Conference Session

Recruitment, Retention and First-year Programs in ECE

Collection

2013 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Hector A. Ochoa, The University of Texas at Tyler; Mukul Shirvaikar, University of Texas at Tyler

Tagged Divisions

Electrical and Computer

. The students weregiven a final project based on a simple circuit that could be applied to real life to wrap up thesemester. By this point in the semester, the students have acquired enough knowledge tounderstand the basic functionality of the circuit. Also, a basic description of how the circuitworks is provided to them. The students were asked to create a working prototype on abreadboard. Once their prototype is working, they were asked to design the layout of a PCB andby using a LPKF milling machine create their own PCB for their final design.The course lectures were divided into the following eleven main topics: 1. History, Dimensions and Units 2. Electrical Concepts and Components 3. Digital Systems 4. Electrical Engineering Tools

Conference Session

Laboratory Development in ECE II

Collection

2013 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Mario Simoni, Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology; Maurice F. Aburdene, Bucknell University; Farrah Fayyaz, Purdue University

Tagged Divisions

Electrical and Computer

variety of signals can be studied and manipulated. TheSSEP platform was described previously, which is why this paper focuses on the laboratoryexercises3. Figure 1 shows the SSEP and students using it to measure and filter their own ECG inone of the laboratory exercises. Figure 1: The photo on the left is a top-down view of the SSEP. The photo on the right shows two students measuring their own ECG using the SSEP, which can be seen between the seated-student’s hands. The other student is adjusting the oscilloscope, which is recording the ECG from the output terminal of the SSEP. This experiment is described in the Subsection Lab 3: Filtering Periodic Signals.This paper describes the series of laboratory exercises that were developed for use

Conference Session

Bringing Industrial Applications into the Classroom

Collection

2013 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Emilia Golebiowska; Giovanni Kelly II; Yassir M. Samra; James P Abulencia, Manhattan College

Tagged Divisions

Chemical Engineering

Page 23.189.5of soap needed to provide the college with soap for a year. The relevant data for the cost analysisis shown in Table 1. Table 1. Cost to Produce Liquid Soap on Campus Item Quantity Price Total Plastic Soap Dispenser 75 $3 $225 Total Packaging Costs $225 Glycerin 500 L $0 $0 Water 250 L $0 $0 Potassium hydroxide (2lbs) 60 $8 $480 Lavender Scent (1lb) 16 $27

Conference Session

NSF Grantees' Poster Session

Collection

2013 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Elif Ozturk, Texas A&M University; Bugrahan Yalvac, Texas A&M University; Xiaobo Peng, Prairie View A&M University; Lauralee Mariel Valverde, Texas A&M University; Prentiss Dwight McGary, Prairie View A&M University; Michael Johnson, Texas A&M University

Tagged Topics

NSF Grantees Poster Session

data collected and the statisticalrelationships among the study variables are presented. The study’s context and implications forCAD education are discussed.IntroductionIn many industries, computer-aided design (CAD) tools are pervasively used throughout thedevelopment process 1. Therefore, today’s engineering students will go into such a professionalfield where CAD tools are ubiquitous and available in multiple platforms 2. This makes itessential for engineers to be able to adapt to new challenges and new platforms to generateinnovative solutions. To achieve this goal, effective use of CAD tools that create diverseexperiences in engineering education is required. However, most CAD instruction is focused ondeclarative knowledge that is related

Conference Session

Assessment

Collection

2013 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

R. Radharamanan, Mercer University

Tagged Divisions

Entrepreneurship & Engineering Innovation

tool to determine where their students fallshort in terms of their (1) Behavior Styles, (2) Attitudes, and (3) People Skills.The purpose of this study is to evaluate the trends of undergraduate students enrolled at MercerUniversity School of Engineering (MUSE) by gender (male and female) and class status(freshman, sophomore, junior, and senior) for TTI’s three areas for personal attributes. The studywill also quantify the need to initiate a program to reinforce any skills the students’ lack.A total of 104 data point representative of TTI’s survey results from (MUSE) undergraduatestudents were used to carry out the study. Of these 104, 76 were males (35 freshmen,6 sophomores, 9 juniors, and 26 seniors) and 28 were females (9 freshmen, 2

Conference Session

Thermodynamics

Collection

2013 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

John R. Reisel, University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee

Tagged Divisions

Mechanical Engineering

time and effort learning that material even after the course has progressed to moreadvanced topics – as a result, the students will not be learning the more advanced topics as theyare taught and will need to further catch up on that material later.As a concrete example of this, consider a typical Basic Engineering Thermodynamics course,built around a textbook such as Moran et al.1 or Cengel and Boles2. In such a course, studentsare often first taught basic thermodynamic definitions and concepts, followed by fundamentalproperty relations, concepts of heat and work, the First Law of Thermodynamics, and then theSecond Law of Thermodynamics. While additional topics may also be covered, this sequencewill suffice for this illustration. If students

Conference Session

Materials Division Poster Session

Collection

2013 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Somnath Chattopadhyay, Georgia Southern University

Tagged Divisions

Materials

intensityfactor range (the so-called Paris Law), and use this to analytically estimate the number of loadcycles required to grow an existing crack from an initial size to a final size. The students aremade aware of the fact that Paris Law is applicable for stress intensity factor range higher thanthe threshold value ΔK th, a material parameter that is available in literature [1, 2] Page 23.193.2As a complementary exercise to the rotating beam fatigue test, an analytical activity has beenintroduced as a lab project to obtain the S-N curves for typical steels. In this activity thestudents construct S-N curve analytically using the crack propagation

Conference Session

Systems Engineering Education Research

Collection

2013 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Donna C. Llewellyn, Boise State University; Marion Usselman, Georgia Institute of Technology; Douglas Edwards, Georgia Institute of Technology; Roxanne A Moore, Georgia Institute of Technology; Pratik Mital, Georgia Institute of Technology

Tagged Divisions

Systems Engineering

): Affective, Cognitive, Conative, Intra-group Relationships, Inter-group RelationshipsThese are the dimensions that we use to describe each of the agent populations. As mentionedabove, this is a collective description rather than a large set of individual descriptions. The firstthree attributes are common ways to divide up the parts of the mind and how people react to newsituations. The affective domain refers to emotions, cognitive ability refers to intelligence inmultiple dimensions, and conative is related to drive and striving. Intra-group Relationships isused to describe how the population works and acts together, while Inter-group Relationshipdescribes how the particular population works and acts with the other agent populations.Figure 1

Conference Session

Assessment

Collection

2013 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Jacob Dean Wheadon, Purdue University; Nathalie Duval-Couetil, Purdue University, West Lafayette

Tagged Divisions

Entrepreneurship & Engineering Innovation

. Entrepreneurship courses andprograms typically include experiential learning activities to help students gain skills andconfidence in a number of areas. There is limited literature related to the specific content theseexperiential learning activities encompass and the manner in which they are assessed. Thepurpose of this study is to explore and analyze business plan development, which is among themost commonly used experiential learning activities. Business plan development content areaswere identified and categorized, and expected learning outcomes were created, using Bloom’srevised taxonomy. The intent of the research is to: 1) begin to build consensus around some ofthe key elements of entrepreneurship education through the analysis of the skills and

Conference Session

Engineering Ethics Division Technical Session

Collection

2013 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Marilyn A. Dyrud, Oregon Institute of Technology

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Ethics

was unbelievable. I couldn’t believe what Iwas seeing, but I was seeing it and hearing it.” Others in the room simply uttered “one wordexpletives.”43The collapse occurred in a stadium devoid of spectators and only occupied by some 40steelworkers. Due to the workman’s keen observation of the buckle, all were safely evacuated;the only fatality was the structure itself. Even the workers’ mascot, a cat, emerged unscathedfrom the rubble.43 Damages were estimated at $500,000 to $1 million.40Structural failure analyst Ken Carper, from Washington State University, attributes the collapsenot to the design but rather a poor decision to remove temporary stabilizing cables that preventedthe roof from twisting. Because final stabilizing features were not

Conference Session

Construction Industry Issues in the Classroom

Collection

2013 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Tulio Sulbaran, University of Southern Mississippi

Tagged Divisions

Construction

for construction but rather present a proposedsolution for a particular case study.Case studies as a research method have been used for many years across a variety of disciplinesRobert K. Yin defines case study research method as an empirical inquiry that investigates acontemporary phenomenon within its real-life context; when the boundaries betweenphenomenon and context are not clearly evident; and in which multiple sources of evidence areused 1. It is important to acknowledge that one of the major drawbacks of the case study methodis that establishing reliability or generality of findings is very challenging.The five step for the case study methodology used in this project were as follows:Step 1: Determine and Define the Research

Conference Session

Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) Poster Session

Collection

2013 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Branimir Pejcinovic, Portland State University

Tagged Divisions

Electrical and Computer

passive circuits (matching, filters,couplers, etc), linear amplifiers (usually a low-noise amplifier), mixers and power amplifiers.Distinction is usually made between RF circuit design which primarily uses lumped passiveelements (RLC) while microwave circuit design utilizes transmission lines and other distributedelements. Active devices are typically transistors but microwave circuits operate at highfrequencies, which narrows down choices of active elements considerably. For the sake ofconvenience, we will use frequency of 1 GHz as a transition from RF to microwave domain. Inmost electrical engineering programs it is difficult to set up any sophisticated labs due to veryhigh cost of instrumentation. In addition, microwave measurements are

Conference Session

Defining and Refining Technological and Engineering Literacy

Collection

2013 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Robert M. Brooks, Temple University; Mehmet Cetin, Temple University; Jyothsna Kavuturu

Tagged Divisions

Technological and Engineering Literacy/Philosophy of Engineering

point of an industry. The specificdifferences between the two methods are shown in Table 1.The course introduced the students to the application of basic scientific principles (in Physics,Chemistry, Biology) to the environment. More specifically, the concepts of sustainability,ecology and evolution, population, climate, biodiversity and various industries such asagriculture, forests, and energy were covered in the course.The course was organized into several modules. For example, in the climate and air resourcesmodule, the students were introduced to atmospheric circulation, ocean circulation, climate andweather, air pollution and greenhouse effect and climate change. Students were not usuallyaware that systems of positive and negative

Conference Session

POTPOURRI

Collection

2013 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Afsaneh Minaie, Utah Valley University; Ali Sanati-Mehrizy; Paymon Sanati-Mehrizy, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai; Reza Sanati-Mehrizy, Utah Valley University

Tagged Divisions

Computing & Information Technology

individual embedded systems that are capable of 1. interacting with their environment through various sensors, 2. processing information locally, and 3. communicating this information wirelessly with their neighbors. “19A sensor node (embedded system) usually consists of three components which are19: • Wireless modules or motes – key components of the network which consists of a microcontroller, transceiver, power source, memory unit, and may contain few sensors. Examples: Mica2, Cricket, MicaZ, Iris, Telos, SunSPOT, and Imote2. • A sensor board which is mounted on the mote and is embedded with multiple types of sensors. Examples: MTS300/400 and MDA100/300. • A programming board (gateway board) – provides multiple

Conference Session

Defining and Refining Technological and Engineering Literacy

Collection

2013 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Stephen T Frezza, Gannon University; Richard W. Moodey, Gannon University; David Arthur Nordquest, Gannon University; Krishnakishore Pilla P.E., Gannon University

Tagged Divisions

Technological and Engineering Literacy/Philosophy of Engineering

Page 23.201.1 c American Society for Engineering Education, 2013 Applying a knowledge-generation epistemological approach to computer science and software engineering pedagogyTLC Topic Area: Concepts and Philosophy of Engineering LiteracyAbstract This paper proposes a brief exploration of the epistemology of knowledge, specificallydistinguishing the development of scientific knowledge from the development of engineeringknowledge. Based on a pragmatic theory approach (1), the paper proposes a pattern fordistinguishing the ‘science’ of computer science from its ‘engineering’ aspects. The paper thenapplies these distinctions to traditional Computer Science knowledge, and explores itsrelationship to

Conference Session

Novel Methods of Construction Education

Collection

2013 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

John Tingerthal, Northern Arizona University

Tagged Divisions

Construction

tolearning in a discipline. Middendorf and Pace illustrate each step by a question that educators canask themselves as they work on particular challenges to student learning in their own disciplines: 1) What is a bottleneck to learning in this class? 2) How does an expert do these things? 3) How can these tasks be explicitly modeled? 4) How will students practice these skills and get feedback? 5) What will motivate the students? 6) How well are students mastering these learning tasks? 7) How can the resulting knowledge about learning be shared 2(p3)Decoding process is a cyclic process that takes the findings shared in step 7 to inform futureinquiries into the

Conference Session

Capstone Design Courses and Tools in support of Systems Engineering Education

Collection

2013 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Lisa Guerra, NASA Headquarters; Gloria A. Murphy, NASA; Lisa D. May, NASA Headquarters

Tagged Divisions

Systems Engineering

, technology, engineering and mathematics(STEM). NASA benefits from the competition by encouraging the development of lunarexcavation concepts that may result in clever ideas and solutions with practical application toactual lunar excavation devices or payloads. The challenge is for students to design and build alunabot that can mine and deposit a minimum of 10 kilograms of lunar simulant within 10minutes. The lunar simulant used in the competition is Black Point 1 (BP-1)1, which has verysimilar physical properties to those of lunar soil. The complexities of the challenge include theabrasive characteristics of BP-1, weight and size limitations on the lunabot, and the requirementto only operate the lunabot—either telerobotically —from a remote mission

Conference Session

Novel Methods of Construction Education

Collection

2013 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Ifte Choudhury, Texas A&M University

Tagged Divisions

Construction

control systems at a course level.Course Learning ObjectivesLearning objectives illustrate the knowledge, skills, and values that learners should able todemonstrate in terms of knowledge, skills, and values upon completion of a course or a program. Page 23.204.2The effectiveness of a learning process depends on well-defined learning. For a course, they areclear statements that spell out the intended proficiency or skill that the students should attain oncompletion of the contents of a course1. Absences of learning outcomes may lead to (1) poorunderstanding and grasp of basic concepts of the course and, consequently, (2) an inability on thepart of

Conference Session

Engineering and Public Policy II

Collection

2013 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Ida B Ngambeki, Purdue University, West Lafayette; Dennis R. Depew, Purdue University, West Lafayette; Melissa Jane Dark, Purdue University; Rylan C. Chong, Purdue University, West Lafayette

Tagged Divisions

Engineering and Public Policy

certificate program and a studyabroad experience.IntroductionThe importance of including policy education in the engineering curriculum has been recognizedby experts from bodies including the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology(ABET), the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)1, and the NationalAcademy of Engineering (NAE)2, 3. Engineers have a dual role in public policy: helping to createpublic policy related to the use of technology and monitoring and assuring compliance with suchpolicies, and using engineering knowledge to assist in the construction of policy directives tohelp solve social problems. The increasing proliferation of scientific and technological artifactsinto society creates an increased need to

Conference Session

Undergraduate Student Issues: Culture

Collection

2013 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Thomas E. Pinelli, NASA Langley Research Center; Cathy W. Hall, East Carolina University; Kimberly Marie Brush, NASA Langley Research Center; Jeannine B. Perry, Continental Research Associates, Inc.

Tagged Divisions

Women in Engineering

23.206.2Abstract Participants in this study were student interns and mentors taking part in the 2012, 10-week Langley Aerospace Research Student Scholars (LARSS) summer internship program inHampton, Virginia. The study examined mentors and student interns’ ratings of theirpreparedness in basic knowledge and skills. The study focused on three primary areas: 1) overallevaluation of knowledge and skills by mentors and interns; 2) male and female interns’perceptions of their own skills in these key areas; and 3) mentors’ perceptions of their studentinterns’ knowledge and skills in the same areas by gender. Overall mentors were more positiveabout their interns’ improvement in 12 of 17 areas assessed than were the student interns. Therewere no

Conference Session

Integrating Curriculum and Labs in Engineering Technology Programs

Collection

2013 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Antonio Francisco Mondragon, Rochester Institute of Technology (CAST); Adriana Becker-Gomez, Rochester Institute of Technology (KGCOE); Joe Bungo, ARM Inc.

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Technology

solution was to have the event on aSaturday, but most company employees do not work on weekends, and students and faculty arealso busy on weekends. The solution was to schedule the event on the first week of the winterquarter when all students are back from holiday, most of laboratories are not heavily used, andthere was a good opportunity to promote the event during the previous quarter.The first ARM Developer Day was very modest in terms of content and saw support fromcompanies with the platforms and workshops shown in Table 1 and Figure 1. Table 1. Sponsor companies, platforms and workshops offered. Company Platform WorkshopTexas Instruments BeagleBoard

Conference Session

Tricks of the Trade

Collection

2013 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

James J. Pembridge, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical Univ., Daytona Beach; Stephanie Cutler, Virginia Tech

Tagged Divisions

Student

Doctoral Dissertation Committee in Engineering EducationIntroductionThe engineering education PhD has been rapidly growing over the past couple of years. As ofright now there are 20 institutions that offer some type of doctoral degree in engineeringeducation. These degrees include engineering PhD’s with a concentration in engineeringeducation, PhD in STEM education, or Engineering Education degrees similar to those offered atVirginia Tech, Purdue, and Utah State University[1-4]. Several other traditional engineeringdoctoral programs such as aerospace, electrical, and mechanical engineering programs offerdoctoral students the opportunity to pursue engineering education research dissertations that aredirectly related to

Conference Session

Global Competency and What Makes a Successful Engineer

Collection

2013 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Robert J. Gustafson, Ohio State University; Miriam Regina Simon, Ohio State University

Tagged Divisions

International

support program change decisions, a study with the goals of 1) determine the relativeimportance of a defined set of eight competencies related to the practice of engineering in aglobal context, 2) determine the perceived level of preparation of recent engineering graduatesrelated to the competencies, 3) collect suggestions for improvement from selected constituencies,and 4) gather both information about current company practices and employment conditions forrecent graduates, was undertaken. By seeking ratings of both importance and preparation, bothimportance and a gap analysis can be used to set priorities for curriculum change. Eightcompetencies were arrived at by review of competencies from recent studies reported in theliterature for

Conference Session

Undergraduate Student Issues II

Collection

2013 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Robin Fowler, University of Michigan; Lorelle A Meadows, University of Michigan

Tagged Divisions

Women in Engineering

, psychological, andcognitive reasons for choices, particularly in academic settings. Simply put, the model suggeststhat academic motivation is influenced by perceived competence beliefs (“Can I do this task?”)and beliefs about the worth of the task (“is this task useful/interesting/etc?”). The model predictsthat student motivation for engineering is influenced by both students’ expectancy for successand their values. Figure 1 illustrates the general framework (A) as well as this study’sinterpretation of the EVT applied to student motivation for engineering (B). Figure 1. Expectancy-Value Theory of Achievement Motivation: general framework (A) and applied to this particular project context (B). Modified from Finelli and Daly (2012)11.Research by the

Conference Session

Assessment of Community Engagement

Collection

2013 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Theresa M. Vitolo, Gannon University; Karinna M Vernaza, Gannon University; Barry J Brinkman, Gannon University; Scott E Steinbrink, Gannon University

Tagged Divisions

Community Engagement Division

program are (1) to increase the number of academically talented, but financiallydisadvantaged students in the stated majors, (2) to assist students to be successful in theirundergraduate education, and (3) to foster professional development for careers or graduateeducation. These goals are realized through the students‟ shared interactions within the SEECSseminar.Students awarded SEECS scholarships are required to attend a seminar where specificdevelopment and learning outcomes are realized in a team-based, project-based approach. TheSEECS zero-credit seminar is structured around three components: engineering design,professional development, and personal development – with the design component absorbing50% of the seminar‟s focus.The design

Conference Session

State of Manufacturing

Collection

2013 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Rex C Kanu, Ball State University

Tagged Divisions

Manufacturing

different financial decision could be reached with respect to the financialviability of the project.TheoryAccording to modern finance theory, four steps are usually encountered in evaluating a capitalinvestment opportunity. These are (1) Forecast a project’s expected incremental after-tax cash flows; (2) Assess the project’s risk; (3) Estimate the opportunity cost of capital, that is, the interest rate of equivalent-risk investments traded in the capital market; (4) Calculate the Net Present Value (NPV) using the discounted cash-flow formula.NPV has been described as the present value of future cash flows minus the purchase price(investment costs).1 NPV is a central tool in discounted cash flow analysis and is a standardmethod for

Conference Session

Perspectives and Approaches to Teaching Simulation and Design-Based Courses

Collection

2013 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Nelly Ramirez-Corona, Universidad de las Americas Puebla; Ramirez Apud Lopez Zaira, Universidad de las Americas Puebla; Aurelio Lopez-Malo, Universidad de las Americas Puebla; Enrique Palou, Universidad de las Americas Puebla

Tagged Divisions

Chemical Engineering

schemadevelopment. Having constructed a robust schema for different kinds of problems, learners arebetter able to transfer their problem-solving skills. Learning to solve problems requires practicein solving problems, not learning about problem solving2. PSLEs assume that learners mustengage with problems and attempt to construct schemas of problems, learn about theircomplexity, and mentally wrestle with alternative solutions2, 9. Hence, we built PSLEs to engageand support students in learning how to solve problems by practicing solving problems3.PSLEs were developed by following the design activities proposed by Jonassen2: 1) First weinteracted with the teacher of the studied course to identify and articulate problems relevant tothe discipline; 2) We

Conference Session

Best Methods for NEEs

Collection

2013 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Robert A. Chin, East Carolina University; Michael Behm, East Carolina University

Tagged Divisions

New Engineering Educators

] becomesufficiently involved to contribute to it” (p. 4).1 Furthermore, most researchers would agree thatthere is no better way to clarify and organize one’s thoughts than by sharing them with othersthrough the written medium.Most important though, writing for one’s discipline contributes to the vitality of the discipline, inparticular if the writing is done well. It is only by disseminating research findings and the resultsof other creative activities that a discipline can advance.Beyond WritingAccording to Katz (1997), the sharing of new knowledge can be accomplished by a varietyformal, semiformal, and informal means, facilitated by traditional communication mediums andthe Internet.2 The informal may include face-to-face discussions, telephone

Conference Session

Multidisciplinary Learning, Evaluation, and Assessment

Collection

2013 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Lawrence E. Whitman, Wichita State University; Cindi Mason, Wichita State University

Tagged Divisions

Multidisciplinary Engineering

therequirements for an Engineering BS degree, each student will complete the program courserequirements including at least three of the following six activities:1. Undergraduate Research2. Cooperative Education or Internship3. Global Learning or Study Abroad4. Service Learning5. Leadership6. Multidisciplinary EducationPrevious papers have described global learning efforts8 and leadership9. The complete plan for―The Engineer of 2020‖ was also reported10, 11. The focus of this paper is centered on the servicelearning opportunity made available to engineering students by the CoE through the creation ofthe ENGR 202 course ―Service Learning in Engineering‖, which will be described in furtherdetail in a subsequent section of this

Conference Session

Integrating Art, Humanities, and Engineering

Collection

2013 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Michael Haungs, California Polytechnic State University; David Gillette, California Polytechnic State University; Debra L. Valencia-Laver, California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo; Elizabeth Ann Lowham, California Polytechnic State University

Tagged Divisions

Multidisciplinary Engineering

: http://laes.calpoly.edu/content/concentrations.Before starting the trial-run period, the LAES program had to prove there was a need for thistype of program. We referenced a number of national studies that showed how technicalemployers expect increasingly more interdisciplinary academic backgrounds from newemployees, especially some combination of the skills provided by liberal arts study withengineering skills. For example, “Educating the Engineer of 2020”1 claims there is a nation-wideneed for a bachelor of arts in engineering.During the first five years of our program’s trial run (2006-2012), we tracked the internship andpost-graduation employment of our students. In 2011 we conducted a series of surveys andinterviews to learn how well the