enrolled the course. Once the first students have completed theinitial offering, there are plans to expand it to more partners and add additional requestedcourses. This work in progress describes the research based work done thus far and how new andimproved offerings will be created with industry partners.IntroductionAs part of an NSF funded grant for advanced manufacturing at West Virginia University, a studyof workforce preparedness in that topic was conducted in the state of West Virginia. Theworkforce development component of this research was conducted as a month of summer workper year for one researcher. As industry moves to more advanced, interconnected, and automatedmanufacturing, workers who can operate proficiently in the new
thesubstrate, which resin to select, how to coat and load the foil on the plate, what are the optimalsettings for speed of the moving substrate, for applied force, height of the film, thickness of thetemplate, light intensity, etc.d) Selection of template and making the sampleCurrently there are only two options for the transparent templates. One such template, or mold, isshown in Figure 1 (left). We plan to have additional ones made in the near future. The templatesare approximately 2” x 2” and can be used multiple times. Once the teams chose the template,they proceed to make their own sample, under the supervision of the lab instructor. The resin isspread on the substrate using a film applicator. The samples are made on polyester flexiblesubstrate
interviews with panels of faculty,staff, industry representatives, and STEM students. Lesson learned: The first cohort launchedduring COVID, requiring a shift to video conferencing for information sessions and finalistinterviews. The second cohort also used video conferencing due to inclement weather. Having abackup plan is essential, and virtual options remain valuable for students with work, family, orother commitments.INNOV Curricular ComponentsBridge Program: The INNOV bridge program took place during the two-week intersession perioddirectly before the start of the students’ first fall semester on campus. The program consisted of anacademic component and a cohort building component. The academic component was three credit-hour course that served
their major planned for the upcoming summer.When addressing the prompt “SUCCESS Scholars Program activities made me feel moreconfident in pursuing a career in STEM disciplines,” responses from both groups wereoverwhelmingly positive, 95% and 94% for the Red and Blue Groups respectively. While thesurvey did not ask specifically which SSP activities help build their confidence in pursuing acareer in STEM disciplines, students cited professional development discussions, industry fieldtrips, and faculty mentors (Red Group) as having a meaningful impact on them.DiscussionSSP students currently demonstrate a positive trend toward graduation, surpassing the predictedretention rates. Indicators point towards this trend remaining positive given a
within four years, and then have the option of entering the classroomto teach, attending graduate school, or working in industry. The NSF Noyce Track 1 grant offers$20k/year scholarships in the junior and senior year that could offset the need to work in industryto pay off school loans instead of entering the K-12 classroom. We have been continuouslyshifting the culture at our institution to highlight the challenging, yet rewarding and impactful,career in teaching. Over the past 4 years (i.e., the duration of our grant), the number of TPPstudents have been increasing, as well as the number who plan to teach math, science,technology/engineering, or digital literacy/computer science at the secondary level (i.e., middleand high school). Roughly 1/3
process of writing up my dissertation and defending soon”.One of the metrics that we use to assess the impact and outcomes of this REU program is the percentage ofparticipants who later enroll in graduate school and pursue careers in STEM fields. This is in line with NSFgoals. Not all students from the 2021-2023 cohorts have graduated yet, so our analysis here focuses on the2006-2016 cohorts. This extends prior reporting that we had made on the earlier cohorts [10]. As shown inFigure 4, in their responses to the pre-REU surveys, between 10% and 44.4% of the 2006-2016 participantsstated future plans to attend graduate school; the remainder indicated that they were either undecided orplanned on working post-graduation. Not surprisingly, these
guidance of a Graduate ResearchAmbassador and with regular Faculty Mentor meeƟngs. ParƟcipants were able to see relevanceto Smart City innovaƟons of their backgrounds in microbiology, biochemistry, physics,mechanical engineering, computer science, architecture and urban planning, and civilengineering. ParƟcipants used new image analysis tools, sustainable materials analysis,technologies for quanƟfying indoor air quality and remediaƟng water polluƟon, decisionanalysis tools, and strategies for autonomous navigaƟon. Example research topics were digitalidenƟficaƟon of hurricane-damaged uƟlity poles damage aŌer hurricanes, indoor mapping insmart environments, quanƟfying traveler experience of transit passengers, and characterizingfungi in the built
phases and an education plan. The threephases on the research agenda are: 1) develop a conceptual model of student navigation [1]; 2)conduct interviews at one institution to determine role of identity in navigation [11]; 3) conductinterviews across several institutions to determine role of context in student navigation. We havecompleted all data collection for the research agenda. The education plan aims to disseminateresearch findings from the research phases through workshops and implement an SJI thatsurfaces the navigational tendencies of students.Current StatusResearch Agenda - Phase 3In this project, we collected data using semi-structured virtual interviews. We interviewed 47upper-division undergraduate engineering students across 12
[8]. The third year of our project commenced our plans to assess performance of the LbEapproach compared to typical design pedagogy through quasi-experimental design. Through ano-cost extension we have continued a fourth year of data collection related to the effectivenessof LbE.Across the study our approaches have been collaboratively developed in situ with teacher andstudent participants. For example, we have built on an initial concept of the LbE approachthrough insight during classroom observations, reflections with teachers and students, analysis ofstudent performance during the experience, and numerous outreach activities with designeducators. Effort during the no-cost extension has also made progress towards the sustainabilityof the
Program.Key ActivitiesThe program focused on cohort-building activities such as orientation sessions, mentoringworkshops, and professional development seminars. These included a Financial LiteracySeminar, where students gained practical skills in budgeting and financial planning, and a CareerReadiness Workshop covering resume building, interview techniques, and navigatingprofessional networks. Faculty-led Tech Talks offered insights into emerging trends inengineering and computer science, while community-building events like holiday socials andgroup outings helped foster a sense of belonging among the cohorts. These diverse activitiesaddressed both academic and professional development needs, creating a comprehensive supportsystem for the ECS
meeting at least twice each semester with the students[1]; • Participate in monthly professional development and community-building sessions, in which all scholars gather to engage with essential topics and activities, like: building a solid resume, understanding the social impact of engineering and computing, understanding stress and burnout, and planning for summer success; • Are offered the opportunity to attend the EDI Summer Institute as a community-engaged researcher in engineering or computing[2], [3].This work-in-progress paper reports the current formative data helping shape the research team’splans for year 2 of the S-STEM EDI program. Our formative assessment includes both semesterlyreview of
inclusive curriculum for their rural classrooms to help foster earlystudent STEM identity formation.The MEERC RET Site’s intellectual foci of energy and engineering are also major areas offocus for the Montana University System’s Science and Technology Plan as well as one ofMSU’s Research Grand Challenges. Energy is a key part of the Next Generation ScienceStandards (NGSS) cross cutting concept (CCC) of “Energy and Matter”. Montana adoptedNGSS-like standards that contain all the NGSS CCCs and most of the same performanceexpectations (standards) as NGSS. CCCs receive the least amount of attention of the NGSSdimensions and a lack of focus on CCCs can perpetuate misconceptions in children [8]. CCCshave also been reported as a potential “bridge” for
research program was designed to enhance the participation and success ofunderrepresented groups in engineering through a combination of academic applied research,such as strong theory basis and rigorous scholarship, with essential business practices such asreal-world customer discovery and generation of sound business plans. Delivered as a 10-week,full-time (40 hours per week) program at a large Midwestern R1 University, the interventionconsisted of three key components: Onboarding (Virtual, Week 1), Project (In Person, Weeks 2-10), and Weekly Journaling.2.1.1 OnboardingThe intervention began with a virtual intensive week at the beginning of the program to promotea sense of belonging, accountability, team development, and provide an overview of
(SEDP); (2) Comprehend the complex interaction and interdependencies of rocket systems; (3)Understand mission operational planning considerations, such as flight planning, logistics footprint,and data requirements planning; (4) Design, build, and test a rocket supporting a payload with aselected remote sensing mission; (5) Clearly and concisely communicate a rocket design throughoutthe phases of the SEDP in both written and oral form; (6) Be familiar with missions performed by thePFRR and PSC supporting research and public service.Point Summary. The following table summarizes the course expectations for deliverables and theirassociated point values. Letter grades are assigned for each team deliverable utilizing a ‘plus/minus’grading scheme, as
competition in detail, including goals,implementation, and challenges. The paper also discusses the challenges introduced by theCOVID pandemic and how the event was moved to a virtual platform to ensure social distancing.Finally, lessons learned and future plans are presented. IntroductionIt is currently well understood that team competitions are an important component of engineeringeducation1-3 and support education in teaming, communications, leadership, design and open-ended problem solving. While classroom and laboratory learning are the backbone of engineeringeducation, extracurricular competitions, especially those that involve teaming, are an excellentway to augment learning. Not only does competition
program. As a result, thisfaculty development initiative is often more difficult for academic units to support due to realand perceived budgetary and schedule sustainment constraints. Despite challenges, the casestudy will highlight that considerations other than upfront cost should be more heavily weighted.A more visible return on investment is realized through the purposeful development ofeducational objectives for the faculty development experience (in this research case, an industryresidency) and alignment and documentation of those objectives against the greater vision ofenhanced curriculum development plans. Systematic documentation of the industry residencyexperience and alignment with curricular program requirements, student learning
Common Core StateStandards [7]. Each lesson contained multiple parts of varying difficulty in an effort to guidestudents through key concepts.User feedback indicated that the multiple-part approach appeared siloed and students could beeither overwhelmed or bored with an initial step, resulting in potentially losing learners fromconcept threads altogether. In an effort to address this concern, we re-organized the content intoa curriculum with subthemes of “A Day in the Life,” “Form and Function,” “Balance,”“Movement,” and “The Literate Engineer.” The content is largely unchanged from the originallesson plans, but the ten lessons with subparts were subdivided into 32 mini-lessons. Within eachcurricular topic, lessons are further organized by level
computational essays that use text, along withcode programs, interactive diagrams, and computational tools to express an idea [7]. Theimportance of computational notebooks is to provide programming environments for developingand sharing educational materials, combining different types of resources such as text, images,and code in a single document accessible through a web browser [17]. These are specific ways inwhich the projects were scaffolded to guide students: • The tasks for each project were broken down into smaller sub-tasks. For example, as shown in Table 1 below, the sub-tasks included planning, collecting data, defining functions, performing calculations, and visualizing results. • A detailed outline or a
AccreditationCommission (ETAC) criteria and construction engineering programs at 27 institutions using itsEngineering Accreditation Commission (EAC) criteria [3].Clearly, construction management remains intertwined with engineering. This connection cannotbe ignored or discounted when studying the “supply” of construction managers. The Bureau ofLabor and Statistics (BLS) defines a construction manager as someone who “plan[s],coordinate[s], budget[s], and supervise[s] construction projects from start to finish” in theOccupational Outlook Handbook (OOH) [1]. The work of construction management (planning,coordinating, budgeting, and supervising) involves solving problems whether those problems arebefore the start of construction (planning and budgeting), during
teachingpractices. Fellows also participate in workshops to prepare inclusive teaching philosophies andlearn to create lesson plans that are aligned with the mission of their institution and incompliance with the curricular or subject plans. The deliverables are submitted for review andfeedback from the faculty mentors and the Aspire lead team. At the end of the semester, fellowssubmit a teaching portfolio as evidence of completion and participate in a closing ceremony inwhich the fellows and their mentors are recognized.IV. Similarities and Differences between RC Collaborative modelsSimilarities:Each of the two Texas RC collaboratives includes two universities; one of them is a largeresearch-intensive in an urban setting while the other is a comprehensive
problembeing addressed, a “Customer Discovery Interview Planning and Preparations Form” to getfeedback on the proposed idea by surveying potential customers, followed by “the Patent SearchAssignment Form” to investigate the patentability of the business idea. The students were alsotasked to reflect on their effort by completing a “Metacognitive Reflection Assignment” on threedistinct aspects: entrepreneurial mindset, bio-design, and art. Three groups were formed and threedesigns were selected by these groups, a climbing plant shaped decor that diffracts natural sunlight,an LED garden sign used in lighting a garden during nights to mark poison ivy spots, as well as aground stake with a climbing plant inspired mechanism aiding its anchoring function
urbanplanning method. These approaches shift the power relationships traditionally established ininterview settings and allowed student participants to shape the direction of their interviews andstorytelling.In this paper, we first describe the central ethical and justice challenges to soliciting andengaging BIPOC students in research about their experiences. After describing the goals of thestudy, we explain two key strategies that allowed us to address these challenges in our datacollection: 1) Use of boundary objects to elicit participants narratives, and 2) the integration ofparticipatory urban planning methods.We show sample data sets to explain the ways our methods provided opportunities to learn morefrom students, to gain a comprehensive
groups of five to six first year students. TheAESLAC also recruits practicing industry professionals to serve as industry mentors for thesestudent groups. Program activities throughout the semester include an icebreaker scavenger hunt,a tour of the industry mentor’s office, and an introduction to navigating building plans. Previousanalysis found that this AE Mentoring Program appeared to be “most beneficial to improvingretention of marginal students who were initially not as committed to completing the AEprogram,” however it could not be concluded that the program was the sole influence onretention numbers [8].AE Seminar Channel ProgramIn the fall semester of 2018, a new AE mentoring program, called the Channel Program, wasinitiated under the
is similar to their career aspiration, identify other LinkedIn users whocurrently hold positions similar to the freshman’s career aspiration, and evaluate the backgroundof these professionals to create a 5-year plan of steps the freshman should take to achieve theirgoal. Responses were submitted for grading to D2L (Desire2Learn), “an integrated learningplatform designed to create a single place online for instructors and students to interact” [21].Responses were organized in Microsoft Excel. The student's name, aspiring position andcompany were recorded. Each student was assigned a number to anonymize theirparticipation.(n=127, 3 semesters). The 127 students surveyed are considered representative of asingle-entry class.Nearly every company
the contracting firm and utilize the knowledge in their future semesters. The uniquenessof this faculty residency performed by one of the authors is that the author was able to transferknowledge gained to the students weekly while working on the residency. It helped the facultyresident to pre-plan the course before the beginning of the summer semester since the AGCapplications are usually approved around January of every year, and the applications detail the12-week learning outcomes. The author was able to develop the course syllabus and outlinebased on the application learning outcomes. As a new course elective, the author, who is also afaculty resident, was able to decide on the course topics and outcomes months before thebeginning of the
undertake this project. Furthermore, weassign sub-teams to specific tasks related to the proposed project plan. The graduate student,along with undergraduates, are involved in technical meetings with the academic advisors andindustry partners. In addition to the development of their research skills, our students also gainexperience in problem recognition, definition, solution, project management, communication,and presentation skills through detailed literature review, brainstorming, collaboration,teamwork, technical reports, conference presentations, and journal publications. These studentsthen graduate with an understanding of a combination of fundamentals and technology and cansupport the uptake of these ideas for their future employer
collaboration.Two junior (tenure-track) faculty members, after experiencing nearly a year of uncertainty andangst based on changing university requirements for class modalities [Johnson et al., 2020], animpending student enrollment cliff [ACE, 2020], and the potential of serious illness or death tothemselves or loved ones, came together in Spring 2021 to plan and deliver a highlysynchronized and remote introductory engineering mechanics course. At the forefront of theirplanning was that their instructional approaches would be resilient against any number ofuncertainties and unknowns, including institutional guidance that one would serve as a backupinstructor should serious illness or death befall the other. What emerged from this collaborativeteaching
collaborates with NEWT’s Innovation Ecosystem Director, and the Student Leadership Council in the planning of educational and professional development opportunities for NEWT graduate students and postdocs. At Rice, Jorge is an Adjunct Professor in the Civil & Environmental Engineering and Bioengineering Departments, where he developed and teaches CEVE/GLHT 314: Sustainable Water Purification for the Developing World, a project-based course on sustainable strategies for safe water supply in low-income and developing regions of the world. He advises undergraduate students in other project-based courses at Rice, and he works with the Center for Civic Leadership in the development of activities to promote student community
IndustrialEngineering senior design course. Survey data collected before and after two semesters of an IndustrialEngineering senior design capstone course serve as the basis of the summary data. In this paper, we focuson student preferences of project topics before the start of the course as a key factor and the correspondingperception of the course at its conclusion as measures of the course outcome. While left for our ongoingresearch and data collection, the following are examples of factors that we plan to evaluate for potentialsignificance to course outcomes: measures of team dynamics collected during peer evaluations throughoutthe semester; student personality traits determined by a DiSC® assessment completed by each student;student preferences for
specialaccommodations for an instructor. Prior to pandemic protocols, engineering faculty on occasionrecorded voice-over-Powerpoint lectures and some labs as supplemental content for otherwiseface-to-face courses. Engineering faculty at The Citadel are well-trained in in-personpedagogical best practices thanks in part to mini-ExCEEd workshops [2], as well as onlineinstruction, which is offered as professional development through The Citadel’s Center forExcellence in Instruction, Teaching, Learning, and Distance Education (CEITL&DE). Similarcenters operate within higher education Institutions across America, and even with regularfaculty trainings, it is well known and acknowledged that an instructor faces a daunting timemanagement task when planning for