Collection

2005 ASEE Midwest Section Conference

Authors

Beverlee Kissick; Saeed Khan

several years we have been concerned with understanding diversity, teachingdiversity and developing and assessing diversity skills1. Even those who understand thegreat benefits of diversity and passionately promote it will accede to the difficulty ofmoving forward with diversity issues. The complexities of diversity become apparentthrough the differences among people.An individual’s growth is linked to the growth of the society to which she or he belongs.If you were born and educated in America, there is no doubt that you will have spentsome time reading Ralph Waldo Emerson. In remembering and recently reading some ofEmerson’s works, we were struck with the idea that Emerson’s words and philosophycould be effective in helping our students

Collection

2005 ASEE Midwest Section Conference

Authors

Norman D. Dennis

math , science and engineering20 students, Seymour and Hewitt, in their seminal work, “Talking about Leaving: Why21 Undergraduates Leave the Sciences”2, discovered that the number one concern of students at22 institutions across the country; was the quality of instruction they received. Of the numerous23 reasons cited for leaving Mathematics Science and Engineering, (MSE), programs, pedagogical24 concerns dominated the top ten categories.25 In an effort to improve the teaching of faculty in civil engineering programs across the US, the26 American Society of Civil Engineers has funded and promoted a teaching effectiveness27 workshop called the ExCEEd Teaching Workshop for the past six years. Ostensibly for new28 faculty, this

Collection

2005 ASEE Midwest Section Conference

Authors

Larry N. Bland

more contemporary cultures. • Focus on the worldview, religion, and values of one or more contemporary cultures. • Address issues of cultural conflict within or between nations. • Foster among students an understanding of social and cultural change. • Provide familiarity with an area of the world or a country that allows them to make systematic comparisons with their own society and culture.Concerns As these learning centered programs are planned for implementation, academic integrity,faculty workload, and logistical issues have arisen as areas of concern. "Proceedings of the 2005 Midwest Section Conference of the American Society for Engineering Education

Collection

2005 ASEE Midwest Section Conference

Authors

Brandon W. Olson

concerns seem to be especially acute in heavily quantitative science and engineeringcourses were classes are usually fast-paced and students are less accustomed to workingtogether10-11. A new variety of Team Based Learning (TBL) has been developed by Michaelsen and Finkthat specifically address the common concerns of students as well as instructors12-13. Theobjective of this new pedagogy is to construct a team environment that fosters trust andcooperation by removing many of the organizational obstructions that typically precludemeaningful student interaction. This approach works to abolish the inertial tendencies ofstudents and teachers to “go it alone”. The following points illustrate specific techniques used toremove organizational

Collection

2005 ASEE Midwest Section Conference

Authors

A. Lambert; D. J. Russomanno; P. Palazolo; S. Ivey

Enhancing Engineering Education to Reflect the ProfessionalExpectations of the 21st Century: Examples from In-Process Programs A. Lambert, D.J. Russomanno, P. Palazolo, S. Ivey The University of Memphis AbstractThis paper examines complex issues associated with 21st century engineering practice asdescribed through comparisons between a controversial report, The Engineer of 2020:Visions of Engineering in the New Century, and our own engineering students of 2005.According to this report and other recent studies published by leaders in engineeringeducation, engineering students of the 21st century will possess a markedly different setof skills and

Collection

2005 ASEE Midwest Section Conference

Authors

Karen S. Hays

, members must, “hold paramount the safety, health, and welfareof the public and protect the environment in the performance of their professional duties.”2Simply stated, it would just be wrong to not conduct training for our students concerning thehazards in the laboratories, the means of personal protection against those hazards and properwaste disposal. Is such training really necessary? The answer is a resounding “yes” according toDr. James A. Kaufman, who is a lab safety expert and the President and C.E.O. of the LaboratorySafety Institute. He is quoted in the May 23, 2005 issue of Chemical & Engineering News assaying, “schools and other academic institutions have a 10 to 50 times greater frequency ofaccidents than does the chemical

Collection

2005 ASEE Midwest Section Conference

Authors

Roy A. McCann

, and nano-scale actuators. However, it is difficult to add new content toparticular areas of the undergraduate electrical engineering curriculum without sacrificing cover-age of other topics. Given these concerns, this paper presents a framework for an updated coursein energy conversion that covers the development and deployment of new energy conversiontechnologies.I. IntroductionRecent increases in worldwide fuel costs have brought attention to alternative energy sources andimproved methods of energy conversion. In addition, ongoing concern of the impact of fossilfuel consumption on global climate changes has renewed interest in electric and hybrid-electricvehicles. Engineering innovation is needed at all levels of development and deployment

Collection

2005 ASEE Midwest Section Conference

Authors

Thomas R. Marrero; Andrew K. Beckett

century. One area that continues to be of concern is thedecline of science, math, and engineering (SME) students. “Undergraduate engineeringenrollment declined from a high of 441,205 students in 1983 to 356,177 students in 1996,representing a 19 percent reduction.”4 Furthermore, the attrition rate for engineering studentsremains high. An estimated 35% of first-year engineering students change their major before thestart of their sophomore year.5While many in academia are quick to blame poor academic preparation in secondary educationfor the difficulties that students face in these fields, Seymour and Hewitt found that a loss ofinterest in the sciences and poor teaching by SME faculty were major concerns for both studentswho persisted in the field

Collection

2005 ASEE Midwest Section Conference

Authors

Stephanie Ivey; Anna Lambert

-ranking administrators and researchers describing these trends as a “leak inthe engineering pipeline.” 1,2,3,4 Multiple confirmations of these trends are verified by veritablesources including “The Neal Report,” sponsored by The National Science Foundation (NSF) in1986, “The Report of Disciplinary Workshops on Undergraduate Education,” also sponsored byNSF in 1988, and the Sigma Xi National Advisory Group’s “Wingspread Conference” (1989).Most recent is a report issued from the National Academy of Engineering Commission, “TheEngineer of 2020: Visions of Engineering in the New Century-Part 1,” (2004) and this reportboth confirms the previously mentioned studies and extends the focus to specific characteristicscommon to engineering students who

Collection

2005 ASEE Midwest Section Conference

Authors

Larry N. Bland

" 3grew to three times larger than our own. Oklahoma Christian University, Oklahoma City, OK;LeTourneau University, Longview, TX and University of Tulsa, Tulsa, OK were chosen due totheir regional proximity. They would be competing with us for many of the same students andwere expected to experience some of the same recruiting issues. Each school had been growingsteadily with Oklahoma Christian showing the highest engineering growth rate. University ofArkansas – Fort Smith was added due to its proximity and the fact that it had a new programthat was showing signs of good growth. The primary data analysis of these studies followed the constant comparative analysismethod detailed by Glaser & Strauss (1967). [6] In this method, analysis

Collection

2005 ASEE Midwest Section Conference

Authors

Stephen B. Taylor; Darin W. Nutter; James A. Davis; Joseph J. Rencis

was designed to have the GAbe the primary out-of-class contact for the freshmen students and assist them in any academic orsocial challenges that faced them. The faculty members helped the freshmen with academic andadvising issues and served as advisors to the GA. One of the major goals of this mentorshipprogram was to gather data regarding the major obstacles students faced during their freshmanyear. During their second semester, freshman were asked to complete a survey that wouldprovide information regarding their perspective of the ME program at the University ofArkansas. Proceedings of the 2005 Midwest Section conference of the American Society for Engineering Education