Conference Session

Technical Session M5A

Collection

2022 First-Year Engineering Experience

Authors

John Cole, The University of Texas at Dallas

Tagged Topics

Diversity, Full Papers

Paper ID #36332The First-Year Computer Science Experience ProjectProf. John Cole, The University of Texas at Dallas I’m an Associate Professor of Instruction at the University of Texas at Dallas. I had taught part-time at Collin County Community College for three years, and prior to that, at Illinois Institute of Technology in the mid-1970s, which is also where I earned my degrees. Before joining the full-time faculty at UTD in Fall 2012, I had taught part-time for 13 semesters. I have been a software developer for many years, working on projects as diverse as a SNOBOL4 compiler, a DATABUS compiler, a word processor, the

Collection

2022 ASEE Illinois-Indiana Section Conference

Authors

Shantanu Gupta, Purdue University at West Lafayette (PPI); Mary E. Johnson Ph.D., Purdue University at West Lafayette (PPI); Jiansen Wang, Purdue University

Tagged Topics

Diversity

2022 ASEE Illinois-Indiana Section Conference Proceedings | Paper ID 36126 Motivation and Value of Diverse Student Teams in Graduate Projects Shantanu Gupta Dr. Mary E. Johnson* Jiansen Wang Purdue University Purdue University Purdue University West Lafayette, IN West Lafayette, IN West Lafayette, IN mejohnson@purdue.eduAbstractIn many industries, project teams are comprised of people with differing educational backgrounds,work experience, and cultural backgrounds. To better prepare students for these environments,instructors may simulate similar environments in courses

Collection

2022 Spring ASEE Middle Atlantic Section Conference

Authors

Tina Powell, The Orange Public Schools; Devonii L Reid

Tagged Topics

Diversity

Paper ID #36236An Urban School’s Approach to the Senior Capstone Project: Promoting aCulture of ExcellenceDr. Tina Powell, The Orange Public Schools Dr. Tina Powell, Assistant Superintendent of Innovation & Systems, Orange Public Schools Tina attended Kean University in Union, NJ where she earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Elementary Edu- cation, with a concentration in Political Science. Shortly after completing her first degree, she pursued a Post Baccalaureate in Pure Mathematics; a program she completed while simultaneously participating in Montclair State University’s INSTEP program – affording her certification in K

Collection

ASEE-NE 2022

Authors

Emily Deterding, University of Massachusetts Lowell; Nathan Agyeman; Susan Thomson Tripathy, University of Massachusetts Lowell; Carter Keough, University of Massachusetts Lowell; Sumudu Lewis, University of Massachusetts Lowell; Kavitha Chandra, University of Massachusetts Lowell

Tagged Topics

Diversity

Paper ID #36012Inclusive Teamwork: Using Participatory Action Research (PAR) to ImproveTeamwork Projects in Intro to Mechanical EngineeringMs. Emily Deterding, University of Massachusetts Lowell Emily Deterding is currently a Mechanical Engineering student at the University of Massachusetts Lowell. She is currently working with two professors on a research project to improve teamwork in Mechanical Engineering at UMass Lowell. She has been facilitating focus groups for this project and collecting infor- mation to be utilized and analyzed for the project. She has previously worked in the Heating, Ventilation, and Air

Collection

2022 ASEE Gulf Southwest Annual Conference

Authors

Byul Hur, Texas A&M University; Simon Castro; Octavio Carrillo; Rene Villegas; Christoph Ruepprich, Texas A&M University; Kevin Myles; Zach Adelman

Tagged Topics

Diversity

Paper ID #35790Capstone project progress on the floating buoy IoT device developmentfor mosquito researchDr. Byul Hur, Texas A&M University Dr. B. Hur received his B.S. degree in Electronics Engineering from Yonsei University, in Seoul, Korea, in 2000, and his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA, in 2007 and 2011, respectively. In 2016, he joined the faculty of Texas A&M University, College Station, TX. USA, where he is currently an Assistant Professor. He worked as a postdoctoral associate from 2011 to 2016 at the University Florida

Conference Session

Equity and Ethics in Engineering-II

Collection

2022 ASEE Zone IV Conference

Authors

James Gordon Walker, Seattle Pacific University, College of Arts and Sciences, Engineering Department; Gina Howe P.E., Seattle Pacific University; Melani Plett, Seattle Pacific University

Tagged Topics

Conference Submission, Diversity

Airport.Gina Howe P.E., Seattle Pacific University BS degree in Electrical Engineering from Seattle Pacific University in 2003, and currently pursuing a MS degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering from Purdue University. She also worked in the industry for 15 years and is a registered professional engineer.Dr. Melani Plett, Seattle Pacific University Prof. Melani Plett is a Professor in Electrical Engineering and the Director of Engineering and Computer Science at Seattle Pacific University. She has over twenty years of experience in teaching a variety of engineering undergraduate students (freshman through senior) and has participated in several engineering education research projects, with a focus on how

Collection

2022 ASEE Gulf Southwest Annual Conference

Authors

Hua Li, Texas A&M University - Kingsville; Ricardo Miguel Garcia Pineda, Texas A&M University Kingsville; Kai Jin, Texas A&M University - Kingsville; Jaya S. Goswami, Texas A&M University-Kingsville

Tagged Topics

Diversity

Paper ID #35744Improving Minority Students’ Career Readiness Through Enhanced SeniorDesign ExperiencesDr. Hua Li, Texas A&M University - Kingsville Dr. Hua Li, a Professor in Mechanical and Industrial Engineering at Texas A&M University-Kingsville, is interested in sustainable manufacturing, renewable energy, sustainability assessment, and engineering education. Dr. Li has served as P.I. and Co-P.I. in different projects funded by NSF, DOEd, DHS, NASA, USDA, etc.Mr. Ricardo Miguel Garcia Pineda, Texas A&M University KingsvilleProf. Kai Jin, Texas A&M University - Kingsville Dr. Kai Jin is a Professor of

Collection

2022 ASEE - North Central Section Conference

Authors

Carmen Cioc, The University of Toledo; Sorin Cioc, The University of Toledo; Josh Landel, The University of Toledo; Ethan Dunham, The University of Toledo

Tagged Topics

Diversity

mixture of professional backgrounds and experiences. Throughout the semester, thestudents are expected to show evidence of significant individual contributions to the team efforts,consideration related to design’s effectiveness, material selection, ergonomics, safety, cost, effecton the environment, ethics, ease of production, etc. The course offers the perfect platform forimplementing the Engineering Unleashed’ s mission to graduate engineers with anentrepreneurial mindset (EM) and KEEN’s mission to teach technical skills while fosteringcuriosity, connections, and creating value [1], [2].As part of the course, all teams are required to make two presentations to their peers and thecourse instructor, and to submit a Project Proposal and a Final

Conference Session

Technical Session M1

Collection

2022 First-Year Engineering Experience

Authors

Stephany Coffman-Wolph, Ohio Northern University; John K. Estell, Ohio Northern University

Tagged Topics

Diversity, Works In Progress

of engineering design constraints, and applying the entrepreneurial mindset to first-year programming projects through student engagement in educational software development. Estell earned his BS in Computer Science and Engineering degree from The University of Toledo and both his MS and PhD degrees in computer science from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. American c Society for Engineering Education, 2022 Work in Progress: Tackling DEI Issues in the Classroom Through Interactive Historical FictionIntroductionSince its release as a video game in the 1980s, The Oregon Trail has taught and inspired

Collection

2022 ASEE Gulf Southwest Annual Conference

Authors

Darius Miles Gatson, Houston Baptist University; Ryan Duane Barnes, Houston Baptist University

Tagged Topics

Diversity

RISC-V Instruction Set Architecture (ISA). Toimplement this project, we used the SN74LS283N 4-bit full adder IC, the SiFive HiFive1 Rev B boardthat hosts a 32-bit RISC-V processor, breadboard, LEDs, and few resistors. To program the circuit,we used Visual Studio Code with the PlatformIO extension to allow deployment and debugging of theRISC-V assembly code on the HiFive board. The goal of this project was to demonstrate the full 4-bitadder truth table by cycling through different inputs and displaying the adder output using LED lights.The input to the adder was driven by onboard GPIO pins that were actuated through RISC-V assemblycode. Using the SiFive HiFive1 Rev B manuals, we identified the base memory addresses of the GPIOpins and the

Collection

ASEE-NE 2022

Authors

Caressa Adalia Wakeman, University of Connecticut ; Amvrossios Bagtzoglou, University of Connecticut; Maria Chrysochoou, University of Connecticut

Tagged Topics

Diversity

Paper ID #36021Improving the Learning Experience of Neurodiverse Students in a FluidMechanics Course During the COVID-19 PandemicMs. Caressa Adalia Wakeman, University of Connecticut Caressa Wakeman is graduate student at the University of Connecticut (UConn) working in the Depart- ment of Civil and Environmental Engineering on the INCLUDE project. Caressa is currently studying education in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction and using her firsthand experience acquired during her undergraduate degree in Chemical Engineering to break ground in the field of Engineering Education. Caressa identifies as neurodiverse

Conference Session

Technical Session 7 - Paper 2: Retaining a diverse group of undergraduate students in Engineering Technology Majors

Collection

2022 CoNECD (Collaborative Network for Engineering & Computing Diversity)

Authors

Melanie Villatoro, New York City College of Technology

Tagged Topics

CoNECD Paper Sessions, Diversity

Paper ID #35606Retaining a diverse group of undergraduate students in EngineeringTechnology MajorsProf. Melanie Villatoro, New York City College of Technology Melanie Villatoro, Chair of the Department of Construction Management and Civil Engineering Technol- ogy at NYC College of Technology, is a licensed Professional Engineer in the State of New York. Prof. Villatoro is passionate about student retention and performance, as well as STEM Outreach in K-12. She has served as Project Director for the National Transportation Summer Institute sponsored by the Federal Highway Administration multiple years. Prof. Villatoro leads a

Collection

2022 Spring ASEE Middle Atlantic Section Conference

Authors

Rajarajan Subramanian, Pennsylvania State University, Harrisburg, The Capital College

Tagged Topics

Diversity

universities such as Purdue University, University of Puerto Rico, University of South Florida,and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Some of them end up working for US Corps ofEngineers national laboratories (Acosta, 2004).Involvement in Undergraduate Research Experiences (URE) is related to considerably increasedpersistence and improved academic performance of students in science, technology, engineering, andmathematics (STEM) disciplines. UREs have shown to promote students’ sense of project ownership,self-effectiveness, and scientific identity. The advantages derived from URE have a very good impact onminority students and their improved STEM retention (Vater, 2019).Case Studies:Case study 1: University of Cincinnati Structural

Collection

ASEE-NE 2022

Authors

Brian Bartelo, Student; Sean W Bartelo

Tagged Topics

Diversity

Paper ID #36318Alternative Education Options for Future Engineering StudentsMr. Brian Bartelo, StudentMr. Sean W Bartelo Student and future aerospace engineer American c Society for Engineering Education, 2022 Alternative Education Options for Future Engineering StudentsAbstract: This paper chronicles my personal experience as a student who has benefited from analternative educational journey. I hope to share my experience with others so that they too mightbenefit. It is the purpose of this paper to illustrate the unique advantages of a project-basedhomeschooling education for

Collection

2022 ASEE Gulf Southwest Annual Conference

Authors

Vewiser J Turner Jr P.E., Prairie View A&M University; Sarhan M. Musa, Prairie View A&M University

Tagged Topics

Diversity

Paper ID #35794An Effective Way of Teaching Electrical and Computer EngineeringCapstone Senior Design Courses for Underrepresented StudentsMr. Vewiser J Turner Jr P.E., Prairie View A&M University Summary I am a retired Executive from ExxonMobil with 35 years of service at this Corporation. Dur- ing my tenure with ExxonMobil, I have had a number of engineering, planning, business development, project, and operational assignments. I have extensive leadership experience, strategy development knowl- edge, and ability deliver superior results. I have been accountable for thousands of employees and millions of dollars as a

Collection

2022 Spring ASEE Middle Atlantic Section Conference

Authors

Dylan Louis Vongrej; Juan F Galindo-Maza, Raritan Valley Community College ; Luke P Ingenito, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey; Darwin Arias Lizano, Rutgers School of Engineering; Jenna Nugent; Kate Rybak; Darren McManus, Raritan Valley Community College / Arts & Design Department; Peter Raymond Stupak, Main Engine Start a NJ Non-Profit Corporation

Tagged Topics

Diversity

Paper ID #36188Peter Stupak is President and Founder of the non-profit organization Main Engine Start that is dedicatedto project-based learning for students of all ages to discover their passion for Science and Engineeringand increase their self esteem and confidence. Prior to creating his non-profit organization, Peter was anAssociate Professor of Engineering and Physics at the Raritan Valley Community College from 2014 to2021, and before that he enjoyed a 22-year career in the fiber-optics manufacturing industry, living, andworking in 7 countries. Peter’s work involved him in Research and Development, Engineering and Man-ufacturing Management, and culminating in the construction, start-up, and operation of an optical fiberfactory in Suzhou

Collection

ASEE-NE 2022

Authors

Isabella Serrano, Northeastern University; Kaitlyn Williams-Koester; Kaden Clark, Northeastern University; Blade Rocket Kalikow, Northeastern University; Bennett Hartley; Bala Maheswaran, Northeastern University

Tagged Topics

Diversity

agriculturalyields. Overwatering occurs when a plant receives too much water, which waterlogs the soil andprevents the plant from absorbing an optimal amount of oxygen for survival. Overwatering plantsessentially drown crops, creating additional waste products. The environmental concerns from ourworld’s overuse of water require changing how we use agricultural irrigation. This paper presentsa proof of concept of an automated watering system that monitors and corrects the water contentin the soil, specifically in situations where the plant needs watering.Our project presents a solution to how society waters plants and uses the world’s availablefreshwater resources. Our world’s current depletion of freshwater resources is not sustainable andrequires change

Conference Session

Technical Session 8 - Paper 1: Combining Forces: Putting Equity to Work

Collection

2022 CoNECD (Collaborative Network for Engineering & Computing Diversity)

Authors

Fatima Alleyne, University of California, Berkeley; Ricky Vides, University of California, Berkeley; Grace D O'Connell, University of California, Berkeley

Tagged Topics

CoNECD Paper Sessions, Diversity

priorities to advance diversity, equity and inclusion in the College. Fatima earned her Ph.D. and M.S. degrees in materials science and engineering from UC Berkeley and a B.A. in chemistry from City Uni- versity of New York, Hunter College.Mr. Ricky Vides, University of California, Berkeley Ricky Vides is the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion advisor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of California, Berkeley. He is also the staff director for the Combining Forces: Putting Equity to Work project. Ricky Vides is an alumnus of the University of California. He also received advanced degrees in Higher Education Student Development and Marriage and Family Therapy from Saint Mary’s College of

Conference Session

Technical Session 11 - Paper 4: Living, Learning & Growing Together: Engineering Your World

Collection

2022 CoNECD (Collaborative Network for Engineering & Computing Diversity)

Authors

Ana M Dison, University of Texas at Austin

Tagged Topics

CoNECD Paper Sessions, Diversity

Programs Girl Day at UT Austin and high school summer camps are designed to increase awareness and interest in STEM fields, strengthen STEM identity and increase self-efficacy for pre-college students. WiSTEM also serves as the administrative home for the Texas Girls Collaborative Project (TXGCP), connecting nonprofits, K-12 schools,higher education institutions, companies, organizations and individuals across the state of Texas committed to informing and motivating girls to pursue careers in STEM. Undergraduate ProgramsFocus on strengthening STEM identity, creating a sense of belonging and increasing self-efficacy for all undergraduate women in STEM. WiSTEM creates opportunities for mentoring

Collection

ASEE-NE 2022

Authors

Sief Atari, University of Bridgeport; Celso Enrique Lopez; Eric Joseph Bialczak

Tagged Topics

Diversity

cognitive or sensory-motor functions. Users will explicitlymanipulate their brain activity to produce brain signals that can be used to control devices and machines. The Facial Expressions: We detect the emitted signals from the facial and eye muscles (Figure VII). Thesesignificance of our project is that it opens the way for a much more widely accessible form of signals are used as control inputs that allow for more ways to perform a movement and can be combined withcommunication with devices by directing a robot with

Collection

ASEE-NE 2022

Authors

Diane Ward, Educator

Tagged Topics

Diversity

Engineering Outreach: Project-Based Learning for Elementary and Middle School StudentsAbstract: Parents have sought out engineering preparatory programming for their children whohave expressed an interest in the field as a college major and as a career. The supplementaleducational industry which has arose to train the hard and soft skills required to prepare studentscontinues to grow and transform the way elementary and middle school engineering education isshared. The cost of these supplemental programs is a future investment in that they provide anentry to engineering concepts, exploration of first principles, and project based learning. Newadditions to this market such as Ad Astra/Astra Nova and Synthesis have sought to

Conference Session

Technical Session M5A

Collection

2022 First-Year Engineering Experience

Authors

Sean P Brophy, Purdue University at West Lafayette (COE); John H Cole, Purdue University; Srinivas Mohan Dustker, Purdue University at West Lafayette (COE); William C. Oakes, Purdue University at West Lafayette (COE); Carla B. Zoltowski, Purdue University at West Lafayette (COE)

Tagged Topics

Diversity, Full Papers

is a fellow of the American Society for Engineering Education and the National Society of Professional Engineers.Dr. Carla B. Zoltowski, Purdue University at West Lafayette (COE) Carla B. Zoltowski is an assistant professor of engineering practice in the Elmore Family School of Elec- trical and Computer Engineering and (by courtesy) School of Engineering Education, and Director of the Vertically Integrated Projects (VIP) Program within the College of Engineering at Purdue. Prior to her appointment in ECE, Dr. Zoltowski was Co-Director of the EPICS Program. She holds a B.S.E.E., M.S.E.E., and Ph.D. in Engineering Education, all from Purdue. Her research interests include the pro- fessional formation of engineers

Conference Session

Technical Session 13 - Paper 5: Creating and Sustaining Inclusive Learning Communities in Engineering

Collection

2022 CoNECD (Collaborative Network for Engineering & Computing Diversity)

Authors

Melissa M. Bilec, University of Pittsburgh; Jessica Moriah Vaden, University of Pittsburgh; April Dukes, University of Pittsburgh; Amy Hermundstad Nave, Colorado School of Mines

Tagged Topics

CoNECD Paper Sessions, Diversity

Research, Teaching, and Learning) at the University of Pittsburgh. April studied at Winthrop University, earning a BS degree in Chemistry and BA degree in Psychology in 2000. She then completed her PhD in 2007 at the University of Pittsburgh, studying oxidative stress in in vitro models of Parkinson’s disease. During her prior graduate and postdoctoral work in neurodegeneration, April mentored several undergraduate, graduate, and clinical researchers and developed new methods for imaging and tracking mitochondria from living zebrafish neurons. In her work for the EERC and Pitt-CIRTL, April Dukes collaborates on educational research projects and facilitates professional development (PD) on instructional and mentoring

Collection

ASEE-NE 2022

Authors

David Lemar Simpson, Wentworth Institute of Technology; Catlin Wells; Tes Cotter Zakrzewski EdD, Wentworth Institute of Technology; Nicole Price

Tagged Topics

Diversity

-paced journey toward equity-mindedness. TheGROW framework engages faculty through a collection of “seeds” (i.e. easy to implement practices inequity and inclusion) that can be integrated into an assignment, project or course based on the existingDEI skillset of the instructor. To accomplish this, the GROW framework operates via four guidingprinciples that allows faculty to focus their efforts more effectively in integrating equity and inclusioninto the teaching and learning environment. These principles include: Grow relationships, Reimaginerepresentation, Optimize learning through accessibility and Work toward awareness and self-reflection.Embedded within each of these principles are a collection of research-backed “seeds” that are optimizedto

Collection

2022 ASEE Illinois-Indiana Section Conference

Authors

Benjamin D McPheron, Anderson University

Tagged Topics

Diversity

specifically for our first-year engineering students.In addition to serving as a resource for institutional connection, our peer mentors also serve astechnical mentors. Our peer mentorship program is coupled with the engineering design projectin the first-semester Intro to Engineering course, and mentors review their group’s designs andprogress and offer project management support.There are three specific research questions we wish to address related to peer mentorship inthe context of first-year engineering students: RQ1: Do students feel that peer mentorship was valuable in connecting to the engineering program and community? RQ2: Does peer mentorship lead to better retention outcomes? RQ3: Does technical mentorship by upper

Conference Session

Innovation In Teaching - II

Collection

2022 ASEE Zone IV Conference

Authors

Harly Ramsey, University of Southern California; Yee Lan Elaine Wong

Tagged Topics

Conference Submission, Diversity

identities. She developed and continues to work on Engineering Moment, a classroom-based podcast project about the social role of engineering, and Vision Venture, a co-curricular interactive video series exploring students’ engineering identities, agency, and purpose after graduation.Yee Lan Elaine Wong Yee Lan Elaine Wong is a Master of Visual Anthropology student at the University of Southern California and is investigating emotions in the modern workplace through her thesis film. She holds a BSc in An- thropology from University College London and previously created content for WNJ Ventures - a Hong Kong-based boutique research house educating investors about the latest trends inspiring Millennials and Gen Zs. She

Collection

2022 ASEE Illinois-Indiana Section Conference

Authors

Anand Nageswaran Bharath, Cummins Engine Company; Archana V Kulkarni; Dinesh Balaji Ramaraj; Jennifer M. Thomasson, Cummins Inc; Alexa Davis; Demario Robinson; Malavika Panicker; Elizabeth A. Spratt; Tina Henselmeier; Nora Guzman; Arul Antony; Sonya Ware-Meguiar; Danielle Fawbush, Cummins Inc.; Daniel J. O’Connor, Cummins; Kenneth Francis; Jennifer G. Warrenburg

Tagged Topics

Diversity

, Cummins Inc. developed the“Cummins Powers Women” initiative in 2018. Through this initiative, Cummins has partneredwith non-profits from around the world such as Girls Inc. in North America and RISE UP in SouthAmerica, Africa and Asia to establish programs focused on teaching and mentoring young womenand girls, encouraging entrepreneurship and providing leadership training. One such program isthe “A World in Motion” (AWIM) after-school STEM Curriculum that Cummins employees havedeveloped for Kindergarteners to 4th Graders in collaboration with the Society of AutomotiveEngineers (SAE) and our community partner Girls Inc. of Johnson County. Through this after-school Project-based Learning (PBL) program, we aim to inspire young female students

Collection

2022 ASEE Gulf Southwest Annual Conference

Authors

Xishuang Dong, Prairie View A&M University; Xavier Alexander Dukes; Joshua Littleton, Prairie View A&M University; Tri'Heem Neville; Christopher Rollerson; Arthur L Quinney

Tagged Topics

Diversity

technique to build such applications on these devices, where object detection is an imperativetask that is to recognize categories of objects and label their locations. This paper presented a seniordesign project that implemented object detection on Raspberry Pi via machine learning models. It isto employ Raspberry Pi Kits and a web-camera to detect predefined objects by running mobile deeplearning models. Moreover, it was extended to recognize weapons in images with transfer learningtechniques, which is to fine-tune the models on new annotated datasets collected from Internet.Specifically, it applied a Google USB accelerator to improve the detection speed. Preliminaryvalidation results demonstrate that the models can effectively detect general

Collection

2022 ASEE St. Lawrence Section Annual Conference

Authors

Lisa Cole, Lassonde School of Engineering, York University; Michelle Tsui-Woods, k2i academy, Lassonde School of Engineering, York University; Vanessa Ironside, k2i academy, Lassonde School of Engineering, York University

Tagged Topics

Diversity

Have undergraduate mentors, research post-secondary studies faculty and additional leaders provide insights and advice on post-secondary studies Geographically living in a community that Provide the program virtually to allow is distant from a post-secondary institution students from diverse geographical locations to participateCurriculum DesignThe content for the program required the integration of the Ontario physics curriculum andthe research and engineering project that all high school students were required to completeduring their employment. The program was a blend of

Collection

2022 Spring ASEE Middle Atlantic Section Conference

Authors

Howard S. Kimmel, New Jersey Institute of Technology; Gale Tenen Spak, New Jersey Institute of Technology; Ronald H Rockland, New Jersey Institute of Technology; Linda S Hirsch

Tagged Topics

Diversity

work in which engineers engage and the NASA Mars landing in 2021 was thetheme underlying each of the program’s hands-on projects. Problem-solving was a keyconnector of the subject of science to engineering. Students were given the opportunity to solveproblems just as engineers would while learning how engineers use science in their everydaywork. The NASA Mars landing in 2021, due to the excitement it generated across the generalpopulation, was used as a theme to increase students’ motivation to learn about and interest inengineering by engaging student teams in hands-on and fun real-life applications of theengineering underlying the Mars landing. This also provided a meaningful context for the middleschool students to learn about science