Collection

2008 ASEE Midwest Section Conference

Authors

Peter LoPresti; Theodore W. Manikas; Jeff Kohlbeck

U.S. universities. In fact, the U.S. trails manyother industrialized nations in the percentage of bachelor's degrees in science and engineering1.A contributing factor to this problem is that engineering lacks a formal presence in K-12education. As a result, many qualified students are unaware of career opportunities in scienceand engineering, and thus fail to pursue technical majors in college2.To address the need for the exposure of students to the career of engineering, and particularlyelectrical engineering, we developed an Electrical Engineering Summer Academy program at theUniversity of Tulsa. The objective of our program is to make students aware of engineeringcareer opportunities through hands-on design projects, seminars, and tours of

Collection

2008 ASEE Midwest Section Conference

Authors

James A. Ejiwale

leadership, what works, and new approaches to explore through constructivecriticism from the learning communities that includes faculty, students (peer groups), and thecommunity they serve. Therefore for this article, learning communities will be defined “asgroups of people engaged in intellectual interaction for the purpose of learning” (Cross3, 1998). 3Service learning at Jackson State UniversityThe mission of the Department of Technology is to provide a nationally accredited program,which serves the technical, managerial, and communication needs of persons desiring to enter oradvance professionally in an industrial technology related career

Collection

2008 ASEE Midwest Section Conference

Authors

Christi L. Patton

were able to learnevery student’s name within the first week, face significantly larger groups. Students can easilyslip into anonymity.In the past decade, teachers have incorporated more active-learning activities and hands-ondesign projects. In particular, the freshman-level courses benefited from this philosophy change.At the University of Tulsa, freshmen select a major as they enter the university. Theintroductory classes are discipline-specific and each department teaches their own freshmen. Inchemical engineering, the freshman year has a two-course sequence. ChE 1002 is a two-hourcourse taught in the fall semester to introduce students to the career and to ensure they have thenecessary background skills (unit conversions, graphing, etc

Collection

2008 ASEE Midwest Section Conference

Authors

Jerry McCoy; Scott Holmstrom; Parameswar Hari

students did not matriculate in physics, the probabilityof their enrolling in another of our college’s science and engineering departments was enhanced.On several occasions, our admissions office has made use of our mailing list to augment its ownrecruiting efforts. Though we have not kept records over the years of attendees whosubsequently enrolled at TU, our admissions office has frequently commented on the significantcontribution to recruiting the Journal Club makes. Figure 1. An Early Journal Club MeetingWe also saw value in inviting our department alumni to the meetings. Even if our graduateswent on to careers in other fields, they often retained a keen interest in physics that was whettedby the monthly meetings

Collection

2008 ASEE Midwest Section Conference

Authors

J. Moore; M.A. Thornton; R.W. Skeith

. The Digital Systems Design course has been offered in dual conventionaland distance modes for several years and methods for dealing with laboratory assignments anddesign projects have been developed and are described here.IntroductionDistance education is becoming more common and is very popular for students with fulltimeprofessional careers seeking to obtain an advanced degree. Most universities that offer distanceeducation courses usually restrict their offerings to classes that are largely theoretical and havethe traditional homework, report, and examination assignments. In engineering fields, thisrestriction imposes severe limitations to overall degree programs since class work that involves a“hands-on” component is not included

Collection

2008 ASEE Midwest Section Conference

Authors

Ramazan Asmatulu; Heath E. Misak; Bailey Cooper; Waseem Khan

to teach students about nano-technology processes; magnetic nano-particles (1), functionalization (Ferro-Fluid) (2), nano-composite (3), electrospinning (4), spincoating (5), AFM lithography (6), drug delivery (7), nano-porous film (8), electroplating (9) andsolar cells (10). Students were surveyed and found this lab to be informative, enjoyable and usefulfor their future careers. It is expected that as technology increases the more industry will utilizenano-technology. Wichita State University is striving to prepare students for a high-tech educationby providing cutting edge labs to teach theory and hands on applications. Providing this level oflearning, students will have the knowledge to thrive in a high-tech industry.References:1

Collection

2008 ASEE Midwest Section Conference

Authors

Lawrence Whitman; Zulma Toro-Ramos; Dan Allison; Colin Davidson; Martha Shawver; Shelly Belles; Chris Wilkinson

academicadministration for over sixteen years. Her research interests include engineering education,broadening the participation in higher education and transformation of institutions of highereducation.Dan Allison is currently the Director of Airbus Single Aisle Product Development for SpiritAeroSystems. He is responsible for technology research and development specifically targeted tonew programs and products. He joined the company in 2006 after a 28 year career with Boeing.During which time he held many positions including Site executive, General Manager andDirector of Quality and Engineering manager at various Boeing facilities. Mr. Allison holds aBachelor and Masters Degree, both in Mechanical Engineering, from Wichita State Universitywhere he was on the

Collection

2008 ASEE Midwest Section Conference

Authors

Shannon G. Davis; Bryan W. Hill; Carol S. Gattis; Bradley M. Dearing; Edgar C. Clausen

middle school students, or even earlier, to increase the number of students enteringengineering disciplines.1 Most students in the middle level grades (6th, 7th, and 8th) are unawareof engineering and do not recognize engineering as a rewarding career option. To moreeffectively prepare students in the pursuit of engineering and science degrees, students should beencouraged to develop the critical thinking skills necessary for solving problems in the realworld.It is universally accepted that all student benefit from hands-on learning activities in theclassroom. Studies show that hands-on activities are especially important for English languagelearners (ELLs), and are therefore an important way to tap this increasingly large and diversepool of

Collection

2008 ASEE Midwest Section Conference

Authors

Dan Cernusca; Douglas R. Carroll

solving, applications of dynamic modeling for learning of complex topics,and the impact of epistemic beliefs on learning with technology.DOUGLAS R. CARROLLDr. Carroll is a Professor at the Interdisciplinary Engineering Department, Missouri University of Science &Technology-Rolla. He is best known for his work with solar powered race cars, winning two national championshipsand publishing a book on solar car design. He has received many teaching awards in his career. His researchinterests are composite materials, solar-electric vehicle technology, and educational research. Proceedings of the 2008 Midwest Section Conference of the American Society for Engineering Education