Paper ID #28792A Design Thinking Approach to Increasing Student Efficacy in theInternship Search ProcessDr. Katherine McConnell, University of Colorado Boulder Katherine McConnell is a Senior Professional Development Advisor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Colorado Boulder. Her work focuses on the integration of experiential learning, industry connections, and career-oriented education across the curriculum. c American Society for Engineering Education, 2020 A Design Thinking Approach to Increasing Student Efficacy in the
high-poverty schools, where the lack ofresources hinders their chances of pursuing STEM careers [2][3]. Thus, while STEM careers canoffer a pathway for low-income students to escape poverty, these students often encounterdifficulties in pursuing a STEM degree [4].A growing body of research has concentrated on exploring factors to enhance the retention rateamong STEM students. Scholars have shared various intervention strategies, such as implementingpeer coaching programs, academic learning communities, professional development workshops,academic counseling, and research seminars [5][6][7].Study ObjectivesTo improve retention rates and academic performance among academically talented minority andunderrepresented computer science students from
Society for Engineering Education, 2024Relation between Out-of-Classroom Engagement Activities and Student PerformanceSarath Chandra K Jagupilla, Elizabeth O’Connell, Muhammad R HajjAbstractIn this study, the relation between out of classroom engagement activities and studentperformances, measured through GPAs, for engineering undergraduate students in civil,environmental and naval engineering majors is assessed. Five different categories of events wereidentified– career development, community building, physical activity, academic support, andfield trips. Attendance at each event was tracked and academic performance after the semesterwith activities was analyzed. In AY 2023–2024, the department hosted twenty-oneundergraduate out-of-classroom
non-technical soft skills to producethe desired project outcomes. The Project Management Institute's Standard for ProjectManagement in the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK ®) Guide – SeventhEdition includes 12 principles to guide the behaviors of project practitioners toward successfulproject deliveries that create value. Introducing the project management principles to engineeringstudents will enhance their career skills by guiding the behaviors in future project environments.This one-week module was created to better equip engineering students with projectmanagement competencies within an undergraduate three-credit hour project management careerskills course. The module includes a lecture on the 12 guiding principles from the
©American Society for Engineering Education, 2025NSF ATE: Improving Electrical Engineering Education Structure by BridgingCTE, Community College, and University Programs through Hands-on Skills Integration: Year 11 1. IntroductionStudent engagement and retention in lower-division electrical engineering courses, particularlyamong first-generation college students, represent significant ongoing challenges. Minorityengineering students often have less exposure to engineering-related careers and applications.Studies indicate a substantial attrition rate in technical programs, with 40-50% of studentsdropping out during their first year [1]. This issue is further compounded among underrepresentedstudents, who are
Paper ID #47203BOARD # 227: Building Engineering Leaders: Pairing Leadership Courseworkwith Service Learning - NSF DUE #2012339Dr. Marianna Savoca, Stony Brook University Marianna Savoca is both an administrator and faculty member. She teaches career development, leadership, and external relations, collaborates with faculty on research and programmatic initiatives, as well as oversees internships and practicum experiences.Dr. Monica Bugallo, Stony Brook University Monica Bugallo is a Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering and Vice Provost for Faculty and Academic Staff Development at Stony Brook University. She
by nurturing essential academic success skills at theUniversity of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV); a Minority Serving Institution (MSI).Specifically tailored to freshman mechanical engineering students, the program aims to equip themwith self-transformation skills to navigate through the amplified academic and professionalobstacles brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic. Participants of FYIE engage in twoconcurrent courses: Introduction to Engineering (Course A) and Learning Frameworks (CourseB). In Course A, students undertake a 6-week engineering design project, while in Course B, theywork on a 6-week academic career path project. Throughout these simultaneous projects, time-bound interventions highlight the similarities between the
years are always a critical time frame for cultivating students’ interest andpreparedness for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) careers. However,not every student is provided with opportunities to engage, learn and achieve in STEM subjectareas. Engineering topics are further excluded from curricula when the focus is on Science andMathematics. The Public-School District involved in this study has 35,000 students and 75% ofthem are from under-represented minority communities. Over the years, the schools offering ahigh school Algebra-based Physics course decreased as a larger number of schools faced staffing,scheduling, or other issues. The College of Engineering and Applied Science requires applicantsto have completed high
, including STEM. While MSIs attempt to bridge educationalgaps seen in these students with pre-college resources, first year mentoring, and tutoringsessions, awareness and participation in URE is not prevalent at a MSI. Participation in suchactivities, however, has been linked to improved career prospects and an increase in thenumber of students seeking graduate degrees. Past studies [1],[2],[9] have suggested that aninitial interest in STEM does not necessarily continue throughout undergraduate education witha higher number of students requesting major changes and/or prolonging their graduationtimeline. This paper proposes to identify current notions and perceptions surroundingundergraduate research of STEM students at a mid-sized MSI along the U.S
Professional Development Center for Educators, College of Education and HumanDevelopment, University of Delaware, Newark, DE4 Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, University of California, San Francisco, CAIntroduction Over the past twenty five years, the government and industry have called for heavyinvestment in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) education anddeveloped an impressive array of classroom and extracurricular programming designed toencourage young people to pursue STEM careers [1,2]. Despite these efforts, the vast majority ofcollege-bound high school students continue to pursue majors outside of engineering and otherSTEM fields [3]. Furthermore, there are high attrition rates – some approaching 50
Paper ID #44477Manufacturing Inclusive Excellence: An Intersectional, Mixed Methods Studyof Engineering Identity among Undergraduate Research Students at a HistoricallyBlack UniversityDr. Lara Perez-Felkner, Florida State University Dr. Lara Perez-Felkner is an Associate Professor of Higher Education and Sociology in the Higher Education Program within the College of Education at Florida State University. Her research uses developmental and sociological perspectives to examine how young people’s social contexts influence their college and career outcomes. She focuses on the mechanisms that shape entry into and persistence in
perspectives on post-graduation life. The study intends to investigate whetherthe videos can improve students’ understanding of the realities of early career engineering andcan promote their ability to visualize their future professional selves. The study includes a pre-survey, video viewing, a post-survey, and semi-structured interviews with some of theparticipants. This paper presents some data from the post-survey.This paper focuses on the impact of the video series as a means of communication from thealumni speakers to the student viewers. The paper presents scholarship on the use of videos ineducation and other fields. As a medium, the video series can convey representational rolemodeling as it delivers content. Preliminary data from 121
University where he teaches courses on ethics/professionalism and water resources. Dr. Carpenter has served as the University Director of Assessment and theAlyssa TaubeLynne Seymour ©American Society for Engineering Education, 2025 Collaborative Outreach to Inspire Interest in Civil and Environmental Engineering Through Stormwater Design using Best Management PracticesAbstractThis paper presents an engaging activity developed for the outreach event Blue Planet Jobs:Careers in Water, hosted by the nonprofit organization Pure Oakland Water (POW).Approximately 250 high school students participating in career readiness programs exploredopportunities in various water
approach. We conducted around of open coding, followed by focused coding. This allowed us to generate our findingsinductively and directly from the raw data, and we further analyzed the former in the context ofthe Social Cognitive Career Theory (SCCT). We also conducted inter-rater reliability checks tobolster the research quality of our work. Our preliminary findings indicate that stereotypes,exposure to women engineers’ experiences, and the perception of certain engineering fields asmale-dominated influenced women’s decisions to pursue engineering studies. Additionally, highschools, universities, the media, and governmental policies were perceived as influential factorsby the female survey respondents. These diverse cultural and institutional
Engineering Education, 2025Empowering the Next Generation of Women Engineers: Early Outreach and Mentorship through Targeted STEM ProgramsAbstractThis paper presents a structured outreach initiative designed to address gender disparities inengineering by engaging middle and high school girls through a hybrid model of hands-onlearning, mentorship, and virtual challenges. With participation from 120 students, theprogram featured projects in biomedical, structural, and renewable energy engineering.Evaluation using a mixed-methods approach, including surveys, journals, interviews, andrubric-based project assessments, revealed statistically significant gains in studentconfidence, interest in engineering careers, and STEM-related engagement at home
andindustry. For example, while women earn 58% of undergraduate degrees across all disciplines,they account for only 24% of undergraduate students in engineering [1], [2]. Research suggeststhat this is partly due to women voluntarily choosing not to pursue an engineering educationbecause their main motivators (e.g., personal fulfillment, societal benefit) do not match theirperception of engineering careers [3], [4]. Consistent with these assertions, women earn an equalproportion of undergraduate degrees in certain engineering subfields that have an explicit goal ofimproving societal outcomes (e.g., biomedical engineering) [2]. Nevertheless, even inbiomedical engineering, there is a steep decline in female representation at the graduate studentand
the Policies and Programs That Support Them” explored the challenges that female engineering faculty faced in their careers, as well as the institutional policies and programs (i.e. family-friendly policies, diversity/equity programs, mentoring initiatives, etc.) that helped them to be successful in obtaining tenure. c American Society for Engineering Education, 2016 Leaning into Engineering: Tenured Women Faculty and the Policies and Programs That Support ThemAbstractWhile researchers have documented the barriers that women in engineering programs face (i.e. genderbias, work/family conflict, “dual career” issues, limited access to information networks), few
Social Sci- ences (ACBSS), and she teaches the first course in the minor series. This course covers the application of Python to current social science topics, as well as the use of programming in careers such as data analysis, user experience research, and econometrics.Morris E Jones Jr, San Jose State Univeristy Morris is retired from the semiconductor industry, and teaches Electrical Engineering, and General Engi- neering classes at San Jose State University.Dr. Belle Wei, San Jose State University Belle Wei is Carolyn Guidry Chair in Engineering Education and Innovative Learning at San Jos´e State University (SJSU). Previous roles include: Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs at California State
interested in pursuingopportunities in STEM careers. The North Carolina A&T State University (NCA&T) Case Studiesin Science and Engineering Enrichment Lab program is an informal science and engineeringeducation program in its third year of operation. It is a hands-on STEM program that uses guidedinquiry and case studies to teach critical process skills for scientific inquiry for middle schoolfemale, minority students. The overarching goal is to identify how an all-female environmentcoupled with informal STEM learning experiences can build female learner’s confidence inscience and math. Hence, this intervention seeks to counteract negative gendered stereotypes andpeer pressure that middle school girls experience in the 6th – 8th grade level
experience. This paper discusses the challenges and opportunities for instructors withinternational backgrounds as they teach at US institutions. The paper attempts to address issuesin temporary and permanent positions including diversity, teaching, professional development,mentoring, service, and communication. The authors share their own experiences and that of asmall sample of other international instructors who are teaching at US institutions. The majorityof international faculty who responded to a survey were tenured, full-time professors.Professional development appears to be the leading reason attracting international facultypursuing teaching careers in the US. The majority of those who taught in other countries used alanguage of instruction
instructor of the NDSU Pre-Engineering Education Collaboration (PEEC) during their sum- mer camps. Throughout her Ph.D. work and professional career she has focused on serving underrepre- sented populations through summer camps targeting Native American high school students, working with New American populations locally to engage them with the outdoors, and developing curriculum for sum- mer camps at regional tribal colleges. In the future, she will be working with faculty and local hospitals to develop a distance education curriculum to better meeting the needs of the NDSCS Emergency Medical Services program as they look to better serve students abroad.Ms. Megan Even, ND EPSCoRDaniel John Luecke, North Dakota State
Engineering Technology, the careeris Engineering” trademarked by the American Society for Engineering Education reflected thetypical experience of ET graduates. However, despite these and other efforts to assert that ETis a separate but equal, less mathematically rigorous, more practical pathway to a traditionalengineering career, this messaging is often inconsistent with the reality of opportunities andadvancement in college and after graduation. Many employers do not hire ET graduates forengineering positions for a variety of reasons, including a lack of familiarity with the preparation 1and qualifications of ET graduates, and the tendency for many employers to still associate ETwith a two-year
situation exists for womenin underrepresented groups across all ranks in computer and information science. This meansthat the numbers of women professors in engineering from underrepresented groups are so smallin the U.S. (less than 1%), that most of them can be readily identified [1]. Increasing therepresentation of women and diversifying the field of engineering has become a nationalimperative, which is closely aligned to the United States’s ability to maintain its globalcompetitive edge [2], [3]. Initiatives that facilitate women’s access to mentoring relationshipsand research networks have proven successful in providing women engineers with the academiccapital necessary for career advancement [4]. Research demonstrates the direct
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. Nayda G. Santiago, University of Puerto Rico, Mayaguez Campus Nayda G. Santiago is professor at the Electrical and Computer Engineering department, University of Puerto Rico, Mayaguez Campus (UPRM) where she teaches the Capstone Course in
theAE industry and efforts are needed to counter this sentiment to keep students motivated topursue a career in AE.Keywords: persistence, aerospace engineering, undergraduate, career choiceProblem Definition and Literature ReviewThe Dire Requirement of AE Graduates in the WorkforceNumerous government and university level initiatives have increased the enrollment andgraduation in engineering over the past decade. These initiatives were spurred by lowpersistence in undergraduate engineering, addressing the gender gap in the workforce andundergraduate engineering, and the requirement of engineers for maintaining the status ofU.S. as a leader [1, 2]. While these initiatives have increased the overall enrollment andgraduates in engineering (figure 1
, global awareness, sustainability, and diversity, equity and inclusion. ©American Society for Engineering Education, 2024 Alumni Engagement and Mentoring Integrated in the Chemical Engineering Curriculum1.0 Introduction.Alumni engagement is intensively and widely fostered by colleges and universities to attractfunding and donations, prestige, and loyalty. Engaged alumni can also improve the rate of jobplacement and internship opportunities for current students. In addition, alumni can provide amost valuable source of mentoring for students in their curriculum and career. However, thereare limited approaches to engage alumni with curricular courses. Some experiences includeinvited talks and
Intern for the Journal of En- gineering Education. Her research interests include broadening participation in engineering, engineering leadership, and marginalized student experiences in engineering. Her dissertation explored the experi- ences of early-career Black engineers in leadership. She received her B.S. in Industrial Engineering from the University of Pittsburgh and her M.S. in Human Systems Engineering from Arizona State University. Before starting her graduate studies, she worked in the tech industry in the operations field. Katreena is committed to justice, equity, diversity, and inclusivity and hopes that her work will impact the culture and environment of the engineering education ecosystem.Dr. Brooke
Engineering from Purdue University. Dr. Jordan is PI on several NSF-funded projects related to design, including an NSF Early CAREER Award entitled ”CAREER: Engineering Design Across Navajo Culture, Community, and Society” and ”Might Young Makers be the Engineers of the Future?,” and is a Co-PI on the NSF Revolutionizing Engineering Departments grant ”Additive Innovation: An Educational Ecosystem of Making and Risk Taking.” He was named one of ASEE PRISM’s ”20 Faculty Under 40” in 2014, and received a Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers from President Obama in 2017.Ms. Courtney A. Betoney, Arizona State University, Polytechnic campus Courtney Betoney is from Ganado, Arizona and is studying
in developing survey questionnaires and conducting structured observations at the household level as a part of research studies in Tanzania, Kenya, and Bangladesh. Alongside her work in environmental engineering, Angela also conducts research related to engineering education as part of DEL group. Currently her work related to education seeks to better understand student career choices and institutional support for students in career development and career preparation. She also works on better understanding undergraduate engineering student interests, behaviors, development, and career choices related to innovation and entrepreneurship.Dr. Shannon Katherine Gilmartin, Stanford University Shannon K. Gilmartin, Ph.D
establishengineering communities and establish their engineering identities. Yet, little is known abouthow these experiences compare to those students who start in discipline specific programs. Morebroadly, even less is known about how first-year experiences differ for students from regionalcampuses or for students who transfer institutions. This project aims to better understand how thefirst-year experiences of students from various pathways affect their development across theircollege career through a series of first-year surveys and longitudinal interviews. We specificallyfocus on students’ engineering communities and engineering identities using Wenger’sconceptualization of Communities of Practice as our theoretical lens [1].For this work, engineering