Conference Session

Preparing a Modern Aerospace Workforce

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Sven Bilen; Lisa Brown; Mieke Schuurman; Timothy Wheeler; Julio Urbina

Tagged Divisions

Aerospace

- On Space Systems Project Experiences on Career Choices Abstract S e v e r a l r e p o r t s

Conference Session

Undergraduate Space Design and Project Courses

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Debbie Mullins, Texas Space Grant Consortium; Wallace Fowler, University of Texas at Austin

Tagged Divisions

Aerospace

; offers peer-reviewsof paper submissions; proposal writing guidelines and instruction; and affords undergraduatestudent team members of any level with the opportunity to engage in relevant scientific research,hands-on discipline-related design, career information, opportunities in meeting presentation andeducational outreach.IntroductionSponsored as part of a NASA Workforce Development initiative since 2002, the TSGC DesignChallenge [TDC] has continued to deliver a unique academic experience to the undergraduatestudent teams that participate: the opportunity to propose, design and fabricate a mission-relevant design solution for NASA. Design Challenge project topics are submitted to TSGC fordesign team consideration by engineers and scientists

Conference Session

Preparing the Future Workforce in Aerospace

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Narayanan Komerath, Georgia Institute of Technology; Marilyn Smith, Georgia Institute of Technology

Tagged Divisions

Aerospace

US citizens or permanent residents2. They had to be taking full academic loads towards an approved CSEMS degree3. They should be aiming for technical careers in these disciplines4. The scholarship was intended to relieve students of the financial burden of seeking outside jobs, thus allowing them to focus on their academic programs.5. The program was prohibited from requiring research or other productive activities.Program Objectives & Elements Page 13.962.2The objectives of our program are to enable access to a top-quality education to the mostdeserving students and to ensure the best guidance for their success

Conference Session

Preparing a Modern Aerospace Workforce

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Narayanan Komerath, Georgia Institute of Technology

Tagged Divisions

Aerospace

provide guidance on curriculum design for initiative, cross- disciplinary learning, skill-sets and career choices.6. There is no shortage of grand dreams for AEs to pursue.7. The knowledge base of aerospace engineering is relevant to developing concepts, seemingly Page 13.452.9 far outside the aerospace realm. Proceedings of the 2008 American Society of Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition. Copyright ©2008 by the American Society of Engineering Education. AcknowledgementsThe author gratefully acknowledges the support through the NASA Institute of

Conference Session

Undergraduate Space Design and Project Courses

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Sven Bilen, Pennsylvania State University; Brian Schratz, Pennsylvania State University

Tagged Divisions

Aerospace

opportunities. The Lab alsocoordinates education and public outreach to inspire younger students to pursue careers inscience, technology, engineering, and math.As a development strategy, the SSPL focuses on fostering a collaborative and open environment Page 13.1253.2for its students. By providing a location for students to congregate between classes or to meetfor homework discussions, the Lab is a confluence of students from various majors, years,backgrounds, and experiences. In addition, multidisciplinary teams are encouraged rather thansingle-major groups. By bridging the otherwise disjoined diversity of students’ majors andideas, the Lab’s students

Conference Session

Undergraduate Space Design and Project Courses

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

John Kuhlman, West Virginia University; Donald Gray, West Virginia University

Tagged Divisions

Aerospace

flight travel to Houston and participate in the entire RGSFOPexperience, and return to campus with a greater self confidence, energized to moreaggressively pursue their professional careers. They experience a world of opportunityaround them that we cannot show them as dramatically here on campus, and they respond tothis experience. Program participants have moved on to successful careers in aerospaceengineering. Some have gone on to graduate school; two former MRT3 team members inparticular have completed graduate degrees at WVU, working on spray cooling andcontinuing their reduced gravity flights through collaboration with a team of thermalresearchers at the Air Force Research Laboratory in Dayton, Ohio17-19. From thisinformation, we are

Conference Session

Preparing a Modern Aerospace Workforce

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

James Helbling, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University; Lance Traub, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University

Tagged Divisions

Aerospace

evaluate state-of-the-art concepts. Additional curriculum improvements will be achievedonce the faculty gain more experience in using the facility and more fully understand thecapability of the equipment. In the meantime, the improvement in the undergraduate learningenvironment afforded by the Rapid Prototyping Laboratory continues to better prepare ourstudents for the next phase of their academic or professional careers, thereby adding to ERAU’sreputation for producing quality engineers who understand the relationship between theory andapplication.References1 Criteria for Accrediting Engineering Programs Effective for Evaluations during the 2003 – 2004 Accreditation Cycle, Engineering Accreditation Commission, November 20022 ABET

Conference Session

Best Practices in Aerospace Education

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Swami Karunamoorthy, Saint Louis University

Tagged Divisions

Aerospace

QualityImprovement.Step – 1: Program Educational Objectives (PEO)ABET definition states that “Program educational objectives are broad statements thatdescribe the career and professional accomplishments that the program is preparinggraduates to achieve.”A program not only educate certain skills, knowledge and values that a student supposedto know at the time of graduation but also what he/she would become by applying orpracticing those knowledge, skill and value. In simple terms, what is the purpose of theprogram? The answer to this question in broad statements should be developed afterseeking input from constituents. As a rule of thumb, the number of objectives can be atleast three and at most five.A program in general serves the constituency of Industry and/or

Conference Session

Preparing the Future Workforce in Aerospace

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Narayanan Komerath, Georgia Institute of Technology

Tagged Divisions

Aerospace

andDillinger14 studied students’ perceptions of grading, and their expectations based on those. Theydefined grade inflation as students receiving a grade that exceeds the level of performance in thecourse. They found that “average” students expected “B” or “A”. They identified changes incourse format, grading policies, student evaluations of instructors, and alternatives offered forextra credit and reworking of assignments as factors contributing to grade inflation.From Kennedy15 “At Princeton, it was discovered that some faculty members had, over theirentire careers, given "A" or "A-" course grades to as few as 35 percent of their students ( "asfew"?) while others awarded these grades to as many as 87 percent of their students. In somerequired courses

Conference Session

Best Practices in Aerospace Education

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Thomas Hannigan, Mississippi State University; Keith Koenig, Mississippi State University; Lorenzo Coley, Mississippi State University; Christopher Hamm, Mississippi State University

Tagged Divisions

Aerospace

within each. In thenot-so-distant past, almost all of the aerospace engineering students would graduate with nearlyidentical transcripts except for the behavioral and human sciences courses. Now it is notuncommon for students to choose a path leading to various specializations of study, certificatesof specialization, or to take steps toward professional registration while relatively early in theiracademic careers. Although individual advisors can assist in charting a curricular path toward adegree or certificate programs such as leadership and material certificates within the engineeringcollege, the larger picture and a measured exposure to the various paths available must beprovided to each student. Only if the student chooses the appropriate

Conference Session

Best Practices in Aerospace Education

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Kristi Shryock, Texas A&M University; Helen Reed, Texas A&M University

Tagged Divisions

Aerospace

careers or being skilled practitioners. Theyare much longer range attributes a graduate accomplishes. One pitfall programs can face is thattheir objectives can many times be too closely related to what is expected of students at the timeof graduation. Objectives should describe what is attained the first several years aftergraduation.On the other hand, program outcomes are specific measurable qualities students must know or beable to do by the time of graduation. While they are normally measured as a student progressesthrough the program, the program must show they have been achieved by the time the studentgraduates. Programs will often times confuse the terms of program outcomes and courseoutcomes or objectives.Courses within the program have

Conference Session

Undergraduate Space Design and Project Courses

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

John Kuhlman, West Virginia University; G. Michael Palmer, West Virginia University

Tagged Divisions

Aerospace

Page 13.135.16motivator for many of the students, as well as an opportunity for them to learn to apply theirclassroom knowledge to the solution of a “real” problem. It appears to us that the result tends 15to be an increase in their overall engagement in the educational process, and in their self-confidence and maturity. The three written reports and class homework that also emphasizeswriting contribute to improved technical writing skills. The collaborative team environmentfor the project is good preparation for their careers, and we believe that it also helps in theirverbal communication skills. Also, those who have provided financial resources for the Balloon