. Page 22.1468.2MethodsDesign of Study 1The first study, conducted in Year 1, featured a quasi-experimental study design in which oneexperimental group of teachers taught science with the new engineering-design-based curriculumunits, while another group of comparison teachers taught the same science content with theirtypical district-selected curriculum units. For this study, 14 third- and fourth-grade teachers fromsix urban public schools in the northeastern United States volunteered to implement at least oneof the four new engineering-design-based science units. They attended a 30-hour workshop onthe content and pedagogy of these units. Before and after unit enactment, their studentscompleted identical paper-and-pencil science content tests as

Conference Session

Engineering as the STEM Glue

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Amy C. Prevost, University of Wisconsin, Madison; Mitchell J. Nathan, University of Wisconsin, Madison; Amy Kathleen Atwood, University of Wisconsin - Madison; L. Allen Phelps, University of Wisconsin-Madison

Tagged Divisions

K-12 & Pre-College Engineering

allowed us to focus on how teacher/studentinteraction occurs, how students work with technology and to gain insight on how projectwork is done in the classroom setting. In applied work, such as was observed for thisresearch, a study of what the students are doing in the classroom is especially rich.Students used a variety of skills and concepts in a number of settings, includingprogramming robots, designing circuits in the Multisims simulation environment, andbreadboarding to create and troubleshoot circuits. In these contexts, one can observe howstudents are taught lessons that involve mathematics and subsequently use those tocomplete their projects.The analyses were motivated by three research questions: 1. How is class time distributed

Conference Session

Assessment and Evaluation of K-12 Engineering Programs

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Elizabeth Dell, Rochester Institute of Technology; Margaret B. Bailey, Rochester Institute of Technology; Shauna O'Hurley, Rochester Institute of Technology; Robert P. Lillis, Evalumetrics Research; Betsy Khol, Women in Engineering; Robert D. Garrick, Rochester Institute of Technology; Jeanne Christman, Rochester Institute of Technology

Tagged Divisions

Engineering and Public Policy, K-12 & Pre-College Engineering

appropriate for any given program requiresspecifying an evaluation logic model that is based on theory and/or knowledge of the behaviorbeing addressed, i.e. pursuing education and careers in STEM. The WE@RIT has specified abasic logic model shown in Figure 1. This model assumes that young women who areintroduced to science will have an interest in STEM and gain knowledge and competency aboutSTEM and STEM career options will commit to STEM education and pursue STEM careers.The behavioral logic model also specifies a number of variables that have been shown toinfluence each of the major areas of the model. Interest is influenced by the individual‟sperceptions of norms related to science. For young girls the most notable is the persistent genderbias

Conference Session

Research Related to Learning and Teaching Engineering in Elementary Classrooms

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

John C. Bedward, North Carolina State University; Eric N. Wiebe, North Carolina State University

Tagged Divisions

K-12 & Pre-College Engineering

, access to cognitive tools and resources, and appropriate and timelyscaffolding29. Students perceive matter as continuous or static. This might be reflected in theirdrawings as indistinguishable markings (lines or colored region) mixed together to represent asubstance30. Matter is thought to be appearing and disappearing which is counter to the theory ofthe conservation of mass. The graphical shape, proximity and arrangement of particles is anindication of students wrestling with particle ideas. Formal representation of particles is oftenconceived in terms of a ratio of molecular spacing between a solid-liquid-gas as being 1:1:10(the difference between a solid and liquid representation is in configuration and not proximity).Students have similar

Conference Session

Thinking Outside the Box! Innovative Curriculum Exchange for K12 Engineering

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Caitlin R. Thorn, U.S. Air Force Academy; Neal Barlow, U.S. Air Force Academy; Elaine M. Bryant, U.S. Air Force Academy

Tagged Divisions

K-12 & Pre-College Engineering

Conference Session

K-12 and Pre-College Engineering Poster Session

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Shamsnaz Virani, University of Texas, El Paso; Iris B. Burnham, Burnham Wood Charter School District; Virgilio Gonzalez, University of Texas, El Paso; Miroslava Barua, University of Texas, El Paso; Elaine Fredericksen, Ph.D., University of Texas, El Paso; Sally J. Andrade, Andrade & Associates, Inc., El Paso, TX

Tagged Divisions

K-12 & Pre-College Engineering

required to function in work and homeenvironments characterized by increasing technological sophistication. A decade ago, the GlennCommission Report 1 voiced grave concern that declining performance and interest in STEMsubjects among U.S. students would significantly impact efforts to increase the size of atechnical workforce already too small to meet the hiring needs of the nation’s firms, that werepoised to face drastic reductions as Baby Boomers reach retirement age. Since the release of thatreport, STEM education reform has been a growing priority of both government and privatesector agencies, as reflected by a proliferation of STEM initiatives at national, state, and locallevels