Paper ID #37242Multidisciplinary Engineering Programs: Does Combining Engineering Fo-cusAreas with Courses outside of Traditional Engineering Add Value toStudents’ Degree and Career Pathway?Robert Lijun Wang, University of Colorado, Boulder Robert Wang is currently an Integrated Design Engineering student at the University of Colorado Boulder. His primary areas of study are mechanical engineering and Chinese language and culture. With his studies, Robert is striving towards building a more sustainable future along with connecting engineers’ ideas around the world. Outside of school, he also loves exercising, reading, and
InstituteKeywords: education center, HSI, career development, academic servicesAbstractSan Francisco State University is a Hispanic Serving and a Primarily Undergraduate Institutionlocated in the diverse San Francisco Bay Area community. As part of a National ScienceFoundation Hispanic Serving Institute Improving Undergraduate STEM Education grant, theEngineering Success Center was established in late 2021, with an official launch in Spring 2022.SFSU’s School of Engineering is home to 1,400 undergraduate students of which 67% are ethnicminorities, and 18% are female. Surveys conducted through Institutional programs showed thatonly 14% of students attained a position prior to graduation. Within this context, the EngineeringSuccess Center was created to
medical applications, photocatalytic water treatment, solar energy-to-fuel conversion, and thermocatalysis for clean fuel and functional materials production to contribute to the goal of affordable, accessible clean water for everyone, and climate change mitigation. Recently, she has extended her research interests to include work in STEM Education with a focus on interdisciplinary scientist identity, teaching/faculty identity, and impact of multi-tiered mentoring networks on scientist identity and broader impact’s identity.Dr. Jessica C Hill, Worcester Polytechnic Institute Dr. Hill directs Worcester Polytechnic Institute’s Morgan Teaching & Learning Center in its mission to support faculty across all career
KPMG. He has a Ph.D. in I/O Psychology from Northern Illinois University. ©American Society for Engineering Education, 2023Using Science to support and develop employees in the tech workforce - an opportunity formulti-disciplinary pursuits in engineering educationSreyoshi Bhaduri, Marina Dias, Amulya Mysore, Robert Pulvermacher, Amelia Rivera-Burnett,Shahriar Sadighi, Wanqun Zhao12IntroductionThe majority of students who choose to major in engineering do so to become a part of thecommunity of practice of professional engineers (Johri & Olds, 2011), meaning that they want tohave adequate exposure to what a career as a professional engineer could potentially be as part oftheir college experience. However
students see themselves as engineers af-ter graduation [5]. Critically, studies have shown students transition from interest in engi-neering, to seeing engineering as an option, and finally choosing to become an engineer in avery short period of time [6]. Additionally, short interventions (like a one-day versus multi-day experience) have been shown to have similar outcomes for attracting diverse students totechnology careers [7]. We envision our intervention operating as a vicarious experience [8],which enhances self-efficacy.In robotics, research from educators indicates that robotics education has a unique opportu-nity to promote diverse participation, including meaningful applications, tactile robotic sys-tems, and well scaled projects. Still
]. Undergraduate research experiences (UREs) are believed to be an important approach foractively engaging students, a key goal of these teaching reforms. Such experiences are seen as vital for thebroader aims of increasing inclusivity and expanding participation in STEM fields. UREs have madeimportant contributions to the career development and success of many students. Practitioners often credittheir early undergraduate research experiences as pivotal in shaping their professional paths [1]. Inrecognition of this, the National Science Foundation has provided substantial funding to give studentsvaluable opportunities to participate in UREs. These opportunities have been shown to help preparestudents for further studies and careers [1], [2], [3
financial need and help them to succeed instudies and careers within an urban setting. To achieve this goal, the collaborators have built onresearch, best practices, and evidence-based findings from other projects including severalcollaborators’ NSF/DUE S-STEM and STEP projects.2-1. GoalsThere are six overarching goals of the Urban STEM Collaboratory project. All project activities,evaluation, and research efforts were designed with these goals in mind. The six goals include:Goal 1. Increase the recruitment, retention, student success, and graduation rates of academicallytalented undergraduate mathematical sciences and engineering majors with financial need.Goal 2. Implement strategies and activities that contribute to student academic success
begins with early education in K12 through first-year college students. This instills notonly the necessary knowledge base but also a passion and curiosity for these fields. It has beenestablished that students' attitudes toward their educational and career paths begin to form in theearly stages of their schooling. Integrating engineeringeducation in K-12 and early stages of college studentscan significantly expand students' career perspectives,offering them a broader array of opportunities [3], [4].Given the need for engaging and accessible STEMeducational strategies, along with the vital roleteachers play in cultivating a passion for science andtechnology, addressing the challenges of implementingengineering programs in K–12 education is
, an extra Friday session in theirEngineering classes, and weekly lunches each to build community within the students. Thesupplemental instruction in the first year was targeted towards the engineering and math coursesthat all students were taking. Although the program continues career development, socialsupport, and financial assistance into the sophomore year, the supplemental instruction and extraFriday engineering sessions were phased out as students segregated among seven engineeringdisciplines.The SSP program has resulted in a statistically significant increase in exam performance in first-year engineering and mathematics classes and a much higher success rate of completing the finalfirst-year engineering and math course by the end of
engineering manager in Powertrain. Her research has included the prediction of in-tube condensation using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and experimental validation. Throughout her career, Dr. Cash received many technical and diversity awards. She is a certified Six Sigma Black Belt and Myers-Briggs Type Indicator instrument facilitator. Dr. Cash is passionate about higher education and actively promotes studies in the Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) field. She splits her time between Michigan and Florida with her husband of over thirty years. They are the parents of three children. ©American Society for Engineering Education, 2025 Transforming the Applied Engineering
contributed to the training and development of faculty in developing and evaluating various engineering curriculum and courses at UPRM, applying the outcome-based educational framework. She has also incorporated theories on social cognitive career choices and student attrition mitigation to investigate the effectiveness of institutional interventions in increasing the retention and academic success of talented engineering students from economically disadvantaged families. She’s also involved in a project that explores the relationship between the institutional policies at UPRM and faculty and graduate students’ motivation to create good relationships between advisors and advisees.Dr. Christopher Papadopoulos, University of
, higher education institutions (HEI)have started matching such industry needs. HEIs are initiating having students work acrossboundaries of sector, discipline, and identity. Students are being prepared for intersectoralcollaboration and multiple career pathways in a workforce that will change more rapidly incoming years. Students are enabled to join multidisciplinary teams with people who approachproblems with different methods and knowledge, and to solve problems in diverse groups interms of culture, race/ethnicity/nationality, gender or socioeconomic status.The International Research Experience for Students (IRES) program of NSF contributes todevelopment of a diverse, globally engaged higher education workforce with world-class skills.Within
planned on expanding this idea through video; however it was not possible with the given time we had.”The benefits of this approach are that it demonstrates the importance of collaboration betweenscientists of various fields for the development and implementation of innovation solutions andprepares students for careers that bridge sections of the STEM field. For example, engineeringstudents were exposed to microbiological techniques, such as cell culturing, biohazardous wastehandling, and aseptic techniques which are traditionally not part of the engineering corecompetencies but essential skills for researchers in the field of biomedical or biomaterialengineering. Another sample post project reflective questionnaire and student response about
, “Work in Progress: Development and Facilitation of aNew Certificate/Class for Undergraduate Teaching Assistants in Engineering and ComputingPrograms,” in 2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition Proceedings, Baltimore, Maryland,USA: ASEE Conferences, Jun. 2023. [Online]. Available: https://peer.asee.org/44221[2] D. Lopatto, “Undergraduate Research Experiences Support Science Career Decisions andActive Learning,” CBE-Life Sci. Educ., vol. 6, no. 4, pp. 297–306, Dec. 2007, doi:10.1187/cbe.07-06-0039.[3] S. Kaul, C. W. Ferguson, P. M. Yanik, and Y. Yan, “Importance of UndergraduateResearch: Efficacy and Student Perceptions,” in 2016 ASEE Annual Conference & ExpositionProceedings, New Orleans, Louisiana: ASEE Conferences, Jun. 2016
to study) 29% 15% Organizational skills (keeping track of homework, complaints 17% 15% about using ecampus, all different programs they need to use, finding what they need to complete work) Juggling other responsibilities (job, sports, team, fraternities, 10% 23% etc.) Extenuating family circumstances 0 3%Example excerpts from each topic analyzed in the reflective essays are provided below:TIME MANAGEMENT: “I have honestly struggled with time management throughout mywhole school career. It’s just hard to find time to hang out with my newly made friends andcomplete all my school work with time to spare
thinking about sustainability in myfuture career, making sure the products I design will have a sustainable life cycle andwill not negatively impact society. I learned a lot from both my peers and the Brazilianstudents.Two students who participated in the program in 2022 wrote a paper discussing theirlearning experience in this program [7].Project example 2:In 2020, the students worked with Brazilian engineering students to perform a project incollaboration with Suzano, a sustainable paper pulp company located in Brazil. Suzanoprovided five areas the company would like to improve their sustainable practices. Thestudents were split into five teams, each focused on a certain sector of their business:(1) Inlet raw material transportation, (2) Outlet
Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Director of the Center for Ad- vanced Computation and Telecommunications and formerly Associate to the Dean for Research and Grad- uate Study at the University of Massachusetts at Lowell. He received a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from New York University, a M.S. in Electrical Engineering from the Polytechnic Institute of NewYork, and a Ph.D. in Acoustics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Upon graduation he became an Assistant Professor of Engineering Science and Mechanics at the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. In 1987 he joined the Department Electrical and Computer Engineering at UMASS Lowell as its Analog Devices Career Development
faculty member’s approach is thestrength, weaknesses, opportunities, and threat (SWOT) analysis, commonly used in strategicplanning and management [2]. The purpose of this analysis will be to provide recommendationsfor growth and best practices in administering verbal engineering exams, regardless of thespecific engineering course.BackgroundDo any general Google search on skills that an engineer needs in the workplace andcommunication will be on it, with a few examples cited here [3]–[5]. These communication skillsare not just important for students to succeed during their engineering education, but also in theirfuture careers, regardless of the industry [6]. Despite this importance, communication has beenflagged by engineers’ employers as a
. Homero’s goal is to develop engineering education practices that value the capital that tra- ditionally marginalized students bring into the field and to train graduate students and faculty members with the tool to promote effective and inclusive learning environments and mentorship practices. Homero has been recognized as a Diggs Teaching Scholar, a Graduate Academy for Teaching Excellence Fellow, a Global Perspectives Fellow, a Diversity Scholar, a Fulbright Scholar, a recipient of the NSF CAREER award, and was inducted into the Bouchet Honor Society. Homero serves as the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE) Chair for the Commission on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (CDEI), the Program Chair for the
management self-efficacy (perceived confidence in the ability to engage, plan, andmeet deadlines regarding academic activities; Beta= 0. 38), self-efficacy in training regulation(perceived confidence in the ability to set goals, make choices, plan, and self-regulate theiractions in the training and career development process; Beta = -0.31), self-efficacy in proactiveactions (perceived confidence in the ability to take advantage of training opportunities, updateknowledge, and promote institutional improvements; Beta = -0.23), and finally, age (Beta = -0.09). The negative value of this last coefficient in the model indicates that the oldest enteringstudent had a lower average academic performance. There is no multicollinearity and no
University, where he also served as a research assistant at the Environmental Pollution Research unit, in Ile-Ife, Nigeria. As part of his contribution to science and engineering, Pelumi has taught as a teaching assistant both at Morgan State University and Obafemi Awolowo University. With passion to communicate research findings and gleaned from experts in the field as he advances his career, Olaitan has attended several in-persons and virtual conferences and workshop, and at some of them, made presentation on findings on air pollution, waste water reuse, and heavy metal contamination.Adebayo Iyanuoluwa Olude, Morgan State University Adebayo Olude is a doctoral student and research assistant at Morgan State University’s
has taught as a teaching assistant both at Morgan State University and Obafemi Awolowo University. With passion to communicate research findings and gleaned from experts in the field as he advances his career, Olaitan has attended several in-persons and virtual conferences and workshop, and at some of them, made presentation on findings on air pollution, waste water reuse, and heavy metal contamination.Dr. Oludare Adegbola Owolabi P.E., Morgan State University Dr. Oludare Owolabi, a professional engineer in Maryland, joined the Morgan State University faculty in 2010. He is the assistant director of the Center for Advanced Transportation and Infrastructure Engineering Research (CATIER) at Morgan State Universit
went well: 1. Established a sense of belonging to the Data Science program 2. Introduction to case studies 3. Interview etiquette, resume building & STEM Career Fair prep most successful class taught What did not go well: 1. Spacing of assignments and length of time to complete the assignments 2. Too many topics from University Perspectives 3. Student interaction was lacking during class Continuous Improvement for next year: 1. We are adding a textbook Teach Yourself how to Learn by Saundra McGuire 2. Adding more case studies and information about the data science program + concentrations 3. Reevaluate how many things we utilize from University Perspectives
: Students decompose a problem to explore, design, and implement creative solutions, continuously evaluate progress, and navigate uncertainty. Develop scientific habits of the mind: Students apply scientific content from diverse fields to appropriately design experiments, gather and manage data, analyze and draw conclusions. Develop personal and professional identities: Students reflect upon their experiences to further their sense of self in order to become confident career-ready leaders.1B. The InSciTE modelTo accomplish the program objectives, InSciTE was designed as a stand-alone undergraduatecertificate housed by CSE. This provides the independence and flexibility necessary to navigatethe barriers that marginalized students face in
life saving provisions available to one member ofthe household, was overlooked, especially given that many refugees have fled oppressivegovernments and might be fearful of how such identifying information could be used againstthem. (This example, and many others like it, also reinforce the need for the kind of training thiscourse provides, which equips students to think proactively about the potential consequences andethical implication of a technology, rather than controlling the damage it creates after it is toolate and has impacted lives, an important skill for any engineer, regardless of the particular paththeir career takes.) This technology also raised significant human rights concerns related toconsent and privacy [15]. These, and
in the findings, faculty—especially those in early career stages—often facecompeting pressures related to tenure and promotion, with institutional reward structuresprivileging disciplinary research and grant acquisition over teaching innovations. Embeddingresearch in teaching could serve as a bridge between these demands, offering a way to makeconvergence education more legible and valuable within prevailing academic structures. Moreover, this dual focus on teaching and research may offer a pathway to navigate someof the institutional misalignments identified in transdisciplinary course development —such asscheduling constraints, faculty availability, and difficulty fitting new courses into existing plans ofstudy. When research and
the set of attributes defined by The Organisation for Economic Co-operationand Development (OECD) as ‘global competence’, as this trait in turn influences theacquisition of knowledge, awareness, and intercultural skills which are required for studentsmajoring in science and engineering, in order for them to succeed in their careers in aglobalised society [9]. Global competence is the ability to demonstrate recognition, respect,openness, and readiness to participate in activities with people from diverse culturalbackgrounds. In this paper, the Miville-Guzman Universality-Diversity Scale - Short Form(MGUDS-S) was used to examine how participants’ global competence levels differed beforeand after completing a humanities module on ‘Science and
student outcome levels are obtained from individual assessmentinstruments. Additionally, conducting assessments in Canvas resulted in higher completion rates.This paper presents the advantages and disadvantages of each assessment tool and outlines anamended process that utilizes Canvas for assessment and mimics and improves upon the reportingin SearchLight by creating a customized dashboard in PowerBI.1 IntroductionFor engineering programs, domestic and abroad, obtaining ABET accreditation is critical to thesuccess of the program, the placement of graduates, and the career advancement of alumni. ABET’ssix-year evaluation cycle ensures alignment between industry needs and academic curriculum. Thecrux of program accreditation lies in the ability
, agriculture, materials, career planning, and other topics. b) This is Engineering, taken in the second semester, will be a freshmen design style class, with hands-on problem-based learning, with sustainability embedded in all projects. c) A seminar on Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion will be developed for students to explore issues such as implicit bias and paternalism and reinforce the idea that co-design with communities will reduce discrimination and lead to better solutions. d) New courses, Wellbeing and Sustainability Economics will be developed to introduce students to essential ideas of natural capital, circular economies, and measures of well-being and prosperity. e) Other new courses include Products, Services, and
academic advisor to list specialization-specific coursework intheir plan of study that closely aligns with their career goals.In addition to courses in the School of Engineering and associated programs, the MDE majoroffers a two-semester capstone project in all four areas. The capstone course encourages studentsto work on a single topic of investigation. The MDE program culminates in a presentation ofteam-based projects in the senior year. Those projects typically have industry sponsors.Program DevelopmentHistorically, students entered our School of Engineering through a direct-admit model, declaringtheir major at the time of matriculation. The school had a path for those students who did notdeclare a major, called Undecided Engineering. This