Impacts of implementing up-to-date industry problems on engineering identity development

Cody Mischel; Lewis Wedgewood; Betul Bilgin; James Pellegrino; Vikas Berry

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Conference: 2022 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition
Location: Minneapolis, MN
Publication Date: August 23, 2022
Start Date: June 26, 2022
End Date: June 29, 2022
Conference Session: Professional Skills and Community Building in Chemical Engineering Education
Page Count: 12
DOI: 10.18260/1-2--41707
Permanent URL: https://peer.asee.org/41707
Download Count: 290

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Paper Authors

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Betul Bilgin The University of Illinois at Chicago

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Betul Bilgin is a Clinical Associate Professor in the Chemical Engineering Department at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC). Betul received her M.S. degree in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Minnesota and her Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from Michigan State University. Betul’s interests include engineering education, team-based learning, and biotechnology.

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Abstract

The chemical engineering curriculum has not evolved as fast as the expansion of the chemical engineering field into very diverse areas such as pharmaceuticals, renewable energy, nanoparticles, and food products. Practicing engineers need to acquire knowledge and broader skills that go beyond what is typically taught in chemical engineering (CHE) programs. To adequately address this problem, we aim to bridge the gap between academia and industry by implementing up-to-date industry problems into a sophomore course on "Mass and Energy Balance" and introducing industry mentors to students. Through this proposed intervention, we explore the broad research question: How effective is the proposed approach in impacting professional identity formation and promoting industry-related competencies? Doing so involves addressing related questions such as: (1) what is the understanding of these applications and their impact on students in terms of interest, knowledge of applications, and professional identity formation? (2) What is the relationship between students’ identity and course performance and assessments? (3) Is there a significant impact of the proposed approach on underrepresented groups especially women? We worked with four industry mentors from various areas of chemical engineering to design up-to-date industry problems. During the Spring 2021 and Fall 2021 semesters, the mentors were introduced to the students and gave background about themselves and their industry-related problems. Aspects of the problems were systematically introduced into the course as homework assignments. Students were surveyed at the beginning and the end of each semester to measure engineering identity and self-efficacy. Randomly selected students were interviewed before and following the course integration activities, to determine engineering identity development and benefits and challenges of the implementation. Mentors, course teaching assistants, and the course instructor were also interviewed to capture their perspectives on the effectiveness of the implementation. This paper describes the integration efforts, the data sources, and results from two different semesters; Spring 2021 and Fall 2021. Our preliminary results suggest that the intervention has an impact on engineering identity development and broadens students' understanding of what chemical engineering is. The findings of this study will help to reveal effective principles of industrial engagement for the evolving field of chemical engineering. The results can help other institutions to build and maintain industry-faculty relationships that assist in the professional formation of engineers.

Citation
Format

Bilgin, B., & Pellegrino, J., & Mischel, C., & Wedgewood, L., & Berry, V. (2022, August), Impacts of implementing up-to-date industry problems on engineering identity development Paper presented at 2022 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Minneapolis, MN. 10.18260/1-2--41707

TY - CPAPER
AB - The chemical engineering curriculum has not evolved as fast as the expansion of the chemical engineering field into very diverse areas such as pharmaceuticals, renewable energy, nanoparticles, and food products. Practicing engineers need to acquire knowledge and broader skills that go beyond what is typically taught in chemical engineering (CHE) programs. To adequately address this problem, we aim to bridge the gap between academia and industry by implementing up-to-date industry problems into a sophomore course on "Mass and Energy Balance" and introducing industry mentors to students.

Through this proposed intervention, we explore the broad research question: How effective is the proposed approach in impacting professional identity formation and promoting industry-related competencies? Doing so involves addressing related questions such as: (1) what is the understanding of these applications and their impact on students in terms of interest, knowledge of applications, and professional identity formation? (2) What is the relationship between students’ identity and course performance and assessments? (3) Is there a significant impact of the proposed approach on underrepresented groups especially women?

We worked with four industry mentors from various areas of chemical engineering to design up-to-date industry problems. During the Spring 2021 and Fall 2021 semesters, the mentors were introduced to the students and gave background about themselves and their industry-related problems. Aspects of the problems were systematically introduced into the course as homework assignments. Students were surveyed at the beginning and the end of each semester to measure engineering identity and self-efficacy. Randomly selected students were interviewed before and following the course integration activities, to determine engineering identity development and benefits and challenges of the implementation. Mentors, course teaching assistants, and the course instructor were also interviewed to capture their perspectives on the effectiveness of the implementation.

This paper describes the integration efforts, the data sources, and results from two different semesters; Spring 2021 and Fall 2021. Our preliminary results suggest that the intervention has an impact on engineering identity development and broadens students' understanding of what chemical engineering is. The findings of this study will help to reveal effective principles of industrial engagement for the evolving field of chemical engineering. The results can help other institutions to build and maintain industry-faculty relationships that assist in the professional formation of engineers.

AU - Betul Bilgin
AU - James Pellegrino
AU - Cody Mischel
AU - Lewis Wedgewood
AU - Vikas Berry
CY - Minneapolis, MN
DA - 2022/08/23
PB - ASEE Conferences
TI - Impacts of implementing up-to-date industry problems on engineering identity development
UR - https://peer.asee.org/41707
DO - 10.18260/1-2--41707
ER -