Conference Session

Institutional Perspectives and Boundary Work

Collection

2013 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Kenneth Reid, Ohio Northern University; Tyler J Hertenstein, Ohio Northern University; Graham Talmadge Fennell, Ohio Northern University; Elizabeth Marie Spingola, Virginia Tech Department of Engineering Education

Tagged Divisions

Liberal Education/Engineering & Society

Education and Math Education.The Engineering Education degree program offers an opportunity to introduce teachers into K-12with an inherent appreciation of engineering, producing graduates that are capable of trulyintegrating math, science, engineering analysis and design into the classroom. Further, itprovides a mechanism to strengthen pre-engineering programs like Project Lead the Way(PLTW) by producing additional teachers licensed and capable of entering PLTW training;teachers who can promote the value of engineering from “inside” the system. Page 23.238.3Engineering Education Plan of StudyThe plan of study has been approved by the Ohio Board of

Conference Session

Communication, Professional Development, and the Engineering Ambassador Network

Collection

2013 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Julia M. Williams, Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology

Tagged Divisions

Liberal Education/Engineering & Society

Paper ID #5874Leading Through Difficult Conversations: Developing Students’ LeadershipCommunication SkillsDr. Julia M. Williams, Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology Dr. Julia M. Williams is Executive Director of the Office of Institutional Research, Planning, and Assess- ment & Professor of English at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology. Her research areas include techni- cal communication, assessment, accreditation, and the impact of pen-based technologies on learning and teaching. Her articles have appeared in the Journal of Engineering Education, International Journal of En- gineering Education, IEEE Transaction on

Conference Session

Integrating Engineering & Liberal Education

Collection

2013 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Pradeep Kashinath Waychal, College of Engineering Pune; Anil Dattatraya Sahasrabudhe, College of Engineering, Pune

Tagged Divisions

Liberal Education/Engineering & Society

. The data elements include student, area, faculty, sub-area, andcluster. Course assessment consisted of mid-term and end-term presentations which were evaluated by the peersand moderated by the faculty mentors. Results of self appraisals with respect to the learning attributes and theconsequent development plans were also examined during the assessment.IntroductionIn today’s knowledge economy, educational institutes need to recognize that lifelong and interdisciplinarylearning are the most critical skills, and take steps to inculcate them in students. A course in Liberal Learningoffers a good solution to achieve that objective. This is a different paradigm for both the students and faculty,though. The current K-12 education does not prepare

Conference Session

Integrating Engineering & Liberal Education

Collection

2013 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Bill D. Bailey, Southern Polytechnic State University

Tagged Divisions

Liberal Education/Engineering & Society

and Mold Making program, leadingto an Associate of Applied Science degree.Identifying linkage to outcomes such as these is fairly common at the program and course level.In this study, the relevant skills are integrated at the assignment level as well. In courses whereassignments did not support these skills, assignments were added or modified as appropriate.For example: communication, critical thinking, and teamwork were integrated into laboratory(machining) sections through the use of individual and team based projects. These projectsrequired written plans, written evaluations at the conclusion, a reflective paper to cementlearning, and a presentation to the class and others.This paper will provide a detailed description of how this

Conference Session

A Challenge to Engineering Educators

Collection

2013 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Harold R Underwood, Messiah College

Tagged Divisions

Liberal Education/Engineering & Society

We have implementeda similar multi-year plan known as the Integrated Projects Curriculum (IPC), thatfunctions effectively for our smaller engineering program at Messiah College.Evaluating multi-year project work in various phases of development entails uniquechallenges as compared to the traditional capstone approach, but using a portfolio toassess the ongoing project work serves as a practical and effective tool, with sufficientflexibility. The portfolio for engineering assessment has been described by Williams.2 Inrecent years, a number of authors have identified various uses3 of the portfolio for thepurposes of engineering education; this paper focuses on our experience of portfolio usefor multi-year projects, in a progressive development

Conference Session

Liberal Education/Engineering & Society (LEES) Poster Session

Collection

2013 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Christine Haas, Worcester Polytechnic Institute; Lynn S. McElholm, Worcester Polytechnic Institute; Sonya M Renfro, University of Connecticut; Elizabeth S. Herkenham, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute ; Melissa Marshall, Pennsylvania State University, University Park; Michael Alley, Pennsylvania State University, University Park

Tagged Divisions

Liberal Education/Engineering & Society

to be conducted in order to substantiate the results.Program Goals Moving ForwardEven though Rensselaer’s Engineering Ambassador program aims to promote engineering to anunderrepresented audience, the Ambassador role models currently do not depict the audience weare attempting to attract. Going forward, Rensselaer plans to address this, in addition toincorporating representation from all engineering majors. With these goals in mind, Rensselaer’sAmbassador recruitment efforts have become targeted to help encourage a diverse population ofEngineering Ambassadors. Expanding industry connections will also help to strengthen thesustainability of the program within Rensselaer’s School of Engineering culture and community.The university partnership

Conference Session

Rethinking Engineering Writing

Collection

2013 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Steven R Walk, Old Dominion University

Tagged Divisions

Liberal Education/Engineering & Society

students.This paper provides a brief summary of Learning through Writing pedagogy objectives,methods, and outcomes from the learning methods literature. Samples of reported objectives andclassroom experiences and outcomes in undergraduate science, mathematics, engineering, andtechnology (STEM) curricula are given. This paper presents also the author’s strategy, planning,applications, and results using Learning through Writing in the chosen laboratory. Lessonslearned and continuous improvement objectives and activities are described.IntroductionLearning through Writing (LtW) has become a popular and successful pedagogical advanceapplied across undergraduate curricula and disciplines, including engineering curricula, asnoted in many articles in the

Conference Session

Communication and Engineering Careers: Motivating Our Students

Collection

2013 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Julie E. Sharp, Vanderbilt University; Christopher J Rowe, Vanderbilt University

Tagged Divisions

Liberal Education/Engineering & Society

Page 23.705.3demonstrate the institution’s commitment to students’ post-college career planning.17Course Development and CollaborationIn the spring 2012 semester, a group of undergraduate engineering students taking a systemsengineering management course asked to do their semester project on the feasibility of a careerdevelopment course for engineering undergraduates. Such a course had been debated off and onfor many years by the faculty and had been deemed not academically rigorous to be offered in atraditional engineering curriculum. In any case, the students’ request was granted and thefeasibility study was done. The resulting project for the systems engineering management classwas presented to the course professor, who also invited the

Conference Session

Communication and Engineering Careers: Motivating Our Students

Collection

2013 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Katherine Golder, British Columbia Institute of Technology; Deanna Gail Levis, British Columbia Institute of Technology; Darlene B Webb, British Columbia Institute of Technology

Tagged Divisions

Liberal Education/Engineering & Society

the event successful, the following seven steps need to be taken: (1) finding thesponsors, (2) marketing the competition, (3) registering the students, (4) planning the twoevents, (5) preparing refreshments and gifts, (6) voting for audience choice prizes, and (7)updating after the event.1. Finding SponsorsFinding sponsors is the most important and probably most challenging task, particularly in thefirst year or two. We find most sponsors by canvassing engineering companies, book publishers,and engineering departments at the institute. Page 23.486.22. Marketing the Competition

Conference Session

Integrating Engineering & Liberal Education

Collection

2013 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Heath Tims, Louisiana Tech University; Krystal S Corbett, Cyber Innovation Center; Galen E. Turner III, Louisiana Tech University

Tagged Divisions

Liberal Education/Engineering & Society

graduated from their respective highschools and enrolled in universities. Three students from the pilot program reported changes intheir college plans as a direct result of their Cyber Discovery experience. One male student whowas originally focused on liberal arts decided to supplement his education by pursuing a dualdegree in Computer Information Sciences and Business, while one female student changed her Page 23.362.4major from pre-med to biomedical engineering. Another male student decided to major inmechanical engineering and then pursue a masters in electrical engineering after exploringengineering concepts through the Cyber Discovery program.The

Conference Session

Communication and Engineering Careers: Motivating Our Students

Collection

2013 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

John C. Anderson, Northwestern University; David W. Gatchell, Northwestern University; Barbara Shwom, Northwestern University; Stacy Benjamin, Segal Design Institute; John Andrew Lake, Segal Design Institute, Northwestern University

Tagged Divisions

Liberal Education/Engineering & Society

design problem and their plans for future work. The attention to specific wordsand their consequences forces students to clarify their thinking about their problem as they revisetheir statements.Example: Mid-term status reports and claims assignmentThe following example demonstrates how one team used mid-term status reports and claimsassignment to make a good design decision. The goal of the team’s project was to design apressurized tank, for use by veterinarians at Shedd Aquarium. The veterinarians will use thetank, similar in function to hyperbaric chambers used for treating decompression sickness inscuba divers, to experiment with a novel approach to treating Gas Bubble Disease in sea horses.During their status report presentation, one

Conference Session

Communication, Professional Development, and the Engineering Ambassador Network

Collection

2013 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Karen A. Thole, Pennsylvania State University, University Park; Sarah E Zappe, Pennsylvania State University, University Park; Melissa Marshall, Pennsylvania State University, University Park; Michael Alley, Pennsylvania State University, University Park; Renata S. Engel P.E., Pennsylvania State University, University Park

Tagged Divisions

Liberal Education/Engineering & Society

assessment of theeffectiveness of the national workshop, and the future plans to sustain the network.Introduction: Penn State’s Engineering Ambassador Program Penn State established an Engineering Ambassador Program in 2009 with anoutreach mission by employing the marketing lessons from the National Academy ofEngineering’s Changing the Conversation through the partial support from the National Page 23.495.2Science Foundation (http://www.engr.psu.edu/ambassadors/index.html). After havinglearned advanced presentation skills and the messages of Changing the Conversation,select undergraduate engineering students, mostly females, traveled to high

Conference Session

Communication, Professional Development, and the Engineering Ambassador Network

Collection

2013 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Catherine Talbot; Michael Alley, Pennsylvania State University, University Park; Melissa Marshall, Pennsylvania State University, University Park; Christine Haas, Worcester Polytechnic Institute; Sarah E Zappe, Pennsylvania State University, University Park; Joanna K. Garner, Old Dominion University, Norfolk, Virginia

Tagged Divisions

Liberal Education/Engineering & Society

engineeringconcepts to explain to students. The undergraduates also gained leadership, management,and communication skills from building and presenting lesson plans. Each year at Gannon University since 2008, an average of 66 middle schoolstudents have participated in the “Mechanical Engineering Day.”13 The ASME StudentChapter, the SWE Student Chapter, and the Mechanical Engineering faculty at GannonUniversity have hosted the event. Again, the feedback from the participatingundergraduate students showed an improvement in leadership, communication, andteamwork skills. In addition to these skills, Gannon reported that their students were alsoexposed to executing a project with budget and time limitations. The students gainedthese skills from working in

Conference Session

Restructuring/Rethinking STEM

Collection

2013 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Michael Geselowitz, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey; Lyle Feisel P.E., Binghamton University

Tagged Divisions

Liberal Education/Engineering & Society

respondents on the preference of covering recenttechnology or the entire history of technology combined with the desire for modularity suggeststhe possibility of developing a sequence of two or three chronologically-based courses.Therefore, the authors intend to work with their association to develop a business model that willenable such a course to be planned and delivered. A critical component of the business plan willbe the development of metrics (besides such obvious ones of number of institutions that sign onand number of students to take the course) to assess the efficacy of the course. In fact, a coursedelivered to multiple institutions has the potential to provide a test bed for the assumedimportance of history in engineering education, since

Conference Session

Restructuring/Rethinking STEM

Collection

2013 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Nicola Sochacka, University of Georgia; Kelly Woodall Guyotte, University of Georgia; Joachim Walther, University of Georgia; Nadia N. Kellam, University of Georgia

Tagged Divisions

Liberal Education/Engineering & Society

needs to be athoughtfully planned arts integration. With this in mind, the arts must also visualize what it isthat STEM might offer at this deeper level where all five of these disciplines might stand onequal ground.In reference to your comment about empathy and caring being absent from the STEAMconversation, the authors of Sparks of Genius present “empathizing “ as one of the thirteenthinking tools of the most creative individuals from across disciplines. Recall that we also foundthat Howard Gardner and Daniel Pink discuss empathy as they envision the necessary minds ofthe future. Is it that our society (or maybe STEM education) does not value this type of creativethinking? Or is that most people do not think of the ability to empathize as a

Conference Session

A Challenge to Engineering Educators

Collection

2013 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Canek Moises Luna Phillips, Purdue University; Kacey Beddoes, Purdue University, West Lafayette

Tagged Divisions

Liberal Education/Engineering & Society

framework.A Framework for Thinking about Public Communication of EngineeringThe three dimensions of S&E communication discussed above are related to the goals organizershave for any given event or program. Figure 2 presents a framework that combines theseelements. Figures 3 and 4 show that these dimensions influence the type of forum that is selectedfor a communication event. The framework can be used to help engineering educators andstudents reflect upon and plan their own communication initiatives, ideally working to overcomelimitations or problems that are created when relying solely on DM communication. We intendthe framework to help engineering educators and future engineers think through dimensions oftheir communication projects and

Conference Session

Difference, Disability, and (De)Politicization: The Invisible Axes of Diversity

Collection

2013 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Amy E. Slaton, Drexel University

Tagged Divisions

Liberal Education/Engineering & Society

with matters of identity and equity in science and technologyis less explicable still to his or her home discipline. And as little explored as race, gender, andLGBT identity might be, physical ability and disability in STEM disciplines remain subjects witheven less presence in social scientific spheres. This paper considers this absence: why dopersons with disabilities constitute an identity that remains underexplored in STEM educationtheory, marginalized in institutional planning, and nearly invisible in critical social scientificstudies of those fields, even where other forms of exclusion have come under study? What ideasabout bodies and intellectual abilities and the linkages between them are foundational to STEM,and why have social

Conference Session

Institutional Perspectives and Boundary Work

Collection

2013 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Ron D Dempsey, Southern Polytechnic State University

Tagged Divisions

Liberal Education/Engineering & Society

professors not only have teaching experience but also the industry experience which adds to the quality of teaching. Engineering programs have a long way to go to perfection. They do not teach skills to students.7 See Purdue’s ET program at http://www.tech.purdue.edu/MET/academics/undergraduate/MET/plan-of-study.cfmor UNC-Charlotte’s ET programs at http://et.uncc.edu/undergraduate-programs/electrical-engineering-technology/4-year-academic-plan-of-study.html.8 ABET, the engineering accrediting body for U.S. programs, has separate commissions (the EngineeringAccrediting Commission and the Technology Accrediting Commission) with separate criteria for accrediting

Conference Session

Rethinking Engineering Writing

Collection

2013 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

David M. Beams P.E., University of Texas, Tyler; Luke Niiler, University of Alabama; Beth Todd, University of Alabama; Marcus Brown, University of Alabama; Garry W. Warren, University of Alabama

Tagged Divisions

Liberal Education/Engineering & Society

College (BSCC), a state-supported community collegein Alabama. The Coach is developing a series of web-based writing instruction modules andwill help students learn to write for audiences of engineers through sequences of writingsamples, prompts, and heuristics. By emphasizing writing as a design process, The Coach isintended to provide engineering faculty with a valuable resource for developing students’rhetorical skills. The Coach’s development is founded upon the understanding engineeringcurricula are the most-appropriate venue for building stronger engineering writing skills.Technical issues prevented the planned launch of The Coach in 2011, but roll-out took placeon all three campuses in fall, 2012. This paper describes in detail the state

Conference Session

Liberal Education/Engineering & Society (LEES) Poster Session

Collection

2013 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Craig J. Gunn, Michigan State University

Tagged Divisions

Liberal Education/Engineering & Society

productioncan increase along with their knowledge. Professors can talk about the similar kinds of writing that Page 23.676.7they do and the ways in which they handle the writing tasks. Students should also be required tobegin the process of oral presentation early in their academic careers. Professors should give theirstudents every chance available to speak of the technical knowledge that they are learning. Asinterest grows, planned seminars and workshops can be provided that will emphasize theimportance of the engineering faculty as the catalyst for improvement.The structure of unified technical knowledge and communication skill can be

Conference Session

Integrating Engineering & Liberal Education

Collection

2013 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Dominic M. Halsmer PE, Oral Roberts University; Peter Wesley Odom, Oral Roberts University; Jessica Fitzgerald, Oral Roberts University; Taylor Gipson Tryon, Oral Roberts University

Tagged Divisions

Liberal Education/Engineering & Society

, tinkerers do not plan out what they aregoing to do, nor do they use any type of process to come to a certain solution. Instead, they use aprocess of guess and check, and try different things until they find something that works—aprocess of elimination. Though Alon makes this claim, that evolution is much like a “tinkerer,”he does state that the “solutions found by evolution have much in common with goodengineering design.” He elaborates on three examples of these similarities between engineeredsystems and biological systems: modularity, robustness, and the use of recurring circuitelements.The first, modularity, Alon defines as “a set of nodes [in a system] that have strong interactionsand a common function.” In order for a set of nodes to be

Conference Session

Communication and Engineering Careers: Motivating Our Students

Collection

2013 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Tristan T. Utschig, Georgia Institute of Technology; Jeffrey S. Bryan; Judith Shaul Norback, Georgia Institute of Technology

Tagged Divisions

Liberal Education/Engineering & Society

mostly disagreed whethera certain skill was hard or easy to rate, and other insightful comments. We used these commentsto modify the scoring system to make it more useful.In ongoing work, we are gathering one more round of stakeholder feedback from executives,faculty, TAs, and students. We plan to 1) use this input to make additional changes to thescoring system and 2) start to test the reliability of the revised scoring system. Results from thiswork—more comments about the scoring system and preliminary reliability data from twoengineering schools in Georgia Tech—will be included in the ASEE presentation. We will alsomake the newest version of the presentation scoring system available to our audience.References 1. Utschig, T. T., &

Conference Session

A Challenge to Engineering Educators

Collection

2013 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Lisa DuPree McNair, Virginia Tech; Wende Garrison, Virginia Tech

Tagged Divisions

Liberal Education/Engineering & Society

studentsplanning to join the faculty should begin learning about each of these elements of the academicprofession”3, p. v.This problem has also been noted in engineering education: many graduate programs focus onspecializing in a research area, often at the expense of training future educators for teaching. AsJamieson and Lohmann assert in their 2009 ASEE report, Creating a Culture for Scholarly andSystematic Innovation in Engineering Education, “we must strengthen career-long professionaldevelopment in teaching and learning, starting with the doctoral programs that produce mostengineering faculty”4, p. 1. Even graduate students who plan for industry, government or non-profit careers should possess the skills of “knowing how to explain difficult concepts

Conference Session

Rethinking Engineering Writing

Collection

2013 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Brad Jerald Henderson, University of California, Davis

Tagged Divisions

Liberal Education/Engineering & Society

). Afterengineering analysis and computation for the models against the baseline, we recommend ModelB as the best automated alternative as it has the efficiency and cost-effectiveness of Model Awith added quality assurance features.INTRODUCTIONIn preparation for the Las Vegas Automation Tradeshow, Maverick Robotics Corporation(MRC) plans to showcase a small-scale turn-key solution, high-speed, synchronous,manufacturing module (THSMM). Management has given manufacturing the task of designing aTHSMM production line that automatically assembles LEGO miniature sports cars (model#9480). The objective is to design the line to efficiently and economically manufacture onemillion (1M) LEGO sports cars, replacing a factory worker who works a 40-hour week and ispaid