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WIP: Hands-On Learning in a Summer Bridge Program Targeting Underclassmen and Transfer Students at an HSI

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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

First-Year Programs Division Poster Session

Tagged Division

First-Year Programs

Tagged Topic

Diversity

Page Count

16

DOI

10.18260/1-2--38063

Permanent URL

https://peer.asee.org/38063

Download Count

251

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Paper Authors

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Matthew Lucian Alexander P.E. Texas A&M University-Kingsville

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Dr. Alexander graduated with a BS in Engineering Science from Trinity University, a MS in Chemical Engineering from Georgia Tech, and a PhD in Chemical Engineering from Purdue University. He worked for 25 years in environmental engineering consulting before joining the faculty at Texas A&M University-Kingsville in 2015.

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Breanna Michelle Weir Bailey P.E. Texas A&M University-Kingsville

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I am a licensed Professional Engineer in the State of Texas. I have been employed at Texas A&M University-Kingsville since 2006.

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Rajashekar Reddy Mogiligidda Texas A&M University-Kingsville

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I am working as a Lecturer in the department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering at Texas A&M University-Kingsville since 2016. I graduated from Texas A&M University-Kingsville with a Master's in Mechanical Engineering in 2016. I am currently pursing PhD in Engineering as a part time student while working as a lecturer.

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Mahesh Hosur Texas A&M University-Kingsville

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Mahesh Hosur, PhD
Associate Dean, Research and Graduate Affairs
Mahesh Hosur received his education from India with a Bachelor of Engineering (B.E.) degree in Civil Engineering from Karnatak University (1985), Master of Technology (M. Tech.) degree in Aeronautical Engineering from Indian Institute of technology, Bombay (1990), and Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) in Aerospace Engineering from Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore (1996). He worked as Scientist for one year before coming to the USA. After serving Tuskegee University for 21 years, he joined TAMUK in his current position in August 2018. Over last 23 years, He has led research efforts of over $31 M as PI and over $40 M as Co-PI. He has graduated 12 Ph.D. and 37 M.S. students and advised over 50 undergraduate students besides mentoring junior faculty members. He has authored or coauthored 4 books, 6 book chapters, 125 refereed articles in journals and over 220 refereed articles in conference proceedings besides numerous technical reports. He has received many honors which include recognition as a Fellow of American Society for Mechanical engineers, Faculty Achievement Award at Tuskegee University and Russell Brown Award from Tuskegee University Sigma Xi Chapter.

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David Hicks Texas A&M University-Kingsville

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David Hicks is an Associate Professor in the Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Department at Texas A&M University-Kingsville. Before joining TAMU-K he served as Associate Professor and Department Head at Aalborg University in Esbjerg, Denmark. He has also held positions in research labs in the U.S. as well as Europe, and spent time as a researcher in the software industry. His research interests include knowledge management, software engineering, mobile computing platforms, and computer science education. Dr. Hicks received his B.S. degree in computer science from Angelo State University, and his MCS and Ph.D. degrees in computer science from Texas A&M University.

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Michael Preuss Exquiri Consulting, LLC Orcid 16x16 orcid.org/0000-0001-8659-6164

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Michael Preuss, EdD, is the Co-founder and Lead Consultant for Exquiri Consulting, LLC. His primary focus is providing assistance to grant project teams in planning and development, through external evaluation, and as publication support. Most of his work is on STEM education and advancement projects and completed for Minority-Serving Institutions. He also conducts research regarding higher education focused on the needs and interests of underserved populations and advancing understanding of Minority-Serving Institutions.

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Abstract

In summer 2020, faculty in the College of Engineering at ____ University developed and implemented a virtual Summer Bridge Program (SBP). The primary objective of the SBP was to improve academic motivation and retention of underclassmen and transfer students in our college by implementing a program of high-impact enrichment activities as a co-curricular summer activity. The outcomes of the program were evaluated through pre- and post-surveys obtained from participants. The participants recruited for the SBP were underclassmen engineering or computer science majors from our College of Engineering, current STEM students from area community colleges, and students transferring from area community colleges to the College of Engineering at _____ University. Two-thirds of the student participants were Hispanic, a level that is similar to the ethnic makeup of the undergraduate population at _____ University. Fifteen of the student participants were female (roughly 40 percent), which is greater than the level of females in the undergraduate population in engineering at _____ University. The SBP was implemented as a 3-week virtual program conducted via 2-hour daily online meetings, which included a 1-day simplistic engineering challenge and a design project conducted over a 2-½ week period. Both the design project and 1-day challenge were conducted with teams using a virtual environment. The SBP also provided general topic engineering lectures by faculty and talks on engineering careers from invited seasoned engineers and recent graduates. The first hands-on activity was a brief introductory engineering challenge conducted with virtual teams on the second day of the SBP. Teams were formed based upon discipline, although some team members were placed outside their field to accommodate the program size. The challenge included topics such as “toxic popcorn challenge,” “tall tower challenge,” and “marshmallow challenge,” from the IEEE website tryengineering.org. The second hands-on activity was a team-based engineering analysis or design project conducted virtually by the student teams. The projects included municipal water supply and demand analyses for chemical engineering students, app-based game programming for electrical engineering and computer science students, truss bridge design and analysis for civil and architectural engineering students, and plastic part design and 3-D printing for mechanical engineering students. The pre- and post-participation survey data indicated a statistically significant increase in the mean for responses to all of 21 survey questions related to the content of the SBP. Thirty-four of 37 respondents to the surveys indicated an overall rating of very good or excellent for the program. The participants also reported high mean scores for an increased awareness of engineering opportunities (8.83/10), increased interest in engineering (8.69/10) and receiving information relevant to career decisions (8.46/10). The most common response from participants regarding value from the program was that the group activity was the most valuable element of the SBP. This work was funded by the National Science Foundation.

Alexander, M. L., & Bailey, B. M. W., & Mogiligidda, R. R., & Hosur, M., & Hicks, D., & Preuss, M. (2021, July), WIP: Hands-On Learning in a Summer Bridge Program Targeting Underclassmen and Transfer Students at an HSI Paper presented at 2021 ASEE Virtual Annual Conference Content Access, Virtual Conference. 10.18260/1-2--38063

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