Preparations for an Engineering Education Grant

Sunai Kim; Giuseppe Lomiento; Jeyoung Woo

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Conference: 2025 ASEE PSW Conference
Location: California Polytechnic University, California
Publication Date: April 10, 2025
Start Date: April 10, 2025
End Date: April 12, 2025
Tagged Topic: Diversity
Page Count: 11
DOI: 10.18260/1-2--55187
Permanent URL: https://peer.asee.org/55187
Download Count: 13

Paper Authors

biography

Sunai Kim California State Polytechnic University, Pomona

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Sunai Kim is an Assistant Professor in Civil Engineering with a specialty in Structural Engineering and is a licensed structural engineer in the state of California.

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biography

Giuseppe Lomiento California State Polytechnic University, Pomona

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Giuseppe Lomiento is Assistant Professor in the Civil Engineering Department at Cal Poly Pomona. He holds a Master Degree and PhD in Structural Engineering from the Sapienza University of Rome. Prior to joining Cal Poly, he was Project Scientist in the

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Jeyoung Woo California State Polytechnic University, Pomona

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Dr. Jeyoung Woo is an associate professor in the Department of Civil Engineering at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona (Cal Poly Pomona). He is a registered Professional Engineer (Civil -Construction) in Texas. He has worked in the industry for nine years as a project manager, a corporate quality manager, a field engineer, and a designer. Also, he conducted several research projects about construction labor productivity, construction safety, engineering design quality management, and construction sustainability. He earned a Ph.D. and an M.S. in Civil Engineering from The University of Texas at Austin (UT-Austin) and a B.S. in Architectural Engineering from Hanyang University, ERICA. He is a Member of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) and a member of the Project Management Institute (PMI).

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Abstract

At our university, two gatekeeper courses for the undergraduate students in the Civil Engineering program have been identified as Statics and Mechanics of Materials. With our university’s Civil Engineering Department being the largest undergraduate CE Department in the nation, with approximately 1600 students, and graduating 15% of California’s Civil Engineers, identifying sources of students’ struggles and proposing proven interventions to support students’ success is crucial to the faculty. As these courses serve as prerequisites to many engineering courses, low performance in these gatekeeper courses contributes to a large dropout rate, delayed graduation, and continued poor performance in subsequent courses. To understand students’ struggles, historical data between Fall 2018 to Spring 2022 was examined, including: (a) failure rates for the gatekeeper courses, (b) achievement gaps (the difference between under-represented minority students (URM) and non-URM students), and (c) the correlation between students’ grades in the gatekeeper courses compared to their upper division engineering courses. A comprehensive literature review was conducted to identify proven best practices for improving student performance in STEM disciplines, focusing on strategies that support underserved populations. The literature highlights the effectiveness of targeted interventions, as follows: (1) prepare all students for success in the gatekeeper courses and close the achievement gaps, through a Summer Bridge Program, (2) improve the students’ performance in Statics, Mechanics of Materials, and subsequent courses, and reduce Time-to-Degree through peer tutoring, Undergraduate Research Experience, and identifying success markers, and (3) address variability in teaching between all instructors through training workshops. This paper provides a comprehensive review of best practices and proven interventions utilized to write a proposal to request funding to National Science Foundation and offers actionable insights and recommendations for educators seeking to reduce failure rates, close achievement gaps, and standardize instructional quality across courses.

Citation
Format

Kim, S., & Lomiento, G., & Woo, J. (2025, April), Preparations for an Engineering Education Grant Paper presented at 2025 ASEE PSW Conference, California Polytechnic University, California. 10.18260/1-2--55187

TY  - CPAPER
AB  - At our university, two gatekeeper courses for the undergraduate students in the Civil Engineering program have been identified as Statics and Mechanics of Materials. With our university’s Civil Engineering Department being the largest undergraduate CE Department in the nation, with approximately 1600 students, and graduating 15% of California’s Civil Engineers, identifying sources of students’ struggles and proposing proven interventions to support students’ success is crucial to the faculty. As these courses serve as prerequisites to many engineering courses, low performance in these gatekeeper courses contributes to a large dropout rate, delayed graduation, and continued poor performance in subsequent courses. To understand students’ struggles, historical data between Fall 2018 to Spring 2022 was examined, including: (a) failure rates for the gatekeeper courses, (b) achievement gaps (the difference between under-represented minority students (URM) and non-URM students), and (c) the correlation between students’ grades in the gatekeeper courses compared to their upper division engineering courses. A comprehensive literature review was conducted to identify proven best practices for improving student performance in STEM disciplines, focusing on strategies that support underserved populations. The literature highlights the effectiveness of targeted interventions, as follows: (1) prepare all students for success in the gatekeeper courses and close the achievement gaps, through a Summer Bridge Program, (2) improve the students’ performance in Statics, Mechanics of Materials, and subsequent courses, and reduce Time-to-Degree through peer tutoring, Undergraduate Research Experience, and identifying success markers, and (3) address variability in teaching between all instructors through training workshops. This paper provides a comprehensive review of best practices and proven interventions utilized to write a proposal to request funding to National Science Foundation and offers actionable insights and recommendations for educators seeking to reduce failure rates, close achievement gaps, and standardize instructional quality across courses. 
AU  - Sunai Kim
AU  - Giuseppe Lomiento
AU  - Jeyoung Woo
CY  - California Polytechnic University, California
DA  - 2025/04/10
PB  - ASEE Conferences
TI  - Preparations for an Engineering Education Grant 
UR  - https://peer.asee.org/55187
DO  - 10.18260/1-2--55187
ER  -