Conference Session

FPD 9: First-Year Engineering Courses, Part III: Research, Sustainability, and Professionalism

Collection

2013 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Stanley M. Forman, Northeastern University; Susan F Freeman, Northeastern University

Tagged Divisions

First-Year Programs

skills are deemed lacking and also to know student attitudesand perceptions to effectively devise teaching methods that will enhance skills whilesimultaneously shifting attitudes to match situational reality. The results will be drawn from asurvey of freshman having just begun their undergraduate engineering studies at a major urbanUniversity.BackgroundTo both identify the key soft skills perceived to be important and not currently being learned bythe students and to then codify classroom techniques for enhancing these skills, a multistepapproach for this investigation was started.1 A multistep approach is used because each stepdirects the next, and although these are seen as the steps now in our plan, our research may alterthese. The steps are

Conference Session

Track 4 - Session II - Student and Curriculum Development II

Collection

2013 ASEE International Forum

Authors

Abdel F. Isakovic, Khalifa University of Science, Technology and Research; Szu Szu F Ling, Khalifa University of Science, Technology and Research; Selwa Mokhtar Boularaoui, Khalifa University of Science, Technology & Research; Sara Bashir Timraz; Mualla Kara

Tagged Topics

Student and Curriculum Development

Engineering majors, and followed by the organic chemistry/biochemistrycourse(s), and by the fact that no modern (20th century-themed) science class existed inKUSTAR’s College of Engineering curriculum at the time of building up this lab and the course. Further, this lab program has been motivated by the need to increase the focus ondeveloping students’ competencies and professional skills/soft skills. In recent years, globalcompetency has been introduced as an important “soft” skill2,3 that engineering graduates shouldacquire along the training through a standard engineering curriculum. This trend and suggestionsfor attempting to standardize the “criteria for global competence” of engineering graduates are

Conference Session

Teaching - Best Practices

Collection

2013 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Wayne P Hung, Texas A&M University; Wm Adam Farmer, Texas A&M University

Tagged Divisions

Manufacturing

processes.Nelson6 analyzed inputs from directors of ABET accredited programs to identify key technicalcompetencies for manufacturing graduates. Among 264 competencies, the highest rankedcompetencies related to quality, communication, and personal ethics. Baird7 proposed alaboratory exercise to simulate mass production environment. Although is more difficult todevelop this type of exercise compared to the traditional teaching practice, the benefit of thelatter approach is numerous since: a) It simulates industry practice, b) It develops specific hard-skill and soft-skill of students, c) It provides opportunity for lab instructor to be creative and organized, and

Conference Session

Integrating Art, Humanities, and Engineering

Collection

2013 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Adeel Khalid, Southern Polytechnic State University (ENG); Craig A Chin, Southern Polytechnic State University; Mir M. Atiqullah, Southern Polytechnic State University; John F. Sweigart P.E., Southern Polytechnic State University; Beth Stutzmann, Southern Polytechnic State University; Wei Zhou

Tagged Divisions

Multidisciplinary Engineering

; emphasis on social relevance, service learning, volunteerleadership, and collaboration. These skills can be taught without significant investment.Introduction and emphasis on more soft skills in engineering classes can help students develop Page 23.256.3these skills.In the engineering senior design courses for example, ethics and law (patent and trademark) canbe incorporated in the teachings. These could be in the form of assigned reading, case studies,videos, external lecturers, and webinars from professional organizations like ASME, IEEE, andAIAA. Moreover writing should also be much emphasized, assigned and graded. Further oraland technical

Collection

2013 Spring ASEE Middle Atlantic Section Conference

Authors

ASM Delowar Hossain; Zory Marantz; Djafar Mynbaev

] Proceedings of the Spring 2013 Mid-Atlantic Section Conference of the American Society of Engineering Education 147 Table 1: Summary of core skills expected from a engineering technology graduate Knowledge Programming Test Equipments Soft skills PC Skills Hardware-Circuit analysis -C/C++ -Oscilloscope -Teamwork -A+ -Fiber splicing-Networking -Java -Multimeter -Leadership -Network+ -PLC-Electronics -Assembly -Power Supply -Oral and

Collection

2013 ERC

Authors

Theresa Maldonado

/smartphone-shipments-top-pcs-for-the-first-time-ever/So we talk about developing our 21st CenturySkills. On the whole, Engineering is a mindset.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/21st_Century_Skills How do we get the “T-shape?” And how do we ensure relevant careers over time? Challenges facing ENG Education…• How to fit it all in? • “Then” ENG students: 144-152 credits for BS • “Today” ENG students: 120-136 credits for BS• “Hard core tech” vs. “Soft skills”– curricula alignment and planning to achieve T-shaped engineer• Retention and degree completion time• Pathways and “quality” perspectives• Opportunities for enhanced “learning experiences” and informal education? Project based learning models. The rapid growth rate of underrepresented group

Conference Session

Reception & Poster Session

Collection

2013 ASEE International Forum

Authors

Brett Tempest, University of North Carolina, Charlotte; Miguel Pando P.E., University of North Carolina, Charlotte; Sandra Loree Dika, University of North Carolina, Charlotte; Michael Adam Hoff, UNC Charlotte

Tagged Topics

ASEE International Forum

compared with responsesfrom the faculty leaders.Background on engineering student service and international education The professional practice of engineering has been changed by emergent 21st centurychallenges, which include a globalizing workforce, newly evolving disciplines and increasinglycomplex, multidisciplinary problems. This environment tests the traditional skill set provided bycollegiate engineering programs, which predominantly focus on developing technical abilities instudents. Professional development and “soft skills” are expected to be acquired throughinternships or co-ops or picked up on the job. Two other activities that might develop the softskills are service learning and study abroad, both of which are less frequently

Conference Session

NSF Grantees' Poster Session

Collection

2013 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Mo Ahmadian, Eastern New Mexico University

Tagged Topics

NSF Grantees Poster Session

report about the team‘s business planat the end of the semester. Students were provided with the criteria about writing a technicalreport and inclusion of required materials.Another goal of this course was to improve student‘s soft skills. Engineering and sciencecurricula often focus on the technical abilities of students, neglecting the ―soft skills‖ that willoften determine success or failure for graduates when they enter the workforce. As an example,project management skills are often neglected in an engineering or science curriculum, requiringadditional training for those engineers who end up in management positions. Skills such as theability to lead and work effectively as a member of a team are frequently identified as critical tothe

Conference Session

Capstone and Senior Design Projects Session

Collection

2013 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Byron G. Garry, South Dakota State University

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Technology

advisor assessment of project success, final reports andinitial and final presentations.This research involved a small study from a single program at one University, and may not beapplicable in a wider setting. Quantitative and qualitative analysis of the data found, in general:  student groups who, on average, are satisfied with their preparation in the area of the soft skills like teamwork, commitment to quality, and project management may tend to do better on their projects  student groups that feel satisfied, on average, with their preparation in designing components, ability to identify problems, and ability to analyze and design systems may be less likely to do well in their projects.  student groups with

Conference Session

Enhancing Engineering Management

Collection

2013 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Liana Bayatyan, Baruch College, City University of New York (CUNY); S. Jimmy Gandhi, California State University, Northridge

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Management

. Introduction A quote by John Reinert, an engineering manager at Aeroflux Microelectronics inColorado Springs, CO states, “The soft skills are just as important the engineering skills.” Thisstatement has been proven to be true for companies of all sizes, particularly for small startups,which employ a large percentage of engineers who graduate from various schools. This isbecause at a small startup company that is trying to make in-roads into a new market, using thesesoft skills are extremely important. The technical skills are the defining skills and the soft skillsare the enabling skills. These soft skills include: Oral and written presentation skills, ethics,interpersonal skills, understanding globalization, how to function on teams as well

Collection

2013 EDI

Authors

Josh Thomases, NYC Department of Education

of education to advancement, can leverage personal and institutional and a meaningful experience within the endorsements from individuals or workplace in which s/he demonstrates organizations that can vouch for the value specific abilities and general workplace this individual adds to the workplace competencies (“soft skills”) CONFIDENTIAL DRAFT – for discussion only 10NEW YORK CITY HAS OPENED 11 ENGINEERING-FOCUSED CTE PROGRAMS Civil Engineering, Academy of Engineering Computer

Conference Session

Partner Organization Plenary I

Collection

2013 ASEE International Forum

Authors

Marwan T. Abdelhamid, World Federation of Engineering Organizations (WFEO)

Tagged Topics

Partner Society Plenary

. To become innovators, young graduates shouldposses a range of soft skills as well as interdisciplinary knowledge. This could beencouraged by developing more flexible curricula allowing the students to explorereal potentials.Your Excellencies, Ladies and GentlemenIt has been, generally, acknowledger that students are lacking the skills required inindustry. In the subsequent process, industry stakeholders and representatives fromthe profession were closely involved in the discussion of ways to take EngineeringEducation into the future .Moreover, it is recognized that entrepreneurial skill andattitudes are absolutely needed by everyone. The social, financial and technologicalchanges taking place in the world over the last decade constitute for

Conference Session

Track 4 - Session II - Student and Curriculum Development II

Collection

2013 ASEE International Forum

Authors

Nimir Elbashir, Texas A&M University at Qatar; Hamid R. Parsaei P.E., Texas A&M University at Qatar; Elfatih E Elmalik, Texas A&M University at Qatar

Tagged Topics

Student and Curriculum Development

thefuel blend properties; currently, a fourth phase of research is conducted where we’re expandingour map to include new additives and component families in order to optimize the strategy ofblending Qatar’s GTL products and to increase their market value.This one research project is an example of how the FCL has been used as a training ground forour students in order to develop their technical and soft skills that are much needed for success intheir future careers in local and regional industries. Several elective courses that targeted thefundamentals behind this project has been developed for the students involved in this researchwork. Besides the theoretical and the technical experience the students get the opportunity towork in a professional

Conference Session

Tricks of the Trade

Collection

2013 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Michael L.W. Jones, PhD Candidate Faculty of Information, University of Toronto

Tagged Divisions

Student

. Page 23.625.1 c American Society for Engineering Education, 2013 From Serious Leisure to Knowing Organizations: Information and Knowledge Management Challenges in Project-Based Learning Student Engineering TeamsIntroduction Critiques of contemporary engineering education have highlighted issues of limitedapplied and “soft” skills development [5], retention issues in STEM education [13] and concernabout a mismatch with industry demands for graduates [1]. Facing similar challenges, medical and nursing schools have leveraged problem-basedlearning (PBL) strategies where students engage medical cases collaboratively and independently,with faculty serving as

Conference Session

Track 1 - Session I - Student Development

Collection

2013 ASEE International Forum

Authors

Robyne Bowering, Monash University

Tagged Topics

Invited - Student Development

globally competent and locally relevant.Downey et al.[3] define global competent engineers as those who possess ‘the knowledge,ability, and predisposition to work effectively with people who define problems differentlythan they do.’ Engineering has become a discipline where the social and technical havebecome inextricably intertwined.[4] Engineers need to be technically able and proficient atmanaging relationships and building networks. They need strong social skills (a sub set ofprofessional skills/soft skills/generic skills/transferable skills) in particular:  effective oral communication skills - able to differentiate and cater to different audiences.[2, 5] They need to be able to communicate efficiently in English, the official

Conference Session

Experiences in Engineering Community Engagement

Collection

2013 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Farzana Ansari, University of California, Berkeley; Jennifer Wang, University of California, Berkeley; Ryan Shelby, University of California, Berkeley; Eli Patten, University of California, Berkeley; Lisa A Pruitt, University of California, Berkeley

Tagged Divisions

Community Engagement Division

moreaware of the role of leadership in engineering. Qualitative comments show these students feltthey gained influential early exposure to what a successful engineer needs, and they reportedmore active leadership roles both on campus and in industry through internships. While increasesin confidence did occur for students in the leadership module, decreases in other categoriessuggest a need for continued professional development in undergraduate engineering educationto complement technical competencies addressed during junior and senior years.IntroductionProfessional skills, such as leadership, teamwork, and communication, are necessary qualities ina successful engineer. However, these “soft skills” are often neglected in traditional

Conference Session

Multidisciplinary Learning, Evaluation, and Assessment

Collection

2013 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Narayanan M. Komerath, Georgia Institute of Technology

Tagged Divisions

Multidisciplinary Engineering

controversial and encounters stiff opposition. • Learners’ efforts vindicate our effortsThe massive effort to reform undergraduate engineering education over the past 20 years hasgenerally emphasized breadth and soft skills, inevitably at the expense of quality and depth oflearning in core subjects. One easy metric is that while the number of credit hours needed forgraduation has gone down, typically by about 8%, a number of “softer” subjects has beenintroduced, at the expense of hours devoted to core depth. Thus the core courses have beencompressed heavily, while no compression effort is evident in the “soft” courses. Thiscompression certainly came at least in part from removing items that took too long to teach orlearn. A detailed presentation of

Collection

2013 Pacific Southwest Section Meeting

Authors

Tammy Yut-Ling Chan; Gustavo Borel Menezes

from industrial representatives(employers), alumni, and faculty. These soft skills included teamwork, communication,presentation, writing, and ability and desire to engage in life-long learning. With active learningactivities, it was expected that students would have really learned these skills by demonstratingthem in later courses and in their professional careers.Background: Active Learning Proceedings of the 2013 American Society for Engineering Education Pacific Southwest Conference Copyright © 2013, American Society for Engineering Education 232Active learning is a broad term that describes many activities

Collection

2013 GSW

Authors

Ronald E. Barr

. Proceedings of the 2013 ASEE Gulf-Southwest Annual Conference, The University of Texas at Arlington, March 21 – 23, 2013. Copyright 2013, American Society for Engineering EducationInsufficient Data That All SOs Are Being AchievedThe outcomes expected in ABET a-k range from hard technical skills to soft professional skills.For most programs, the hard skills like problem solving and laboratory skills are easy to assessquantitatively. However, the soft skills like teamwork, ethics, communication, and life-longlearning are harder to quantify.5 Faculty will need to devise more subtle methods to evaluatethese professional outcomes. Some possible recommendations would include: a. Assessing “teamwork

Conference Session

Computers and Learning

Collection

2013 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Hoda Baytiyeh, American University of Beirut

Tagged Divisions

Computers in Education

solvingskills. In fact, it has been shown that engineer graduates possess adequate theoretical knowledgeand technical skills, but noticeably weak creativity and innovation. Interpersonal and personalskills in leadership, management, and multidisciplinary teamwork were found to be the mostoverlooked aptitudes in college despite their importance in work settings 25. With the availableWeb 2.0 applications, users can work collaboratively while chatting and conversing online. Suchfeatures help students enhance their team work skills including their oral and writing skills. Inaddition to technical knowledge and hard skills, engineers should possess soft skills in personaland interpersonal behavior to meet current employment market standards

Conference Session

Trends and Applications in Curricula and the Capstone Experience

Collection

2013 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Daniel M. Dulaski PE, Northeastern University

Tagged Divisions

Civil Engineering

experience (3 since graduation andat least one year of co-op) and the most recent graduates had 1.5 years of experience (0.5 sincegraduation and at least one year of co-op). Most students have 1.5 years of co-op; however, thefirst experience happens so early in their academic career that it was not included in their “real-world” experience.Out of the 63 surveyed, 24 responses were received or approximately 38% of the total. Thequestions were divided into three major “groups”, namely, overall experience, projectrequirements, and soft-skills developed. The practitioners had five options for responding to thequestions – “identical, almost identical, similar, different, and not applicable.”When asked “how well did the capstone experience emulate your

Conference Session

Classes in Entrepreneurship

Collection

2013 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Nihad Dukhan PhD, University of Detroit Mercy; Nassif E Rayess, University of Detroit Mercy

Tagged Divisions

Entrepreneurship & Engineering Innovation

, growing population, looming energy shortages, health, securityand environmental problems. These have called for changes in engineering curricula to prepareengineers for the future.Realizing these facts, many engineering, education and governmental agencies, such as theAccreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET), National Academy ofEngineering (NAE), American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) and the AmericanSociety of Engineering Education (ASEE), all point at the increasing importance of the none-technical skills (sometimes referred to soft skills) of graduating engineering. Such skills thatallow graduates to comprehend the complex interdependence between engineering as aprofession and society were referred to as ‘contextual

Conference Session

Communication, Professional Development, and the Engineering Ambassador Network

Collection

2013 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Catherine Talbot; Michael Alley, Pennsylvania State University, University Park; Melissa Marshall, Pennsylvania State University, University Park; Christine Haas, Worcester Polytechnic Institute; Sarah E Zappe, Pennsylvania State University, University Park; Joanna K. Garner, Old Dominion University, Norfolk, Virginia

Tagged Divisions

Liberal Education/Engineering & Society

opportunity to create a presentation about Air Liquide’s internal social network - EA gave me the confidence to attempt such a task. Soon enough, word of my presentation made it to the Head Office in Paris, France. Because of this international exposure so early in my career, I quickly began to make a name for myself. Since last year I have been able to present before executives, meet with senior management from Paris, attend several exclusive meetings and receptions, manage the internal social network that I presented, and now work directly for the Chief Operating Officer (COO) of the company. Without both the hard skills (presentation development, communication techniques, etc.) and soft skills

Conference Session

Capstone Projects, Design Projects, and Teamwork

Collection

2013 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Michael W. Prairie, Norwich University; Gregory Wight P.E., Norwich University; Peter Kjeer, Harvard University

Tagged Divisions

Multidisciplinary Engineering

, he said “are you kidding?” and then explained how he doubtedhe could get better hands-on engineering learning than what he was already getting. Assessmentfor the next implementation of this project will be more formalized, and formative assessmentthrough a reflection assignment will likely be the instrument used. This appears to be anappropriate instrument for assessing the professional or “soft” skills within the small sample size(N ~ 80) that spans the three disciplines at Norwich University. Questions will be formulated toevoke responses regarding the communication process between teams, the allocation of (or“negotiation” for) requirements between the subsystems, and the role of individual contributionsto the larger project.Another

Conference Session

Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) Poster Session

Collection

2013 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Branimir Pejcinovic, Portland State University

Tagged Divisions

Electrical and Computer

instructor lecturing. Our attempts to introduce video materials, either asrecordings of live lectures or as videos covering special topics, were not very effective. Workingwith teammates appears to not have worked well in the 2nd term but that seems contradicted bythe results for the class project which was judged to be effective in both terms.V. Lessons learned and future workBased on the results presented above, we drew some preliminary conclusions and observations: • Students feel more confident in their technical skills than in “soft skills” of writing reports and reading technical literature. We will address this by a different approach to writing assignments where students will be asked to submit revisions of the drafts

Conference Session

Reception & Poster Session

Collection

2013 ASEE International Forum

Authors

Steven Chingnam Goh, University of Southern Queensland

Tagged Topics

ASEE International Forum

the professional development stream, the workplace becomes the classroom, and theclassroom becomes the workplace. The former is where work-integrated and informallearning are recognised and captured for articulation; the latter is where the research-basedlearning is part of the company’s innovation or R&D program. These scenarios will be ableto build-on in practice the necessary “soft-skills” but also develop rigour in “intelligence”.Under the personal development stream, there is a case for self-directed but collaborativepeer-driven learning in a philanthropic environment where there is a melting pot of diverseprofiles of participants but also of the recipients of the charitable work. The learning in thesephilanthropic environments will

Conference Session

Experiences in Engineering Community Engagement

Collection

2013 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Edmund Tsang, Western Michigan University; Darrell G. Harden II, Michigan Department of Transportation; Danielle Elise Larson- Jaramillo, Western Michigan University

Tagged Divisions

Community Engagement Division

includes education, encouragement,engineering, enforcement, and evaluation (5 E’s).The community partners for the SRTS service-learning design project are the MichiganDepartment of Transportation (MDOT) and K-8 schools.Learning through ServiceLearning through Service (LTS) has found currency as a pedagogy among engineering educatorsto help students develop the “soft” skills of teamwork and communication as well as awarenessof societal impact of engineering solutions. There are many forms of LTS programs5: Purdue’sUniversity’s Engineering Projects in Community Service (EPICS) is a multi-year and multi-disciplinary service-learning programs that are vertically integrated; service-learning isembedded into the entire engineering program at the

Conference Session

Research Initiatives

Collection

2013 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Lynn Albers, North Carolina State University; Elizabeth A Parry, North Carolina State University; Laura Bottomley, North Carolina State University

Tagged Divisions

K-12 & Pre-College Engineering

and graduates improve their soft skills as well as develop successful out-of-school time (OST) programs. The partnership that was created between NCSU and the K-12community has not only benefited the three initial stakeholders but has also benefited theuniversity and the K-12 school.The permission to fund undergraduates with the grant was grandfathered into the program from apre-existing condition. Also, with additional funding from GE, the program was able to hireundergraduates from the College of Education. Mixing undergraduates from the College ofEducation with the College of Engineering proved to be a win-win situation in itself. The Page

Conference Session

State of Manufacturing

Collection

2013 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Hugh Jack, Grand Valley State University

Tagged Divisions

Manufacturing

. Certainly a broad understanding of the basic processes is important, but industry area may be regional in focus.• Most job openings are currently in Mechatronics and CNC programming. Need to have problems solving skills, work as part of a team, soft skills like being on time, and communicating well.• Real world experienced educators teaching usable / applicable subjects. Not the typical PHD no real world profs teaching abstract theories or impractical subjects.• Automation, quality, lean, CAD/CAM, robotics, team work, ethics, projects• Manufacturing Processes taught by Laboratory projects• Ability to make well-rounded decisions.• Ability to use specific decision-making tools.• Ability to estimate and create budgets

Conference Session

Capstone Design

Collection

2013 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

E James Nelson, Brigham Young University; Tatevik Christensen; Fernando S Fonseca, Brigham Young University; A. Woodruff Miller, Brigham Young University

Tagged Divisions

Design in Engineering Education

final hands-on project whichaccording to Wagener [5] attempts to integrate, extend, critique, and apply the knowledge gained Page 23.539.2in the major.In today’s world many professors and college graduates have observed that it takes more thantechnical expertise to be a successful professional. A wide range of nontechnical skills areessential: leadership, teamwork, problem solving, decision making, critical thinking,interpersonal communication, and management. These types of skills are often referred to as“soft skills.” To help students develop both soft and technical skills, the objectives of a capstonecourse, project, or experience should