From Bachelor’s to Master’s: Growing Student Engagement in Accelerated ECE Pathways

Pelin Kurtay; Smriti Patwardhan

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Conference: 2025 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition
Location: Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Publication Date: June 22, 2025
Start Date: June 22, 2025
End Date: August 15, 2025
Conference Session: ECE-Career Development and Program Structures
Tagged Division: Electrical and Computer Engineering Division (ECE)
Page Count: 14
Permanent URL: https://peer.asee.org/56601

Paper Authors

biography

Pelin Kurtay George Mason University

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Pelin Kurtay is Professor and Senior Associate Chair of the Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) Department at George Mason University. She currently heads the ECE Department's undergraduate curriculum development efforts and other initiatives related to the development of new programs, recruitment, retention, and planning efforts.

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biography

Smriti Patwardhan George Mason University

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Smriti K Patwardhan is an award-winning academic advisor with over 15 years of experience in higher education, including 10+ years devoted to undergraduate advising. She currently serves as the Associate Director of Undergraduate Studies and Academic Advising in the Dept. of Electrical and Computer Engineering at George Mason University. With a master’s degree in electrical engineering from George Mason (2004) and prior experience as an engineer in India, Smriti brings a unique blend of technical knowledge, industry experience, and student-centered practice. This enables her to provide highly effective support to engineering students. Her current research interests include engineering education.

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Abstract

This paper outlines the initiatives undertaken by the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at a large, public R1 institution to boost the number of students transitioning from undergraduate to master's programs through an accelerated track. Students who are accepted into this program can seamlessly transition from their undergraduate studies to a master's program, with a possibility of completing both within five years.

We describe a concerted, multipronged effort involving faculty, advisors, and staff working collaboratively to increase the proportion of students pursuing accelerated pathways from undergraduate programs in electrical and computer engineering and other closely related programs to our two master's programs. These efforts include curriculum changes at both the undergraduate and graduate levels, cost incentives, employment opportunities, and the removal of various admission barriers to improve the overall student experience. Additionally, outreach initiatives starting at the freshman level and continuing through to the senior year—such as classroom visits, targeted advising and messaging, and publicizing the programs and their benefits through websites and social media—have been implemented. This paper will describe these initiatives and their impact.

Over the past six years, these consistent efforts have significantly increased undergraduate student participation in these pathways and enhanced the student experience. The ECE department has observed an increase from just a handful of students participating each year to around 35 students participating in the pathways this year. Furthermore, the department has also managed to increase the proportion of non-pathway junior and senior-level students taking graduate courses because of these efforts. This paper will detail these initiatives, present results and outline future work aimed at overcoming challenges in retaining students and supporting them in completing their master's degrees. The results of this work have implications for any program who is looking to increase student engagement and recruit more students into their accelerated track from their undergraduate programs as they constitute an attractive pool of potential graduate students.

Citation
Format

Kurtay, P., & Patwardhan, S. (2025, June), From Bachelor’s to Master’s: Growing Student Engagement in Accelerated ECE Pathways Paper presented at 2025 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition , Montreal, Quebec, Canada . https://peer.asee.org/56601

TY  - CPAPER
AB  - This paper outlines the initiatives undertaken by the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at a large, public R1 institution to boost the number of students transitioning from undergraduate to master&#39;s programs through an accelerated track. Students who are accepted into this program can seamlessly transition from their undergraduate studies to a master&#39;s program, with a possibility of completing both within five years.

We describe a concerted, multipronged effort involving faculty, advisors, and staff working collaboratively to increase the proportion of students pursuing accelerated pathways from undergraduate programs in electrical and computer engineering and other closely related programs to our two master&#39;s programs. These efforts include curriculum changes at both the undergraduate and graduate levels, cost incentives, employment opportunities, and the removal of various admission barriers to improve the overall student experience. Additionally, outreach initiatives starting at the freshman level and continuing through to the senior year—such as classroom visits, targeted advising and messaging, and publicizing the programs and their benefits through websites and social media—have been implemented. This paper will describe these initiatives and their impact.

Over the past six years, these consistent efforts have significantly increased undergraduate student participation in these pathways and enhanced the student experience. The ECE department has observed an increase from just a handful of students participating each year to around 35 students participating in the pathways this year. Furthermore, the department has also managed to increase the proportion of non-pathway junior and senior-level students taking graduate courses because of these efforts. This paper will detail these initiatives, present results and outline future work aimed at overcoming challenges in retaining students and supporting them in completing their master&#39;s degrees. The results of this work have implications for any program who is looking to increase student engagement and recruit more students into their accelerated track from their undergraduate programs as they constitute an attractive pool of potential graduate students.

AU  - Pelin Kurtay
AU  - Smriti Patwardhan
CY  - Montreal, Quebec, Canada 
DA  - 2025/06/22
PB  - ASEE Conferences
TI  - From Bachelor’s to Master’s: Growing Student Engagement in Accelerated ECE Pathways
UR  - https://peer.asee.org/56601
ER  -