Collection

2025 Rocky Mountain Section Conference

Authors

Chika Winnifred Agha; Rebecca Atadero; Amir Hedayati Mehdiabad

Learning about Ethics and Equity in Engineering: Experience of Early- Career EngineersAbstractBackground: As the engineering profession increasingly emphasizes ethical responsibility andequity in practice, the preparation of early-career engineers to navigate these challenges in theworkplace is important.Purpose: This paper aims to report on what early career engineers recall from their learningexperiences regarding ethics and equity at school and the training opportunities they receive attheir engineering workplace.Design/Method: Our study employs a qualitative research approach, utilizing reflexive thematicanalysis (RTA) to examine the learning experiences and preparation of early-career engineers.As part

Collection

2025 Rocky Mountain Section Conference

Authors

Randy Hurd; Sulabh Khadka; Dustin Grote

(Ackermann, 1991). The summer programs provide varieties of activities for participatingstudents, including academic support, study skills, career counseling, parent involvement,developing relationships on campus, computer literacy, and partnerships with business,communities, and K-12 educators (Kezar, 2000). Many prior studies have found that STEMsummer bridge programs facilitate the transition of students from high school to university,helping them improve their academic performance and persistence rates in STEM-designatedprograms of studies. Although summer school benefits all students, studies show that theseprograms have a greater impact on those from middle-class families than those fromunderprivileged backgrounds (Copper et al., 2000). Based

Collection

2025 Rocky Mountain Section Conference

Authors

Abdirahman Abdi; Phil Courey; Malinda S Zarske

and long-term benefits students gain from the program, (c) anyunexpected outcomes that enhance student learning and development, and (d) how qualitative andquantitative data together provide a comprehensive understanding of the student experience.Preliminary findings suggest that the program fosters a strong sense of belonging, enhancesstudents’ academic confidence, and prepares them for career success through structuredmentorship, networking opportunities, and well-being resources. As the study progresses, insightsgathered will inform recommendations for strengthening the Lattice Scholars Program and guidingsimilar initiatives at other institutions. This work-in-progress research contributes to the broaderunderstanding of how integrated

Collection

2025 Rocky Mountain Section Conference

Authors

Eric Bogatin; John Lettang

All of Capstone in a Day ProjectEric Bogatin and John LettangUniversity of Colorado, BoulderAbstractWe introduced a simple one-day project at the beginning of our capstone senior designcourse, which gave students valuable insight into the importance of project planning andteamwork they leveraged throughout our 2-semester course.IntroductionThe ECEE department has offered a 2-semester-long capstone program for over 20 years.We typically have 90 seniors grouped into teams of six students. We constantly experimentwith content and methods to make it more effective for the students and better preparethem for the semesters ahead and their future careers in industry.Four years ago, we introduced a new one-lab-session long project that gave the

Collection

2025 Rocky Mountain Section Conference

Authors

Benjamin Bruxvoort; Nehemiah Emaikwu; Kim Trenbath; Jason Schmidt

students to the buildingscience disciplines and builds connections to industry (JUMP into STEM, n.d.).As part of this work, multiple researchers investigated the broader impact of the competition onits participants, and documented the successes and challenges of engaging students through thecompetition (Bruxvoort et al., n.d.; Fumo, 2024a, 2024b; Hubbard et al., 2021; Rippy et al.,2022). In addition, Rippy et al. (2022) conducted a longitudinal look across 4 years of theprogram’s operation, distilling key themes of success including how students felt the competitionhad impacted their career path; promoted and valued a range of perspectives; providednetworking, mentorship, and team-forming experiences; and given real-world, applied

Collection

2025 Rocky Mountain Section Conference

Authors

Abigail Neering; Mitchell Keck; Julia Reyna; Natcin Sorensen; Travis Price; Randy Hurd

design team, we met with the anatomy and physiology professor (our client) to present ourfinal product. He was happy with the completed project and animatedly spoke of a variety ofways to utilize it in future labs. He also mentioned the possibility of a second iteration in thefuture or commissioning our team to construct an additional device. A few days later, wecompleted our final project presentation for evaluation, and all the engineering professors presentexpressed their satisfaction with both the final product and the overall team effort.ConclusionMany students primarily focus on passing necessary courses and meeting requirements set byprofessors, whereas in future careers the focus is often on the requirements of a customer orsupervisor

Collection

2025 Rocky Mountain Section Conference

Authors

John M. Santiago

, enabling scalable, student-centered learning experiences.The ability for students to rapidly generate scripts, visuals, and narration allows for fast prototyping anditeration—core habits of innovation. Moreover, this method democratizes the creation of high-qualityeducational resources, especially for institutions with limited multimedia budgets or staffing.In addition, the author found that developing or managing a website offers a strategic and entrepreneurialmindset perspective to scale lessons learned from his 45-plus career and from his colleagues as well asreceiving feedback to improve a strategic plan, PyramidX-OS, mentorship approaches, its associatedactivity form, and incentive program.6.1 AI-Assisted Talking Chatbot as Mentor and

Collection

2025 Rocky Mountain Section Conference

Authors

Mridusmita Saikia; Stephanie Fuchs

learning that is now gaining popularity amongengineering institutions [5]. During studio sessions, students work in teams to performcollaborative tasks with the aim of creating a solution for an engineering problem. The problemsare intentionally designed and inspired from real-world topics they will encounter in their futureprofessional careers [6-8].Quantifying student learning in response to the studio-based instruction can be challenging. Toaddress this, we focused our analysis on a specific case: student-developed solutions for thetreatment of type 1 diabetes (T1D), a biomedical problem discussed in both courses.Data collected from students’ final design submissions were used to address the followingquestion, that covered specific questions

Collection

2025 Rocky Mountain Section Conference

Authors

Alexander Aronov; Daniel Knight, University of Colorado, Boulder; Angela Bielefeldt; Joseph Polman; Fabiola Palomar

, planning investigations, and constructing explanations from evidence.Numerous studies have demonstrated that such pedagogies enhance students’ critical thinking,problem-solving, and conceptual understanding [10][11]. Moreover, inquiry-based approachesare a cornerstone of the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS), which emphasize not onlycontent knowledge but also the practices of science and engineering [12]. Research comparinginquiry-based methods with more traditional, teacher-directed approaches indicates that whenstudents tackle authentic, real-world problems, they are more likely to develop the skills neededfor future STEM careers [13].Rural STEM EducationRural schools often confront challenges such as limited resources, geographical

Collection

2025 Rocky Mountain Section Conference

Authors

Rachel Cloud; Spencer MacLaughlin; Adam Lynch; Ridge Towner

accuracy. Together, these metrology methods provide acomprehensive approach to maintaining precision and reliability during the critical loading andunloading phases on a MAKINO palletize system, or other similar CNC manufacturer systems.1.3 Literature Review of Active Learning Active learning, which emphasizes problem-solving, teamwork, and hands-onengagement, is valuable in engineering education as it mirrors the real-world challenges studentswill face in their careers. With active learning, students learn the material in class and can thenapply their newfound knowledge in industry, using that experience to gain a better understandingof the material. This study allows students to collaborate with industry professionals, working onreal