Collection

2020 Gulf Southwest Section Conference

Authors

Amir Karimi

Instructor Initiated Drop Policy Effect on Student Success Amir Karimi Mechanical Engineering Department University of Texas at San Antonio AbstractOne of the student policies at the University of Texas at San Antonio deals with the expectation ofstudents to attend class regularly and participate in class activities. In 1980s and early 1990sInstructors had the freedom of administratively drop those students who were not attending lecturesor were not submitting homework assignments. In mid 1990s the university changed the policy ofallowing instructors to drop students

Collection

2020 Gulf Southwest Section Conference

Authors

Martha Mitchell; Paola Bandini

undergraduate engineering students at New Mexico StateUniversity. The presentation also discusses how the proposed mentoring model contributed to thesuccessful trajectories of the cohort participants in their engineering programs. A distinctive aspectof the one-on-one mentoring model is that it does not include an undergraduate researchexperience. Faculty members were not initially familiar with mentoring that was not based on anundergraduate research experience. Students were encouraged to pursue research, but it was notrequired in the mentoring program. New materials were developed for the faculty to increaseunderstanding of this model. Outcomes include: high satisfaction of students with the mentoringexperience and one hundred percent retention or

Collection

2020 Gulf Southwest Section Conference

Authors

Julie Ford; Robinson Ford; Dominic Gallegos; Casper Huang

initiated by an 11-yearold with a passion for automotive design and the naïve idea that if you work hard and ask for help,you can get an educational program off the ground. Now in our second year, the program hasalready expanded, and we’re pursuing avenues (such as the NSF’s Research Experiences forTeachers program) to support continued future growth. We recognize the value in acquiring supportbeyond our community so that the program can benefit from formal assessment and resources tofurther develop infrastructure to expand the program’s impact potential. The model we share reflectsa grassroots approach towards engineering outreach at the middle school level. Still in its infancy,we believe our program provides a valuable example for initiating a

Collection

2020 Gulf Southwest Section Conference

Authors

Jesus Ortega

multiple lab-scale and pilot plants whichhave demonstrated the ability for TES systems to meet the power demand reliably, commercialscale CSP plants have struggled to meet the 24-hour demand. The US Department of Energy(DOE) has recently issued two main research calls with similar aggressive goals. The SunShotInitiative and the CSP Gen3 challenge, both which targets a 50% thermal-to-electric conversionefficiency,16-hour thermal storage, $0.06 kWh and a 30-year operating lifetime. Moreover, CSPtechnologies can be coupled with a TES system for water heating and HVAC applications. In thiswork, the state-of-the-art TES systems are reviewed and their techno-economical capabilities andlimitations, for multiple applications such as water, HVAC, and power

Collection

2020 Gulf Southwest Section Conference

Authors

Ulan Dakeev; Recayi Pecen; Faruk Yildiz; Ali Aljaroudi PhD

Copyright © 2020, American Society for Engineering Education 4and an additional 3x1500 VA Back-UPS Pro Unit Uninterruptable Power System that will provideapproximately a continuous peak power of 5 kW for an approximate time frame of 90 hourswithout any charging. Six undergraduate students in the Electronics and Computer Engineering Technology programat Sam Houston State University worked on a summer research grant project to design and builda renewable energy based mobile powerhouse for emergency relief efforts during summer 2019.Due to the limited budget, it was initially decided to facilitate available surplus PV panels fromprevious projects that were connected in required combinations of series

Collection

2020 Gulf Southwest Section Conference

Authors

Diana de la Rosa-Pohl; Catherine Horn

enhanced and shared to financially support as well as academicallyand socially engage students who may be at an increased risk with regard to retention. Early findingsfrom the Endeavour Program suggest the initial efforts are staving off typically expected patterns ofstruggle. Data show that the participants that the Endeavour Program was designed to support (i.e.,students with demonstrable risk factors) have statistically indistinguishable outcomes from theirpeers. This early evidence supports the hypothesis that participating in these programs will increasethe level of student engagement and hence student performance and persistence putting them on apath to graduation in STEM. While these findings are positive, the results point to further work

Collection

2020 Gulf Southwest Section Conference

Authors

Adeyemi Taylor; Shuza Binzaid; John Attia

1 Microcontroller-based Custom Test Module for Multifunctional Sensor for Radiation Environments Adeyemi Taylor, Shuza Binzaid, John Attia Electrical Engineering Department Prairie View A&M University Texas AbstractMost of the non-transmitted diseases, like cancer, are a major area of research in health. Causes ofcancer in the body that have been identified include various electromagnetic emissions and ionizingradiation. Solutions to detect these dangerous environments at early stages can save many livesthrough the application

Collection

2020 Gulf Southwest Section Conference

Authors

Roy Issa; Reinhard Puffing; Emad Manla

West Texas A&M University AbstractAt West Texas A&M University, students in the engineering programs are actively engaged inresearch projects designed to get them involved in global collaboration through problem solving.The project was initiated when a group of 13 senior engineering students from the Aviation Instituteat FH JOANNEUM in Graz, Austria were commissioned in fall 2018 to conceptually design anagricultural spraying drone. The project was continued in spring 2019 by a group of 5 seniormechanical engineering students from West Texas A&M University. The students from theAviation Institute were divided into three groups and were asked to deliver their conceptual designsof the

Collection

2020 Gulf Southwest Section Conference

Authors

Irma Rocio Vazquez; Sakineh Chabi

devices, often referred to as artificialphotosynthesis (AP)1. AP mimics naturally occurring photosynthesis processes, where sunlight isused to generate reactions such as HER (hydrogen evolution reaction) or OER (oxygen evolutionreaction), in the case of water splitting for hydrogen2. The basic components of an AP cell are:photoabsorbers, catalysts and electrolyte. Finding suitable photoabsorbing materials, enhancingcatalyst efficiency, and understanding the full integration of these materials, is paramount inimproving design and performance1.Photoabsorbing materialsIn principle, the photoabsorbing material captures photons and initializes an electron transport chain.A large variety of photoabsorbing materials have been previously studied

Collection

2020 Gulf Southwest Section Conference

Authors

Ahmed Hasan; Tariq Khraishi

1 “An Introduction to Modern Mechanical Engineering” A New Course to Introduce Students to the Dynamic and Evolving Engineering Disciplines. Ahmed Hasan, Tariq Khraishi Mechanical Engineering Department University of New Mexico Abstract The Mechanical Engineering Department at the School of Engineering, University of NewMexico offered a new class in the spring of 2019 titled “An Introduction of Modern MechanicalEngineering”. The class aims to offer hands-on activities and interactive research projects onmodern and varied

Collection

2020 Gulf Southwest Section Conference

Authors

Ian Gravagne

tech companies widely panned for employing “offending”algorithms in its employment practices [4] – founder Jeff Bezos requires his executives tocommunicate via long narrative memos, not PowerPoint bullets [5].)Narrative has been the predominant mode for conveying the human condition throughout history.Perhaps it is time for engineering curricula to compliment ethics and communication training withsome exposure to narrative and story-telling, so that graduates will know how to imagine, look for,and communicate about the impact of rapid technology deployment on individual lives. This is notan entirely new concept; humanitarian engineering and “appropriate technology” initiatives attemptto comprehend and address needs and injustices for the

Collection

2020 Gulf Southwest Section Conference

Authors

Cynthia Fry; Zachary Steudel

this,there are hundreds of terminals open on the user’s computer each utilizing system resources andtremendously slowing down new inputs.To avoid potentially damaging the computers of students in CSI 2334, the fork bomb wasdetermined to be finite, ending after 1,000 calls to the system() function, opening a total of 10,000terminals on the user’s computer. Users initiate the fork bomb within the Snake game by pressing akey on their keyboard. Most students would find this malicious element if they ran the game andtried to move the snake on the game board. The purpose of this malicious layer in an otherwisenormal game is to spur more research on tools and techniques to mitigate the issue. The fork bombcan potentially crash a user’s computer, so

Collection

2020 Gulf Southwest Section Conference

Authors

John Carrell; Joshua Cruz; Stephanie Kuzmack

Society for Engineering Education 3scientific discovery, which directly links STEM to the humanities. This link is an initial startingpoint for the development of empathy. Work in development of problem-solving assignments andthe explicit requests to empathize with this context can further the development of empathy. DMAIC and Discourse AnalysisDiscourse analysis was used on variations of a problem-solving assignment known as Define,Measure, Analyze, Improve, and Control (DMAIC) assignment in an implemented HDSTEM coursetitled “War, Machine, Culture, and Society: History and Engineering in the Second World War.”The DMAIC assignment has students consider the

Collection

2020 Gulf Southwest Section Conference

Authors

Aleksandr Sergeyev; John Irwin; Adrienne Minerick

, Albuquerque Copyright  2020, American Society for Engineering Education 6As part of the initial assessment of the need for a new type of Master of Science degree inMechatronics, the task force committee surveyed both students at Michigan Tech (in MET, EET,ECE, and ME-EM) and industry representatives. The student survey targeted currently enrolledengineering students and intended to collect feedback on their perceptions of a new degree: Masterof Science in Mechatronics. The survey offered three options to fulfill degree requirements: a) atraditional course-only option; b) a research/project with thesis option; and c) an internship withindustry with thesis option. Given the

Collection

2020 Gulf Southwest Section Conference

Authors

Cynthia Fry; Gennie Mansi; Kevin Kulda

21 Introduction So how does one explore an executable without executing it? Given the plethora of malware, techniques in detecting malicious code have evolved quickly.Novel security threats such as the inclusion of malware that can decompress and decipher itselfonly increase the need for new detection techniques [1]. Additionally, hackers obfuscate theexecutable’s function, making it difficult to identify and isolate malicious segments of code.There are a variety of ways to obfuscate code, including encoding the data in unusual forms,reordering loops and expressions, inserting irrelevant code, removing comments, and remov-ing or replacing identifier names [2]. Consequently, researchers aim to assist the tedious andtime consuming

Collection

2020 Gulf Southwest Section Conference

Authors

Olga Lavrova; Satish Ranade

research for the Power maximum benefits of the program by hiring quality engineersand Control group in the Klipsch School of Electrical and who have made significant contributions to their employers.Computer Engineering at NMSU. In addition to standard TABLE I internships and coop programs, and to attract them to full time INITIAL STUDENT AND FELLOW PLACEMENT. positions through competitive salaries and challenging careers. Student Placement And

Collection

2020 Gulf Southwest Section Conference

Authors

David J. Ewing

within a team environment [1-4]. Many resourcesoutside the classroom time have also been implemented with varying success [5,6]. However, it Proceedings of the 2020 ASEE Gulf-Southwest Annual Conference University of New Mexico, Albuquerque Copyright  2020, American Society for Engineering Educationhas been evident that students who do not come in Calculus I ready have difficulties in this class,as well as other classes that they are concurrently enrolled [1-6].Recently, much research has been conducted surrounding engineering students who are notdeemed Calculus I ready [7-16]. One of the more difficult challenges for ENGR 1250 has been thedisparity of mathematical

Collection

2020 Gulf Southwest Section Conference

Authors

Jeff Cunion; Brigitte Barbier

integral part of manufacturing operations. This casestudy concludes with the lessons learned and looks ahead to further SAP learning rollouts toother classes. Introduction and ProblemThere are numerous examples in business and Management Information Systems (MIS) literatureregarding the need for hands-on ERP system training in college curriculum, such as Hepner andDickson1, Kohers2, and Bandera3, et al. Best practices used in providing this education in thesame type of schools are also covered, such as with research by Stewart4 et al and Hymen,Holmes, and Cappel5. In addition, the state of ERP systems’ education in business and MISeducation has been documented6, 7. However, incorporation of ERP systems such as

Collection

2020 Gulf Southwest Section Conference

Authors

Elsa Castillo; Joel Robinson; Kristine Denman; Anyssa Choy; Tariq Khraishi

AuthorsELSA MARIA CASTILLOElsa M. Castillo is currently the Director of the Engineering Student Success Center and the School ofEngineering Scholarships at the University of New Mexico. She holds a B.S. from the College of NaturalResources at the University of Idaho and a Masters Degree in Education Administration and Leadership fromthe University of New Mexico. She holds over 18 years of experience managing scholarship programs andstudent support services, many of these programs funded through NSF, NASA, DOE and other varioussources. Her mission is to support initiatives that contribute to student success and retention.JOEL ROBINSONJoel is a research assistant at New Mexico Statistical Analysis Center at the University of New Mexico. He ispursuing a

Collection

2020 Gulf Southwest Section Conference

Authors

Chadia Affane Aji; M. Javed Khan

research questions guiding this study were:To what extent does an active-learning environment such as a flight simulation-based approachimpact the attitudes of middle school students towards STEM?To what extent does an active-learning environment such as a flight simulation-based approachimpact the learning outcomes of middle school students? MethodThe study was a quasi-experimental repeated measures design. The study consisted of a week-long day-camp during the summer. The participants (N = 25) of which 4 were males and 21 werefemales, were middle school students with low socio-economic status, and from two rural counties.The authors introduced the summer program during the academic year to middle

Collection

2020 Gulf Southwest Section Conference

Authors

Kristine Denman; Joel Robinson; Tariq Khraishi

the National Science Board published a report drawing attention to the growing need forengineers in the workforce, and the concurrent deficit of the U.S. workforce to meet that need.One of the key challenges they identified is retaining students in engineering programs. Manyfactors influence persistence, including both individual (demographics, prior academicperformance, self-efficacy) and institutional (teaching quality, faculty-student relationships,academic support services, financial support, and opportunities for professional development)[1,2,3]. While some of these factors cannot be changed (e.g., sex, parental income status,race/ethnicity, first-generation college student), others can be influenced. The research identifies

Collection

2020 Gulf Southwest Section Conference

Authors

Chadia Affane Aji; M. Javed Khan

in Persistence Across Postsecondary Fields. Educational Researcher, Volume: 48 issue: 3, page(s): 133-144, February 21, 20197. Higher Education Research Institute (2010). Degrees of success: Bachelor’s degree completion r rates among initial STEM majors. Retrieved on March 1, 2010, from http://www.heri.ucla.edu/nih/HERI_ResearchBrief_OL_2010_STEM.pdf8. Eagan, Jr., M. K., Hurtado, S. & Chang, M. J. (2010). What Matters in STEM: Institutional Contexts That Influence STEM Bachelor’s Degree Completion Rates. 2010 Annual Meeting of the Association for the Study of Higher Education Indianapolis, IN9. PCAST (2012). Engage to Excel: Producing One Million Additional College Graduates with Degrees in Science

Collection

2020 Gulf Southwest Section Conference

Authors

Kenneth Van Treuren

high school seniors report spending 10 hours or more per week online. The research shows that teens who spend more time on screen activities are more likely to be unhappy. 4) Mental Health/Insecurity - iGens are less happy. They feel more anxiety and depression which can lead to suicide. 5) Being Irreligious – Less students identify with a religious group. Only 28% of high school seniors attend church. If religion conflicts with science, iGens must choose sides, with science usually being the default. 6) Isolation/Safety and Community – There is a strong desire for safety in all areas of life. They smoke less, drink less, and drive less. iGens want emotional safety as well, especially on campus. They

Collection

2020 Gulf Southwest Section Conference

Authors

Matthew Wettergreen

learn theengineering design process while documenting their work in the form of written technical memos.Around the halfway point of the semester, the focus of the course shifts. During the first half of thecourse teams conduct research on the problem, produce design documentation, set quantitativedesign parameters, and brainstorm solutions. In the second half, the focus moves to more physicalprototyping related tasks. In this second half the structure supports students to build successivelyevolved prototypes. Students are taught how to test and validate their prototypes as they refine them.Three structured prototype evaluations are held to provide formative feedback to teams on theirprototype functionality and refinement. More information on