Opportunities in Manufacturing of Advanced Materials for Second Career-Seeking Students
- Conference
- Location
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Virtual On line
- Publication Date
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June 22, 2020
- Start Date
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June 22, 2020
- End Date
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June 26, 2021
- Conference Session
- Tagged Topics
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Diversity and NSF Grantees Poster Session
- Page Count
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10
- DOI
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10.18260/1-2--35013
- Permanent URL
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https://peer.asee.org/35013
- Download Count
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415
Paper Authors
Oleksandr Kravchenko
Old Dominion University
orcid.org/0000-0002-8573-7540
Dr. Kravchenko is working in the area of structural analysis with focus on composite materials for various engineering applications. He received his M.S. and Ph.D. from Purdue University and completed two years of postdoc from Case-Western Reserve University. Dr. Kravchenko is actively collaborating with his colleagues at ODU on understanding the key elements of academic success for non-traditional, second-career, engineering students.
Konstantin Cigularov Old Dominion University
Dr. Konstantin Cigularov is an Associate Professor of Industrial and Organizational Psychology in the College of Sciences at Old Dominion University. He holds a Ph.D. from Colorado State University in Industrial-Organizational Psychology and a B.S. in Banking and Finance from the University of Economics in Bulgaria. As the Director of the Leadership and Employee Assessment and Development Research Lab, Dr. Cigularov has investigated various organizational issues related to leadership and culture, employee burnout and stress, as well as training programs and interventions. Dr. Cigularov has extensive experience with program design and evaluation and he has consulted numerous organizations, including the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, on designing, evaluating, and disseminating effective interventions and training programs. He has expertise in both quantitative and qualitative research methodologies, which he uses to better understand and help organizations create and engender safer, healthier, and more fulfilling workplaces. Dr. Cigularov has conducted numerous needs assessments of targeted student populations, including medical residents, STEM students, transfer students, graduate students in sciences, and second career engineering students.
Tancy J. Vandecar-Burdin Old Dominion University
Dr. Tancy Vandecar-Burdin has served the Social Science Research Center (SSRC) since its inception in 1998 - most recently as center Director. She has more than 20 years of experience with survey research, data collection, data analysis, program evaluation, report writing, and general grant/contract management. She is responsible for the day-to-day management of the SSRC’s operations, as well as serving as project manager/principal investigator for most of the SSRC’s projects. She has taught undergraduate courses in criminal justice and graduate courses in public policy and survey research. She has managed research and evaluation activities on a variety of topics including: the effectiveness of early intervention services, implementation fidelity of positive behavioral interventions for public school students, the effectiveness of mental health court programs, quality of life in the Hampton Roads (southeastern Virginia) area, perceptions of mental health and substance abuse services in Virginia and New Hampshire, state-level factors impacting nursing home quality policies, various STEM programs at regional community colleges and universities, and predictive policing software. Dr. Vandecar-Burdin received her PhD in Public Administration and Urban Policy from Old Dominion University in 2009.
Abstract
Many non-traditional students face similar challenges including lack of institutional support network, challenges to connecting with other students on campus, which may negatively affect degree persistence rates. The lack of financial support has been acknowledged nationwide as a barrier for STEM students including second-career seeking (SCS) students. The term career is defined as an occupation or course, which relates to a range of aspects of an individual’s life, learning and work and is undertaken for a significant period of a person’s life and with opportunities for progress. We target academically talented SCS students at Old Dominion University (ODU) with demonstrated financial need, which can be addressed by NSF Scholarship in STEM.
In addressing the needs of SCS students in the context of the regional workforce system, the present NSF S-STEM program focuses on manufacturing of advanced materials (MAM) as one of the key driving factors for innovation and economic development both within the United States and internationally. Specifically, our goal is to leverage students’ interests in the development of advanced materials for manufacturing as the means to build positive self-efficacy beliefs and outcome expectations among SCS students. Negative self-efficacy beliefs and low outcome expectations can affect interests, goals, and activities related to education and careers in STEM, as well as establish career path dependence for low skilled jobs often leading to limited career choices resulting in reduced human capital. Career adaptability can be significantly improved among adult workers considering second career options within engineering if effective supports and key barriers are identified and better understood.
The proposed program emphasizes manufacturing of advanced materials (MAM) as a way to connect SCS students to faculty and industry mentors that facilitate their academic success and career placement in the STEM workforce. The educational research element of the program is focused on identifying barriers, supports and resources that affect agility, academic success, recruitment, retention, and degree attainment of SCS students. To ensure sustained retention, student success, and graduation of low-income, academically talented SCS students entering the engineering field, the project explored socio-psychological aspects of career transition, while identifying the key supports and barriers related to academic success, retention, and degree attainment of SCS students. Students enrolled in the program were provided with a versatile support network that incorporates curricular and co-curricular activities for professional development, which includes curricular, research, outreach, and professional (CROP) activities. The present NSF S-STEM program leverages the existing technological base of scientific labs and faculty experience to incorporate novel manufacturing processes and characterization methods for composites and additively manufactured materials. SCS participants obtain hands-on project based experience, including MAM hands-on workshops on various manufacturing technologies, educational seminars, capstone and research projects in partnership with industrial and government research labs. The results of the anonymous survey showed that present NSF Scholarship in STEM with the developed CROP support network positively affected self-efficacy and academic success of SCS students, while allowing greater connectivity with other students and campus resources.
Kravchenko, O., & Cigularov, K., & Vandecar-Burdin, T. J. (2020, June), Opportunities in Manufacturing of Advanced Materials for Second Career-Seeking Students Paper presented at 2020 ASEE Virtual Annual Conference Content Access, Virtual On line . 10.18260/1-2--35013
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