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Improving the Professional Skills of Engineering Undergraduates

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Conference

2017 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Location

Columbus, Ohio

Publication Date

June 24, 2017

Start Date

June 24, 2017

End Date

June 28, 2017

Conference Session

Student Division Development of Professional Skills Technical Session

Tagged Division

Student

Tagged Topic

Diversity

Page Count

12

DOI

10.18260/1-2--28497

Permanent URL

https://peer.asee.org/28497

Download Count

873

Paper Authors

biography

Zahra Shahbazi Manhattan College

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Zhahra Shahbazi is as an assistant professor of Mechanical engineering at Manhattan College. She earned a B.S. degree from the University of Tehran (mechanical engineering), M.S. from Amir Kabir University of Techonology (biomedical engineering) and a Ph.D. degrees from the University of Conecticut (mechanical engineering). She also received a certificate in college instruction from the University of Connecticut. Her current research involves modeling and simulation of protein molecules as nano bio robots with applications in new drug design. The other aspect of her research is engineering education.

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biography

Mary Ann Jacobs Ed.D. Manhattan College

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Mary Ann Jacobs, scc is an assistant professor in the School of Education. She prepares secondary teacher candidates in all content areas through her courses in secondary pedagogy. Her areas of interest include STEM education, brain compatible strategies, and action research in the classroom.

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biography

Alexandra Emma Lehnes Manhattan College

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Alexandra Lehnes is a graduate student planning on graduating in 2017 from Manhattan College with a M.S. in Mechanical Engineering and a certificate in aerospace and propulsion. She is also the coordinator of the Engineering STAR Center and Manhattan College and a graduate assistant for the mechanical engineering department. She received her B.S. in Mechanical Engineering at Manhattan College in 2016. At the STAR center she works primarily with the engineering ambassadors program organizing visits to high schools to promote engineering, creating lessons to be presented, running the meetings, and presenting the outcome of the program at various conferences. Her research interests range from what she is currently associated with, engineering education, and what she plans on pursuing post-graduation, design in naval and aerospace. She is an active member of Tau Beta Pi, Pi Tau Sigma, Pi Mu Epsilon, Epsilon Sigma Pi, ASME, SWE, ASHRAE, and ASEE.

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Kathleen Christal Mancuso Manhattan College

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Kathleen Mancuso is a Secondary Education Major with a concentration in Chemistry at Manhattan College located in Riverdale, NY. As a senior, Kathleen will be graduating in February 2017 with a teaching certification for grades 5-12 in New York State and a B.S. in Education and Chemistry. Her passion for teaching began in her high school chemistry class with Mrs. Merante, after seeing just how valuable a talented and determined teacher was to future STEM fields. Kathleen enjoys teaching tennis over the summer to students ages 8-16 and is looking forward to her graduation to begin her career.

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biography

Anthony Scotti Manhattan College

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Anthony Scotti is a Secondary Education Major with a concentration in Mathematics at Manhattan College in Riverdale, NY. As a senior, Anthony will be graduating in February 2017 with a Bachelor of Science in Education and Mathematics for teaching grades 4-12. Anthony is currently the Office Manager for the Higher Achievement Program at Fordham Preparatory School in the Bronx, NY, a program that prepares seventh grade boys for the Test for Admissions into Catholic High Schools. As a future STEM educator, Anthony looks forward to teaching students the amazing opportunities Mathematics can offer them.

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Abstract

When engineers enter the workforce they are expected to have professional skills and the technical background. However, beside some isolated presentation and writing trainings incorporated in courses such as senior design, usually there is no official training for such professional skills in engineering curriculum. With the support from National Science Foundation, we have developed a program where students have the opportunity to receive training on professional skills and practice them in a non-threatening environment. In this program students prepare engineering related lesson plans and present them to local middle and high school students. The program offers special workshops on leadership, teamwork, presentation, personality types and learning styles. Students not only receive professional trainings on these topics they also have the opportunity to practice and reinforce these skills through the program. They work in a team of diverse students and prepare the lesson plan, practice their presentation and receive peer and faculty feedback and present to local middle and high school students and receive their feedback as well.

In this paper, different aspect of the program and the professional development workshops are discussed. The effectiveness of the program is evaluated. Results of the students self-assessment shows that students’ teamwork, presentation and communication skills have improved. These workshops in leadership, teamwork, presentation and communication skills can be assembled in a series of professional development workshops to prepare engineering students for their profession.

Shahbazi, Z., & Jacobs, M. A., & Lehnes, A. E., & Mancuso, K. C., & Scotti, A. (2017, June), Improving the Professional Skills of Engineering Undergraduates Paper presented at 2017 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Columbus, Ohio. 10.18260/1-2--28497

ASEE holds the copyright on this document. It may be read by the public free of charge. Authors may archive their work on personal websites or in institutional repositories with the following citation: © 2017 American Society for Engineering Education. Other scholars may excerpt or quote from these materials with the same citation. When excerpting or quoting from Conference Proceedings, authors should, in addition to noting the ASEE copyright, list all the original authors and their institutions and name the host city of the conference. - Last updated April 1, 2015