Collection

2014 ASEE Zone 4 Conference

Authors

Moe Tajvidi P.E.

the results of teaching evaluations, whichindicate that students value this approach to course design. The above approach is known to beimplemented in upper-division courses, helped to improve course structure and defineexpectations regarding student learning more clearly9. It gives profoundly beneficial results forengineering education as a result of the features it incorporates. Up to now, a brief literaturereview demonstrates that majority of articles on project-based learning are course descriptionsfocusing on the implementation of individual courses, whereas research studies which focus on Proceedings of the 2014 American Society for Engineering Education Zone IV Conference Copyright © 2014, American Society

Collection

2014 ASEE Zone 4 Conference

Authors

Engineering Education Zone IV Conference Copyright © 2014, American Society for Engineering Education 3 ASEE Zone IV Conference Leadership Pacific Northwest, Pacific Southwest, and Rocky MountainPacific Southwest Reza Raeisi, Ph.D. (Professor/Graduate Program Coordinator, Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering/ California State University, Fresno). Raeisi has been serving as the Graduate Program Coordinator for the ECE department since 2008. His research interests include integrated

Collection

2014 ASEE Zone 4 Conference

Authors

Shervin Zoghi; Eric Liguori; Manoochehr Zoghi; Fariborz Tehrani; The Nguyen

of the modern technological society.IntroductionEvidently, the globalizations of the economy, Internet connectivity, and exploding informationtechnology have had a profound impact on modern societies.1, 2 The modern society, and oureveryday lives, are increasingly dependent on scientific and technical innovation.3 Engineering,central to innovation, is dramatically influenced by the rapid changes that are taking place on aglobal scale. There has been much debate in recent years that traditional engineering education,however, does not adequately prepare the new graduates to face the ever-changing demands oftechnological societies. In a survey of engineering employers, conducted by Todd et al.4, thefollowing frequently-cited perceptions of

Collection

2014 ASEE Zone 4 Conference

Authors

Jared Tuberty; Thalia Anagnos; Emily Allen

College of Engineering student body reflectsthe overall diversity of the University. The ethnic breakdown of undergraduates in the collegeincludes 19% Hispanic, 3% African American, 40% Asian, 22% White, 6% Internationalstudents, and approximately 1% American Indian or Pacific Islander. Women areunderrepresented in the College, making up 14% of undergraduates. The majority of newstudents each fall in the College are first-time first-year students though a substantial number,approximately 40% of the new students, enroll as upper-division transfer students. These transferstudents come primarily from the extensive California Community College system. TheUniversity formed a formal retention and graduation initiative in 2009 and has