Summer Enrichment Workshops for Promoting Engineering Education

Rafic Bachnak; Rohitha Goonatilake

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Conference: 2012 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition
Location: San Antonio, Texas
Publication Date: June 10, 2012
Start Date: June 10, 2012
End Date: June 13, 2012
ISSN: 2153-5965
Conference Session: Attracting Young Minds: Part I
Tagged Division: Minorities in Engineering
Page Count: 7
Page Numbers: 25.1212.1 - 25.1212.7
DOI: 10.18260/1-2--21969
Permanent URL: https://peer.asee.org/21969
Download Count: 350

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Paper Authors

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Rafic Bachnak Texas A&M International University

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Rafic Bachnak is professor and Chair at Texas A&M International University (TAMIU). He received his B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. degrees in electrical engineering from Ohio University in 1983, 1984, and 1989, respectively. Prior to joining TAMIU in 2007, Bachnak was on the faculty of Texas A&M, Corpus Christi, Northwestern State University, and Franklin University. His experience includes several fellowships with NASA and the U.S. Navy Laboratories and employment with Koch Industries. Bachnak is a registered Professional Engineer in the state of Texas, a senior member of IEEE and ISA, and a member of ASEE. During the 2009-2010 academic year, he was a Fulbright Scholar at Notre Dame University, Lebanon.

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Rohitha Goonatilake Texas A&M International University

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Rohitha Goonatilake received a Ph.D. in applied mathematics from Kent State University, Kent, Ohio, in 1997 and is currently working as an Associate Professor of mathematics in the Department of Engineering, Mathematics, and Physics at Texas A&M International University. He was a Co-PI for a grant funded by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board for the 2010 Engineering Summer Program to provide enrichment for area middle and high school students to enter into careers in engineering. He is a member of American Mathematical Society, Mathematical Association of America, Institute of Mathematical Statistics, and the Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi.

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Abstract

Summer Enrichment Workshops for Promoting Engineering EducationThis summer enrichment program offers high school and middle school students the opportunityto participate in hands-on science, technology, engineering, and mathematics activities deliveredby university STEM faculty and engineering professionals. The paper describes and comparesresults of two enrichment workshops that were conducted during the summer of the last twoyears. These workshops were funded by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board(THECB) to increase recruitment and graduation of Hispanic and other underrepresentedminorities in engineering.The workshops provided high school and middle school students with a realistic and engagingintroduction to engineering. The participants had the opportunity to 1) learn about engineeringfields through hands-on problem-solving experiences; 2) experience the engineering designprocess using a software program (AutoCAD) and applying mathematics and science principles;3) engage in teamwork activities that integrate software and hardware knowledge to build andprogram Lego robots; 4) Participate in a field trip and talk to engineers on the job; and 5) Engagein a question and answer panel session where professional engineers describe their experiencesand expectations of new hires. Each workshop served 22 participants. The papers will presentstatistics and evaluation results of the two workshops.

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Bachnak, R., & Goonatilake, R. (2012, June), Summer Enrichment Workshops for Promoting Engineering Education Paper presented at 2012 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, San Antonio, Texas. 10.18260/1-2--21969