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Importance of Undergraduate Research in Engineering Technology Programs

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Conference

2012 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Location

San Antonio, Texas

Publication Date

June 10, 2012

Start Date

June 10, 2012

End Date

June 13, 2012

ISSN

2153-5965

Conference Session

Graduate Education and Undergraduate Research-related Issues

Tagged Division

Engineering Technology

Page Count

7

Page Numbers

25.740.1 - 25.740.7

DOI

10.18260/1-2--21497

Permanent URL

https://peer.asee.org/21497

Download Count

482

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Paper Authors

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Sidi Berri New York City College of Technology

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Sidi Berri is a professor and the Chairman of the Mechanical Engineering Technology Department of New York City College of Technology.

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Andy Zhang New York City College of Technology

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Andy S. Zhang earned his master's in mechanical engineering from the City College of New York in 1987 and his Ph.D. in mechanical engineering from the Graduate Center of the City University of New York in 1995. Zhang's research areas include materials testing, composite materials, CAD/CAE, engineering animation, and mechatronics design.

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Gaffar Barakat Gailani New York City College of Technology Orcid 16x16 orcid.org/0000-0001-6042-6255

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Gaffar Barakat Gailani received his master's and Ph.D. degrees in mechanical engineering from City College of New York of the City University of New York in 2001 and 2009 respectively. Gailani worked for industry for a few years before getting a Ph.D. Gailani has published many papers in biomechanics, poroelasticity, and engineering education. Gailani's work is sponsored by NASA and NSF.

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Abstract

Importance of Undergraduate Research in Engineering Technology Programs Sidi Berri, Gaffar Gailani, Andy Zhang Mechanical Engineering Technology department New York City College of TechnologyThis paper talks about importance of undergraduate research in the Associate of AppliedScience (AAS) of Mechanical Engineering Technology (MECH) of New York City College ofTechnology (NYCCT). Enrolment and retention rates have been going up steadily since thedepartment received its first NSF/ATE and NASA/Cipair awards in summer 2010.The NSF/ATEgrant enabled the department to start undergraduate research in mechatronics by establishnga mechatronics center. The NASA grant helped the department modify some of its key coursesin the AAS in MECH and send students to summer internships in NASA centers. Since theestablishment of the new mechatronics center and the summer internship opportunities thenumber of new freshmen students has increased considerably in the department. Students aremore motivated in the program and retention rates are going up steadily. Students are moreinvolved in undergraduate robotics research and in learning engineering technology in general.They participate in regional and national competitions. Students are more involved in teamwork, creativity, extracurricular activities, brain storming, etc… The department’s overallenvironment has changed categorically. Students are more active in group activities and alwaysactive in research activities such as designing and fabricating new robots.

Berri, S., & Zhang, A., & Gailani, G. B. (2012, June), Importance of Undergraduate Research in Engineering Technology Programs Paper presented at 2012 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, San Antonio, Texas. 10.18260/1-2--21497

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