Conference Session

Innovations in Biological and Agricultural Engineering

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Adel Shirmohammadi, University of Maryland-College Park; Arthur Johnson, University of Maryland-College Park

Tagged Divisions

Biological & Agricultural

made ofstudents in our group projects at the University of Maryland.Tiny (to Big): “So, you got dem stiffs, an’ stiff-ettes, organized into gangs. How’d it go?”Big: “Good, boss. Over on 485 and 486 dey choose who dey want t’woik wid. On most of da udders we give ‘em an offer dey can’t refuse about who dey haft ta woik wid. On some streets dey keep woikin’ wid da same mugs for a coupla toims. On udder streets dey get shifted aroun’ during da toim. Dat keeps ‘em on dere toes a liddle betta.”Populating GroupsGroups are formed in some of our courses ad lib; others are assigned group members. There isenough group work in our courses that students know each other very well. This overcomes thenatural tendency to pick only

Conference Session

Biology in Engineering

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Mark McConkie, Utah State University; Timothy Taylor, Utah State University; David Britt, Utah State University

Tagged Divisions

Biological & Agricultural

campus, growing from 20students in 1998 to 85 students in 2004 (Figure 1). The new curriculum was based on anemerging set of recommendations from a project funded by the United States Department ofAgriculture to study curriculum requirements for biological engineers2. These recommendationsaddressed the concept of a biological engineer from an agricultural and natural resourcesperspective. Many departments that adopted the recommendations and changed their degrees tobiological engineering struggled at first due to a lack of a complete pedagogical change in thedepartments. Often the departments changed the degree name and added a biology course or twoto the curriculum, but failed to fully embrace the full breadth of what biological

Conference Session

Biology in Engineering

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Paul Schreuders, Utah State University; Brian Rutherford, Utah State University; Katrina Cox, Utah State University; Susan Mannon, Utah State University

Tagged Divisions

Biological & Agricultural

leakage from the pipeline appears to be similar for male and femalestudents. Female students in engineering programs did not fall behind in the pipeline. They, ac-tually, were slightly more likely than male students to complete an engineering degree and lesslikely to switch to non-engineering programs. Although women are less likely than men to enteruekgpeg"cpf"gpikpggtkpi."yqogp"yjq"gpvgt"uekgpeg"cpf"gpikpggtkpi"Ýgnfu"ctg"nkmgn{"vq"fq"ygnn"and graduate 21-24.Despite the hundreds of projects and huge expenditures used to increase recruitment and reten-tion of women in engineering, low enrollment with disappointing results still prevails 24. Why isengineering less responsive to these social forces that have otherwise successfully affected gen-der

Conference Session

Biology in Engineering

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Kurt Rosentrater, USDA-ARS; Kasiviswanathan Muthukumarappan

Tagged Divisions

Biological & Agricultural

Australia Project. Available online: http://data.brs.gov.au/mapserv/biomass/factsheets/Atlas_006.pdf.5. Abbas, C. A. and M. Cheryan. 2002. Emerging biorefinery opportunities. Applied Biochemistry and Biotechnology 98-100: 1147.6. Audsley, E. and J. E. Annetts. 2003. Modeling the value of a rural biorefinery – part I: the model description. Agricultural Systems 76: 39-59. Page 11.278.137. Annetts, J. E. and E. Audsley. 2003. Modeling the value of a rural biorefinery – part II: analysis and implications. Agricultural Systems 76: 61-76.8. Gravitis, J., J. Zandersons, N. Vedernikov, I. Kruma, and V. Ozols-Kalnins