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Investigating Impact of Disruption to Biological and Agricultural Engineering Senior Design Capstone Courses Due to Covid-19

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Conference

2021 ASEE Virtual Annual Conference Content Access

Location

Virtual Conference

Publication Date

July 26, 2021

Start Date

July 26, 2021

End Date

July 19, 2022

Conference Session

Biological and Agricultural Engineering Division Technical Session 1

Tagged Division

Biological and Agricultural Engineering

Page Count

13

DOI

10.18260/1-2--37395

Permanent URL

https://peer.asee.org/37395

Download Count

277

Paper Authors

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Lucie Guertault North Carolina State University

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Tamecia R. Jones North Carolina State University at Raleigh Orcid 16x16 orcid.org/0000-0003-4229-3975

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Tamecia Jones is an assistant professor in the STEM Education Department at North Carolina State University College of Education with a research focus on K-12 engineering education, assessment, and informal and formal learning environments. She is a graduate of Johns Hopkins, Stanford, and Purdue University. Originally trained as a biomedical engineer, she spent years in the middle school classroom, teaching math and science, and consulting with nonprofits, museums, and summer programs.

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biography

Eric Steven Hall North Carolina State University Orcid 16x16 orcid.org/0000-0002-0528-2014

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Eric S. Hall

Education:
• PhD (Student), Education, North Carolina State University (Expected Graduation: 2023)
• M.C.E., (Master of Civil Engineering), North Carolina State University, 2011
• M.A., Business, Webster University, 1992
• B.A., Mathematics, Syracuse University, 1983
• B.S., Aerospace Engineering, Syracuse University, 1983

Areas of Expertise:
Exposure Science; Air Pollution Monitoring; Mercury (Hg) Air Pollution Analysis; Environmental Justice; Environmental Public Health Tracking; Ultraviolet Radiation; Sustainability; Statistical Programming. Managed $28.70 million dollars of environmental and public health research at EPA. Doctoral Emphasis: STEM Education

Publications (32): journal articles, technical reports, book chapter

Reviewer: 44 peer-reviewed journals

Narrative:
I develop statistical models to make temporal and spatial estimates of ambient air pollution concentrations, linked to health outcomes (e.g., pulmonary, cardiovascular, birth outcomes, etc.). I develop methodological approaches and models to support remediation of polluted waterbodies, especially those experiencing Harmful Algal Blooms (HABs) and cyanobacteria. My dissertation focus is on developing standard problem solving approaches for engineering and mathematics undergraduates.

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Praveen Kolar North Carolina State University

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Abstract

Capstone Design is a culminating course of the undergraduate engineering curriculum of most engineering majors. The course gives students the opportunity to work in teams designing a solution to real-world problems that are submitted by and subsequently mentored by industrial and research project sponsors. In Biological and Agricultural Engineering disciplines, these projects can involve tasks such as field data collection, laboratory experiments, or fabrication of prototypes that require access to specific laboratories and equipment. During the Spring 2020 semester, Universities across the US closed campuses to prevent the spread of COVID-19 and transitioned to remote or virtual courses. The objective of this study was to investigate the impact of the transition to remote and virtual courses on senior design or capstone courses in Biological and Agricultural Engineering from the perspectives of faculty. The research team was particularly interested in how projects shifted in scale and form, assessment changed, and team-mentor interactions responded to the abrupt change in course delivery. Senior Design Capstone Course instructors from several Biological and Agricultural Engineering departments were interviewed to gather their perspectives and experiences regarding projects’ management and outcomes as well as students’ learning and performance in the course to find lessons learned and help plan for future courses.

Guertault, L., & Jones, T. R., & Hall, E. S., & Kolar, P. (2021, July), Investigating Impact of Disruption to Biological and Agricultural Engineering Senior Design Capstone Courses Due to Covid-19 Paper presented at 2021 ASEE Virtual Annual Conference Content Access, Virtual Conference. 10.18260/1-2--37395

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