Collection

2023 PSW

Authors

Helen Choi

communicate in accordance with the norms andexpectations of their specific disciplines. However, few students have such expertise atthe start of their graduate program, nor do they formally acquire it as part of theircoursework. Direct writing instruction in engineering graduate programs is scarce, andto the extent that curricular or co-curricular technical communication instruction isoffered, it is often deemed remedial or separate from disciplinary content knowledge. Asa consequence, writing is largely devalued, despite its outsized role in graduatestudents’ academic lives and careers in industry and academia.To address this gap, the Council of Graduate Schools recommends the establishment ofgraduate writing centers (GWCs) that are staffed by

Collection

2001 Annual Conference

Authors

Kenneth Reid

> 50% of lectures and labs), which would exclude them from receiving any benefit fromcollaborative/cooperative techniques. An important point in this analysis is that, while thematerial was presented in an active and collaborative mode, the exam as an assessment tool is anassessment of an individual, not a team. A different metric may reveal a more significantdifference.The averages and standard deviations are shown in Table 1. Sample size, or number of studentsis also presented, as is the P-value resulting from a t-test to judge the significance of thedifferences in the scores. A small P-value can indicate that two means which appear to bedifferent are in fact statistically different (a widely accepted value of 0.05 or less indicates

Conference Session

Radiation and Radiological Engineering Education

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Sheldon Landsberger, University of Texas-Austin; Jessica Rosinski, University of Texas-Austin; Paul Buckley, Lewis-Clark State College; Dan Dugan, Washington State University; James Elliston, Washington State University; Roy Filby, Washigton State University; Jeremy Lessman, Washington State University; Alena Paulenova, Oregon State University

Tagged Divisions

Nuclear and Radiological

AC 2007-620: DEVELOPMENT OF A RADIOCHEMISTRY LABORATORY FORTHE PRODUCTION OF TC-99M USING NEUTRON ACTIVATIONSheldon Landsberger, University of Texas-Austin Dr. Sheldon Landsberger is the Coordinator of the Nuclear and Radiation Engineering Program at the University of Texas at Austin and teaches a graduate course in Nuclear and Radiochemistry.Jessica Rosinski, University of Texas-AustinPaul Buckley, Lewis-Clark State CollegeDan Dugan, Washington State UniversityJames Elliston, Washington State UniversityRoy Filby, Washigton State UniversityJeremy Lessman, Washington State UniversityAlena Paulenova, Oregon State University

Conference Session

Outreach to K-12 Females

Collection

2013 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Christina Kay White, University of Texas, Austin; Richard H. Crawford, University of Texas, Austin; Austin Bates Talley, University of Texas, Austin; Anthony J Petrosino Jr, The University of Texas at Austin ; Kristen Bland, University of Michigan

Tagged Divisions

K-12 & Pre-College Engineering

, Page 23.641.4Beyond Blackboards is the first STEM outreach program in the district, providing students withBeyond Blackboards Page 4 of 25access to STEM opportunities that they have not previously had the possibility to receive. CCSDis a prime area for this study because it is representative of the current national situation. With arapidly increasing minority population and a lack of STEM opportunities in economicallydisadvantaged areas, many Americans are in a poor position to engage in STEM fields.Therefore, the United States’ attempts to strengthen its economy through this highly innovativediscipline are largely inadequate. Participants in Beyond Blackboards are representative ofschool demographics, with 66% of students identifying as

Collection

2001 Annual Conference

Authors

Matthew Morley; Jody Redepenning; Bruce Dvorak

Session # 2793 Evaluation of One-Semester Freshman Chemistry Course for Civil and Environmental Engineers Bruce I. Dvorak, Jody Redepenning, and Matthew C. Morley University of Nebraska-LincolnIntroduction At the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL), the current required chemistry componentfor the Civil Engineering program is a four-credit hour, “Chemistry for Engineering andTechnology” course (Chem 111). This course has three hours of lecture and a one-hourlaboratory. Students in the Agricultural Engineering and Mechanical Engineering programs arealso required to take Chem

Conference Session

Ethical and Global Concerns

Collection

2020 ASEE Virtual Annual Conference Content Access

Authors

Alison Wood , Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering; Robert Martello, Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering

Tagged Topics

Diversity

Tagged Divisions

Liberal Education/Engineering & Society

campus.Next steps for this course, and for Olin’s broader GCSP program, will largely follow two paths.The instructors are continuing to gather student feedback throughout version two of the Changethe World course to aid in its continuing improvement, and the next phase of this discussion willinvolve faculty members apart from the teaching team who are interested in supporting GCSP.The instructors will consider alterations to the design of the course, specifically looking atreactions to changes made to certain projects and classroom activities in response to the feedbackfrom version one, but also reconsidering the broader learning objectives and methods used toachieve them. In addition, because of the pandemic of 2020, additional structural and

Collection

2023 ASEE Midwest Section Conference

Authors

Kristine Q. Loh; Moumita Dasgupta

curricula to ensure non-STEM majorsbuild well-rounded science literacy foundations for their diverse career prospects. However,many students who enroll in non-STEM programs may experience science anxiety, decreasingtheir confidence to succeed in STEM courses. The root of this anxiety may stem from myriadsources, from poor experiences in middle or high school STEM classes to anxiety arising fromsocietal barriers due to the different identities a student may hold.Yet, Udo et al. found that enrolling students in an interactive, introductory physics coursedecreased science anxiety for non-STEM majors [1]. While Smith et al. found that most non-STEM majors enroll in STEM courses to fulfill a major requirement, they also found that

Conference Session

Concurrent Paper Tracks Session II Outreach

Collection

2016 ASEE International Forum

Authors

Rose-Margaret Ekeng-Itua, Ohlone College

Tagged Topics

International Forum

Alaskan Natives, and Hispanic Americans), is a critical concern for the U.S.2 In 2010, the National Academies of Science reported that underrepresented minorities “embody a vastly underused resource and a lost opportunity for meeting our nation’s technology needs”.3 With today’s society facing global challenges in energy that are essential to sustaining our current way of life, it is even more critical for 4-year institutions to reach out to pools of students traditionally underrepresented in science and engineering programs.One pool of such students is community college students pursuing math, chemistry, andphysics courses that are transferrable to baccalaureate programs. In a Strategy for AmericanInnovation, the Obama administration stated that

Conference Session

Mechanical Engineering Division Technical Session 8

Collection

2018 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Philip Jackson, University of Florida

Tagged Divisions

Mechanical Engineering

numerical heat transfer, fluids, and magnetohydrodynamic simulations and facilitating undergraduate students to engage in similar projects. He is also focused on the implementation of engineering freshman design experiences. c American Society for Engineering Education, 2018 Generating Automated Problem Sets for Rapid Content Delivery and Adaptive Learning ModulesAbstractProblem solving plays a critical role in the education of young engineers. Word problem sets area vehicle that educators use to teach and assess that skill. While textbooks, problem repositories,and online learning systems provide a host of interesting problems there will always be a need togenerate new problems to

Conference Session

Faculty Development Division (FDD) Technical Session 4

Collection

2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Andrew L. Gerhart, Lawrence Technological University

Tagged Divisions

Faculty Development Division (FDD)

necessary” arose. It was becoming clear that a guidebook or map to organize,categorize, and sort through the plethora of techniques was necessary.Student-centered Learning, ACL, and PBLActive learning has been defined as any instructional activity that engages students.Collaborative learning is a pedagogical technique where students work in small groups to reach acommon goal [3], [8]. Cooperative learning is similar to collaborative learning, but the studentgroups are more structured in the cooperative learning (among other subtle differences) [11].For the course modification program at LTU and subsequently the KEEN faculty developmentprograms, faculty are implementing both formal (cooperative) and informal (collaborative)techniques into their

Conference Session

ECE Division Poster Session

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Nader Rafla, Boise State University

Tagged Divisions

Electrical and Computer

AC 2011-2475: TEACHING DIGITAL SYSTEMS VERIFICATION METHOD-OLOGIES USING SYSTEMVERILOGNader Rafla, Boise State University Dr. Nader Rafla, P.E. received his MSEE and Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio in 1984 and 1991 respectively. His Doctoral research concentrated on object recognition and localization from range image data, force-torque, and touch sensors data. From 1991 to 1996, he was an Associate Professor in the department of Manufacturing Engineering at the Central State University. Where he taught courses related to the electrical engineering component of the program. In the mean time, he developed and was involved in a research program in applied image

Conference Session

International Division Technical Session 2

Collection

2019 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Angela R. Bielefeldt, University of Colorado, Boulder; Greg Rulifson P.E., Colorado School of Mines; Nathan E. Canney, CYS Structural Engineers Inc.

Tagged Topics

Diversity

Tagged Divisions

International

Paper ID #25622Social Responsibility Related to Global Experiences and Interests of U.S. En-gineering StudentsDr. Angela R. Bielefeldt, University of Colorado, Boulder Angela Bielefeldt is a professor at the University of Colorado Boulder in the Department of Civil, Environ- mental, and Architectural Engineering (CEAE). She has served as the Associate Chair for Undergraduate Education in the CEAE Department, as well as the ABET assessment coordinator. Professor Bielefeldt was also the faculty director of the Sustainable By Design Residential Academic Program, a living- learning community where interdisciplinary students

Conference Session

Learning Outcomes and Pedagogical Strategies: Problems of Alignment

Collection

2018 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Madeline Polmear, University of Colorado, Boulder; Angela R. Bielefeldt, University of Colorado, Boulder; Daniel Knight, University of Colorado, Boulder; Nathan E. Canney, CYS Structural Engineers Inc.; Chris Swan, Tufts University

Tagged Divisions

Liberal Education/Engineering & Society

, Environ- mental, and Architectural Engineering (CEAE). She has served as the Associate Chair for Undergraduate Education in the CEAE Department, as well as the ABET assessment coordinator. Professor Bielefeldt was also the faculty director of the Sustainable By Design Residential Academic Program, a living- learning community where interdisciplinary students learn about and practice sustainability. Bielefeldt is also a licensed P.E. Professor Bielefeldt’s research interests in engineering education include service- learning, sustainable engineering, social responsibility, ethics, and diversity.Dr. Daniel Knight, University of Colorado, Boulder Daniel W. Knight is the Program Assessment and Research Associate at Design

Conference Session

Multidisciplinary Engineering Division (MULTI) Technical Session 3

Collection

2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Julie Sonnenberg-Klein, Georgia Institute of Technology; Edward J. Coyle, Georgia Institute of Technology; Kartik Saigal

Tagged Divisions

Multidisciplinary Engineering Division (MULTI)

therelative distance between categories. The index can be expressed as Equation 1, where dijrepresents the distance between categories i and j, pi and pj represent the proportion of units fromcategories i and j, and the summation is done over half of the matrix (i > j) [20]. The expressionis also known in ecology as the distance-weighted Simpson diversity, and in economics as theHerfindahl-Hirschman index [16]. The index can be used to describe the interdisciplinarity ofindividual papers [21], journals [22], institutions [23], and entire fields [15]. Because the index isbased on proportions and distances, a small team and a large team could have the same index iftheir proportions and disciplinary distances were the same

Conference Session

Research and Multidisciplinary Experiences

Collection

2015 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Gregory Scott Duncan, Valparaiso University; Shahin S. Nudehi, Valparaiso University; Robert D. Palumbo, Valparaiso University; Daniel Blood, Valparaiso University; Luke Jerod Venstrom, Valparaiso University

Tagged Divisions

Mechanical Engineering

participation is the solar furnace project led to the development of a uniqueinstrument as there are only four other large-scale solar furnaces in the United States. Havingaccess to the solar furnace has already been instrumental in Valparaiso University receiving a 2.3million dollar grant from the Department of Energy ARPA-E program to study the production ofmagnesium using sunlight and a National Science Foundation grant to study the production ofhydrogen using sunlight. It is unusual for an undergraduate only engineering program to receivegrants of this nature. These grants will provide a multitude of researchers and students theopportunity to use the solar furnace to developand test high-temperature solar technologies.Additionally, students and

Conference Session

Materials Division Technical Session 4

Collection

2020 ASEE Virtual Annual Conference Content Access

Authors

Blake Herren, University of Oklahoma; Ryan Cowdrey; Weston Scott Sleeper; Colin Bray; Zahed Siddique, University of Oklahoma; Yingtao Liu, University of Oklahoma

Tagged Divisions

Materials

Engineering Education, 2020 Enhancing Undergraduate Research across Disciplines: Integration of 3D Printing and Advanced Materials to Engage StudentsAbstractIn the last decade, there has been a dramatic increase in the efforts dedicated to involvingundergraduate engineering students in research activities. Foundational topics in mechanicalengineering are taught separately in most engineering programs, without emphasizing theconnection among concepts and applications across topics. The advance of additive manufacturingtechnology provides a unique platform to integrate multiple mechanical engineering topics andcourses to enhance undergraduate research and education. This paper reports the education projectsand programs being developed at

Collection

2000 Annual Conference

Authors

Tirupathi R. Chandrupatla; Shreekanth A Mandayam; Anthony J. Marchese; John L. Schmalzel; John Chen; Ravi Ramachandran; Paris von Lockette; Kevin Dahm

- Page 5.633.1neering programs in the country. The College of Engineering at Rowan University is composed of four departments: Chemical Engineering (ChE); Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE); Elec- trical and Computer Engineering (ECE); and Mechanical Engineering (ME). Each department has been designed to serve 25 to 30 students per year, resulting in 100 to 120 students per year in the College of Engineering. The size of the college has been optimized such that it is large enough to provide specialization in separate and credible departments, yet small enough to permit the creation of a truly multidisciplinary curriculum in whichTable 1. Overview of course content in the 8-semester

Collection

2023 ASEE Midwest Section Conference

Authors

Preston Ward; Michael Hempel; Hamid Sharif

engineering classes. Although universitieshave largely reverted to typical courses after the pandemic, remote or asynchronous degreeprogram opportunities remain attractive and of interest to students. Hence, the demand fortransforming hands-on laboratories to remote formats remains, especially for creating moreopportunities for non-traditional and disabled students. In this paper, we present our work oncreating a near-presence VR-driven laboratory experience in the TEL lab. This approach is builtaround telerobotics and its integration into undergraduate Electrical Engineering education at theUniversity of Nebraska-Lincoln.Related Works To accommodate non-traditional students, and in response to the COVID-19 pandemic,universities began exploring

Conference Session

NSF Grantees Poster Session

Collection

2022 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Katerina Goseva-Popstojanova, West Virginia University; Erin Carll; Elizabeth Litzler, University of Washington; Robin Hensel, West Virginia University

training, built an undergraduate first-year engineering program at a large R1 research institution and a Molecular Biology/Biotechnology masters’ degree program at a small internationally-focused teaching institution, lived on-campus as a Resident Faculty Leader for an engineering-focused residence hall, and secured over $5 million in funding and support for STEM education research, focusing on student success, inclusion, and retention, and including funds for summer bridge programs and scholarships for underrepresented students. She has been recognized for her excellence inteaching, advising, and service, and as an Exemplary Faculty Member for Excellence in Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.An active ASEE member since 2005, Hensel

Conference Session

Student Division Technical Session 4: Project-based Learning

Collection

2024 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

James Chengda Lu, BASIS Shavano; Vincent Liu, Brandeis High School; Justin Jin; Parker Olkowski; Yu-Fang Jin, The University of Texas at San Antonio

Tagged Topics

Diversity

Tagged Divisions

Student Division (STDT)

Paper ID #42817Cultivating Robotic Professionals: A Learning-Practice-Service EducationalFrameworkJames Chengda Lu, BASIS Shavano James Chengda Lu is currently a junior at BASIS San Antonio Shavano. He has been an active member of the FIRST Tech Challenge community for 4 years. His interests include mechatronics and robotics. Through interning with the NASA SEES (STEM Enhancement in Earth Science) Program, he has recently completed a CubeSAT project under the support of the Twiggs Space Labs. He has advocated for STEM education through organizing international outreaches, attending national conferences, and creating and

Collection

2020 ASEE Virtual Annual Conference Content Access

Authors

Abul K. M. Azad, Northern Illinois University

Tagged Divisions

Computing and Information Technology

programs, and other users [28, 29]. Sensor data are stored in Elasticsearch(Lucene) which is running in the local Datastror. Elasticsearch is a Non-SQL Datastore,which helps provides faster indexing, fuzzy searching, and analytics of very large data. It ishighly scalable compared to SQL [30]. Figure 13: System interaction using Cloud.The NodeJS server program in cloud provides Representational State Transfer (REST) endpoint to TK-1 board and push the data to the Datastore. This architecture makes it highlyscalable to connect multiple monitoring sensors across multiple infrastructures. The collecteddata is pushed to Elasticsearch by the NodeJS program after receiving it from Pythonprogram running on TK-1 board. The central

Conference Session

ENT-7: Approaches to Fostering Self-Efficacy and Data-Driven Decision Making

Collection

2025 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

L. Eric James, Minnesota State University, Mankato; Jennifer Karlin, Minnesota State University, Mankato; Zachary Reed Johnson

Tagged Divisions

Entrepreneurship & Engineering Innovation Division (ENT)

-daylives. For example, if someone writes a script to automate a small task they do occasionally, it has microsignificance at a small scale (one person). If they upload that script to GitHub and others start to use it aswell, it still has micro significance, but its impact has increased because it now reaches a larger scale.This same calculation works at the increasing significant meso, macro, and epic levels. Meso significanceis a medium difference in the life of each individual the innovation touches, macro significance is a largedifference, and epic significance fundamentally changes some portion of each individual’s life. Aninnovation at a large enough scale to include a critical mass of an industry, market, or segment of societythat is also of

Conference Session

NSF Grantees’ Poster Session

Collection

2015 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Kyoung-Yun Kim, Wayne State University; Carolyn E Psenka PhD, Wayne State University; Kathy Schmidt Jackson, Pennsylvania State University, University Park; Karl R Haapala, Oregon State University

Tagged Topics

NSF Grantees Poster Session

project, we are conducting a preliminary studyto provide insight into the learning experiences and learning contexts of our students taking placewithin the current (traditional) curriculum offered for environmentally responsible productlifecycle design. This study is being conducted in addition to the assessments described aboveand its findings will inform the design of the CooL:SLiCE environment, evaluation tools, andmetrics.Study description and context This preliminary study is oriented by a qualitative approach. Qualitative researchinterprets data from relatively small numbers of respondents, often by analyzing data collectedduring long term observations and in depth interviews. For this study, students were asked torespond in writing

Conference Session

Web-based learning

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Animesh Patcha, Virginia Tech; Glenda Scales, Virginia Tech

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Technology

, television was a pre-dominant medium for distancelearning. However, with the advent of the internet and multimedia technologies, television hasbeen replaced by Video and Web Conferencing as the medium of choice. Several universitiesand educational institutions have been offering engineering programs to off-campus students formany years. These programs have typically been concentrated in metropolitan areas with a largenumber of engineering corporations and/or military installations. However, current technologiesand demographics present new challenges and opportunities in reaching engineers who work forsmall companies which are often located in small towns.The benefits of using distance learning cannot be emphasized more. Probably the single

Conference Session

A Global Engineer: International and Domestic Engineer

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Isaac W. Wait, Marshall University; Andrew P. Nichols, Marshall University; Wael A. Zatar, Marshall University

Tagged Divisions

International

findings are that, in cases where the American model of university educationis being exported to engineering programs at universities overseas or in situations whereinternational students enroll in engineering programs in the United States, instructors may wantto consider tailoring expectations, learning activities, and assessment tools to account for localvariations in preferred learning styles.IntroductionDue to differences in educational experience, background, individual nature, and cultural effects,every person has a unique set of preferences related to how he/she prefers to learn new things. Page 22.353.2While many students utilize multiple

Collection

2001 Annual Conference

Authors

William Frey; Jose Cruz

assessment: how do we effectivelyassess different classroom exercises using ethical-empowerment as the standard?A. An Exercise in Ethical-Empowerment: Integrating Ethics in an Introduction toComputers CourseFaculty training through an "Interdisciplinary Research and Training Program in Ethics forBusiness, Science, and Engineering in the Puerto Rican Context (NSF grants SBR-9952958 and9810253) has helped us develop exercises for integrating ethics across the curriculum. Tworetreats and related activities provided the background for faculty to feel comfortable with theidea of integrating ethics into their courses. Some of the ideas developed were to considerethics content when adopting new textbooks, discuss topics in ethics earlier in the semester

Conference Session

NSF Grantees’ Poster Session

Collection

2015 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

James E Morris, Portland State University; Jack C. Straton, Portland State University; Lisa H Weasel, Portland State University

Tagged Topics

NSF Grantees Poster Session

cultural perspectives, class, race, gender, sexual orientation, and ability.  Ethics and Social Responsibility: Students expand their understanding of the impact and value of individuals and their choices on society, both intellectually and socially, through group projects and collaboration in learning communities.These goals are demonstrated and regularly assessed for all GE courses and provide an idealmatch to the non-technical sections (f, g, h, & j) of the ABET (Accreditation Board forEngineering & Technology) engineering program accreditation criterion three6,7. For manyengineering students, the linkage of the UNST component of the degree structure to theirtechnical studies will provide relevance and a more

Conference Session

Aerospace Division (AERO) Technical Session 3 - Student Papers 2

Collection

2025 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Taylor St. Fleur, Prairie View A&M University; Jianren Zhou, Prairie View A&M University; Minghui Xu, Clemson University; Yuhao Xu, Clemson University

Tagged Topics

Diversity

Tagged Divisions

Aerospace Division (AERO)

main purpose of this branch is to do structural strengthtesting on articles to find a variety of variables that NASA or the customer will need to knowprior to launching spaceships [2]. This is an imperative role in the aerospace launching processbecause it ensures that the specific section of a rocket is able to withstand the extreme pressuresin outer space [1, 2]. ET30 has multiple buildings/areas that hold these different reactionstructures, ranging from small to extremely large. These reaction structures are specificallydesigned to test the effects of various environmental factors, such as humidity, vacuumconditions, extreme heat, and cryogenic temperatures [2]. This testing process involves applyingand withstanding extreme loads through

Conference Session

CoNECD Session : Day 1 Slot 7 Technical Session 3

Collection

2021 CoNECD

Authors

Nadia N. Kellam, Arizona State University; Vanessa Svihla, University of New Mexico; Susannah C. Davis, Oregon State University; Susan Sajadi, Arizona State University; Jasmine Desiderio, University of New Mexico

Tagged Topics

CoNECD Paper Submissions, Diversity

NIFA grant, and is currently co-PI on three NSF-funded projects in engineering and computer science education, including a Revo- lutionizing Engineering Departments project. She was selected as a National Academy of Education / Spencer Postdoctoral Fellow and a 2018 NSF CAREER awardee in engineering education research. Dr. Svihla studies learning in authentic, real world conditions; this includes a two-strand research program fo- cused on (1) authentic assessment, often aided by interactive technology, and (2) design learning, in which she studies engineers designing devices, scientists designing investigations, teachers designing learning experiences and students designing to learn.Dr. Susannah C. Davis, Oregon

Conference Session

Training and Mentoring of Graduate Teaching Assistants

Collection

2012 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Kevin Andrew Richards, Purdue University; Juan Diego Velasquez, Purdue University, West Lafayette; Lindsey B. Payne, Purdue University

Tagged Divisions

Graduate Studies

information is needed to determine the degree to which TAsthat participate in these programs actually experience increases in their self-efficacy and self-reported feelings of preparedness. This investigation sought to begin addressing this gap in theliterature by developing a preliminary understanding of TAs experience in a series of collegeteaching workshops administered between fall 2010 and the summer 2011.2. Overview of college teaching workshopsSeveral decades ago, the center for teaching and learning at one large, research-intensiveuniversity in the American Midwest was tasked with developing professional developmentprogramming for TAs on campus. One of the ways in which the center meets this mission isthrough the administration of a series of