AC 2009-2113: A PLAN TO IMPROVE STUDENT PREPARATION ANDENGAGEMENT IN ENGINEERINGQiang Le, Hampton UniversityEric Sheppard, Hampton University Page 14.85.1© American Society for Engineering Education, 2009 A plan to improve student preparation and engagement in engineeringAbstractAs in many engineering programs, the programs at the School of Engineering and Technologyare concerned with improving our recruitment and retention, and have targeted action in twoareas: pre-college programs (impacting recruitment) and the freshman introduction toengineering course (impacting retention) as part of our strategic plan for improvement. Inspiredby a
AC 2009-1311: SUPPLEMENTAL TEACHING AIDS AND QUALITYENHANCEMENT PLAN FOR MECHANICAL ENGINEERING PROGRAM ATALABAMA A&M UNIVERSITYAmir Mobasher, Alabama A&M UniversityMohamed Seif, Alabama A&M UniversityKenneth Fernandez, NASA Marshall Space Flight CenterShowkat Chowdhury, Alabama A&M University Page 14.1099.1© American Society for Engineering Education, 2009 Supplemental Teaching Aids and Quality Enhancement Plan for a Mechanical Engineering Program at Alabama A&M UniversityABSTRACTMost mechanical engineering majors experience difficulties in their major courses like Statics,Dynamics, and Strength of Materials. It seems appropriate to increase the
students. One effective tool has been anonline degree planning software used by students and faculty. These tools have been successfullyimplemented in different programs in the same minority serving institution. The use of thesetools has allowed the faculty to concentrate on other important aspects of the student academicadvisement. This paper will also describe in detail the use of these tools in a comprehensiveacademic advisement process and its impact at an engineering program serving mainly minoritystudents. The mandatory academic advisement has positively impacted student access, retention,and graduation. Students meet at least once a semester with an assigned engineering facultymember. Faculty monitor and advise students in areas such as
wereobtained. The complete design of the project was done by a Project Team comprising faculty,staff, and students were actively involved in the project drawings and administration. The scopewas to design and construct the following: one Tennis Court, two Basketball Courts, oneVolleyball Court, a Soccer Field, a Service Road and Walkway, a Services (Multi-Purpose)Building, sieving of the whole site, and the installation of adequate site drainage. The designincluded a Sediment and Erosion Plan, Stormwater and Drainage considerations and obtaining ofpermits for site grading and construction. The Center received an initial funding of $340,000from HUD and $130,000 from the Maryland Department of Natural Resources. To date, totaladditional funds amounting
, there is an imperative need for engineering faculty to adapt newinstructional strategies that can help students to effectively regulate their learning motivation,strategies, and efforts, particularly at their early learning stages.Self-Regulated Learning (SRL) has been research subject and educational practice in the contextof Educational Psychology. SRL involves self-monitoring and self-correction of threecomponents of learning: motivation, behavior, and cognition. It refers to active learning guidedby three important aspects of learning: (1) motivation to learn; (2) metacognition (awareness ofone’s knowledge and beliefs); and (3) strategic action (planning, evaluating, and acting). Oneimportant aspect in SRL is to regulate the learners
likely to have taken advanced placement courses, and had lower grade pointaverages and lower SAT scores (NCES 1999d). Among 1998 college freshmen,students with disabilities were more likely than those without to have earned Cs and Dsin high school. They were less likely to have met the recommended years of high schoolstudy in mathematics, biological sciences, and physical sciences; and to have spent moretime between high school graduation and entry into college (Henderson 1999). Theopportunity to study, conduct research, and establish a career in these fields is a reachablegoal for students regardless of physical ability.It is the goal of this paper to present some discussions and plans of action for providinglong-term opportunities for
degree were 18% and 10% respectively,compared with 34% of Caucasians3. In addition, the graduation rate for African-Americans andHispanics in Engineering has remained at 11% over the last ten years1. Underrepresentedminority students are also less likely than other ethnic groups to be enrolled in researchinstitutions and instead, a high percentage of them (47%) enroll in two-year institutions. Theintentions of first-year undergraduate students to major in S&E3 are equally alarming. Although9% of these students planned to major in engineering in 2004, only 2%-5% had plans to major inComputer Science. At the graduate level, enrollment in S&E has declined since 2003 mainly as aconsequence of the decline observed in foreign students
uniqueopportunity to establish strong links with faculty, gain hands-on laboratory experience, anddevelop an appreciation for research careers in academia and industry. TREX participantsreceive a $2,600 research stipend ($1,300 per semester) and are required to spend an average of10-14 hours per week on his/her research project throughout the fall and spring semesters. Inaddition, TREX participants are required to submit: (1) a research plan; (2) monthly progressreports; (3) a daily research journal; and (4) a final written report. Finally, TREX participantsare expected to attend weekly seminars/group meetings and prepare a poster and oralpresentation.Since Fall 2001, 97 students have participated in TREX. The retention rate in engineering forTREX
it. Homework and laboratory projects will be used to help students understand concepts and build problem solving skills. 4. Professional Development Plan: The professional development plan includes offering professional development workshops for faculty in the STEM fields at TAMIU. Our goal is to increase the proportion of students who complete introductory mathematics, engineering, biology and chemistry courses with a grade no lower than a C and return the following year to continue their program of study. 5. Model Transfer Agreement and Student Advising: To increase the number of students in STEM disciplines, a TAMIU STEM Academic Advisor(STEM AA) will identify likely candidates through
President of Ghana while receiving a report by the Ghana AtomicEnergy Commission (GAEC). The then President also commented on the need for thecountry ‘to blend its energy sources’. The need to increase the energy production inGhana became evident in 2007 when Ghana experienced shortage in electricityproduction that affected the whole nation. Professor Akaho, the Director General of Page 14.406.3GAEC made reference to this detail in a speech titled “Nuclear Power for GeneratingElectricity in Ghana: Issues and Challenges”, published in an article titled “Ghana mustdraw plans to explore nuclear energy – Prof. Akaho”7. In this speech Professor Akahostated
the Engineering Directorate at NSF. The program alsoincluded presentations on successful research partnerships in six areas, four paneldiscussions (with Deans and Associate Deans as panelists) addressing K-14 educationrelevant to research, research partnerships, research at minority institutions, and industrypartnerships. This paper reports on the planning, conduct, and important outcomes of thisworkshop. PLANNING FOR THE WORKSHOPPlanning for the workshop began immediately after the workshop sponsorship award wasreceived from the National Science Foundation in August 2007. The followingcommittees outlined in the proposal were constituted: Arrangements Committee,Technical Committee, Report Committee, Invitees and
and give STEM interested high school students an opportunity toexplore, learn and experience several STEM disciplines. Phase two is aimed at improving students’skills and retention in STEM areas through course and curriculum enhancement, new and advanceteaching technology especially for the gatekeeper courses. Phase three provides students andfaculty opportunities to enhance their knowledge and research skills through specially designedlearning activities. Phase four ensures smooth transition of STEM undergraduates into highlycompetitive graduate school programs. The project's management plan is lead by the facultymembers from Engineering and Mathematics Departments.The project designed activities based on the following strategies: (1
national imperative.To help understand our regional challenges, we used NSF Bridges to Engineering (BEE)Planning Grant (# 0230535), Project SMART, to conduct 7 Cincinnati-area focus groups with 11professionals and 39 K-12 administrators and teachers to identify ways to increase engineeringenrollment. Meetings identified causes and solutions for declining engineering enrollment.Then, surveys in spring 2003 investigated the lack of engineering understanding among students.Of 4,263 Grade 6-12 students from 14 school districts, 28% were interested in engineering, andin particular, 12% of females and 33% of ethnic students were interested in engineering [36].(However 5% of high school graduates applied for engineering, and 1% of
student success in STEM fields. It consists of a STEM Orientation and MentoringProgram and a STEM Calculus 1 Student Assistant Support Program, both which were initiallyimplemented in spring 2009. The critical need for a STEM Orientation and Mentoring Programand a STEM Calculus I Student Assistant Support Program falls under the ComprehensiveDevelopment Plan (CDP) of UTPA. The CDP describes two major academic weaknesses:academic advisement inconsistent in delivery and access and under prepared incoming students,both first-time and transfer. UTPA and STC hold orientations prior to the fall and springsemesters. Generally, students receive an overview of the disciplines in each of the Colleges, atour of the campus, and information on academic and
implementing solutionplans. If a plan is formulated to address these challenges at the correct time frame, then not onlywill we be able to attract a greater pool of quality minority students to engineering but we will beproducing better students overall.IntroductionThere are specifically three challenges that need be addressed if we are to seriously make animpact on attracting minorities to engineering careers. The solutions of which must come from ateam of agents and processes, acting upon the students’ life at decidedly different time intervalsand all with a different focus. The first challenge is that of foundational mathematics and scienceand the critical time frame for the first challenge is that of between 4th and 6th grades. Thesecond challenge
twodecades about one-third of freshmen entering college planned to study STEM [2]. In 2006, 44.7%of Asian freshmen, 34% of Black freshmen, 35.9% of Hispanic of Mexican/Chicano/Puerto Ricandescent freshman, 34.4% of American Indian freshmen, and 29.5% of White freshmen reported thatthey intended to major in STEM [2]. These numbers represent an increasing trend of a diversedemographic composition of students planning to major in STEM. Page 14.242.2 Proceedings of the 2009 ASEE Annual Conference and Exposition Copyright © 2009, American Society for Engineering EducationThe National Science Foundation
participate in a “task course”. The task course awards points for avariety of autonomous activities performed by the robots. Limitations on the number oftimes points will be awarded for the same activity and a requirement that robots performmultiple tasks without human intervention drive diversity among the robots whilesimultaneously stimulating cooperation and communication between the students. Students experience the teamwork, development of engineering specialization,and the reward of accomplishing a complex task through teamwork just as engineers doin the field. Working professionals provide insight into particular disciplines and thelocal employers. General course discussions inform students about planning routesthrough college to
Figure 1: Graph of the Probation Trend for engineering students from 2000 to 2007.Note, that it is possible for the same student to have a P in more than one semester, andthat the height of the bars does not represent the number of students who are on academicprobation. The most salient feature of the chart is the decrease in the number ofoccurrences of the probation designation from 2004 through 2007. This indicates that thepractices and policies we have implemented may be having a positive impact onretention. This is a preliminary study and we are planning on looking more closely atother indicators that with help us to both understand some of the less obvious hurdles instudent retention and to develop better ways of addressing
sense that carrying out the stepsof a research project (e.g., administering a survey, conducting interviews) and analyzing data(e.g., calculating statistics, searching texts for themes) is much more likely to affect students’confidence in their research abilities than talking about the intended purpose of a study, readingliterature about a particular topic, and writing literature summaries for one’s mentor (see Hu,Kuh, & Gayles). Thus, program administrators would do well to consult this information whenworking with faculty mentors; program staff might encourage faculty to plan a summerexperience that actually engages students in collecting or analyzing data if the goal of theprogram is to enhance students’ research self-efficacy
one responseI plan to attend graduate school in the next year or twoI probably will attend graduate school, but not 100% sureI have not made any decisions about graduate schoolI probably will not attend graduate schoolI do not plan to attend graduate school Page 14.464.17There could be several reasons that you decided to attend SURE. For each reason listed below, pleaseindicate if you consider it a primary or major reason for attendance, a secondary reason or not a reason toattend at all. Primary reason Secondary reason Not a reasonTo pursue a particular researchinterestTo
, Y. S., Guba, E. G. (1985). Naturalistic inquiry. Newbury Park, CA:Sage17. Strauss, A. & Corbin, J. (1998). Basics of qualitative research: techniques and procedures for developing grounded theory. (2nd ed). Thousand Oaks:Sage.18. Creswell, J. C. (2002). Educational research. Planning, conducting, and evaluating quantitative and qualitative research. NJ: Pearson Education. Page 14.784.9 7
Science (RAMS) Program inspired him to include ORNL into his plans for graduate school in mechanical engineering. "As long as I can do research with them, I'll be happy no matter what university [I get into]," he says. This is music to the ears of … RAMS program administrator, because attracting more underrepresented minorities to careers in science is exactly what she's trying to do. "The long-term goal is to prepare [underrepresented minorities] to become those critical staff scientists that we need for the future workforce, hopefully here [at ORNL]."….”RAMS program is aimed at increasing the number of under-represented populations in theworkplace by encouraging students to pursue advanced degrees in
collaboration and liaisons for Ph.D. granting programs • Assist in retention and recruitment of current/future BTD students • Provide a calendar for social events which other BTD students are planning or attendingWith the group established, members are invited, in this case consisting of the Drexel University,Delaware State, Temple University, and University of Delaware BTD cohorts. The members areencouraged to develop discussion boards for relevant issues involving their graduate educationand the pursuit of a Ph.D. Made up of only students, the network is effective in allowing for alltopics to be discussed, including those that are difficult to broach with administration. The factthat it is strictly a peer group is reinforced to
; Terenzini, P. T. (2005). How college affects students: A third decade of research (Vol. 2). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.8. Astin, A. W. (1993). What matters in college: Four critical years revisited. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.9. Gonyea, R. M., Kish, K. A., Kuh, G. D., Muthiah, R. N., & Thomas, A. D. (2003). College Student Experiences Questionnaire: Norms for the Fourth Edition. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Center for Postsecondary Research, Policy, and Planning.10. Strayhorn, T. L. (2008). How college students’ engagement affects personal and social learning outcomes [Electonic Version]. Journal of College & Character, X. Retrieved November 27, 2008 from http://collegevalues.org/pdfs/Strayhorn.pdf.11
• Creating new materials (e.g., fax cover page, brochures) Page 14.277.6• Involving incoming freshmen early in student groups, mentoring, and tutoring ASEE Topic: Undergraduate Retention and Development• Planning a newsletter to address diversity issues in education• Connecting upper class students with ECSE III studentsAfter orientation, students explored topics common to nine E/CS disciplines (Civil, Computer,Materials, Mechanical, Electrical, Environmental, Industrial, and Transportation Engineeringplus Computer Science). They worked with nanotechnology and chemical engineering. Theprogram
were planning to employ andintroduce these visualization tools in their work as well as in the classes they teach. The freewarenature of these visualization software resources makes it easier for their introduction to theclassroom and use by undergraduate students. These freeware resources were well received bythe participants and several indicated their interest in their introduction in their own courses.Programming for HPC/Multi-Processors: Hardware resources are no use without theapplication software that can optimally utilize all the hardware resources. As the hardwarecomplexity increases leading to better performance, an understanding of the parallelprogramming paradigms and the factors that influence their performance are critical
prohibition against complaining about unequal treatment based on race. This isanother facet of the model minority stereotype7, 18. Like many members of the dominant society,many Asian Americans want to believe in racial equality. Each wave of Asian immigrantsbelieves that they will be treated better than previous immigrants and will escape discrimination,even though that plan of working hard, getting educated, and adopting belief systems of thedominant culture7 has not consistently worked for previous waves19. Assimilation is moredifficult for immigrants with identifiable phenotypes or different cultural systems. When thedesire to believe in racial equality conflicted with experiences of participants, most participantsclung to the promise of racial
country to maintain, let alone increase, itstechnological capability (NAE, 2004)”12.2 Engineers of TomorrowIncreasing the number of high school students choosing STEM college paths, and ultimatelySTEM careers may be one way to attract the kinds of jobs to a region that provide long-term,diversified, economic growth, higher salaries, and subsequently a higher standard of living forlocal residents. In pursuit of that goal for West Virginia’s residents, West Virginia University's Page 14.1014.2(WVU) College Engineering and Mineral Resources embarked on a multi-intervention plan toattract high school students to STEM careers, and put more STEM
National Science Foundation's Directorate ofUndergraduate Education's STEM Talent Expansion Program Grant No. DUE-0431642. Anyopinions, findings and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those ofthe authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.The authors wish to acknowledge the other team members instrumental in planning andexecuting the data collection and processing: Susan E. Walden, Jeanette Davidson, DeborahTrytten, Teri J. Murphy, and Teri Reed-Rhoads; current and former senior personnel - RosaCintron, Paul Rocha, Francey Freeman, Lisa Schmidt, Kimberly Rutland, Tony Lee, MayraOlivares, and Claudia Morales; current and former graduate and undergraduate students - TiffanyDavis