Conference Session

Scholar Program Proposal/Develop Courses and Materials/Collaborations and Accredatation Systems for Global Engineering Education / Preparing Engineers for the Global Workplace and Successful Graduates for a Flat World: What Does It Take?

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Lueny Morell, Hewlett-Packard; Jennifer DeBoer, SPEED

Tagged Divisions

International

geography, the profile of engineering graduate attributes appear to follow the samepattern, i.e., engineering graduates should be knowledgeable in science and technologyfundamentals and be problem solvers, but should also possess a number of professional skills(i.e., “soft skills”) important for the profession such as effective communication andunderstanding the world where engineering is practiced (business constraints,flexibility/adaptability, societal and ethical issues, global sensitivity, etc). Numerous student-focused events on a variety of curriculum, policy, and pedagogical issues conducted by one ofthe authors have yielded similar conclusions.Some authors and reports have comprehensively outlined the elusive set of “soft skills” that

Collection

2010 ASEE Midwest Section Conference

Authors

Angel Riggs; Kirby Smith; Cindy Blackwell; Paul Weckler; Dan Tilley; Rodney Holcomb; Shelly Sitton; Ron Delahoussaye

.”Soft skills “better team member, thinking out side the box, learning to deal with team members in general (sic)” “Learning long-term teamwork.” “Learning patience and persistence.” “The opportunity to work with people who didn't always get along with me.”Real-world experience “being paired with a real business (sic)”According to the survey findings, most respondents‟ written comments regarding the aspect ofthe class they found most helpful referenced the course‟s interdisciplinary format (see Table 8).However, many respondents also referenced soft skills important to the workplace, includingpatience and learning to work among various personalities. Table 9: The Innovations Process Survey Question

Conference Session

Chemical Engineering Education: Upperclass Years

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Lisa Bullard, North Carolina State University

Tagged Divisions

Chemical Engineering

traditionallecture content as well as a capstone project. Academic content typically includesflowsheet synthesis and development, process simulation, process economics, andequipment design/heuristics. Depending on the background of the instructor and whetherthe course is one or two semesters, a laundry list of additional topics might includesustainability and “green design” concepts,1 process safety, 2 Good ManufacturingPractice, Six Sigma,3 optimization,4 selecting materials of construction, reading P&ID’s,heat exchanger network or reactor network synthesis, environmental regulations,engineering ethics, batch scheduling, and product design.5 Senior design is also the lastopportunity to reinforce “soft skills” such as teamwork6,7 and communication.8

Conference Session

Early Engineering Design Experiences

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Aezeden Mohamed, University of Manitoba; Myron (Ron) Britton, University of Manitoba

Tagged Divisions

Design in Engineering Education

tobrings these issues into the curriculum. Students learn the importance of the “soft skills” early in theircareers. The discussions that arise from in-class situations provide an excellent foundation for the follow-onphilosophy class on ethics that the students are required to take. Communication, both oral and written, iscritical to the success of any engineer and any design. Because these designs are the result of group effort,most students see, first-hand, the effects of communication, both good and bad. Even the best designs have adifficult time being supported and implemented if the design engineers cannot justify their designs in a clearand concise manner. During this course, students are provided with a strict set of guidelines for their

Conference Session

Knowing our Students, Faculty, and Profession

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Anna Pereira, Michigan Technological University; Michele Miller, Michigan Technological University; William Helton, Michigan Technological University; Leonard Bohmann, Michigan Technological University; Chris VanArsdale, Michigan Technological University

Tagged Divisions

Educational Research and Methods

higher forthe leadership and communication attributes.It is interesting to note that all the significant traits were “soft” skills. In the cases where namegender was significant, the women were always rated higher on average than males. It is alsoworth noting that a career fair may not be an accurate representation of the engineering field.One possible reason is recruiters may be directed to focus on the recruiting of more women andminorities. For example, government agencies actively recruit females and minorities in aneffort to increase representation of both in the workplace. Besides government agencies, otherrecruiters may focus on recruiting women. McIlwee and Robinson suggest that since themajority of graduates in engineering are male

Conference Session

Embedded System Design

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Paul Weber, Lake Superior State University

Tagged Divisions

Electrical and Computer

business majors as part of the teams if possible and/or consult other students/faculty withbackgrounds in environmental and social issues. The effects of such inclusions could then also beanalyzed.6. SummaryHelping students understand broader, non-technical issues, providing opportunities for them todevelop “soft” skills such as researching and presenting information, and facilitating makingconnections between class information and current technology are crucial to student success.This paper has described marketing-based presentations that are designed to do just that. Studentperceptions of the presentations were also summarized in terms of levels of agreement and classconsensus. Based on these results, for the given courses the presentations did

Conference Session

Design Projects in Mechanical Engineering II

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Brian Vuksanovich, Youngstown State University; Darrell Wallace, Youngstown State University

Tagged Divisions

Mechanical Engineering

-produce the worldduring WWII. Innovation put us on the moon and fueled the computer and internet boom of the1990’s. Studies going back as far as 1959 have identified engineering creativity as a vitalcontributor to industry competitiveness and the national welfare. 1 A preponderance of literaturepublished in the past five years points to a lack of soft skills, including creative innovation, asfactors in declining global competitiveness. 2,3,4,5 At the root of this problem is a deeplyentrenched educational paradigm that does not encourage creative thinkers.This innovation was possible because there were people that not only understood engineeringprinciples; they also knew how to apply them in ways that satisfied a human need. Theseengineers were

Conference Session

Preparing Engineers for the Global Workplace and Successful Graduates for a Flat World: What Does It Take?

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Lueny Morell, Hewlett-Packard; Martina Trucco, Hewlett-Packard; Rich Friedrich, Hewlett Packard

Tagged Divisions

International

required to develop a comprehensive work plan and training program for each of the research fellows under their guidance. Work plans must address the research goals and expected outcomes of the proposed research, and address how the research fellows will be provided with on-the-job hard and soft skills training to be prepared for the shifting industry mix in science and innovation. Semi-annual progress reports will be required of both the research fellow and the corporate mentors. Mentor reports are to be submitted to ASEE and should include a report on the interactions with the research fellows, address their assessment of the progress of the research plan, list the publications and presentations in process, and address how they

Collection

2010 Spring ASEE Middle Atlantic Section Conference

Authors

William Hornfeck; Ismail Jouny; John Nestor

, 2008.[10] Jouny, Ismail and Hornfeck, William, “Teaching Soft Skills to ECE Students,” Conference on Transforming Engineering Education: Creating Interdisciplinary Skills for Complex Global Environments, Dublin, Ireland, 6 – 9 April, 2010.[11] Hornfeck, William and Jouny, Ismail, “The Successful Integration of Study Abroad and the Engineering Curriculum,” Conference on Transforming Engineering Education: Creating Interdisciplinary Skills for Complex Global Environments, Dublin, Ireland, 6 – 9 April, 2010.

Collection

2010 Northeast Section Meeting

Authors

William Hornfeck; Ismail Jouny; John Nestor

, 2008.[10] Jouny, Ismail and Hornfeck, William, “Teaching Soft Skills to ECE Students,” Conference on Transforming Engineering Education: Creating Interdisciplinary Skills for Complex Global Environments, Dublin, Ireland, 6 – 9 April, 2010.[11] Hornfeck, William and Jouny, Ismail, “The Successful Integration of Study Abroad and the Engineering Curriculum,” Conference on Transforming Engineering Education: Creating Interdisciplinary Skills for Complex Global Environments, Dublin, Ireland, 6 – 9 April, 2010.

Collection

2010 ASEE Zone 1 Conference

Authors

Anne E. Mohan; Enrique Sola; James Patrick Abulencia

utilized by universities, since they are both critical to engineering practice.Industrial partnerships can prepare engineering students for real-world projects and problemswhile creating powerful contacts which could lead to job opportunities. This statement issupported by the two case studies presented here: the Learning Factory and the BoeingPartnership. 5 These industrial partnerships also enhance the “soft skills” of budding engineers. Theindustrial partnership experience allows students to learn and perfect skills not formally taught inthe classroom such as oral and written communication, inter-disciplinary group work, andpersonal

Collection

2010 ASEE Zone 1 Conference

Authors

Rathika Rajaravivarma

veryessential that the students acquire the skills to move towards the solution in alogical and systematic way. It will be beneficial if these skills can be adopted atthe very early stage of their course work and should be emphasized and practicedas the subject matter gets heavier. Collaborative learning skills must be broughtinto play. Other soft skills such as good communication, written and oral must be 2gained. Thus this course could potentially seed a number of the above mentionedattributes laying a firmer ground for success in the coursework and career. Figure 1: Retention outcomes with Active learning Methods in TeachingThe Envir onmentThe students who

Collection

2010 ASEE Zone 4 Conference

Authors

Brian Meadows; Charles Judah; Michael Berman; Derrick Jones; Ryan Rawson; David Alvarez; James Flynn; Sharlene Katz

hardware essential to implementing an SDR system. Section III will outline therequirements of the design project given at the beginning of the year. It will go on to discuss theapproach used to complete the project on both the hardware and software sides, as well asintegrating and testing the final design. Section IV will discuss the results of the project anddiscuss some of the interdisciplinary and soft skills that were learned. It will also focus on thepitfalls encountered during the project and further improvements that could be made. Section Vdiscusses our assessment of the educational outcomes listed above. Finally, Section VI willpresent the summary and conclusions.II. BackgroundThis project was based on the concept of software defined

Conference Session

Teaching Mechanical Systems: What's New

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Ashok Kumar Manoharan, Auburn University; P.K. Raju, Auburn University; Chetan Sankar, Auburn University

Tagged Divisions

Mechanical Engineering

thestudents involved obtained a thorough understanding of the engineering concepts and alsoimproved their soft skills, including team working, communication, and ethical and problemsolving skills. In-depth information about the evaluation results, course map and instructionalstrategy are provided in this paper.IntroductionEngineering curricula have experimented with multiple methodologies that expose students toreal-world problems. There are also deep concerns about American internationalcompetitiveness, amid indications that the U.S. is doing a relatively poor job at retaining andtraining students in the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) disciplines14.Too many talented students get the impression from introductory courses that

Conference Session

College-Industry Partnerships: Bringing Industry into the Curriculum Development and Design Cycle

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

J. Shelley, United States Air Force; Kenneth Santarelli, Cal State Fresno

Tagged Divisions

College-Industry Partnerships

leadership may be particularlyeffective because of it conscious and deliberate application of “soft skills”. The effects ofthis observation will unfold during the course of this case study. Another observation of the coalition pyramid is that it is bereft of large private donors.The pyramid is led and motivated by people with a vested interest in local engineeringeducation who lack the fiduciary flexibility of private parties. It was observed in referencefour that local philanthropists suffer from donor fatigue. The need, and ability of theimplementers, to attract private donors will be captured as part of the case study. Evidence of the influence of the grass-roots partners in the local educational communityis noticeable. The high school

Conference Session

College-Industry Partnerships: Bringing Industry into the Curriculum Development and Design Cycle

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Osman Cekic, Purdue University; Monica Cox, Purdue University; Jiabin Zhu, Purdue University, West Lafayette

Tagged Divisions

College-Industry Partnerships

groups, the industry that employs individualswith a college degree has also brought many criticisms and claimed that the higher educationenterprise is not educating the engineers they need. Among those were the reports from ABET3,the National Academy of Engineering4 and the National Research Council 5. These reports alsocriticized higher education institutions for their lack of success in instilling leadership abilitiesalong with other skills needed within recent engineering graduates. Some of these concerns fromthe industry focused on “soft skills”, what was called earlier, or “professional skills” ofengineers. Among the professional skills one of the most studied attribute or skill is theengineers’ leadership abilities.Although there has been

Conference Session

Capstone Design Pedagogy I

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Andrew Trivett, University of Prince Edward Island

Tagged Divisions

Design in Engineering Education

result of this, many authors have argued for moreteaching of the “soft skills” in engineering. Studies like this continue to fuel the see-sawbetween highly “scientific” engineering education and highly “social”. Ultimately, theargument comes down to the question of which side of the balance is sacrificed in favour of theother.The “structural” design of most engineering programs in Canada is, in accordance with theCanadian Engineering Accreditation Board guidelines 2, based on separate distinct courses. Eachcourse in a student’s degree program has a weight in “academic units” (AU’s) which roughlycorrespond to faculty contact hours for each course per week semester. Comparing thisaccreditation standard with current educational literature, there is

Conference Session

Online and Web-based Education

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Bridget Smyser, Northeastern University; David DiBiasio, Worcester Polytechnic Institute

Tagged Divisions

Computers in Education

face-to-face courses.IntroductionChemical Materials Science is typically taught as a 4 lecture per week course. Studentperformance is evaluated via weekly homework and 2-3 exams per quarter. Past offerings of thisand other similar materials science courses have included features such as lab experiments andopen ended materials selection projects done in groups. These group projects typically involvedwritten and/or oral reports in order to improve soft skills and allow promotive interactionbetween the students. Collaborative learning has been a key feature of many courses at our Page 15.321.2university, and has been used extensively in other

Conference Session

Multidisciplinary Engineering Technology Courses

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Rocio Alba-Flores, Georgia Southern University; Youakim Al Kalaani, Georgia Southern University

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Technology

of AC vector analysis, transientresponse, and resonant RLC circuits were expanded to allow students to grasp a betterunderstanding of these concepts. However, major changes were made to the laboratorycomponent of this course for which a lab manual was developed with a completely new set ofexperimentations dealing with renewable energy and instrumentation.Since this course is used in the assessment process for ABET accreditation, the learningoutcomes were also expanded to include soft skills such as commitment to quality, timeless, andcontinuous improvement. These new learning objectives and summary of topics are listed inTable 1 and Table 2 respectively

Conference Session

Multidisciplinary Capstone

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

James Palmer, Louisiana Tech University; Hisham Hegab, Louisiana Tech University

Tagged Divisions

Multidisciplinary Engineering

. describes a course to teach softskills applicable to all students but little training on tackling open-ended problems. Rogge andLivesay presents a course to prepare biomedical engineering students using mini-design projects,however no details of the projects are given in the paper. Csavina and Seeney discuss a productdesign course for biomedical engineering students to prepare of open ended constraints bydesigning a Home Lift Position and Rehabilitation chair. Co et. al. write about a pre-capstonecourse for electrical engineers where teams work on various subsystems of an overall electricaldevice. A number of team and soft skills were also reinforced in the course to provide bettermanagement and integration of efforts. The course described in this

Conference Session

Teams and Teamwork in Design

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Wael Mokhtar, Grand Valley State University

Tagged Divisions

Design in Engineering Education

environment to develop soft skills needed for engineers. Theyare distributed throughout the two semesters to give the students a line of guidance. Page 15.259.7Two examples of capstone projects will be discussed in the following sections. The methodexplained above is applied to them with some changes based on the nature of the project.Project 1: Mini Baja vehicleThe Society of Mechanical Engineering (SAE) organizes a design competition for off- roadvehicles each year (Mini Baja). Each team is given the same engine, a set of rules for generalvehicle dimensions, and a list of minimum safety requirements. The technical challenge is todesign and build a

Conference Session

Design in BME Education

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Richard Goldberg, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill; Robert Dennis, University of North Carolina; Charles Finley, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill

Tagged Divisions

Biomedical

at Chapel Hill, we have a small but growing program in Page 15.765.2Biomedical Engineering (graduating 32 students in May 2010). When the faculty first developedthe curriculum, we incorporated a typical two-semester senior design course. However, we soonrealized that the students were entering senior design without the skills needed to be productivein that experience. As a result, we decided to enhance the design component of the curriculum.The design process involves many components, including identifying the need; proposingsolutions; developing prototypes; testing and evaluating prototypes; and building a finisheddevice.10 Other “soft

Conference Session

Preparing Engineers for the Global Workplace and Successful Graduates for a Flat World: What Does It Take?

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Sarah Zappe, Pennsylvania State University; Thomas Litzinger, Pennsylvania State University; Hien Nguyen, Pennsylvania State University

Tagged Divisions

International

, learning communities, online discussions, instructional design for online learning, and innovative technology for learning. She can be reached at htn126@psu.edu. Page 15.169.1© American Society for Engineering Education, 2010 An Investigation of First Year Students’ Perceptions of Global AwarenessAbstractMost engineering educators recognize the importance of emphasizing the so-called “soft-skills”in the undergraduate curriculum in order for graduates to be competitive in the global workforce.Of increasing interest for many engineering programs is engaging students in

Conference Session

Capstone and Senior Design in Engineering Technology: Part II

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

William Leonard, Rochester Institute of Technology; Robert Merrill, Roch Inst of Tech; Elizabeth Dell, Rochester Institute of Technology

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Technology

experienceCurrently, there are a series of core courses in which our integrating experience has beenimplemented with enough detail as to ascertain a reasonable experience as to the effectiveness ofthis new ‘backbone’ process.Benefits: 1. Can cover more and have more face time with instructor. Capstones are usually 20 weeks with minimal student/ instructor time and a great deal of independent/group time. 2. Exposure to several instructors through several courses. 3. Allows greater detail of topics such as the student being responsible for independently designing an experiment, statistically validating the results and presenting their findings. 4. Integrates not only the technology of the courses but also greatly enhances the soft skills. 5. Gives

Conference Session

Engineering Technology Progress Reports: Part I

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Kenneth Stier, Illinois State University

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Technology

program outcomes. This provides the possibility of gettingdisciplinary norms on the group summary report that is provided for each course. The secondassessment instrument under consideration for addressing the sustainability issue was a Page 15.1280.12questionnaire survey given to the graduating seniors in the capstone course. Additionalquestions with regard to the soft skills or professional outcomes could be added to this surveywithout increasing the work involved in the data collection process.Summary and lessons learnedThis paper overviews how Engineering Technology faculty at a university in the Midwest (calledMU in the paper) transitioned

Conference Session

Importance of Technical & Professional Writing in Engineering Technology Curriculum

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Peilin Fu, National University; Shekar Viswanathan, National University, San Diego; Ronald Uhlig, National University, San Diego; Howard Evans, National University, San Diego

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Technology

Graduates,” IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication, 43.2 (June 2000), 137-1524. http://abet.org/Linked%20Documents-UPDATE/Criteria%20and%20PP/E001%2010- 11%20EAC%20Criteria%2011-03-09.pdf5. Silyn-Roberts, H. “Using Engineers’ Characteristics to Improve Report Writing Instruction,” Journal of Professional Issues in Engineering Education and Practice, vol. 124, no. 1, January 1998, pp 12-166. Tharp, H.S. “Improving Writing Skills through an Upper-Division Course,” 28th Annual Frontiers in Education Conference, 1998. FIE '98, Nov 19987. Sinha, B. private communication8. Platt, J.R. “Eight Unusual Ways to Improve Your Soft Skills,” http://www.todaysengineer.org/2008/Aug/soft_skills.asp9. Fenton, N. “Improving Your technical

Conference Session

SE Curriculum and Projects

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Kevin Gary, Arizona State University; Harry Koehnemann, Arizona State University

Tagged Divisions

Software Engineering Constituent Committee

implementation is given in [8][9].Figure 1. The Software Enterprise pedagogical modelEnterprise projects use an iterative SDLC model. Originally the Rational Unified Process (RUP[12]) was employed at the team level with elements of the PSP [11] at an individual level.However in the last two years teams have been asked to use the agile Scrum methodology [14].Local industry participates in the Enterprise by sponsoring projects and serving as customers.Projects are team-oriented, ongoing and use an iterative process to deliver code every threeweeks to customers in “sprints.” Teams must cope not only with technical issues but also withsocial or soft-skill issues including changing requirements, changing business models, changes inteam membership, and

Collection

2010 ASEE Zone 4 Conference

Authors

Wangping Sun

globalengineers, to assist in technology transfers, international design collaborations, and globalmanufacturing issues14. Even though there is no consensus on the definition of “global engineers”12,some educators believe that a global engineer should have two sets of skills, soft and technicalskills8,15,16,17, 18.The soft skills:  Innovation that addresses the attributes needed for success in a changing global environment;  Entrepreneurial experience to understand consumer needs, domestic and foreign markets, and market needs;  Multi-disciplinary and inter-disciplinary team experiences;  Global awareness in another culture and foreign language skills;  Awareness

Collection

2010 ASEE Zone 4 Conference

Authors

Amelito Enriquez; Kate Disney; Erik Dunmire

X X X 1 2R = Recommended X = Required choose one combined course3 4 5 Careers/soft skills Design specialized Intro to Civil only6

Collection

2010 ASEE Zone 4 Conference

Authors

Lizabeth Thompson Schlemer; Faith Mimnaugh

projects, or team laboratory assignments to help studentsdevelop skills necessary for their professional careers. Teamwork skills have traditionally beendeveloped by exposing students to team activities without discussion of teamwork techniques. To someextent, this lack of formal instruction does produce results, but a better approach was undertaken at theUniversity of Dayton2 where student teams were instructed on teambuilding and leadership. Manyresearchers have struggled with the difficult task of assessing teamwork and other soft skills involved inmulti-disciplinary PBL teams. Plumb and Sobeck3 put together a framework for developing assessmenttools. They urge instructors to develop a rubric to track performance over time.Teamwork in PBL is