Columbus, Ohio
June 24, 2017
June 24, 2017
June 28, 2017
Diversity and NSF Grantees Poster Session
9
10.18260/1-2--27790
https://peer.asee.org/27790
540
Weihang Zhu is an Associate Professor of Industrial Engineering, Lamar University, USA since 2005. He received his Ph.D. in Industrial Engineering from North Carolina State University (2003), USA and his M.S. (2000) and B.S. (1997) in Mechanical and Energy Engineering at Zhejiang University, China. His research interests include Engineering Education, Computer haptics, CAD/CAM, high performance computing, meta-heuristics, multi-axis NC surface machining.
Julia Yoo is currently an Associate Professor in the Department of Teacher Education and Program Coordinator of Teacher Leadership Graduate Program at Lamar University. Dr. Yoo received her doctorate in Educational Psychology at the University of Texas at Austin. She also earned her M.A. degree in Program Evaluation at the same institution. She is a former elementary school teacher and has given numerous presentations at national, international, and regional conferences.
Dr. James Curry is an Associate Professor in the Lamar Industrial Engineering department.
Dr. Brian Craig, PE, CPE is a Professor and the Chair of the Department of Industrial Engineering at Lamar University. He is a Registered Professional Engineer in the State of Texas and a Certified Professional Ergonomist. He has published over 40 journal articles, textbook chapters, conference proceedings, and industrial technical papers as well as presented in numerous national research conferences. He has been involved in 26 (22 as PI) industry and governmental supported research projects totaling over $1.5M, mostly in the maritime industry. Dr. Craig is the Director of the Mariner Safety Research Initiative at Lamar, the Associate Director for Research for the Center for Advances in Port Management, and Lamar University Scholar.
Dr. Jiang Zhou is currently a professor with the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Lamar University, Beaumont, Texas. She received her Ph. D. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Maryland at Baltimore County (UMBC), Baltimore, Maryland, in 2003. Her research interests include mechanical applications in microelectronics, biomechanics, system dynamics, and system optimizations, etc.
Hsing-wei Chu is Piper and University Professor and Chairman of Mechanical Engineering Department at Lamar University, Texas. He received his Ph. D. from the University of Texas at Austin. He published more than 50 papers in various research fields.
Nicholas Brake is currently an Assistant Professor in the civil and environmental department at Lamar University. He received his B.S. (2005), M.S. (2008), and Ph.D. (2012) from Michigan State University. His area of expertise is in cementitious composites which includes: fracture and fatigue mechanics of quasi-brittle materials, recycled concrete, conductive concrete, reinforced concrete, pervious concrete, geopolymer, and structural dynamics. He currently teaches a wide array of courses that includes statics, reinforced concrete design, structural analysis, and materials engineering. Dr. Brake actively integrates project based and peer assisted learning pedagogies into his curriculum.
In 2015, Lamar University (LU) at Beaumont, Texas was awarded an NSF S-STEM grant titled “Industrial and Mechanical Engineering Scholars with Scholarships, Career Mentoring, Outreach and Advisement, Professional Societies and Engineering Learning Community (SCOPE) S-STEM Program.” The goal of the project is to recruit and retain more Industrial Engineering (IE) and Mechanical Engineering (ME) students by providing scholarship funding. This project provides scholarships to academically talented and financially needy IE or ME students to help them complete their Bachelor’s degree. The amount of eligible support was determined based on FAFSA applications through the assistance of the LU Financial Aid Office. The scholarships are complemented by extensive academic support. The project integrates IE and ME scholars with services including Scholarships, Career Mentoring, Outreach and Advisement, Professional Societies and Engineering Learning Community (SCOPE). As such, the students are called SCOPE Scholars in this project. This program will target students from sophomore to senior years and guide them through their degree completion. In fall 2015, the first cohort of 10 SCOPE Scholars were recruited with about $60K of scholarships distributed. At the beginning of fall 2015, a SCOPE orientation was held to explain the expectation of the SCOPE Scholars. LU President, Provost, Dean of Graduate Studies, Dean of Engineering, Chair of IE (Co-PI), Chair of ME (Co-PI), Director of Undergraduate Research, Coordinator of Learning Communities, Senior Director of Co-op and Outreach, and Director of Engineering Marketing attended the orientation. They either addressed the scholars or discussed the relevant academic support available from the university. The scholars are mentored at least twice a semester. During the semesters, they actively participate in extracurricular activities which are assessed using a point-based method. Two undergraduate students were recruited to document their activities and serve as the coordinators. The scholars complete two surveys each semester, one at the beginning and one near the end of semester. Some scholars are randomly selected for one-on-one interviews with the assessment specialist. After one year, all the scholars were able to maintain 3.0+ GPA and meet the requirement for extracurricular and mentoring activities. One scholar graduated in summer 2016 and one scholar received a Co-op position. The second cohort of 9 SCOPE Scholars have been recruited in fall 2016 and they joined the current scholars.
Zhu, W., & Yoo, J., & Curry, J. C., & Craig, B., & Zhou, J., & Chu, H., & Brake, N. A. (2017, June), Board # 158 : Industrial and Mechanical Engineering Scholars with Scholarships, Career Mentoring, Outreach and Advisement, Professional Societies and Engineering Learning Community (SCOPE) S-STEM Program Paper presented at 2017 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Columbus, Ohio. 10.18260/1-2--27790
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