Carolyn Labun is a Senior Instructor in the School of Engineer at the Okanagan campus of the University of British Columbia. Page 22.685.1 c American Society for Engineering Education, 2011 Education-Engineering Collaborative Research Project Exploding Stereotypes: Care and Collaboration in EngineeringOverview and AimsResearch has found that students in schools often hold stereotypes of STEM (Science,Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) subjects and careers: they view them as male-dominated, individualistic8 and uncaring. They are perceived to marginalize women.6 Thesestereotypes
AC 2011-1758: FRONTIERS OF ELECTRICAL AND COMPUTER ENGI-NEERING: AN INTRODUCTORY FIRST YEAR COURSEJohn A. Orr, Worcester Polytechnic Institute John A. Orr is Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Worcester Polytechnic Institute and served as Provost of WPI from 2007 through June, 2010. Prior to this he held the position of Dean of Undergraduate Studies. He served as head of the Electrical and Computer Engineering department from 1988 to 2003. Dr. Orr received the BS and PhD degrees in Electrical Engineering from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, and the MS degree in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University. He began his professional career at Bell Laboratories and joined the faculty
). Page 22.277.1 c American Society for Engineering Education, 2011 Benefits and Challenges of Go!: An Innovative Online Publication to Attract Teens to TransportationAbstractThis paper discusses benefits and challenges of creating, supporting, and promoting a unique freeonline publication called Go! designed to attract middle and high school students to educationalopportunities and careers in transportation.In addition to workforce development, Go! also serves as a valuable resource for supporting andenhancing informal STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) education.Go!’s value lies in its online presence and informative STEM articles that foster
AC 2011-2194: SPECIAL SESSION: WHAT WORKS TO RETAIN STU-DENTS IN CHEMICAL ENGINEERING PROGRAMSAdrienne R. Minerick, Michigan Technological University Adrienne Minerick is an Associate Professor of Chemical Engineering at Michigan Tech having moved from Mississippi State University in Jan 2010, where she was a tenured Associate Professor. She received her M.S. and Ph.D. from the University of Notre Dame in 2003 and B.S. from Michigan Technological University in 1998. Adrienne’s research interests include electrokinetics and the development of biomedi- cal microdevices. She earned a 2007 NSF CAREER award; her group has published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, Lab on a Chip, and had an AIChE
c American Society for Engineering Education, 2011 ENGINEERS ON WHEELSIntroductionThere is a growing concern among educators that the science and mathematics knowledge of K-12 students needs to be made exciting and relevant [1-3]. Most school districts are faced withfinancial constraints especially in providing students enriching experiences via field trips andteachers with opportunities for educational workshops for STEM (Science TechnologyEngineering Mathematics) exposure. As such there is a dire need to reach out to the teachersand students on site to offer exposure to STEM careers via innovative hands on learningactivities. One such way would be to take engineering workshops onsite to school districts
, and 6) strong articulation agreements with regionalfour-year institutions. These elements focus on student success in transitioning from high schoolto college, student success in engineering education at Itasca and the four-year transferinstitution, and ultimately success in the engineering career. Funding for the six key elements ofthe program is a 50/50 combination of institutional money and grant and foundation support. Itasca Engineering Successful Program Prepare for Engineer and
opinions of student abilities, importance of specific skills, andavailability of university resources.IntroductionBeginning in the early 90’s, portfolios have gained popularity in academic settings and morerecently there has been a shift towards electronic portfolios (e-portfolio). “E-portfolios cansupport student advisement, career preparation, and credential documentation; sharing ofteaching philosophies and practices; department and program self-studies; and institutional andprogram accreditation processes.”1 In addition to student benefits, a variety of institutions haveimplemented e-portfolios for the added purpose of assessment and accreditation in support of“lifelong learning,” 2-5 a specific criteria for engineering accreditation through
women in engineering. • Do women express a loss of interest during their program? • Is there a chilly climate for women in the college? • Do women’s self-efficacy levels change during the program? • Do academic performance levels play a role in women’s retention in engineering? • Do women have adequate support structures in the college? • Does the structure of the academic program support career awareness in the first year?The first five research questions were initially investigated by a pilot women’s survey of thewomen currently enrolled in the College of Engineering at CU-Boulder.4 The present studyexpands on the previous study in the following directions. First, we obtained a larger moredemographically
explored.IntroductionA degree in Science, Technology, Engineering, or Mathematics (STEM) allows studentsan open door to a wide variety of successful career opportunities7. Students majoring inSTEM during their undergraduate tenure can go on to pursue graduate school, medicalschool, law school or work for top engineering companies and even the government. Thiscareer path would seem to be very attractive, yet the number of underrepresentedminorities who major in and graduate from these fields remains stagnant. According tothe National Science Foundation's Science Resources Statistics the number of bachelor ofscience degrees awarded in science and engineering to American Indian/Alaska Natives,Black (non-Hispanic), and Hispanic students in 1997 was 0.6%, 7.7% and
as Director of the Industrial Solutions Lab. Ms. Thurman, a Chicago native, earned her BS in Psychology from Western Illinois Univ. and her MA in Industrial/Organizational Psychology from Roosevelt Univ. Moving to Charlotte in 1995, Ms. Thurman continued to work in the I.T. and Engineering recruiting field and then made a career change in 1999 to work in Higher Ed. She has worked for over 10 years at UNC Charlotte, with the past 6 years holding the position of Director for Student Professional Development and Employer Relations for the William States Lee College of Engineering. In March 2010, Ms. Thurman was appointed by the governor to serve on the NC Board of Examiners for Engineers and Surveyors as the public
K-12education remains in the forefront of today’s society. Even with years of inclusion, engineeringremains an enigma to many pre-college students. The 2008 National Academy of Engineering’sreport, Changing the Conversation, stated the case that many Americans do not truly understandwhat engineering is.11 Even with hundreds of millions of dollars annually spent on increasingunderstanding of engineering, efforts to promote engineering have been numerous and wide-spread yet there has been minimal impact.3,12 K-12 students can readily identify with writers,doctors, scientists, and other careers from their exposure to these fields yet struggle withengineering. Despite all these efforts, research has shown that K-12 students and teacherscontinue
in nature, so immediate answers cannot be provided, but it is the hope that withintwo to three years those students who participated in TORCH programs will begin to enroll inengineering in college.There was opportunity to determine more immediate impact of the program on the mentors andvolunteers, which is the focus of this work. As most of the volunteers are college students inengineering at the time of becoming a mentor and influence on their goals could be moreimmediate. Initial expectations were that some mentors would begin to consider STEMeducation careers, may be more motivated in their own coursework by having a mentee, andpromote a greater sense of social responsibility for engineering students.Current Status and Research
training andunderstanding of appropriate teaching techniques that can foster learning.2. Engineering faculty insights into planning professional development programsEngineering “traditions” in the classroom may result in resistance to change and thus pose achallenge in planning professional development programs for this faculty group. Nevertheless,faculty in engineering disciplines have a sense of content issues that may be problematic forstudents, as well as the strategies that work effectively or don’t work for them in the classroom .Thus, there is a need to deliberately engage faculty at various levels of their career to help in theplanning of professional development programs targeted to needs at various points of a careerlifecycle
biomedical engineering. • Improving the readiness of students for an experiential learning program – For many years, a preparatory course has been taken by students prior to their co-op program in engineering. This course has been used as a model and has been replicated for the majors with a newly introduced experiential component. These courses are a team offering of the home academic unit and the university Career Services Office. • Additional Resources – Expansion and enhancement of experiential learning experiences was not possible without additional resources. The most significant additional resources were the addition of staff lines in the Career Services Office and the recognition of student
factors are built into to them.This panel session will explore" Evolutionary Models for College-Industry Partnerships". The panel will explore emergingstrategies and related activities that both colleges and industrywill implement now and in the future to maintain their visibilityin the marketplace. Career Fairs and corporate checks will nolonger suffice to build solid CIPs. Two seasoned college-industryprofessionals will act as panel moderators interacting with thepanel and audience. The panel will include major corporationsand government agencies and college representatives. A panel-in-the-round format will encourage audience participation while themoderators will challenge the panel and audience withassumptions about college-industry
. Page 22.265.1 c American Society for Engineering Education, 2011 ATTRACTING K-12 STUDENTS TOWARDS ENGINEERING DISCIPLINES WITH PROJECT BASED LEARNING MODULESAbstract Low enrollment and high attrition rates in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math(STEM) based degree programs have created a workforce problem in industries like shipbuildingand repair which are important for national security. Part of this problem can be attributed topedagogical issues like lack of engaging hands-on activities utilized for science and matheducation in middle and high schools. Lack of student interest in technical careers can also beattributed to lack of an integrated approach in
ProgramsIntroductionToo few high school students understand that a technical career path can genuinely beexciting and neat. Some have the short-term view that good paying jobs are plentiful, sowhy take the really difficult courses. Many sell their own abilities short and convincethemselves that it is too difficult a career path. And still others conjure up the image of adirty, dull, dangerous, and demeaning factory floor and run (not walk) in the otherdirection.What is needed to turn these impressions around are exciting exposures to technicaltopics in existing high school curriculums such as technology education, science, mathand physics. The purpose of this paper is to identify exactly one such exciting modulethat has been successfully used to build bridges
to increase mathematics, science and reading test scores for 8th grade girls.The program was designed to cultivate science, technology, engineering and mathematics(STEM) interest in young women by increasing their learning through critical thinking andproblem-solving applications to pursue engineering and science careers. The program’s focuswas on fifteen (15) Baltimore City School 8th grade girls who were preparing to enter BaltimoreCity High Schools. The intent of this program was to further the mission and goals of the fundingagencies education division and inspire minority women to pursue career paths in science,mathematics, computer science, engineering, education or seek professional employment. Duringthe four-week period the girls
Medicine & Rehab, and Orthopedic Surgery at the University of Pittsburgh. Dr. Cooper is Founding Director and VA Senior Research Career Scientist of the VA Rehabilitation Research and Development Center of Excellence in Pittsburgh. He is also the Co- Director of the NSF Quality of Life Technology Engineering Research Center, a joint effort between the University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon University.Dan Ding, Dept. of Rehabilitation Science and Technology, University of Pittsburgh Dan Ding, Ph.D., is Assistant Professor in the Department of Rehabilitation Science and Technology with secondary appointments in Bioengineering (BioE), and McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine at the University of Pittsburgh
in sociology at UC San Diego. Her research examines individual-level, cultural mechanisms that reproduce inequality, especially those pertaining to sex segregation in science and engineering fields. Her dissertation investigates the self-expressive edge of inequality, analyzing how gender schemas and self-conceptions influence career decisions of college students over time. She also studies the role of professional culture in wage inequality, cross-national beliefs about work time for mothers (with Maria Charles), and, in a Social Problems article, perceptions of inequality among high-level professional women (with Mary Blair-Loy). She earned Electrical Engineering and Sociology degrees from Montana State
careers in STEM fields and graduate education.During the four-year duration of the scholarship project, the project team indicated that it woulddevelop a program structure and arrange activities to achieve the following objectives: Objective 1: Provide 20 scholarships per year for academically talented, financially disadvantaged STEM majors, especially those from underrepresented groups. Objective 2: Build a referral network arrangement between Gannon University, the Erie City School District, and the local U.S. Department of Education Talent Search program to identify and recruit financially disadvantaged students from underrepresented groups who meet SEECS scholarship eligibility requirements
or science, and the last essay required a counter argument on social and technicalissues suitable for publishing in a college newspaper.The AnalysisThe methods for determining how well the objectives were met consisted of the evaluations ofstudent’s course work described above and the administration of pre-class and post-classsurveys. In the pre-class survey, students were required to explain their career goals and theamount of social media they used. In the post-class survey given at the end of the semester, (SeeTable 1) students were asked if their current career and academic goals had changed, if any ofthe articles read in class influenced their views towards their career and science, and if the studyof social media changed any of their
girls enjoy studying ICT, most of them refuse to consider ICT as a career choice9-11.Earlier research12, 13 emphasizes that family connections in the field of science, technology,engineering and math (STEM) have a positive influence on women‟s career choice. Theimportance of role models is commonly noted as another positive factor in recruiting process6.It should be noted, that the countries covered in our background comparison are limited todeveloped nations, thus leaving wider cultural considerations out of the scope of this paper.In this study, we examine the pathways on which the female students land into some of themost male-dominated programs in our university. The approach for our study was toinvestigate the statistics covering the past
students’ sense of professionalidentity, affect toward learning their discipline and their connection to community (sense ofbelonging, support, etc.) at the following levels: individual courses, academic major and thelarger institution. This paper presents these survey items and the relevant results from our pilotsurvey.Our pilot survey results indicate which measures of professional identity and affect are mostrelevant for this effort. Further, these preliminary results reveal a strong Pearson correlation (r =0.50) between career identity and connection to academic major as well as between affect andconnection to academic major (r = 0.56). There are somewhat smaller correlations to a specificclassroom community (r = 0.41 and r = 0.39), and still
implementing a similar model at theirinstitutions. Page 22.65.2Theoretical FrameworkEngineering majors leaving the field is a common problem across the US campuses. Among thereasons reported as engineering majors’ reluctance to remain in engineering was “the lack, orloss of interest in science” and “the belief that non-STEM majors hold more interest, or offerbetter education” (Seymour, 1995). The lack of student interest or loss in their excitement topursue engineering as future career options can be associated with their learning experiences inundergraduate courses.Courses offered in undergraduate engineering programs can be highly technical and
UniversityAbstractThis paper gives an overview of engineering technology as an academic disciple and discusses thefuture of its graduates including their opportunities and challenges. Potential careers and examplesof high visibility alumni will also be presented.OriginsThe origins of engineering technology as an academic discipline goes back at least to the 1940swhen engineering technicians were educated in two-year schools. One of the first TechnologyAccreditation Commission (TAC) of ABET (then called the Engineers’ Council for ProfessionalDevelopment (ECPD). Later it was renamed the Accreditation Board for Engineering andTechnology. Now it is named simply ABET, Inc. Associate degrees were awarded by the BenjaminFranklin Institute of Technology (then called
compete for a slot, take a college course and attend workshops thatshowcase STEM majors. Students earning a B or higher in their college course are automaticallyaccepted to Penn State Behrend. In 1996 a one day event was started for 7th and 8th grade girlscalled Math Options Career Day. Last year 38 and 243 students respectively attended theseevents. Also during this time period, engineering faculty would visit public schools as requestedby teachers. It was in 2006 that Penn State Behrend‟s outreach program blossomed. The majorityof the events developed focus on middle school and high school females. Students participate invarious hands-on activities that demonstrate to them how they could positively impact thesociety and community by choosing a
area of inventory management, supplier relationships and improving profitability at several large and mid-sized distributors. Page 22.1533.1 c American Society for Engineering Education, 2011 Tool Use and Activities of Practicing Engineers over Time: Survey ResultsAbstractA major goal of higher education is to provide students with the knowledge they need to besuccessful in their professional careers and prepare them to be lifelong learners who can adapt ina dynamic environment. To understand what that knowledge entails requires insights into
and the EEC are poised to make further strides, while the U.S. isslipping when measured by a number of economic and educational indicatorsThe 4 + 1 Program is an accelerated route to the professional MS degree. In many evolvingtechnical areas, four years is not enough time for the formal education of an engineer about toenter a lifelong career of professional practice, even when the individual is committed to lifelong learning. The 4 + 1 program started in the General Engineering program in 1998 and nowallows General Engineering, Aeronautical Engineering, Biomedical Engineering, MechanicalEngineering, Electrical Engineering, Industrial Engineering, Manufacturing Engineering,Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Civil and Environmental
training asteachers.10 Further, the current doctoral student socialization process has been criticized for: (a)being insufficient for the various faculty roles, especially teaching; (b) providing conflictingmessages about the importance of teaching; (c) lacking feedback to students regarding theirpreparation for academic careers; and (d) offering few opportunities for graduate students tolearn about the diversity of academic careers available to them.11 Thus there has been a gap inthe training provided to doctoral students seeking faculty positions, especially those in STEMfields. CIRTL is specifically designed to address these parallel concerns regarding thesocialization of doctoral students and the need to improve undergraduate STEM