Engagement in Practice: Engineering Solutions for a Local Organic Egg Farm

Alexa Renshaw; Bree L Carpenter; Kylea Assayag-Nodine; Derek M Yip-Hoi; Jill Davishahl

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Conference: 2024 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition
Location: Portland, Oregon
Publication Date: June 23, 2024
Start Date: June 23, 2024
End Date: July 12, 2024
Conference Session: Engagement in Practice Lightning Round: Engineering with and for Community Partners
Tagged Division: Community Engagement Division (COMMENG)
Permanent URL: https://peer.asee.org/47263

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Dr. Yip-Hoi is currently a professor in Manufacturing Engineering at the Department of Engineering and Design at Western Washington University. Previously, he served on the faculties of the University of the West Indies - St. Augustine, the University of Michigan - Ann Arbor, and the University of British Columbia. His research interests lie in the areas of CAD, geometric and solid modeling, machining and CNC, engineering design and ethics, and machine design.

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Jill Davishahl Western Washington University

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Jill Davishahl is Associate Professor and First Year Programs Director in the Engineering + Design department at Western Washington University. Jill’s teaching, service, and research activities focus on enhancing the first year student experience by providing the foundational technical skills, student engagement opportunities, and professional skill development necessary to improve success in the major. Her current research focuses on creating inclusive and equitable learning environments through the development and implementation of strategies geared towards increasing student sense of belonging.

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Abstract

This engagement in practice paper summarizes the development and implementation of a collaborative partnership between a local organic egg farm and Western Washington University’s Engineering & Design program. The objective is to engage students in a project-based design experience while fostering meaningful community involvement. Over the past 18 months, this collaboration gave students the opportunity to apply technical and business management skills to improve the farm’s economic success. Student teams, in direct collaboration with the farm owner and staff, worked on identifying, narrowing, and focusing on potential projects. Once the projects were identified, teams developed problem solutions using the engineering design process. One team explored alternative chicken bedding options and distribution to benefit the well-being of chickens and cut labor cost. A second team developed a system to monitor egg collection and improve delivery processes. This paper discusses the benefits and lessons learned from the student’s perspective as they engaged in the open-ended projects. Discussion highlights the impact this experience has on encouraging independent work through open-ended tasks to achieve a goal. Although an increase in structure would have benefited the groups, working through problems independently aided growth of student research skills and their ability to apply the engineering design process. Overall, this project was a positive educational experience for students and helped them learn how to structure a research project and what role engineering can play in supporting their community. The opportunity to conduct research in developing a solution with real-world impact was a strong motivating factor for students over the project's duration and proved beneficial to their learning.

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Renshaw, A., & Carpenter, B. L., & Assayag-Nodine, K., & Yip-Hoi, D. M., & Davishahl, J. (2024, June), Engagement in Practice: Engineering Solutions for a Local Organic Egg Farm Paper presented at 2024 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Portland, Oregon. https://peer.asee.org/47263