Collection

2024 Rocky Mountain Section Conference

Authors

Loraine Glidewell; Marisa Mendoza-Maurer; Joseph L. Polman; Daniel Knight; Angela Bielefeldt

models for students thinking of attending college 1(Knight et al., 2019; Hinojosa, 2018). In addition to mentorship, SCENIC also provides high quality environmental monitoringequipment to support engineering and science learning in rural communities. This is importantbecause rural high schools often cannot afford quality laboratory equipment like universityresearchers use. While schools closer to universities might have access to these resources simplydue to the privilege of proximity, the nature of geographic isolation for much of rural Coloradomakes accessing university resources a challenge. SCENIC seeks to disrupt this inequity

Collection

2024 Rocky Mountain Section Conference

Authors

Bobby Hodgkinson

WIP: Towards an AI Teaching Assistant for Aerospace Engineering Lab Courses Bobby Hodgkinson hodgkinr@colorado.edu Smead Aerospace Engineering Sciences University of Colorado at BoulderIntroductionThe overarching aim of our current endeavors is to develop a comprehensive AI-based laboratoryteaching assistant framework, eventually including a personalized tutoring system, tailored forhigher education. This concept echoes the utility of platforms like Khanmigo [1] but isspecifically tailored to address the complexities and demands of higher education learningenvironments with large

Collection

2024 Rocky Mountain Section Conference

Authors

Randy Hurd; Sulahb Khadka; Yudi Lewis; Alicia Christensen; Dustin Grote

1 First-Year Bridge Program at Western Teaching University Randy Hurd, Sulabh Khadka, Yudi Lewis, Alicia Christensen & Dustin GroteAbstract: Universities in the United States experience high attrition rates, which are even higheramong first-generation college students, students from economically disadvantaged backgrounds,and academically underprepared students. Many universities have sought to addressdisproportional dropout among these demographics by creating summer bridge programsintended to increase student confidence, address knowledge gaps, and inform students of on-campus resources. These programs, which have been

Collection

2024 Rocky Mountain Section Conference

Authors

Maila Hallare; Beth Schaubroeck; Kevin Treat

relatableto the 21st-century student (sprinting) equips our students with skills on analyzing experimental data,creating predictive models, and making informed decisions based on data and underlying theories.Introduction. In a compelling MAA address in 1997 (transcribed and available widely online), famousItalian mathematician Gian-Carlo Rota laments that “Most of the material now taught in an introductorydifferential equations course is hopelessly obsolete [1].” Some of the techniques in solving ODEs that helabelled as “disconnected tricks” and “preposterous” are exact equations, integrating factors, andsubstitution-based techniques to solve homogeneous differential equations.In recent years, fortunately, there has been an increasing emphasis on

Collection

2024 Rocky Mountain Section Conference

Authors

Angela Bielefeldt; Azadeh Bolhari P.E.

entering full-time, first-time, first-year students in colleges around theU.S. in fall 2022 (among 33,039 students) were: 2.1% ASD, 13.2% ADHD, 5.5% learningdisability (dyslexia, etc.), 20.7% psychological conditions (depression, PTSD, etc.), and 4.1%chronic illness (cancer, diabetes, autoimmune disorders, etc.) (HERI, 2023). Because the level ofoverlap and multiple diagnoses among these students was not reported, the percentage of NDstudents could be 20 to 42%. A higher percentage of males than females had ASD (2.5% vs.1.3%) and ADHD (14.9% vs. 12.2%); a higher percentage of females than males hadpsychological conditions (26.0% vs. 10.8%) and chronic illness (5.0% vs. 2.6%) (HERI, 2023).In 2013, research showed that 1 in 160 U.S. college students

Collection

2024 Rocky Mountain Section Conference

Authors

Emma Stine; Amy Javernick-Will; Tiera Tanksley

‭Advancing Diversity in Humanitarian Engineering Education: Unveiling the Value‬ ‭of Investing in Marginalized Graduate Students’ Cultural and Social Capital.‬I‭ n early 2020, amidst global shifts driven by social justice movements, activists, scholars, and‬ ‭stakeholders urged increased representation of practitioners from marginalized racial backgrounds and‬ ‭nationalities in leadership roles within the HE sector. Consequently, there was a concerted push for greater‬ ‭enrollment of marginalized community members in HE educational programs‬‭[1], [2], [3]‬‭ hile the call to increase diversity within HE educational programs appears universally desired,‬W‭achieving tangible progress proves challenging within the structure of modern

Collection

2024 Rocky Mountain Section Conference

Authors

Jack Elliot; Alex Nielson

Work In Progress: A Scoping Review of Social Network Analysis Methods in Engineering EducationIntroductionIn undergraduate engineering education, interactions between students are an important aspect ofthe learning environment. From a situated epistemology, knowledge is distributed amongindividuals. Increasing the connections between individuals generally increases the accesseveryone has to other individuals’ knowledge. In the engineering education context, theeducators’ ability to understand how interactions between students are formed and persist has thepotential to offer valuable insights into enhancing the learning experience overall [1].To understand how interactions relate to engineering

Collection

2024 Rocky Mountain Section Conference

Authors

Katherine Robert

1 The Cri�cal Role of Faculty in Neurodivergent Engineering Student Success and Mental Health: A Conceptual ApproachIntroduc�onThe purpose of this conceptual paper is to help faculty in engineering educa�on to become neuro-inclusive allies to neurodivergent engineering students who have cogni�ve differences like au�sm,ADHD, dyslexia, etc. An interdisciplinary conceptual theory synthesis (Jaakkola, 2020) is used, whichdraws on par�cipatory neurodivergent-led and voiced research literature from across higher educa�onand engineering educa�on. The goal is to untangle faculty assump�ons about

Collection

2024 Rocky Mountain Section Conference

Authors

Grace Burleson; Janet Tsai; Daria Kotys-Schwartz

of engineering education, particularly at the undergraduatelevel (Lee, 2009; Turns et al., 2004) – but what about at the doctoral level? 1 Across the U.S., mechanical engineering PhD programs prepare students for conductingindependent, innovative research in a variety of fundamental areas. PhDs are granted for thecreation of new knowledge within specific disciplines. Research within mechanical engineeringcan include mechanics, materials, thermal-fluid sciences, dynamics, design, and more. Scholarsagree that scholarship in these areas is critical for the advancement of engineering practice andpedagogy (Hubka & Eder, 2012). However

Collection

2024 Rocky Mountain Section Conference

Authors

Ruhan Yang; Ellen Do

paper with insights for the design andimplementation of similar courses in the future.BACKGROUNDTopics Covered in the FORM Curriculum The use of 3D technologies in education has been steadily increasing, driven by advancementsin technology and a growing recognition of the importance of digital literacy. The introduction ofcomputer-aided design (CAD) has made 3D design more convenient, leading manyengineering-related degree programs to include a CAD course [1]. In our department, we havedeveloped the FORM curriculum to teach students the fundamentals of 3D modeling, animation,and printing from both conceptual and practical perspectives. The application scenarios of CAD technologies are different in different disciplines, and thusthe focus of

Collection

2024 Rocky Mountain Section Conference

Authors

Angela Bielefeldt; Katherine Ramos; Joan Tisdale

student interests and theimpact of this material in the course.BackgroundAll engineers should be trained to consider sustainability in their work [1]. This should beginwhen students are first introduced to engineering, setting an expectation that sustainabilityconsiderations are a normal part of engineering [2]. At CU, the first-year engineering designcourse (FYED) was selected for sustainability integration. FYED is taken by the majority ofstudents across all engineering majors. The course has multiple instructors who span alldisciplines from the college, which can lead to variability in course content. This researchleveraged insights from a diffusion of innovation study [3] to make integrating sustainabilityeasy for instructors while also

Collection

2024 Rocky Mountain Section Conference

Authors

Jenna Greenwood; Phil Courey; Amanda Parker; Malinda Zarske

engage in interactive and supportive learning, discussion, and planning within thefinancial wellness curriculum. Seminar activities take place in subgroups facilitated by mentorson a more approachable scale within the large group. Each seminar begins with 15-20 minutesdedicated to community-building activities before moving into a financial wellness topic andactivities. The seminar themes and learning outcomes are outlined in the following chart. Seminar Series & Learning Outcomes Theme Seminar 1: Courageous • Students will examine the principles of courageous dialogue. Dialogue Principles • Students will create and share individual interpretations and meaning of courageous

Collection

2024 Rocky Mountain Section Conference

Authors

Erin Marie Furtak; Caitlin Anderson; Shannon Boutwell; Sam Haven; Melinda Lopez; Samantha Duwe; Janet Green; Adam Kellerman; Linda Parker; Lauren Blum

communicate information at long distances, and identifying societal needs thatcan be filled by various devices that can be placed on satellites.Table 1 provides an overview of our unit storyline, including the questions that will providecoherence through the unit from students’ perspectives.Lesson Set StorylineLesson set 1: Phenomenon: How can space weather affect satellites?Launch Initial model + explanation: How can we represent satellites in the Earth-Sun system? Design Project Preview: How will we show what we know and have learned at the end of this unit?Lesson set 2: What are satellites?What do satellitesdo? How do satellites (natural

Collection

2024 Rocky Mountain Section Conference

Authors

Timothy Frank; Daphne DePorres; Emily Stoneham; Joel Sloan P.E.; Vincent Bongionanni; Eric Tucker

. They left the course better understanding what each entailed and what engineering lookslike for each discipline. Many expressed a sense of empowerment and privilege relative to theirpeers not in the course, when discussing their experience working in so many of the engineeringlabs around campus.Self-reported skill development increased in all 17 course objectives and by the end of thecourse, students perceived their abilities at a level of 3.0 out of 4.0 or better (on a scale of 0 to 4)for all objectives. (Fig 1). The least improvement occurred in skills such as workingcollaboratively on a project (question 5), writing a technical report (question 17) andcommunicating through an oral presentation (question 16). These were also some of the