instructors continually solicit industry and departmental feedback to enrich the students’experience and better prepare them for their careers. We recently surveyed 370 graduates of themultidisciplinary program ranging in experience levels from one to five years.1 The surveycompared the key needs of industry with the success of the program in meeting these needs.This paper addresses the quantitative results of the survey and describes the current program’sstructure. The authors focus on learning outcomes that include “an ability to function onmultidisciplinary teams” (ABET Criteria 3d), “an ability to communicate effectively” (ABETCriteria 3g), and “the ability to manage an engineering project.” The authors also compare thesurvey results of
high school seniors to college freshmen, the first year of engineering iscritical. In an attempt to facilitate this transition and motivate students as they begin theiracademic careers, many colleges provide summer bridge programs [1]. Summer bridge programsaim to provide incoming students with early contact and enriching experiences believed tofacilitate the acquisition of the skills needed to be successful in college. However, students canhave varying experiences even if they participate in the same activities. Since studies focusing onsummer bridge programs are typically quantitative and primarily focus on academic performanceand retention [2, 3], we know little about how these experiences vary and the many different waysstudents may
science and energy resources is shown in Table1.Table 1: Sample participant schedule for Green Techfacturing three-day camp. Day Timing Activity1 Early morning Check-in Introductions Describe “green” manufacturing Late morning Tour facility with renewable biofuel power plant, solvent recovery and reuse, and wastewater treatment Early Afternoon Environmental Science Project at University Pond and Arboretum Late Afternoon Discussion of days learning activities Review
for administrative and student levels of access. When offering theremote laboratory, a large volume of data is collected for experience sampling method and weeklysurvey. An evaluation scheme was implemented to assess the effectiveness of the system as wellthe students’ learning outcomes. In-built capability to collect systems’ operational data and weeklysurvey are used to evaluate the effectiveness of the system, while pre- and post-tests are utilized tomeasure the student learning outcomes.1. IntroductionOne of the major limitations of distance-learning programs is their failure to deliver the laboratoryrelated courses.1, 2 For distance learning programs, students currently have to visit a campus toperform the laboratory sessions or
energyequipment to small, hand-held, medical devices and everyday household items. Without a doubt,tomorrow’s technicians must understand the nature of modern digital design.According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) the replacement rate in science, technology,engineering, and mathematics (STEM) occupations over the decade 2008-18 is projected to be Page 24.564.2very demanding [1]. For instance, the projected replacement rate in mathematical science is29.5%, in physics is 28.5%, in mechanical engineering is 26%, and in electrical engineering is23%. According to data from the Current Population Survey [2], the share of the population aged16 and over
such as concept inventories (CIs). For example, as Nehm & Schonfeld demonstrate,the multiple-choice Concept Inventory of Natural Selection measures whether studentsunderstand “pieces” or elements of the theory of natural selection, but does not provide anymeasure of students’ abilities to assemble the pieces into a coherent and functional explanatorystructure 1, 2. Moreover, multiple-choice CIs introduce significant validity threats as they areconstrained to “either-or” forced-choice (“misconception” vs. scientific key concept) itempreference and do not typically allow the detection of students who harbor “mixed models” ofcorrect and incorrect conceptions 1, 3-8. Thus, constructed response (CR) assessments that capture students
Engineering, Electrical and ComputerEngineering, and Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering at the FAMU-FSU College ofEngineering has continued to expand and improve, in terms of the number of multidisciplinary,interdepartmental project teams, the degree of coordination between different departments, therigor of the structured engineering design process, and the excellence of the project outcomes. Important features of our interdepartmental Senior Design program include: (1) a two-semester structured engineering design sequence, with regular design-review checkpoints atwhich students receive feedback on their written reports, oral presentations and demonstrationsfrom multidisciplinary groups of faculty reviewers; (2) the inclusion of many
on the applicability of theproject to meet required learning outcomes as well as survey responses from students and themunicipality. Plans for integrating the BMP monitoring into other university course are alsoconsidered based on related studies as well as survey responses from stormwater practitioners.This paper addresses the following research questions: 1. How can the capstone design course objectives simultaneously meet ABET requirements while also providing students with an increased opportunity to gain experience and skills Page 24.567.2 common to stormwater practitioners? 2. How can a partnership between a university
standarddeviations.1. IntroductionIntroductory linear circuit analysis is a very widely taught and important foundational class forbeginning electrical engineers, and is also taught to a large number of other engineering majorsas their primary introduction to electrical engineering. For example, at Arizona State University(ASU) we teach such a course (EEE 202) to over 600 students a year, typically in 11 sections.Many students struggle with this class, often due to a lack of detailed, rapid feedback andcorrection on their work, insufficient use of active learning strategies, and in our opinion, aninsufficient systematization of and emphasis on the numerous principles that are necessary tosolve a variety of problems successfully. One potentially very useful
enough time to perform research and execute the project. After consultingwith the ME/MET department’s IAC (Industrial Advisory Council), it was determined that thecapstone course is to be offered over a two quarter period (2 credits in the winter and 3 in thespring) as opposed to a single 4 credit one. The IAC, a committee made out of representativesfrom the local industries, meets semiannually with the ME and MET faculty to discuss anypertinent issue including curriculum development and project collaboration. This change wasimplemented in the 2013-2014 academic year.Literature ReviewEngineering capstone design experiences in US universities over the past couple of decades haveshifted gradually to multi-course durations. Figures 1 and 2 below
recent experiences in designing and implementing a ResearchExperiences for Undergraduates (REU) site sponsored by the National Science Foundation(NSF). Faculty at California Polytechnic State University (Cal Poly), San Luis Obispo recentlyestablished the Global Waste Research Institute (GWRI), which provides unique opportunitiesfor undergraduate students to participate in the advancement of fundamental engineering andscientific research. The GWRI provides the focal point of the REU program. The program,currently in its second year, supports ten students over a 10-week period during the summer.Faculty and graduate students serve as research mentors. The principal objectives of theprogram are: (1) to engage undergraduate participants on projects
has published 70+ refereed publications. Page 24.571.1 c American Society for Engineering Education, 2014 Experiences in Implementing an NSF/REU Site on Interdisciplinary Water Sciences and Engineering during 2007-13 AbstractThis paper summarizes the experiences of the author in implementing a successful NSF/REU Siteon Interdisciplinary Water Sciences and Engineering for 6 years at Virginia Tech. The goal of theSite is to train REU fellows in water research using interdisciplinary projects. Site activitiesincluded: 1) 10-week long research
enrollment of international students and because of increasing numbersof first-year students, up by nearly 30% between 2007 and 2012, the College of Engineering wasinterested in answering the following research questions: (1) what are some differences ininternational and domestic students’ reported perceptions and attitudes at the beginning of theirfirst year of engineering?, and (2) what are some differences in international and domesticstudents’ reported perceptions and attitudes, specifically regarding their learning experiences, atthe end of their second year of engineering?MethodsData for this study was collected using two surveys: one sent to first-year students in the fall2011 semester, and one sent to second-year students in the spring 2013
to running on the Windows-based computers used duringclass, it has also been tested on MacBooks, Android phones and tablets, iPads, and a Blackberryphone. Small screens and touchscreens make interactions somewhat cumbersome, but theywork fine for following along and making small edits.Student Perspective Page 24.573.4The students were surveyed at the end of the semester. The survey used a Likert scale wherestudents rated their agreement with a series of statements as 1) Strongly Agree; 2) Agree; 3)Disagree; 4) Strongly Disagree; and 5) Not Applicable. Students also had the opportunity toanswer some open-ended questions. Twenty-two students out
Appendix AAssessment of the Blended Learning ImplementationThe performance of the blended learning implementation of the electric circuit analysis coursewas analyzed along two dimensions. First, student performance in the course was compared tothe previous semester when it was taught as a traditional lecture course by the same instructor.The exams in both semesters were comparable in difficulty, and analysis of the studentpopulations showed no significant differences between them. Students demonstratedsignificantly better performance in the blended version of the course, as shown in Figure 1. Amarked change in the distribution of student grades was also observed, with the number ofmarginal and poorly performing students significantly reduced
Laboratory Course1. IntroductionNanomaterials, nanotechnology and nanoscience play a key role in the advancement of moderntechnologies in sensors, medicine, renewable energies, and more. Globally, governments andindustries have made significant investments in this field both intellectually and economically. Inthe United States, federal funding agencies have invested tens of billions of dollars on R&D andcommercialization of nano-products as well as understanding of the social environmentalimpacts.1 The National Science Foundation (NSF) projected that the nanotechnology sector willemploy 6 million workers by 2020 and over 80% of the jobs will require trained workforces innanoscience and nanotechnology.2 To meet the projected future demand, it
innovator skills and attributes, and processes and Page 24.576.2environments for innovation (Figure 1). Under each of these headings, each expert in theoriginal study identified both promoters and inhibitors of innovation.Figure 1: Framework for Organizing Mental Models of Contributors to Innovation1We integrated this framework for innovation into the curriculum of our Engineering &Technology Innovation Management masters program, specifically during a year-longseminar that includes expert innovators and innovation managers as guest lecturers.Students learn the framework as part of their introduction to their study of innovation,and refer to it as a
predominantly from rural communities, and yet they have chosenSTEM in contradiction to the research.Table 1: Hispanic Enrollment by Gender at ##### Fall 2005 – Fall 2011 ##### Year Male Female Total Fall 2005 62 41 103 Fall 2006 85 61 146 Fall 2007 96 66 162 Fall 2008 109 72 181 Fall 2009 125 77 202 Fall 2010 141 89 232 Fall 2011 163 97 260By 2030, projections indicate the U.S. population to be 20.1% Hispanic. The percent ofHispanics in the 18-24 age group is expected to be even
national boundaries and culturalbackgrounds, as well as across disciplines to successfully apply the results of basic research tolong-standing global challenges such as epidemics, natural disasters and the search foralternative energy sources.”1 Clearly, the global preparedness of engineering students isbecoming an important educational outcome and is a natural extension to recent concerns by anumber of national commissions as well as scholars, who have also noted the impact ofglobalization and the implication for continued U.S. economic leadership.2,3,4Given this concern, engineering educators have been rethinking the skills and tools that theirgraduates will need to function effectively with their international counterparts. To our researchteam
to help improve studentsuccess.Related Literature Research on individuals’ implicit beliefs about intelligence describes variation in howdifferent people conceptualize the nature of intelligence as either changeable or unchangeable.Broadly, individuals can be classified into two types. Incremental theorists believe thatintelligence is malleable and may be improved with effort. Entity theorists believe thatintelligence is fixed and cannot be improved with effort. Students with an entity belief ofintelligence are more likely to believe that poor performance is a result of low intelligence/abilityand that only those students with low intelligence/ability need to exert effort to perform well.1, 2 Across a range of ages
graduates have an interest and/or intention towardsentrepreneurship. Analyses related to the demographic characteristics, desired career outcomesand career satisfaction, and pre- and post-graduation undergraduate learning experiences, ofthese alumni were conducted. The research questions guiding this study are: 1) How might engineering alumni be characterized based on their levels of interest in and intention to pursue entrepreneurial activity? 2) What similarities and differences in desired career outcomes, career satisfaction, and undergraduate learning experiences exist among engineering alumni with varying levels of entrepreneurial interest and intention?IntroductionEntrepreneurially-minded alumni are in high demand
students’ peer interaction during collaborative work sessions.Understanding social processes through which young students learn to engage in collaborativeengineering design projects is critical as engineering standards become prevalent in K-12curriculums. The Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) require that students not onlyunderstand core concepts and cross-cutting ideas associated with engineering, but also learn toparticipate in engineering practices.1-3 According to the NGSS, engineering practices are highlysocial, requiring collaboration and communication with diverse people for multiple purposes.Although it is well-known that communication plays critical roles in the design process4, 5,systematic studies of children’s peer-to-peer
Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech) was analyzed through the lens of the SOLOtaxonomy. The following research questions were addressed: (1) How structurally advanced isstudent sustainability knowledge? (2) Which sustainability dimensions do students mostassociate with sustainability? and (3) How appropriate is application of the SOLO taxonomy forsustainability knowledge assessments? Page 24.583.4Background Information: Sustainability Knowledge AssessmentsWith increasing interest in incorporating sustainability into engineering curricula, there havebeen a variety of assessment tools presented in the literature to help guide and evaluate thesereform efforts. Although indirect student
knowledge domainsremains a challenging task from both knowledge development and systems engineering processmodeling perspectives. However, the longitudinal examination (as well as my ongoingintrospection) regarding “Simulating Kelly” as an engineering process has helped to provide bothpersonal benefits and research outcomes. In addition, it is hoped that the student’s experienceprovides useful insights regarding the valuable role of research apprenticeships forundergraduate engineering students, regardless of their future industry, graduate education, orengineering domain career development plans. Page 24.584.6References 1. Caldwell, B. S. (2013
technologicalworkforce. According to the budget data published by the National Science Foundation, theDirectorate of Education and Human Resources alone has funded in excess of $28 billion towardreforming STEM education during the 60-year span from 1951 to 2011 [8]. This sustained effortled to the development and dissemination of several research-based pedagogies which advocatethat transforming the instructional method from a traditional unidirectional transmission style(passive mode) to a more interactive student-centered style (facilitative mode) is linked toimproved learning [1-5]. However, these reform efforts continue to have only marginal impact onengineering instruction because there has not been any wide scale acceptance and/or adoption ofthese
. in Industrial Engineering (University of Pittsburgh.), and Ph.D. in Industrial Engineering (University of Pittsburgh). Address: N149 Technology Hall, The University of Alabama in Huntsville, Huntsville, AL 35899; telephone (+1) 256.824.6637; fax: (+1) 256.824.6733; e-mail: gillian.nicholls@uah.edu.Dr. Rhonda Kay Gaede, University of Alabama, Huntsville Rhonda Gaede received a BS in Electrical Engineering from Southern Methodist University and an MS and PhD in Electrical Engineering from The University of Texas at Austin. She worked as a product engineer for Motorola and as a staff engineer for IBM. She is currently an Associate Professor at The University of Alabama in Huntsville where she teaches computer
overarching aim of my research and teaching is to always push the boundaries for Norwegian product development teams, so that they will ideate, more radical new concepts, faster.Prof. Larry Leifer, Stanford University, Center for Design Research Larry Leifer is a Professor of Mechanical Engineering Design and founding Director of the Center for Design Research (CDR) at Stanford University. He has been a member of the faculty since 1976. His teaching-laboratory is the graduate course ME310, ”Industry Project Based Engineering Design, Innova- tion, and Development.” Research themes include: 1) creating collaborative engineering design environ- ments for distributed product innovation teams; 2) instrumenting that environment
evaluation of the program. Post-camp surveys revealedthat participation in Generation Innovation leads campers to better understand the breadth ofopportunities available in the computer science discipline.1. INTRODUCTIONGeneration Innovation is a computer science education summer camp for middle and high schoolstudents. The camp began in 2009 as a male-only program. In 2011, it was expanded to provide CSeducation to both girls and boys. The camp is held at Bowie State University, a historically blackcollege, and is focused on providing low cost CS education activities to students in the local area. Thispaper summarizes our efforts and presents the results from five years of conducting the program.The mission of Generation Innovation is to introduce
. 1 E-mail: essamz@uaeu.ac.ae 2 E-mail: m.maraqa@uaeu.ac.ae 3 E-mail: amr.sweedan@uaeu.ac.aeAbstractThe level of safety implied by the construction industry records world-wide is significantly lowcompared to other industries. The construction industry has the most dismal record of safetyamong all industrial segments, with a risk of fatality that is about five times higher than in anyother industry. The higher rate of accidents and fatalities in the construction industry could bedue to the nature of the work; however, several
of the design and, finally, arriving at a specification, see Figure 1. The ultimate goalis to enable manufacturing of a functional product meeting all design requirements.Figure 1. Simplified Design Process, adapted from flow chart of Pahl et al.1One of the challenges during the development of a physical product is to balance the aspects ofFunction, Shape, Material and Process3, see Figure 2. This is emphasized, in particular, in Designfor Manufacturing (and Assembly)4. It is important that software tools to present computer-basedsupport in the product development process provides adequate links between materials, processesand shape during selection.Figure 2. The interlinks between important parameters of design3