Conference Session

Multidisciplinary Programs: Look Ahead

Collection

2004 Annual Conference

Authors

Yaakov Varol; William Sparkman; Walt Johnson; Nancy LaTourrette; Jesse Adams; Jeffrey LaCombe; Gary Norris; Ellen Jacobson; Norma Velasquez-Bryant; John Kleppe; Pamela Cantrell; Eric Wang; Ted Batchman

. AssessmentEight of the nine ESWI grantees agreed to participate in a cross-institutional evaluation planbased on a set of research questions developed at the Assessment Subcommittee planningmeetings. The purpose of such an evaluation would be to determine how well the collection ofprojects fulfilled the Hewlett Foundation’s goals and objectives for the Engineering Schools ofthe West Initiative (ESWI). This will be done through the collection and analysis of baselinedata compared with end of project data.The evaluation plan proposed for this project is adapted from several sources [7-9], whichincludes criteria for utility, feasibility, propriety, and accuracy. The project evaluation will

Conference Session

Educational Research Initiatives at NSF

Collection

2004 Annual Conference

Authors

William Robbins; Rajapandian Ayyanar; Paul Imbertson; Ned Mohan; Ben Oni

described in the following sections.Learning-Outcome Based Course RestructuringThe learning outcome of each course is solid understanding of fundamentals in a way that makesthem relevant to current industrial practices and prepares students for a lifelong learningincluding graduate studies for a research-oriented career. In addition, we recognized that mostinterested undergraduate students take only one course in each of these areas. Perhaps, theyshould take only one course, thus allowing them to attend courses in complimentary fields suchas digital control, applications of digital signal processors, and so on to receive a broadereducation.In light of these objectives and constraints, we decided to offer only one course in each field atthe

Conference Session

Educational Research Initiatives at NSF

Collection

2004 Annual Conference

Authors

Roger Seals

, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). Twotypes of proposals are solicited: Type 1 proposals provide for full implementation effortsat academic institutions and Type 2 proposals support educational research projects onassociate or baccalaureate degree attainment in STEM. Page 9.485.2 “Proceedings of the 2004 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition Copyright © 2004, American Society for Engineering Education” Teacher Professional Continuum (TPC). Jointly managed by the Division ofElementary, Secondary, and Informal Education (ESIE) and the Division ofUndergraduate Education (DUE

Conference Session

Educational Research Initiatives at NSF

Collection

2004 Annual Conference

Authors

Krishna Vedula

well as with the need for fosteringmore diversity of the student body in the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering andMathematics) disciplines and in the S&E (Science and Engineering) workforce in the country.During recent years several programs have been initiated with focus on learning and teachingand on improving the quality of undergraduate engineering education. In all NSF programsemphasis is on better integration research and teaching, assessment of outcomes as well as thebroader impact of the outcomes. A particular focus of NSF is on recruiting and retaining youthfrom underrepresented groups into the STEM disciplines and on technological literacy ofeveryone.Several programs at NSF encourage partnerships between higher education, K

Conference Session

Educational Research Initiatives at NSF

Collection

2004 Annual Conference

Authors

Nicole DeJong Okamoto

initiated at the participating institution(s) as a result of the project. • Submittal to the appropriate academic officer at the institution(s) of the evaluation results and the specific plan for continuing the reform.1”For both types of projects, the pedagogical and technical research base related to the work shouldbe clearly referenced and summarized. Proposals must show a comprehensive and up-to-dateunderstanding of the research base, and the relationship of the proposed work to the researchbase should be discussed. Recently an increased emphasis has been placed in A&I proposals onhighlighting and contributing to this research base.RecommendationsThe following recommendations come from the author as well as Jeffrey McKinnon

Conference Session

Assessment Issues II

Collection

2004 Annual Conference

Authors

Ramon Vasquez; Anand Sharma

Session No: 3431 CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT EDUCATIONAL INITIATIVE: A CAMPUS-WIDE ASSESSMENT EFFORT Anand D. Sharma Ramón E. Vásquez Espinosa University of Puerto Rico University of Puerto RicoAbstractEver since the approval of the new Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology(ABET) Engineering Criteria (EC 2000) on November 2, 1996, educational institutions acrossthe United States have had to assess and evaluate their undergraduate engineering programs froma different perspective. The University of Puerto Rico at Mayaguez undertook steps fully fouryears prior to the actual site visit. All six undergraduate engineering programs were

Conference Session

Multidisciplinary Programs: Look Ahead

Collection

2004 Annual Conference

Authors

Jean-Pierre Delplanque; Joan Gosink

Session 2171 Initiating a Program on Humanitarian Engineering: Rationale, Implementation, Problems, and Perceptions Jean-Pierre Delplanque, Joan Gosink, and Juan Lucena Division of Engineering Division of Liberal Arts and International Studies Colorado School of Mines, Golden, CO 80401AbstractWith the support of a grant from the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, faculty at theColorado School of Mines (CSM) are initiating a new program in Humanitarian Engineering(http://humanitarian.mines.edu/). Our specific goals are

Conference Session

Graduate Student Experiences

Collection

2004 Annual Conference

Authors

Angela Linse; Tammy VanDeGrift; Jessica Yellin; Jennifer Turns

Conference & Exposition Copyright © 2004, American Society for Engineering EducationOur initial step has been to design the program and conduct a formal study of how twoindependent groups experienced the program. We are currently using the data to gain insight onthe impact of the program and learn how to improve it. In this paper, we will a) describe theprogram and concurrent research study, b) present case studies for a sample of the participants,with a focus on characterizing their experiences, and c) identify implications for continuousimprovement.Background and Motivation for Focusing on Engineering Graduate StudentsThere are strong reasons to focus on helping graduate students become more effective educators.Here we

Conference Session

Writing and Communication II

Collection

2004 Annual Conference

Authors

Elisa Linsky; Gunter Georgi

Document: 2004-1744 Writing Self-Assessment for First-Year Engineering Students: Initial Findings Chris Leslie, Elisa Linsky, Gunter Georgi Polytechnic UniversitySeeking to understand what and how students are learning about writing in its first-yearengineering course, we have implemented an assessment project for Polytechnic University’score engineering course. Building on an innovative Writing Consultant program that already wasimplemented for EG 1004, Introduction to Engineering and Design, the assessment project drawsseveral projects from English composition instruction to improve the

Conference Session

K-12 Outreach Initiatives

Collection

2004 Annual Conference

Authors

Meredith Knight; Christine Cunningham

their thoughts were correct. Teachers had the option to have a class discussionabout engineering after the questionnaires were collected. Written responses to questionnaires were entered into a Microsoft Accessdatabase. Pictures were translated into words by the researchers. All responses to thequestion were reviewed, and recurring themes were developed into codes. These codeswere associated with each response, and queried for basic tallies. Tallies were translatedinto percentages using Microsoft Excel.ResultsThese results are the basis of a pilot study investigating students’ ideas about engineering.Different survey designs and question formats were tested during the pilot study. Initially,students were asked to answer the question

Conference Session

K-12 Outreach Initiatives

Collection

2004 Annual Conference

Authors

Steven Fisher; Jed Lyons

fellows, the K-12 teachers, or the K-12 students. Thispaper focuses only on the GK-12 fellows. The research questions addressed here are: 1. How does the GK-12 program affect the science related communication and teaching skills of the fellows? 2. Is there a difference between the elementary-based and middle-school based GK-12 programs with respect to the answer to question 1?Fellow survey results. Seven items on the initial/final fellow survey instrument directlyaddressed development of science related communication and teaching skills of project fellows.Initial and final surveys could be paired for 10 Cohort 1 fellows and for 9 Cohort 2 fellows. Itshould be noted that the survey asked fellows to indicate their prior teaching

Conference Session

K-12 Outreach Initiatives

Collection

2004 Annual Conference

Authors

Suzanne Olds

undergraduate andgraduate. One objective for this project is to increase the developers’ abilities to designinstruction materials for teachers and students that are consistent with the research and theory onHow People Learn1. Another objective is to increase the depth of BME students’ contentknowledge. The university students have partnered with university faculty, industry experts, andK12 teachers to develop a 3-week engineering module. The module challenges middle schoolstudents to draw on previously learned scientific principles as they design and constructprosthetic arms to accomplish tasks requiring either strength or fine motor control. The group'saffiliation with the Center for International Rehabilitation has led to the creation of a 3

Conference Session

K-12 Outreach Initiatives

Collection

2004 Annual Conference

Authors

John Chandler; dean fontenot

Session 2530 TTU College of Engineering Pre-College Engineering Academy© Teacher Training Program John R. Chandler, Ph.D. and A. Dean Fontenot, Ph.D. College of Engineering, Texas Tech UniversityAbstractThis paper reports on progress to-date in the planning, design, and initial implementations of aK-12 engineering program being developed collaboratively by Texas Tech University, LubbockIndependent School District, and a growing number of other entities. The paper discusses variousissues endemic in K-12 and post-secondary education that have driven the evolution of

Conference Session

K-12 Outreach Initiatives

Collection

2004 Annual Conference

Authors

Larry Richards

assessmentsconducted during a teachers’ workshop held at the University of Virginia in August of2003. This paper reports the results of these assessments, and their implications for ourcontinued work in this area.IntroductionThe Virginia Middle School Engineering Education Initiative (VMSEEI) has beendeveloping ETKs to introduce middle school students to engineering concepts andtechniques. Each ETK emphasizes the engineering design approach to problem solving.We identify topics from science, math, and technology that have interesting engineeringapplications, and then help students learn science and math in the context of engineeringdesign. Each ETK includes real-world constraints: budget, cost, time, risk, reliability,safety, and customer needs and demands

Conference Session

Advances in Civil Engineering Education

Collection

2004 Annual Conference

Authors

Justine Stiles; Ashly Middelberg; Farhad Reza; Subhi Bazlamit

contracts. The contracts do not provide more credit hours for a course, but rather agreementon the part of the student to complete work in greater depth. The student initiates contractproposals with guidance from the instructor, and the honors program committee places a copy ofthe final contract on file for review. The course instructor certifies completion of the contract atthe time of reporting final grades.Research projects are an excellent means of satisfying the objectives of the honors program.This is corroborated by student assessment and evaluation at the end of the contract course. Anexample of such a project is described in this paper. The first two authors supervised twostudents in a research project at Ohio Northern University during

Conference Session

DEED Poster Session

Collection

2004 Annual Conference

Authors

Mathew Hyre; James Squire

Session: 1725 Running an Under gr aduate Resear ch Confer ence J ames C. Squir e, Matthew R. Hyr e Vir ginia Militar y InstituteAbstr actIndependent research and design is a critical component of engineering education, yetundergraduates often have few opportunities to showcase their work. It can also be difficult toconvey their experiences succinctly on a resume unless they publish or present their design. Inorder to provide a forum to communicate and celebrate undergraduate student achievement,many universities have created undergraduate research conferences. The

Conference Session

Lighting the Fire: REU

Collection

2004 Annual Conference

Authors

Mark Evans; Ronald Welch

last five years as we experimented with types and levels of research projects thatundergraduate students could handle, how to properly manage undergraduate research, and whatshould be the program and student outcomes associated with the course.Possible research projects are presented to the students early in the fall semester of their senioryear. Project assignments are made by mid-semester so that initial coordination and somepreparatory work can commence prior to the spring semester. With 45 to 60 CE majorsgraduating each year, it is easy to understand that one faculty member cannot advise the required15-20 projects each spring. So many, if not all, of the CE program’s 17 faculty must be part ofthis senior project program from the onset and

Conference Session

Undergraduate Research & New Directions

Collection

2004 Annual Conference

Authors

Aranggan Venkataratnam; Ashok Goel

Session 1332 Undergraduate Research in Nanotechnology Circuit Design Ashok Goel, Constance Rimatzki, Dean Gores and Aranggan Venkataratnam Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering Michigan Technological University Houghton, MI 49931 AbstractUndergraduate research in the area of nanotechnology circuit design is described. Twoundergraduate students worked with electrical engineering graduate students and afaculty member on projects related to designing nanoscale logic gates and circuits usingsingle electron transistors

Conference Session

Lighting the Fire: REU

Collection

2004 Annual Conference

Authors

Mary Roth; Kristen Sanford Bernhardt

available.Faculty explanations for their ratings of the research experiences for projects rated “very good”included comments that the students were hardworking, reliable, independent, motivated, andvery capable of completing the tasks required. The faculty also noted that these experiencestypically were associated with products. For projects rated as “good”, the positive commentswere similar to those for those rated “very good” but negative comments could be divided intothose associated with the students (student not dependable, lacked independence) and commentsassociated with the project (project scope not fully developed, project too difficult). For projectsrated as “fair” or worse, faculty comments associated with the students included lacked initiative

Conference Session

Innovative Graduate Programs & Methods

Collection

2004 Annual Conference

Authors

William Devenport; Terry Wildman; Glenda Scales

when facinginstructional challenges. The formation of study groups centered in engineeringdepartments has been encouraged through a structure independent of the normaldepartment administration. As a result of this effort participation in study groups hasrapidly risen and currently over one third of all engineering faculty participate. If only bythis measure the initiative has had an impact on the overall quality of teaching in theCollege of EngineeringIntroductionEngineering faculty at Virginia Tech, as at most universities, are expected tosimultaneously perform a range of responsibilities in teaching, research and service. Theemphasis on research responsibilities is often the strongest. The promotion, tenure andsalary systems in place at most

Conference Session

Technology, Communications & Ethics

Collection

2004 Annual Conference

Authors

Christopher Long

The Research Communications Studio as a Tool for Developing Undergraduate Researchers in Engineering C. Long, E. Alford, J. Brader, L. Donath, R. Johnson, C. Liao, T. McGarry, M. Matthews, R. Spray, N. Thompson, and E. Vilar University of South CarolinaAbstractThe NSF-funded Research Communications Studio (RCS) project at the University of SouthCarolina, responding to groundbreaking theories in How People Learn, is among the firstattempts to measure students’ responses to research-based learning in a distributed cognitionenvironment. As an alternative to the unguided research scenario often encountered by part-timeundergraduate researchers, the project

Conference Session

Opportunities in Environmental Engineering Curriculum

Collection

2004 Annual Conference

Authors

Zuhdi Aljobeh; Aaron Jennings

realisticeffort by the participating faculty. Program courses are currently being designed for Environmental, Geotechnical and StructuralEngineering using the following general template. Page 9.90.2“Proceeding of the 2004 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition Copyright© 2004, American Society for Engineering Education (1) Initial Course Planning - The type of courses to be offered will be planned and scheduled by CWRU and PUI Department Chairmen who will determine which of the potential research courses will work best at the PUI given student interests and the availability of faculty

Conference Session

ETD Poster Session

Collection

2004 Annual Conference

Authors

B. Sridhara

Session 1547 Undergraduate Research Program in the Basic and Applied Sciences at Middle Tennessee State University B. S. Sridhara Middle Tennessee State UniversityAbstract The college of Basic and Applied Sciences at Middle Tennessee State University(MTSU) has ten departments including Biology, Chemistry, Computer Science, EngineeringTechnology and Industrial Studies, Mathematics, and Physics and Astronomy. In the fall of1993, our college dean initiated the Basic and Applied Sciences undergraduate research programat MTSU. The author

Conference Session

Technology Transfer and Commercialization

Collection

2004 Annual Conference

Authors

Steve Radke; Evangelyn Alocilja

ENTREPRENEURSHIP DIVISION #54 Paper ID: 2004-1854 Development of E-Team to Commercialize Engineering Research Radke, S.M., and Alocilja, E.C. Biosystems Engineering, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824 radkeste@egr.msu.edu, alocilja@egr.msu.eduAbstractAn E-Team of biosystems engineering graduate students was formed at Michigan StateUniversity for the purpose of exploring the commercialization potential of a biosensorthat can be used for rapid detection of foodborne pathogens. The paper presents thebenefits and challenges the students encountered throughout

Conference Session

Lighting the Fire: REU

Collection

2004 Annual Conference

Authors

Anant Kukreti

. The objectives of these tests were to comparethe energy dissipation characteristics with and without the neoprene elastomeric pads and todetermine the hysteretic response (load versus deformation) for both cases. A photograph showing one of the “fuse” beam test set-up used for the REU project ispresented in Figure 2.4.2 Design of Improved of Bridge Systems4.2.1 Health Monitoring of a Fiber Reinforced Polymer Retrofitted Bridge Deck The objective of this REU research project was to evaluate the performance of fiberreinforced polymer (FRP) bridge decks over a number of years, each year a REU groupconducting the field monitoring tests and adding to the data bank. The bridges tested wereinstalled as part of Project 100, an initiative in

Conference Session

Lighting the Fire: REU

Collection

2004 Annual Conference

Authors

George F. List; Stacy Eisenman

Session 3215 The Undergraduate Research Advantage: The Split Perspective Stacy Eisenman Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering University of Maryland and George List Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering Rensselaer Polytechnic InstituteAbstractUndergraduate Research Projects (URP’s) are unique opportunities. They can provide studentswith wonderful learning experiences and faculty with

Conference Session

Promoting ET thru K-12 Projects

Collection

2004 Annual Conference

Authors

Naomi Gomez; Jan Rinehart; Robin Autenrieth; Karen Butler-Purry; Angie Hill Price

, theparticipating teachers will be brought back together to discuss their classroom implementationexperiences. The combination of the teaming format, the peer discussions, programdevelopment and classroom implementation of the research experiences appears to have beensuccessful. Other faculty at the university, having heard of this initiative, volunteered to hostnext year’s teachers. The participants and the sponsoring school districts have provided positivefeedback and continued participation.IntroductionThe E3 for Teachers Summer Research Program is a National Science Foundation (NSF) fundedfour week summer research experience offered by faculty in the Look College of Engineering at

Conference Session

Current Issues in Aerospace Education

Collection

2004 Annual Conference

Authors

Oktay Baysal; Mehti Koklu; Ahmed Noor

that they can use these multidisciplinary toolsroutinely and effectively. However, in the present study, this is contemplated neither for thetraditional in-class pedagogy nor using the traditional synchronous or asynchronous methods.Rather, the concept of a hierarchical research and learning network (HRLN) is being explored in aNASA initiated and funded university consortium led by the Old Dominion University’s Centerfor Advanced Engineering Environments [Ref. 1]. “Proceedings of the 2004 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition Page 9.385.3 Copyright © 2004, American

Conference Session

Engineering/Education Collaborators

Collection

2004 Annual Conference

Authors

Tom Thompson; Terri Fiez; Larry Flick; Edith Gummer

researchers. The reform is based onthe use of a platform for learning that is a “unifying object or experience that weaves together thevarious classes in a curriculum.”14 The specific platform is a small robot purchased by studentsin their first electrical engineering course and enhanced through successive courses during theundergraduate program.15, 16 The development of the platform involves hardware design,software design, design of instructional materials, and professional development of teachingassistants.The platform for learning evolved out of initial efforts in 1996 to bring an interesting roboticsapplication of electrical fundamentals to an introductory electrical engineering course. Thecommercially produced robot was replaced by a new

Conference Session

New Program/Course Success Stories

Collection

2004 Annual Conference

Authors

Josh Humphries; David Radcliffe

experienceengineering management in the form of project management in a team and to reflect upon thelessons they learn by the experience. This initiative grew from the need to create a learningexperience for students than was more engaging than that provided by a “traditional” lecturebased engineering management course with its attendant problems of student motivation.Our innovation was to have the students undertake a feasibility study that defines and plans for aprospective baccalaureate research project. By this process, the students not only experiencemost aspects of project management but they also develop skills to prepare them for undertakinga research project. Thus it achieves two key program objectives. An integral part of thisinnovation was the