Identifying NSF S-STEM Sponsored Program Activities that Have a Positive Impact on Mechanical Engineering S-STEM Scholars

Liang Zhu; Jamie R. Gurganus; Charles D. Eggleton; Ronghui Ma; Timmie Topoleski; Deepa Madan

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Conference: 2020 ASEE Virtual Annual Conference Content Access
Location: Virtual On line
Publication Date: June 22, 2020
Start Date: June 22, 2020
End Date: June 26, 2021
Conference Session: Mechanical Engineering Technical Session: Outreach and Retention
Tagged Division: Mechanical Engineering
Tagged Topic: Diversity
Page Count: 12
DOI: 10.18260/1-2--34746
Permanent URL: https://peer.asee.org/34746
Download Count: 506

Paper Authors

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Liang Zhu University of Maryland, Baltimore County

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Liang Zhu received her B.S. in Engineering Thermophysics from the University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui, China, in 1988, and Ph.D. in Engineering from the City University of New York, New York, USA, in 1995. Currently, she is a Professor of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC). Her research fields include using nanotechnology to improve treatment outcomes of cancer patients. She is also interested in Engineering Education research, and currently she serves as the Director of Mechanical Engineering S-STEM Scholarship Program at UMBC.

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Jamie R. Gurganus University of Maryland, Baltimore County

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Jamie Gurganus works in the MechanicalEngineering Department at UMBC, focusing in the field of Engineering Education. She serves as the Associate Director of Engineering Education Initiatives for the College of Engineering and IT at UMBC and as Co-Director of Advancing Excellence in P12 Engineering Education (AEEE). Her research is focused on solving problems relating to educating engineers, teachers, and the community. She seeks to identify best practices and develop assessments methods that assist teachers with student engagement, helping them to be successful throughout the STEM pipeline.
A few of these key areas include enhancing student’s spatial abilities (k-12 and higher education), integrating service learning into the classroom, implementing new instructional methodologies, and design optimization using additive manufacturing.

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Charles D. Eggleton University of Maryland, Baltimore County

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Dr. Charles Dionisio Eggleton is a Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Maryland Baltimore County. He has twenty-two years of experience teaching theoretical and laboratory courses in thermo-fluids to undergraduate students and was Department Chair from 2011 -2017. Dr. Eggleton earned his M.S. and Ph.D. in Aeronautics and Astronautics from Stanford University and his B.S. in Naval Architecture from the University of California.

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Dr. Deepa Madan is an Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC), Baltimore. She joined the UMBC faculty in 2016. Dr. Madan received her post-doctoral training in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at the Johns Hopkins University. She received her PhD in Mechanical Engineering from the University of California, Berkeley, where she developed cost-effective thermoelectric generators to power wireless sensor networks. Her research interests are in composite and polymer thermoelectric materials and devices, rechargeable batteries, and additive manufacturing techniques.

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Abstract

Due to current needs for a diverse and skilled workforce in engineering, the NSF-sponsored Mechanical Engineering (ME) S-STEM Scholarship Program in our institution (2009-present) has provided enhanced educational opportunities to more than 100 economically disadvantaged and academically talented undergraduate students in the ME Department since 2009. The NSF funded S-STEM project focuses resources on financial support, coupled with curricular and co-curricular activities designed to facilitate student degree attainment, career development, employability in STEM-related jobs, and enrollment in graduate school. In addition, our S-STEM program proactively implements engineering research-related activities, including research presentations for recruitment, in-depth lab tours, seminars, REUs, research conference support, featuring research/internship on our website, etc.

In this study, we present preliminary data that reveal the attitudes and perceptions of the current 25 ME S-STEM scholars based on surveys conducted this year. The scholars were asked to provide their opinion on the impact that the activities sponsored by our S-STEM program had on their attitudes and perceptions. Results have demonstrated that faculty and peer mentoring are the most effective methods contributing to positive attitudes and perceptions. In addition, research-related activities such as lab visits, REUs, research seminars, attending research conferences, and internship opportunities are viewed favorably by the scholars as helping them establish their science/engineering self-efficacy and engineering identity, and understand their expectations and goals. On the other hand, in addition to mentoring, community building activities such as program retreats, social events, and being part of a professional society are considered as contributing to help them integrate into the campus life and improve their sense of belonging to the campus and program. In June 2019, all but two scholars were retained in our scholarship program; those who remained in the program consider all S-STEM activities favorable to their retention. Among the 10 scholars who graduated from the ME undergraduate program in the past year, 40% of them stated that they will pursue graduate degree, 20% will work in industry, and the other 40% will work in industry and enroll in a graduate school as a part-time student. Those 10 scholars identified faculty and peer mentoring, all the research-related activities sponsored by our program, internship, and social interaction with faculty and their peers as positive factors that helped them make their decisions.

Citation
Format

Zhu, L., & Gurganus, J. R., & Eggleton, C. D., & Ma, R., & Topoleski, T., & Madan, D. (2020, June), Identifying NSF S-STEM Sponsored Program Activities that Have a Positive Impact on Mechanical Engineering S-STEM Scholars Paper presented at 2020 ASEE Virtual Annual Conference Content Access, Virtual On line . 10.18260/1-2--34746

TY  - CPAPER
AB  - Due to current needs for a diverse and skilled workforce in engineering, the NSF-sponsored Mechanical Engineering (ME) S-STEM Scholarship Program in our institution (2009-present) has provided enhanced educational opportunities to more than 100 economically disadvantaged and academically talented undergraduate students in the ME Department since 2009.  The NSF funded S-STEM project focuses resources on financial support, coupled with curricular and co-curricular activities designed to facilitate student degree attainment, career development, employability in STEM-related jobs, and enrollment in graduate school.  In addition, our S-STEM program proactively implements engineering research-related activities, including research presentations for recruitment, in-depth lab tours, seminars, REUs, research conference support, featuring research/internship on our website, etc. 

In this study, we present preliminary data that reveal the attitudes and perceptions of the current 25 ME S-STEM scholars based on surveys conducted this year.  The scholars were asked to provide their opinion on the impact that the activities sponsored by our S-STEM program had on their attitudes and perceptions.  Results have demonstrated that faculty and peer mentoring are the most effective methods contributing to positive attitudes and perceptions.  In addition, research-related activities such as lab visits, REUs, research seminars, attending research conferences, and internship opportunities are viewed favorably by the scholars as helping them establish their science/engineering self-efficacy and engineering identity, and understand their expectations and goals.  On the other hand, in addition to mentoring, community building activities such as program retreats, social events, and being part of a professional society are considered as contributing to help them integrate into the campus life and improve their sense of belonging to the campus and program.  In June 2019, all but two scholars were retained in our scholarship program; those who remained in the program consider all S-STEM activities favorable to their retention. Among the 10 scholars who graduated from the ME undergraduate program in the past year, 40% of them stated that they will pursue graduate degree, 20% will work in industry, and the other 40% will work in industry and enroll in a graduate school as a part-time student.  Those 10 scholars identified faculty and peer mentoring, all the research-related activities sponsored by our program, internship, and social interaction with faculty and their peers as positive factors that helped them make their decisions.
AU  - Liang Zhu
AU  - Jamie R. Gurganus
AU  - Charles D. Eggleton
AU  - Ronghui Ma
AU  - Timmie Topoleski
AU  - Deepa Madan
CY  - Virtual On line 
DA  - 2020/06/22
PB  - ASEE Conferences
TI  - Identifying NSF S-STEM Sponsored Program Activities that Have a Positive Impact on Mechanical Engineering S-STEM Scholars
UR  - https://peer.asee.org/34746
DO  - 10.18260/1-2--34746
ER  -