Columbus, Ohio
June 24, 2017
June 24, 2017
June 28, 2017
Diversity and NSF Grantees Poster Session
7
10.18260/1-2--27776
https://peer.asee.org/27776
499
Dr. Mary Katherine Watson is currently an Assistant Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at The Citadel. Prior to joining the faculty at The Citadel, Dr. Watson earned her PhD in Civil and Environmental Engineering from The Georgia Institute of Technology. She also has BS and MS degrees in Biosystems Engineering from Clemson University. Dr. Watson’s research interests are in the areas of engineering education and biological waste treatment.
Dr. Kevin Bower is D. Graham Copland Professor of Civil Engineering and Head of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at The Citadel, Charleston, South Carolina. Dr. Bower’s research into teaching and learning forces on improving active learning environments and the development of principled leaders attributes in engineering students.
William J. Davis is a professor in Civil & Environmental Engineering at The Citadel in Charleston, SC. He received his Ph.D. in civil engineering from Georgia Tech and is a registered professional engineer. His research interests focus on infrastructure resiliency, transportation facility planning and design, highway safety, and active living by design. He teaches courses in capstone engineering design, engineering management, transportation engineering, geographic information systems, and land surveying.
A student scholarship and enrichment program was established in 2012 to help address the persistent problem of underrepresented minority, female and socioeconomically disadvantaged students enrolled in civil engineering degree programs and corresponding small number of graduates who enter the civil engineering profession. The program was administered within the civil engineering department of a regional undergraduate teaching institution and was made possible by funding from the National Science Foundation’s Scholarships in Science Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (S-STEM) program. The grant-funded program at our institution entitled, Excellence in Civil Engineering Leadership (ExCEL), offered scholarships to qualified students, within target demographic groups, to obtain financial and educational support in earning a civil engineering degree. Equally important to financial support, ExCEL furnished a variety of program-specific, student support services focused on improving retention, building a supportive learning community, developing principled leaders, and preparing graduates for successful careers.
Watson, M. K., & Bower, K. C., & Davis, W. J. (2017, June), Board # 151 : Advancing Diversity Initiatives in the Civil Engineering Profession: Impacts of an NSF S-STEM Grant at a Regional Undergraduate Teaching Institution Paper presented at 2017 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Columbus, Ohio. 10.18260/1-2--27776
ASEE holds the copyright on this document. It may be read by the public free of charge. Authors may archive their work on personal websites or in institutional repositories with the following citation: © 2017 American Society for Engineering Education. Other scholars may excerpt or quote from these materials with the same citation. When excerpting or quoting from Conference Proceedings, authors should, in addition to noting the ASEE copyright, list all the original authors and their institutions and name the host city of the conference. - Last updated April 1, 2015