MTSU’s Experimental Vehicle Program’s Outreach Events with an Emphasis on Recruitment

Saeed D. Foroudastan; Lillian Marie Hardin

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Conference: 2024 South East Section Meeting
Location: Marietta, Georgia
Publication Date: March 10, 2024
Start Date: March 10, 2024
End Date: March 12, 2024
Tagged Topic: Diversity
Page Count: 8
DOI: 10.18260/1-2--45547
Permanent URL: https://peer.asee.org/45547
Download Count: 85

Paper Authors

biography

Saeed D. Foroudastan Middle Tennessee State University

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Dr. Saeed Foroudastan is the Associate Dean for the College of Basic and Applied Sciences (CBAS). The CBAS oversees 10 departments at Middle Tennessee State University. He is the professor of engineering. He is also the current Director for the Masters of Science in Professional Science. Foroudastan’ s academic experience includes teaching at Tennessee Technological University and Middle Tennessee State University in the areas of civil engineering, mechanical engineering, mechatronics engineering, and engineering technology. Foroudastan is the faculty advisor, coordinator, and primary fundraiser for EVP teams entering national research project competitions such as the Formula SAE Collegiate Competition, the Baja SAE Race, the NASA Lunar Rover, and the Solar Boat Collegiate Competition.

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Lillian Marie Hardin

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Abstract

The Experimental Vehicles Program (EVP) at Middle Tennessee State University (MTSU) originated in 2004 and competes in three vehicle intercollegiate design competitions annually including the NASA HERC Moon buggy, Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) BAJA, American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) Solar Splash Speed Boat. The EVP has sought to increase its membership by recruiting along Diversity Equity and Inclusion (DEI) guidelines. Specifically for the 2022-2023 school year the EVP recruited among diverse majors, actively courted sponsorship relationships to find internships and mentoring opportunities for our members. The EVP annually hosts workshops for Civil Air Patrol high schoolers from across the nation, Boy Scouts of America Engineering merit badge university, as well as the Tennessee Girls in Stem biannually, while also taking requests from regional high school STEM programs for in school demonstrations and allowing seniors from those schools to tour the EVP facilities and ask questions about the process of creating the vehicles. Teaching material to others is a key component of learning. Outreach events allow EVP team members to teach fundamental principles of science and engineering through management of hands-on, experiential learning activities with visiting students of all ages. Engaging with local schools is beneficial for recruiting students planning to attend a university for engineering. The EVP also attends several campus events to recruit new members, like MTSU’s Scholars Week poster judging and Hack MT hackathon. The current vehicle designs are presented to curious students, and the program has an opportunity to display their work. Any student can join EVP, as there are diverse majors throughout, and students learn through hands-on experience and guidance from current members. Owing to the trend to push for interdisciplinary objectives on the rubrics of all three vehicle competitions, the EVP has pivoted to recruiting students from colleges outside of traditional Engineering. Recruits are found from the MTSU Aerospace and Construction Management as well as the Media and Art Departments. EVP’s leadership looked for complementary clubs and found two exemplary recruits from the ranks of the golfcart mounted Cadets of the MTSU Police Blue Raider Patrol recruited Spring 2023. MTSU is well known for having the largest military veteran student population at a public university in Tennessee. The EVP actively seeks to capitalize on the skills they learned from military service, and their maturity helps temper some of our younger students. MTSU is also home to the largest foreign exchange population in the state, and we strive to recruit these students. Previous designs, yearly technical reports on each vehicle, photos, test data, etc. regarding each vehicle are preserved in an online Knowledge Base allowing students the opportunity to quickly review what has worked on in the past. They then can begin iterative design—standing on the shoulders of giants—and contribute a subsystem to a vehicle while still an undergraduate. We strive to introduce innovative, advanced vehicle designs to various groups of students to engage and motivate them to achieve their goals.

Citation
Format

Foroudastan, S. D., & Hardin, L. M. (2024, March), MTSU’s Experimental Vehicle Program’s Outreach Events with an Emphasis on Recruitment Paper presented at 2024 South East Section Meeting, Marietta, Georgia. 10.18260/1-2--45547

TY - CPAPER
AB - The Experimental Vehicles Program (EVP) at Middle Tennessee State University (MTSU) originated in 2004 and competes in three vehicle intercollegiate design competitions annually including the NASA HERC Moon buggy, Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) BAJA, American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) Solar Splash Speed Boat.
The EVP has sought to increase its membership by recruiting along Diversity Equity and Inclusion (DEI) guidelines. Specifically for the 2022-2023 school year the EVP recruited among diverse majors, actively courted sponsorship relationships to find internships and mentoring opportunities for our members.
The EVP annually hosts workshops for Civil Air Patrol high schoolers from across the nation, Boy Scouts of America Engineering merit badge university, as well as the Tennessee Girls in Stem biannually, while also taking requests from regional high school STEM programs for in school demonstrations and allowing seniors from those schools to tour the EVP facilities and ask questions about the process of creating the vehicles. Teaching material to others is a key component of learning. Outreach events allow EVP team members to teach fundamental principles of science and engineering through management of hands-on, experiential learning activities with visiting students of all ages. Engaging with local schools is beneficial for recruiting students planning to attend a university for engineering.
The EVP also attends several campus events to recruit new members, like MTSU’s Scholars Week poster judging and Hack MT hackathon. The current vehicle designs are presented to curious students, and the program has an opportunity to display their work. Any student can join EVP, as there are diverse majors throughout, and students learn through hands-on experience and guidance from current members.
Owing to the trend to push for interdisciplinary objectives on the rubrics of all three vehicle competitions, the EVP has pivoted to recruiting students from colleges outside of traditional Engineering. Recruits are found from the MTSU Aerospace and Construction Management as well as the Media and Art Departments. EVP’s leadership looked for complementary clubs and found two exemplary recruits from the ranks of the golfcart mounted Cadets of the MTSU Police Blue Raider Patrol recruited Spring 2023. MTSU is well known for having the largest military veteran student population at a public university in Tennessee. The EVP actively seeks to capitalize on the skills they learned from military service, and their maturity helps temper some of our younger students. MTSU is also home to the largest foreign exchange population in the state, and we strive to recruit these students.
Previous designs, yearly technical reports on each vehicle, photos, test data, etc. regarding each vehicle are preserved in an online Knowledge Base allowing students the opportunity to quickly review what has worked on in the past. They then can begin iterative design—standing on the shoulders of giants—and contribute a subsystem to a vehicle while still an undergraduate. We strive to introduce innovative, advanced vehicle designs to various groups of students to engage and motivate them to achieve their goals.

AU - Saeed D. Foroudastan
AU - Lillian Marie Hardin
CY - Marietta, Georgia
DA - 2024/03/10
PB - ASEE Conferences
TI - MTSU’s Experimental Vehicle Program’s Outreach Events with an Emphasis on Recruitment
UR - https://peer.asee.org/45547
DO - 10.18260/1-2--45547
ER -