Conference Session

Cooperative and Experiential Education Division (CEED): Developing Professional and Career Readiness

Collection

2025 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Elisa Schlesner Alves; Nathalie Lavoine, North Carolina State University at Raleigh; Julio Enrique Teran, North Carolina State University at Raleigh

Tagged Divisions

Cooperative and Experiential Education Division (CEED)

research. Graduate students would likelybenefit from structured teaching and mentoring programs that foster the development ofpedagogical and teaching skills through reflective practice. This work-in-progress paper thus proposes a novel teaching and mentoring trainingmodule, the Peer Mentor Major Exploration (PME) module, that offers graduate studentsadditional opportunities to teach and interact with undergraduate students. Through this module,a group of graduate students is allowed to share their academic journey and research work duringthe introductory part of an undergraduate-level engineering course. The graduate students aretrained to deliver a 3MT format presentation for effective and engaging interactions with a classof engineering

Conference Session

Cooperative and Experiential Education Division (CEED): Assessment, Curriculum & Instructional Design

Collection

2025 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Chelsea Armbrister, Florida A&M University - Florida State University; Lara Perez-Felkner, Florida A&M University - Florida State University

Tagged Topics

Diversity

Tagged Divisions

Cooperative and Experiential Education Division (CEED)

, self-efficacy, opportunities for professionaldevelopment, academic support etc. have significant influence on retention in Science, Technology,Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) as well as increases to the STEM workforce[1], [2]. These factors havebeen found especially compounding in historically underrepresented groups in STEM fields, includingEngineering[3]. Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) internship programs partner with nationallaboratories, principal investigators (PI’s), graduate mentors and STEM student groups to assess, explore andexamine science, technology engineering and mathematics (STEM) topics. Such a program is curatedintentionally to retain and increase the STEM workforce by addressing the challenges faced by STEM

Conference Session

Cooperative and Experiential Education Division (CEED): Assessment, Curriculum & Instructional Design

Collection

2025 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Lynne P Cooper PhD, Vanderbilt University

Tagged Divisions

Cooperative and Experiential Education Division (CEED)

more than one project, they may need tomodulate their workload on one project to compensate for intense periods on another. Rarely willone worker, especially a new-hire, be expected to balance 4 or 5 projects, yet we require ourstudents to do this.On a large scale, the professor and class could develop an assignment collaboratively. Theprofessor can set the context and constraints and give students the flexibility to explore optionswithin the allowable space. This approach was used to design an extra credit assignment inresponse to research that found that students entering the workforce lacked experiencearticulating their accomplishments [1].The Class Contribution Extra Credit Assignment provides students with an opportunity to

Conference Session

Cooperative and Experiential Education Division (CEED): Models, Methods & Frameworks for Experiential Learning

Collection

2025 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Olga Pierrakos, Wake Forest University

Tagged Topics

Diversity

Tagged Divisions

Cooperative and Experiential Education Division (CEED)

to nearly200 students, becoming the fourth largest and one of the most diverse among the 30 departmentsin the College of Arts and Sciences. The inaugural engineering graduates represented 40%women, 25% of students representing racial and ethnic minorities, first-generation students(~10%), international students (~10%), and student athletes (~10%). Pierrakos also led andimplemented with the founding team an innovative and evidence-based hiring process to recruita diverse faculty body (Pierrakos, 2025) and institute many evidence-based, theory-grounded,and research-based practices and strategies to curriculum design, advising, and innovation(Pierrakos, 2023; Pierrakos and Kenny, 2025) all strategically aligned to the “Educate the WholeEngineer

Conference Session

Cooperative and Experiential Education Division (CEED): Identity, Motivation & Belonging in Experiential Learning

Collection

2025 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Neeko Bochkarev, Minnesota State University, Mankato; Emilie A Siverling, Minnesota State University, Mankato; Ellen Patricia Thompson, Minnesota State University - Iron Range Engineering; Michelle Soledad, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University; Catherine McGough Spence, Minnesota State University, Mankato

Tagged Topics

Diversity

Tagged Divisions

Cooperative and Experiential Education Division (CEED)

Based Learning ProgramIntroductionIn this research-track paper, we seek to identify the relationship between engineering identity andbelonging and neurodiversity in a co-op based program. Neurodivergent characteristics, such asattention to detail, creativity, and pattern recognition, align well with careers in STEM (Science,Technology, Engineering, Mathematics), yet retention of neurodivergent students withinengineering programs is lower than neurotypical students [1]. Neurodivergent students whograduate or attempt to enter the workforce in a STEM discipline face bias and decreased successrates in job attainment after graduation [2]. By exploring neurodiverse engineering students’engineering identity and sense of belonging in a co-op based