Search

Entrepreneurship programs in higher education are typically housed under the umbrella of a business department or an engineering department. Within these departments and, within their university ecosystems more broadly, an oft stated goal is to develop within their students an "Entrepreneurial Mindset". However, this is often a somewhat nebulously defined concept. Many definitions of the Entrepreneurial Mindset include a mish-mash of skills, cognitive processes, habits, and worldviews. While this broad conceptualization of a mindset can be useful in marketing terminology, it lacks the specificity needed to allow for rigorous assessment. This Work-In-Progress paper will explore one approach to developing a rigorous definition of the Entrepreneurial Mindset as a cognitive construct, a method for quantitatively measuring development of the mindset through students' journey through an entrepreneurship program, and methods for qualitative analysis to better understand the nuances of how student perceptions, actions, and behavioral changes as they relate to entrepreneurial experiences within higher education. For entrepreneurship programs to have meaningful impact it is vital that they clearly define the mindset they are trying to instill in students. Further, these programs require a clear definition of the Entrepreneurial Mindset in order to engage in quality assessment of the educational impacts their programs are having. These two factors, clear definition of the desired mindset and high-quality assessment, must be present to allow for self-reflection on program impacts and to provide a framework for determining educational outcomes. We will present survey instruments for assessing the Entrepreneurial Mindset, or at least our definition of the Entrepreneurial Mindset, a semi-structured interview protocol, methodology for determining the vision of the Entrepreneurial Mindset that most applies to a given institution, and finally the initial analysis of 213 pre/post surveys collected during the fall semester 2021. Initial results are positive and significant for one of the three courses where the survey was deployed. The remaining two courses with substantially smaller class sizes have not yet reached a sufficiently large dataset to draw conclusions from. We will also discuss how inclusivity, race, and gender considerations can help guide the creation of instruments and definitions related to the Entrepreneurial Mindset. These assessment instruments were all deployed at a Michigan State University in 2020-2022. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

From 2008 to 2021, Gannon University was awarded three National Science Foundation SSTEM awards (0806735, 1153250, and 1643869) amounting to $2.2 million. These awards provided a total of 300 one-year scholarships to engineering and computer science academically talented students having financial need. The program developed at Gannon University provided an educational experience emphasizing technical mastery, personal and professional development, and community engagement through partnerships with nonprofit organizations in the local community. At its inception, the program was one-of-a-kind, providing a unique tool to intentionally connect technical education with the community-service mission of the university. The program developed and lessons learned through the eight years of the first and the second awards were previously detailed in another publication. 2021 marked the completion of the third award with 63 scholars graduating with a STEM degree who completed the program and with $1.76 million dispersed directly to scholarships. To-date, without NSF funding, the program continues to exist with university funds to support the scholarships. In the current paper, the authors summarize the implementation of new activities, lessons learned, and the evolvement of these three grants. Emphasis will be given to describe responsive changes made after the second grant activity incorporated in the third iteration of the grant, and lessons taken from the third award activity. Topics of this paper include additional features implemented in order to foster better diversity in the program and career readiness, observations about student motivation as a result of grant activities, experiences with students working on interdisciplinary community engagement projects, guidelines on how to better and more effectively interact with stakeholders, lessons on assessment of student progress (along with warning signs of imminent trouble), and planned actions to improve student success outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The driving forces changing how we work and the jobs that we do are impacting organizations of all sizes across all sectors. The global pandemic has accelerated the pace of change and disruption to a level not experienced before. The combination of Industry 4.0, the Fourth Industrial Revolution and COVID-19 are creating a new sense of urgency to drive collaboration between industry and education. In 2022, academic institutions offer three paths to prospective engineering students, which students qualify for via standardized testing; Path 1) 4-year bachelor degrees with "R1" research focus: typically following on to postgraduate degrees and careers in research or academia. Path 2) 2-year associate degree (community college): typically leading to a career based on a technical skill or trade. Path 3) 4-year bachelor degree with industry focus: typically leading to careers in technicalbased industries. This paper presents a new approach to the "third path," the industry-based bachelor degrees. The new approach is an alternative to the traditional programs currently offered by the majority of engineering schools in the United States. The traditional academic approach is failing to fill the talent pipeline. Academic policies and practices are unable to keep pace with the exponential growth of technology, the evolving motivations of a four-generation workforce (soon to be 5 generation) and the unpredictable development of new engineering business models [1-4]. The global competitiveness of the United States is at risk, the stakes are too high to stay on the traditional course. The authors contend that paths 1 and 2, despite shortcomings of their own, are in far better shape than the third path, so they are not addressed in this paper. This paper, written more like a position paper, proposes a new model for the third path; it is based on extensive research that was discussed in prior publications by the same authors [10,11,24-26]. The Third Path model proposes revised roles for the four key stakeholders involved in undergraduate engineering and technical education. The stakeholders are: 1) Industry (United States), 2) Academic institutions, 3) Federal and State Governments, and most importantly 4) nextgeneration student-engineers and technicians. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While little is known about the enrollment and retention rates of STEM graduate students, studies indicate that the way higher education generally approaches STEM graduate programs overlooks and excludes individuals with dis/abilities. This research examines the experiences of STEM graduate students with non-apparent (also called "invisible") dis/abilities as related through the lens of critical dis/ability theory. In this paper, we review the findings from the first phase of a larger study through the lens of Universal Design for Learning (UDL). We used Harvey's interview process to explore the experiences of two STEM graduate students who selfidentify as having "invisible" dis/abilities or "different abilities" through a progressive series of interviews. In this paper, we review a selection of the participant's experiences and provide recommendations on how UDL can be implemented to overcome the barriers graduate students may be facing in their coursework, research, and advising. We provide these recommendations in an effort to create a more inclusive and welcoming environment for all graduate students. Further, we hope that our research findings help individuals serving university students at any level in any discipline ask what opportunities they have to create a more inclusive and welcoming environment through the tenants of UDL. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Present-day higher education institutions offering undergraduate engineering programs need to prepare their students for a world filled with complex global challenges. Such preparation requires the acquisition of multidisciplinary knowledge and the application of multidisciplinary methodologies. A pilot initiative was launched in Fall 2017 for an elective three-year (sophomore to senior year) cross-departmental multi-disciplinary undergraduate engineering program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) named New Engineering Education Transformation (NEET). The program has three cross-departmental pathways across STEM disciplines and technical domains. The program has completed its fourth year of operation and has grown to become the fourth-largest undergraduate academic cohort at MIT. This paper is divided into two parts: the first part describes the revision of program requirements and their implementation during Fall 2019-Fall 2020. The second part describes the launching of a new single-themed program titled Climate & Sustainability Systems, which took place and was implemented during Summer-Fall 2021. Both initiatives responded to issues and changing circumstances raised by students, faculty, and instructional staff, with the aim of affording students more flexibility, reducing the additional workload beyond their chosen majors, enhancing their educational experience, and increasing their engagement with the program-wide community. In January 2020, following feedback collected from MIT students, faculty, instructional staff, and senior administration, we began a systematic process of reviewing the program's academic requirements. Data collected includes student questionnaires and specifications of program requirements throughout the study period. The revised requirements were published toward the end of the Spring 2020 semester, serendipitously around the same time as the COVID-19 mandated university-wide pivot from inperson on-campus teaching to emergency remote teaching and were implemented in Fall 2020. Since the publication of these new requirements, enrollment in the program has increased substantially year-on-year across all program threads. Subsequent data collection during Spring 2020 and Spring 2021 showed that word-of-mouth about the program has grown stronger, with 'current students' and 'other first-years' being two of the most-cited sources as to how first-years get to know about NEET. This paper explains the impetus for changing the program requirements, describes how the new requirements were formulated and implemented, and outlines what we have learned from implementing the revised requirements. We also describe how we collaborated with various stakeholders in the planning, design, and implementation of the revised requirements. For the second part of the paper, we describe how we launched a new climate and sustainability pathway based on our three-year experience of introducing pathways connected to energy, manufacturing ands materials, and sustainable development of cities, and on the growing interest amongst students in combating climate change in a sustainable manner. We describe how the process of consolidation was planned out and designed, how we collaborated with various stakeholders and how initial implementation has undergone. It should be emphasized that the approach we have taken here is largely qualitative and based primarily on how students and other key stakeholders responded to, engaged with the NEET program, and helped to evolve it. NEET leadership commissioned a systematic programmatic evaluation starting from Spring 2021, and we will be guided by their assessment of the changes as we look to the future. This paper is intended for institutional leadership, departmental leadership, faculty, and academic staff seized by the need to create and implement relevant and engaging cross-departmental multi-disciplinary undergraduate engineering programs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The higher education programs in the United States are organized using the Classification of Instructional Program (CIP) codes. This taxonomic scheme provides a structure for the identification, tracking, and reporting of higher education programs. The coding structure includes multi-digit major categories, including architecture, engineering, business, and construction trades. However, the multi-disciplinary and application-oriented disciplines such as construction reach over multiple categories. In most states, cataloged course offerings also carry CIP designations, and these designations are used for various purposes, including reviews of new program/course development efforts and funding. This paper aims to provide an organizational review of construction science, technology, engineering, and management programs in the state of Texas. Two and Four-Year programs that carry the word "construction" in their title are reviewed using the CIP codes at the program/degree level and individual course offerings in their curriculum. The review showed a wide variety of CIP designations that highlight the construction discipline's complex nature with multiple examples of different designations for the same topical content. A discussion of the advantages and disadvantages of using different designations is included in the paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the United States, 64.9% of all engineering master's and 59.0% of all engineering doctoral degrees are awarded to international students [1]. These international students bring significant cultural and economic value to engineering education programs but face unique social, cultural, and academic challenges [27]. Therefore, we need to create more inclusive engineering education environments to enable international engineering students to overcome these challenges and to foster diverse perspectives among the engineering learning community. One way of moving towards more inclusive engineering education environments is to incorporate innovative lessons into engineering courses and curricula that consider effective instructional design principles. This paper presents the processes of designing and delivering an innovative instructional lesson to reach more diverse students to enhance the inclusivity and equity for international engineering graduate students. To this end, I developed, delivered, and evaluated instructional lesson on the topic "Traffic Signals Coordination along the Street" that engaged diverse engineering graduate students, domestic and international. The lesson contributes to addressing disparities in efforts (between domestic and international students) in navigating cultural differences, thus improving equity and inclusivity in engineering education. I developed this pilot lesson as part of an assignment in a graduate class where we were challenged to design and deliver innovative instructional lessons. Using this opportunity, I considered instructional design elements and modified Bloom's Taxonomy of cognitive learning theory [2] to create effective instruction that adds to the efforts to address equity and inclusivity in engineering education. The Analyze, Design, Develop, Implement, and Evaluate (ADDIE) instructional design model [9] was used to frame the design of the lesson: identify needs, learners' characteristics and task analysis, delivery modalities, design of active learning strategies, and continuous assessment techniques. This paper shares the procedures I followed to design, deliver, and evaluate this more inclusive and equitable lesson for domestic and international students. In addition, two reviewer groups composed of four graduate students and three instructors conducted a summative evaluation of the delivered lesson. The feedback from the reviewers suggests that the lesson could help enhance the inclusivity and equity of education for international graduate students in engineering education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This Work in Progress paper will explore and propose a framework for operationalizing ways in which exclusion is present in engineering culture and influential in engineering student attrition. Recruiting a large and diverse population of incoming engineering students has become a priority for many institutions to address both the growing need for engineers and the lack of diversity in engineeringrelated academic and industry settings. Despite efforts to improve recruitment and retention, the number of students that leave engineering before completing their degrees continues to be a problem. One reason for this retention problem that deserves exploration is how the 'weed-out' culture - or the belief that some courses or experiences remove students who are not 'cut-out' to be engineers - is influential in engineering attrition. The idea that not every student that aspires to be an engineer can or should be an engineer manifests itself commonly in higher education programs by way of these 'weed-out' courses and students' experiences within them. While GPA and course grades are commonly to blame for 'weeding' students out, exclusion is pervasive in the engineering community beyond quantitative measures of student abilities. While many students cite leaving engineering due to a lack of content knowledge, many others yet cite chilly climates, lacking a sense of belonging, unwelcoming and competitive environments, and so on. We posit that while 'weed-out' culture is associated with undergraduate engineering programs, exclusion is pervasive in the broader engineering community. While organizational culture theories have been used to study engineering industry and academic settings in past research, this Work in Progress paper will propose a framework of exclusion that can be used in future work to relate and connect 1) research on engineering culture, specifically focusing on beliefs regarding exclusion and who is or is not good enough to be an engineer and what metrics, people, or systems make that determination and 2) research on engineering student attrition and retention, specifically focusing on what factors students attribute to leaving engineering and how those factors relate to exclusion and 'weed-out' culture. We aim to use this framework to synthesize and combine these two bodies of research to shed new light on how the engineering education community discusses engineering retention and attrition. By applying an organizational culture lens to the challenge of engineering student retention, a new set of considerations and strategies could be at the disposal of higher education and administration in engineering colleges. Beginning to reframe the culture of engineering from one of exclusion to that of inclusivity has the potential to drastically change the ideas and perceptions of who can and cannot become an engineer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the demand for online learning keeps growing in higher education, developing teaching pedagogies that are effective in online education is of importance. Teaching courses remotely involves challenges such as difficulties in retaining student attention and promoting collaborative in-class activities. These can adversely affect students' motivation for learning, comprehension of new concepts, and application of knowledge in realistic problems. In this study, the efficacy of flipped classroom pedagogy in online classes is investigated, with a focus on student engagement and learning outcomes. An undergraduate fluid mechanics course was reconstructed as an online flipped classroom; the student performance was compared to that of the previous in-person, nonflipped sections taught by the same instructor. The paper discusses three main design aspects in implementing an online flipped classroom: 1) syncing the material delivery paces with assignment deadlines, 2) multi-stage assignments on the same topic at incremental difficulty levels, and 3) web-friendly and well-defined deliverables for group problem-solving activities. In both sections offered as the flipped online classroom format in Fall 2021, remarkably high student participation was observed, with an average of 1.1 students absent out of 88 students throughout the semester. Furthermore, compared to the two previous in-person, non-flipped sections offered in Spring 2018 and Spring 2019, the online flipped classroom students earned a 3.5% higher average score on the same final exams. Overall, improvement in both student engagement and learning outcomes has been observed for the online flipped Fluid Mechanics course. Finally, the paper discusses the advantages, implementation strategies, and limitations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This "tricks of the trade" paper seeks to support new researchers interested in conducting discipline-based educational research outside of the classroom setting. Based on national calls, we need to increase science literacy and expanding our efforts to informal science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) learning will support these calls to action. Traditionally, discipline-based educational research in STEM has been conducted in typical classroom environments. This can include classrooms from preschool through higher education. However, there is an ever-widening set of opportunities afforded to people to learn about STEM careers and STEM topics outside of the classroom. To better understand the impacts of informal education experiences, it is important to research outside of the classroom. While research into these experiences is expanding, conducting research outside of the classroom setting presents its own unique set of challenges. The authors on this paper have all conducted STEM research and assessment in a variety of informal learning settings including youth organizations, science resource centers, community outreach programs, and museums across different age groups. In this paper, we discuss some of the challenges present in informal learning settings along with tips for how to plan for and overcome issues that will inevitably arise. We also highlight the unique benefits of working outside of a traditional classroom. By sharing our "tricks of the trade," we hope to empower developing researchers to explore the impacts of informal learning in STEM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research is the process intended to create new or improved technology that can provide a competitive advantage at the business, industry, or national level. The future economic progress of any country will be driven by the invention and application of new technologies. The emphasis on funding in universities is misleading and understates the actual importance of research at the university and its importance in student formation. Successful research programs involve undergraduate students, graduate students, and informed faculty. Research prepares students to identify problems and solve them in innovative ways and can be measured by how students' knowledge, thinking patterns, skills and attitudes are changed. Involvement in research, for either students or faculty, addresses the need to develop curiosity and the ability to ask the right question. This paper will emphasize the importance of research to the economy and higher education. It will then introduce the importance of research to student formation and reinforce the importance of exposing students early to the concepts of research. This paper will then show the connection between research and Entrepreneurially Minded Learning (EML) and describe three projects, supported by the Kern Entrepreneurial Engineering Network (KEEN) and the Kern Foundation, intended to expose undergraduates to research early in their academic careers. The first project was part of KEEN's initial "EML through Research" workshop given in Nov 2019. The project, entitled "Research and EML: Helping Students (and Faculty) See and Understand the Value of Research" grew from a desire to involve more undergraduate students in research. The vision was to expose undergraduates to research and then determine how to teach them basic skills. While the scope of the project was limited, it led to the second project. The second project, entitled "Understanding the Importance of Research in Student Formation and Value Creation," was to develop three short videos intended to inform undergraduates about research. The three videos were filmed and associated instructor guides developed for topics concerning undergraduate research. The broad topics were "What is Research?", "Undergraduate Research," and "Product Commercialization." The third project is just beginning and aims to further expose undergraduates to research and reinforce the importance research in student formation. It is entitled "An EM-Driven Framework for Undergraduate Research" and involves six institutions from across the KEEN network. The areas being developed are Early Exposure, Student Research Training, Faculty & Mentor Training, and Assessment. This project is just starting and will be ongoing for three years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This evidence based study is derived from other work in progress related to the history of engineering education in the UK. Its interest lies in the fact that in 1955/56 the British government created a sub-system of higher technological education in England and Wales that had as its objective, the education of highly qualified engineers and applied scientists for manufacturing industry. This sub-system came to an end in 1964/5. While it could have been the subject of an official evaluation, it was not. However, fortuitously, it was established during a period increasing interest in research in higher education, and several researches addressed various aspects of the system that, accidentally, make a retrospective, but partial informal evaluation possible. The discussion is presented in two papers because of the structure of the conference, and the need to provide the detailed explanation of the cultural system in which the development took place which would be of substantial length. That is the purpose of this, the first paper. Together these papers have a secondary function of showing factors that contributed to the success and failure of a major innovation in order that the mistakes made will not be repeated in the future: that is to foster learning of the collective past. Their final purpose is more international collaboration among engineering educators and its research fraternity. Since the social forces (attitudes, beliefs and values) at work in society ultimately determine the success or failure of educational innovations, part 1 (this paper) shows the importance of social class in what is valued and not valued in the English educational system. The academic is preferred to the vocational. Grammar schools and universities are associated with the academic. Technical and further education colleges with the vocational. The antecedent philosophy driving this innovation in degree level technological education, as expressed in the 1945 report of the Percy Committee on Higher Technological Education placed the Colleges of Advanced Technology (CATs) created in 1955/6 firmly in the vocational sector. The results of the investigations carried out in the CATs reported in part 2 (the second paper) showed that schoolteachers and their pupils tended to view the CATs as second class citizens: that most students had good experiences of industrial training although many believed it could be improved, and that the curriculum offered tended to model that found in the universities. The Robbins Committee believed that the curriculum offered was of degree level standard and recommended that the CATs be given university status, which they were in 1964/5. For the convenience of the reader part 1 is preceded by a list of abbreviations, and a time line. The research for the papers summarised in part 2 took place between 1960 and 1965. A note on problems of presenting studies about non-American systems of engineering and technological education at ASEE conferences is included in the introduction to part 1. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The university of this paper proposed the creation of a Doctor of Technology (D. Tech.) graduate degree program to be delivered as a hybrid model from the main university campus to active/employed technology professionals. This degree program was distinctly different than the existing Ph.D. in the college of this program in multiple ways including the delivery mode, the target clientele, the focus of learning activities, and the research aims of the program. In addition to purposing the degree towards the development of technology and R&D competence needed by business, industry and government, the vision was to employ a hybrid delivery system involving predominantly distance learning education plus some campus-based experiences that make the achievement of a doctoral degree far more accessible to practicing professionals who would not pursue a doctorate or Ph.D. in a traditional campus setting due to their work and home responsibilities. The program, in its final implementation was entirely online. Over the last two years there have been numerous conversations on the academic, institutional, financial, faculty and academic department compensation models, and other decisional aspects of a Tier-1 university Doctor of Technology (D. Tech.) degree program. These many conversations with peers and aspirationals, were oriented around how this program came to be, what considerations were critical to its success, how the many institutional financial models work with this new program, and other similarly attendant questions. The originators of this program have found themselves repeating these similarly reenacted conversations, providing this university's specific answers to similarly situated peer/aspirational program questions. The purpose of this paper is to identify, define, articulate, and otherwise expand upon those natural evolutionary thoughts and implementation details asked by others within higher education, and specifically, those institutions of higher education who are considering university specific instantiations of their own. This paper will discuss and explore decisions made in, but not limited to, the areas of: ❑ Program characteristics - which includes the proposed mode of delivery and the format of the program. ❑ Rationale for the program. ❑ Researched evidence of a labor-specific market need - specifically identifying the national, regional, and state needs. ❑ Identified business and industry needs. ❑ Identified research doctorates and their applicability to this doctorate. ❑ Identified related needs from the U.S. Department of Labor - which includes national, regional, and state studies. ❑ The determination of potential demand from past existing online master's students. This data insight will include: o In state versus out of state initial interest. o National versus international past student interest. o Past academic degree conferrals. o Student interest by age, gender, race, and ethnicity. ❑ Program competencies and learning outcomes. This paper will promote national conversation on the possibilities of varying institutions providing an online doctorate program to those students who would not otherwise have access to this type of program. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper provides an update on activities and accomplishments of an NSF CAREER project about empowering students to be adaptive decision-makers. According to the Self-Regulated Model of Decision-Making, to make adaptive decisions, individuals need knowledge of the context, an understanding of themselves, and effective strategies. Our study is designed to support these components by rigorously studying the context of major changes, developing an instrument to explain student's decision-making competency and map to academic choices and outcomes, and packaging these results along with strategy tools and resources in an academic dashboard. Specifically, we summarize our progress and accomplishments in these three areas: (1) the identification of curriculum-specific indicators of overpersistence (which refers to when a student persists in a major yet does not progress toward attaining a degree for that major) conducted through Chi-Square Automatic Interaction Detector (CHAID) analysis; (2) development and validation of the Multidimensional Inventory of Decision-Making Competency (MIDC); and (3) the design process of the Academic Dashboard for students with functionalities such as tracking their study habits, predicting exam grades and developing their meta-cognition attributes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We report on a program initiated at a public, urban, research university to promote institutional change in diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) practices through a faculty learning community (FLC). The FLC is a three-year cohort of faculty in the College of Engineering, Design and Computing at the University of Colorado Denver with representation from each of the five departments, as well as faculty at multiple stages in their career (instructors, assistant, associate, and full professors in clinical, research, and tenure tracks). This cohort represents a broad sampling across the college, and provides a foundation for the FLC to influence, transform, and layer a culture of diversity, equity, and inclusion throughout the college. Initial results from this project center on findings that address the research question: How can participation in an FLC nudge engineering faculty to adopt and personalize mindful reflection and DEI best practices? This paper includes initial findings from participant feedback, challenges, and successes from the first year, and a preliminary description of important elements of college culture as a preview of the kind of impacts that may be measured over the duration of the program. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

PAtENT (Pathways to Entrepreneurship) is a pilot program for an alternate pathway allowing doctoral candidates in STEM programs to satisfy capstone degree requirements by applying for patents. This model and the PAtENT program aim to bring greater alignment between doctoral degrees and the rapidly changing employment landscape, and have the potential to modernize the STEM Ph.D. In order to create flexible pathways to doctoral degrees that catalyze innovations, institutional support is needed to sustain exploratory and interdisciplinary research. A total of seven faculty and four graduate students participated in a qualitative study of PAtENT to address the overall research questions of a) what appeals to you about this alternative pathway, and b) what is needed to support alternative pathways in STEM doctoral degrees? This short paper describes the pilot program, its context, and presents findings from the qualitative study that inform next steps for all institutions interested in advancing research innovations in STEM educational practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In pursuit of greater opportunities for students, higher education institutes are increasingly expanding their physical presence to become multi-campus institutions. One such institution is the University of British Columbia, with campuses in Vancouver, B.C., Canada and Kelowna (Okanagan), B.C., Canada, which are over 400 km (250 miles) from each other. This program is the first of its kind within the Faculty of Applied Science to be offered across both campuses. This paper gives an overview of the undergraduate Manufacturing Engineering program, including benefits and challenges to being multi-campus. It discusses courses that are taught across both campuses, a fourth (final) year option to pursue one of two specialties on either campus, and efforts made to build student connections and community across campuses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Promotion of STEM careers in K-12 schools is essential for the sustainable progress of the world. College students from engineering careers can provide a unique contribution to this effort. Their experience is like the K-12 school environment. However, they have advanced knowledge and skills of their critical role in society. They can offer a realistic model for K-12 students to guide their career choice and to become motivated for STEM college education. In addition, college students benefit from these experiences by reinforcing their commitment to a successful career, and to service the communities that have supported their education. Moreover, the teamwork required for an efficient and engaging set of activities provides possibilities for the inclusion and diversity of different perspectives based on their personal experiences at school. In addition, this team effort provides for the development of multiple skills for their professional job. However, though the benefit of this strategy is well known, most colleges promote outreach as extracurricular activities. This paper discusses a three-year experience in the Chemical Engineering Department, with the participation of 360 college students, in 70 projects, reaching over 2,000 school students, as a curricular requirement for capstone courses. Continuous improvements have been in progress to provide a systematic approach while remaining flexible for innovation. This has proved valuable in sustaining the continuity of the experience during the COVID-19 pandemic. Activities are organized each semester using project management techniques (plan, logbook, reports, and meetings). The instructor monitors and coaches these activities using a virtual platform MS TEAMS. Activities include an early presentation of the project proposal (week 2), a scheduled progress report presentation (week 4), a meeting with the instructor before delivering the activity to the selected community (weeks 4-8), a poster and a final presentation (weeks 12-14). Students also deliver a package with all the information, including in-person or virtual presentation or hands-on activity, pre- and post-surveys to the audience, interactions with K-12teachers, flyers and other materials (i.e., materials for demonstrations, activities). Schoolteachers frequently report on their impression or evaluation of the activities. Students gather and analyze surveys on the impact of their activities. All classmates review and peer grade deliverables from other teams. Students evaluate their teammates' performance in this project. Students provide a self-assessment of their individual experience. They earn up to 10% of the definitive grade of the course for this outreach project. This approach has proved to be fully sustainable, and with an overwhelming satisfaction of all the participants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Delivering hands-on design and manufacturing courses is challenging in several lecture and laboratory settings. This type of instruction is even harder lately due to higher education institutions' strict COVID-19 policies and procedures, since offering the courses in on-ground settings is not a possibility. One method practiced by a high number of educators to meet course learning outcomes and ABET student outcomes is to implement the Flipped Classroom technique. In a Flipped Classroom, course lectures and laboratories are provided to students earlier than the class time. Then, class times are used to provide more practice and content so that students can learn more in their regular lectures and lab hours. This paper reports the structure of a few Flipped Classroom courses from a diverse group of institutions and the evaluation results received from these courses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This work-in-progress research paper introduces the Educational Ecosystem Health Survey (EEHS), an educational survey instrument designed by the Eco-STEM team at California State University, Los Angeles, a federally designated Hispanic Serving Institution. The Eco-STEM project applies a framework of Community Cultural Wealth and explores the metaphor of a healthy ecosystem to envision systemic change that responds to the needs and values the assets of diverse actors, who learn together for both their individual and collective good, within the educational "ecosystem." As part of the project, the Eco-STEM team has developed the EEHS survey instrument to measure the "health" of the educational ecosystem. The results will provide valuable insight into the perceptions and experiences of students from socially and structurally oppressed groups. The Eco-STEM EEHS is comprised of constructs from several survey instruments that have already undergone statistical validation within educational contexts, many of them within higher education. The items peruse issues of social climate, belonging, thriving and wellbeing, interest, mindfulness, stress, and perceptions of the future. Given the Community Cultural Wealth framework and the fact that two-thirds of the student body at California State University, Los Angeles identifies as Hispanic, the EEHS is offered in both Spanish and English. Students are asked to provide a multitude of institutionally relevant demographic information, such that results may be disaggregated along many categories. The EEHS is also administered to faculty, staff, and administration / management in addition to students. By including these essential actors in the analysis of the state of the educational ecosystem, we intend to also measure perceptions of experience serving the STEM educational community, rather than solely receiving it. We will pilot the EEHS during the Spring 2022 semester. Over the next four years of the Eco-STEM project, semesterly administrations will quantify the progress of the project's initiatives to implement effective systemic change. Our analyses will investigate the perspectives of those with oppressed social identities - individuals who actually hold majority representation within the unique demographic composition of California State University, Los Angeles. The results will offer critically important feedback to Hispanic-Serving Institutions and all institutions who strive to serve students from communities who have been left behind and even exploited by the existing systems and structures of higher education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lean manufacturing methods have been widely used in industry for many decades. The lean concepts which have been adopted, largely have increased profit and reduced waste. Lean philosophy has been reviewed in academia by researchers, but only few major models have been developed. In these models, various factors have been discussed without finding a common ground or core. The focus of this paper is to review the lean models in use in academia as well as to identify the most important pillars based on which a new model may be constructed. It then reviews some novel approaches which might help higher education professionals to focus on value creation, continuous improvement, as well as efficiency. The underlying lean principles in industry in various sectors are adopted to complete a list of deliverables to be used in academia. For this purpose, the three bodies of Faculty, Students and Staff are considered, as well as the three areas of Teaching, Research, and Service. Lean philosophy in each body and area is also evaluated. The core theoretical elements of lean manufacturing are the three main goals, the two fundamentals, the five principles, and the eight wastes. The new educational model is based on four pillars which are adopted from the primary elements of the Lean World Class Manufacturing (LWCM) and lean Six Sigma framework. However, the model also incorporates the elements of the future-ready manufacturing business, and project management. The emphasis is on reducing waste in engineering departments, which is the main goal of the new model suggested. These elements are revisited from the perspective of higher education management, to offer new methods that faculty and administration bodies can deploy for a much higher efficiency, effectiveness, and productivity in academia. These are to ensure higher rates of retention and graduation, and general student success. These new methods can be incorporated in university trainings for faculty and staff and be frequently evaluated for successful outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The National Center for Education Statistics started the Classification of Instructional Programs (CIP) in 1980 to facilitate the organization, collection, and reporting of fields of study and program completions. While engineering management was previously listed under CIP 14 for "Engineering", in 2000 it was moved to CIP 15 "Engineering/Engineering-related Technologies/Technicians". In effect, the federal government views engineering management programs as Engineering Technology. This paper explores the status of CIP codes for engineering management instructional programs, the uses of CIP codes in higher education, and the procedure to obtain a new or revised CIP Code. We also explore reasons why the engineering management community may want to return to a CIP 14 code due to rankings, perceived value, and implications for funding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This Work-in-Progress Paper describes the collaborative efforts initiated by our University's Office of Undergraduate Research (OUR) and some of the important milestones of its First-Year Scholars Program (FYSP). The program pairs interested first-year students (FYS) with research faculty mentors who guide them through a year-long research project, with training in research and research methods in the field. Faculty present their research projects to students for review. Then students are encouraged to apply for projects that they find interesting, regardless of whether the projects are in their majors. The OUR then pairs students with faculty to participate in the program. Participating students receive a stipend for their work ($1,000 in the Fall and $1,000 in the Spring), and faculty receive funding to support their research projects. Our university is currently in Year 3 of this program, which has grown exponentially each year (13 students in Year 1, 71 students in Year 2, and 141 students in Year 3). This growth has been specifically impressive in the Engineering & Engineering Technology (E&ET) disciplines, with 1 project in Year 1, 21 projects in Year 2, and 22 projects in Year 3, representing the most of any college at ---. As administrators and faculty in higher education, we understand the importance that overall student success plays in students' academic effectiveness. To guide these students towards achieving that success requires intentional efforts and programs by the entire institution to tutor new students about 'how to be effective and successful.' So, the E&ET Category Research Themes include: (1) Project-Based exercises; (2) Design Process Instructions; (3) Problem-Based Open-Ended Creative Work; (4) Teamwork insights development; (5) Diversity-Tone: Female & Minority student components; (6) K-12 E&ET Pipeline Participation encouragement; (7) Development of Institutional Review Board (IRB) Documentation; and (8) Learning Technologies. Kennesaw State University is recognized in promoting diversity and inclusive climate and has been placed 3rd in African American enrollment within a college of engineering, 24th in the nation in bachelor's degrees presented to African Americans in all disciplines, 83rd in the nation in conferring bachelor's degrees to all minorities across all disciplines. Degrees to African Americans, Hispanics, Asians and Native-American are measured in the Diverse study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Collaboration in higher education has seen many improvements in recent years. Programs that used to operate in silos incorporate some form of collaboration in their curriculum. However, there is still the need to expand interdisciplinary collaborations through experiential learning. The University of Dayton received a generous donation from an alumnus to support multidisciplinary collaboration between engineering and business majors through experiential learning. Consequently, the Stitt Scholars Program (SSP) was instituted to allow students to engage in multidisciplinary collaborations. The focus was to acquire and enhance their entrepreneurial and innovation skills. Through the Stitt Scholars Program, startup companies provide projects for multidisciplinary teams of students to execute. Each student puts in ten hours of work each week. The startup companies have no financial obligation as the students are paid from the Stitt Scholars Program fund. The students also take a 2-credit hour course which incorporates lecture series and other weekly academic engagements. This course's goal is to help the students understand the engineering and business needs of bringing out a product and starting and running a company. From his experience in managing a family-owned business, the donor was convinced that supporting such deep collaborative efforts may help break the silos and create value for startup companies in the community. This paper discusses the Stitt Scholars experiential learning program at the University of Dayton. We will present a narrative of the framework used in developing the Program, initial assessment, and feedback from various stakeholders, which may be helpful for institutions that may want to start a similar program. Generally, the experience has been positive and impactful for the students, the donor, and the industrial clients. The initial feedback from the clients shows that the program is creating value for their startup companies. Consequently, the program received an additional donation of $100,000. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Educational escape rooms are a form of gamification that have been used in higher education and industry to enhance team building and increase motivation by making learning exciting. In general, educational escape rooms have teams solve a problem using puzzles, clues, and hints in a limited amount of time. Two escape rooms were developed for seniors in our environmental engineering program. The first escape room was centered on a hazardous waste incineration problem that included, the Ideal Gas Law, gaussian dispersion, and risk assessment. This escape room was used in our Solid and Hazardous Waste course to help our seniors prepare for the Fundamentals of Engineering Exam. It was also piloted with two faculty teams during a summer teaching seminar. The second escape room was built around an engineering ethics case study in our capstone design course, which will be discussed in the companion paper. Assessment and evaluation of these exercises revealed that most students and faculty appreciated this alternative approach to engage with the material. A valuable lesson learned is that escape room creators must be careful not to design puzzles that are exceedingly challenging and time consuming. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

At the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE), Conference for Industry & Education Collaboration (CIEC) 2017 in Jacksonville, Florida, the Special Interest Group on Administration (SIG-Admin) focused on individual college/university experiences of dwindling enrollments in graduate distance programs. Based on recent research, this paper focuses on the quantitative realities of this perception and the numerous multi-faceted complexities contributing to the underlying premise of the suggestion. The paper reviews the numerical basis for this concern, as well as looks at the many peripheral and cumulative factors contributing to the concern. This paper focuses on the current trends in declining on-campus enrollments and the offset increase in distance-based enrollments. From the perspective of declining tuition-based on-campus higher education enrollments, this paper will share insights into contributing population demographics, the rationale behind declining numbers of high school graduates, student preferences for staying close to home, and, the challenges of current and future learners. From the perspective of increasing distance-based enrollments, this paper will focus on the contributing factors of distance trend enrollments nationally and by region, by type of institution; public, private non-profit and private for-profit, and by sector of institution. The paper also draws from longitudinal data of the top 50 distance providers. Overall, this paper focuses on the many perceived separate, yet highly related, contributing factors to higher education enrollments, both on-campus and at a distance. While it is recognized these may not be representative of the entirety of those factors contributing to perceived distance dwindling enrollments, the contributing data that follows certainly appears, inductively, to be part of the underlying basis of the discussion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The steady growth of enrollments in online higher education courses has prompted many institutions to explore ways of putting their content online. A common method has been to record face-to-face (f2f) lectures and make those videos and corresponding materials available to distance students through a Learning Management System. Few additional measures are taken to increase the levels of engagement and interaction for online students. This model still designs instruction with f2f students as the primary audience. Online students to be observers rather than full participants in the course. This paper looks at reversing that model by creating courses where the online student experience is the starting point for course design. The authors researched best practices in online education to reinvent lectures, assessments, and interactions and used a Backwards Design approach to reinvent a graduate level materials science course. The process developed became known as the Design for Online (DFO) model. Lectures were pre-taped in a studio and broken into smaller digestible chunks. Each of the videos was based upon clearly identified outcomes that focused on higher order thinking as defined by Bloom's Taxonomy. In order to facilitate those outcomes, embedded questions were added within the videos to point out vital information as well provide data to the instructor about the students' thinking. Multiple means of assessment were used to help respect diverse talents and ways of learning as well as to provide actionable timely feedback to students. Interaction became a key component in this new course. These interactions focused beyond student-to-content interaction by making sure to layer in meaningful student-to-instructor and student-to-student collaborations. End of semester survey data showed an increase in student satisfaction for the online version of the course. As a result, another materials science course was tested using the DFO process the following semester with similar results. Through this paper, the authors share best practices and lessons learned as well as a blueprint for any institution looking to go through a similar process. Suggestions are made as to how instructors might leverage the digital assets created through this process to benefit their on-ground students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lean approaches to continuous improvement, originally practiced and perfected by Toyota Motor Company, have been widely used in the industry sector for many decades. There is a growing trend at universities to adopt lean practices to improve higher education processes. Reduced financial support and growing competition amongst universities and academic programs motivate the implementation of lean practices both at university and department levels.1 Colleges and universities that have adopted lean practices are driven by the need to strategically leverage resources to meet stakeholder expectations, reduce waste or costs, and improve satisfaction with under-performing processes.2 This paper presents an overview of the continuous improvement journey at the Construction & Operations Management (COM) Department at South Dakota State University (SDSU) and demonstrates proof of concept via a case study which describes a Kaizen event performed in a multi-disciplinary academic department, in a college of engineering. Higher education is a labor-intensive process, and the department seeks to eliminate non-value added activities of faculty and staff, reduce time and effort required in daily processes, and to improve student learning experiences in the department. These all illustrate important concepts that engineering management education delivers to students. The approach, challenges, and outcomes are presented in the paper to inform best practices in lean higher education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals requires a multi-pronged approach, with a key element being the development of a trained Community of Practice to sustain the advances in the relevant sectors. The engagement of higher education as a catalyst in the development and capacity building of the next generation of professionals and citizens comprising the Community of Practice is essential to meet the challenges of poverty, climate change, and clean water and to sustain those advances past 2030. This paper describes a capacity building program funded by the United States Agency for International Development to partner the University of Utah, in the United States, with Mehran University of Engineering and Technology, in Pakistan, to create the U.S.-Pakistan Center for Advanced Studies in Water (USPCASW). The USPCASW program includes six core components of Curriculum Reform, Applied Research, Exchanges and Training, Governance, Gender Equity, and Sustainability. This paper describes the project, the activities for each component, and the multi-level assessment of the program, activities, and impact. The paper also highlights the overarching impact of the program and its alignment with achieving the Sustainable Development Goal for Water. Following the description of the program components and assessment, the paper concludes with a discussion of challenges and lessons learned. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper critiques how engineering students experience two key academic transition points in UK Higher Education, foundation (pre-freshman) and graduate level study. Set within an era whereby the dominant ideology is that of marketization, the paper considers whether student expectations of the academic side university are similar at foundation and graduate level. Descriptive statistics are used to compare and contrast the student perspective and a number of key differences between the expectations of both cohorts critiqued. The paper concludes by emphasing the need for Synergetic Configuration across the curriculum [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Community College, located in Wellesley, MA offers two certificates in Advanced Manufacturing: Manufacturing Technology and Manufacturing Innovation. Each certificate can be completed within a year. The final semester is dedicated to a paid industry internship where students are supervised by both company and faculty advisors while learning on the job skills at a partnering company. The internship is mandatory for the students to graduate. Students may work up to 40 hours a week and are paid up to $15/hour. These internships can often lead to full-time employment. Sometimes it is difficult for students to secure paid internships. This paper describes an innovative model where a partnering company can provide a project for the students to work on in-house at the college campus. In turn, the Community College compensates the students for 80 hours @ $15/hour, the minimum number of hours to fulfill the internship requirement for the certificate. The Community College faculty advisor of the project, acts as a liaison between the company and the students. Moreover, as part of the NSF funded project, the Community College works collaboratively with a local major University. Thus, the Community College faculty advisor is aided by a Ph.D. graduate student from the University. As a result of these collaborations, the team consists of three or four Community College students, a Community College faculty advisor, an industry advisor from the sponsoring company that provides the project, and a Ph.D. graduate student. All stakeholders work together during the semester to complete an industry project. The partnering company initially provided multiple projects and after careful consideration, the students ultimately selected one of them. The project goal was to design robot safety cages around some manufacturing equipment to safeguard the machine operator from moving robotic equipment traveling at above-head level. The company provided the project specs. The students set to design and simulate cages design using SolidWorks CAD/CAM software. Students, the faculty advisor, and the graduate student visited the company during the project execution and had regular contact with the company advisor, during the semester, to seek feedback and test their designs. By the end of the project, the students were able to successfully design new cages to meet the company requirements. This paper describes the project in more detail, how team members worked together, the company's feedback, guidance to students, and the company's plans to implement the final design and build the cages. The paper also describes the lessons learned and the benefits to students, Community College faculty, and the company. Finally, the paper discusses future collaboration with the company and broader impact on programs at the college. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Product Development is a key topic for many engineering courses and educational programmes. The Product Development Process, as applied in industry, consists of all the necessary steps to bring a new or redesigned product to the market. Although the process is practiced in many different ways, depending on, for instance, company size and customer requirements, there are many common elements. These need to be covered by University teaching to prepare students for jobs in industry. This paper considers how students can be supported to make open, creative and well informed decisions in several stages of the product development process. A teaching approach suitable for the product development process is described and investigated. The pedagogic context of the approach is project based learning in small student groups with short regular meetings with an instructor for consultation and supervision. The educational resources that are used consist of a combination of materials and manufacturing process databases, eco-performance indicators, as well as computer based selection and visualization tools. The methodology has been tested in a class of third year undergraduate students of Mechanical Engineering taking a course in Product Development. One group of 4 students was followed during the development of a liquid container also serving as a construction element for use in developing countries or in disaster areas. Specific details of the teaching approach, the use of computer resources as a project tool, examination of the project and assessment of the results by the instructor and by the students are reported. It was found that the computer based tools employed could be used in a generic manner to facilitate the learning related to the following steps of a product development process: * specification of product function and requirements, * screening and scoring (ranking) of concepts, * optimization of properties for the final design, including manufacturing selection and costing, as well as * evaluation of properties of the final product to be used by marketing We believe that the findings are useful for many different directions within product development, for example Design for X (DfX) which is commonly used to represent different design focuses. In particular, X could stand for Manufacturing or Environment in our approach. Furthermore, the approach is compatible with Concurrent Engineering. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper will provide a step-by-step methodology to enable an instructor dealing with 3D modelling to optimally guide his/her students through an understandable 3D modelling approach which will not only enhance their knowledge about the CAD program usage but also enable students to achieve their desired result in comparatively less time. Grid method, origin reference method and planes reference methods to create sketches and 3D models will be discussed. The advantages of planes reference method in comparison to origin reference method will be presented. The information provided by this paper will serve as a source to improve the quality of technical college instructors teaching 3D modelling to engineering students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One approach to understanding and learning about the African-American STEM college student experience is to examine the personal, professional, and mentoring experiences and mentoring relationships of African-American STEM mentors in higher education. In this paper, we examine the personal and professional experiences of an African-American STEM PhD mentor in higher education in an attempt to understand the African-American STEM college experience from the perspective of African-American mentors. As a pilot study of the first author's dissertation research, this paper is not intended to generate theory or present a universalized narrative for all African-American STEM mentors. Rather, this study examines the preliminary findings of a storied experience of someone who can speak to the experience of being an African-American STEM undergraduate and mentor. Emergent themes from the narrative data focus on the potential needs of African-Americans in higher education to see others who look like them in academia and to have mentors who are knowledgeable about social and cultural resources. Future research should examine how mentors implement different methods and strategies to help their African-American proteges and how to help other mentors learn how to be better resources for proteges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes steps taken to increase participation and student learning in an undergraduate STEM Summer Research Program at the Air Force Institute of Technology (AFIT), a government institution. The paper also describes outcomes related to how the program is helping the students prepare for their futures. These steps are taken during the third year of an ongoing process to transform the undergraduate program. A partnership among AFIT, the LEADER (Launching Equity in the Academy across the Dayton Entrepreneurial Region) Consortium, and the Southwestern Ohio Consortium for Higher Education (SOCHE) was established to assess the students' experiences and to inform future experiences based upon the results of surveys conducted annually since 2012. SOCHE has employed nearly 1,000 STEM students in the past 25 years. In 2012, a formal assessment tool was distributed to the students for the first time to measure the impact of the research experience. Also in 2012, a formal assessment tool was distributed to the Faculty Advisors of the students for the first time to measure the research experience of the students from their advisors' perspective. Following the student survey results in the 2012 Program, we identified the following four broad needs expressed by the students: (1) A desire for mentors with increased organization and communication among SOCHE, AFIT, and the students; (2) A desire for increased interactions with other students; (3) A desire to improve their CV or resume at the beginning of the program; (4) A desire to gain engineering experience, skills, and confidence in research. In the 2013 Program, we introduced and implemented four new voluntary components in response to the student needs. Because of government restrictions, the participation of students in the components is voluntary, and students were encouraged to participate by SOCHE. These transformational components are: (A) A joint orientation process with SOCHE and AFIT Project Leaders; (B) Student cohorts through social activities and STEM-based games; (C) A weekly seminar meeting with outside presentations of general interest; and (D) A Poster Session so that students can present the engineering experiences they have gained. Selected students were awarded 'Posters of Excellence' Certificates in a poster competition. Student response rates in the 2013 Program were low to both a pre-survey administered by SOCHE when the program was in session and to a post-survey following the program (presurvey response rate: 33%; post-survey response rate: 16%). While participation in the Joint Orientation was nearly 100%, student participation in the other 11 one-hour weekly events was low (13%). This paper describes increased student and faculty participation in the 2014 Program. The 2014 Program comprised 49 students and 14 Faculty Advisors. The 49 participating students is the largest number of students since the start of our assessment effort (The 2013 Program comprised 43 students, and the 2012 Program comprised 48 students). SOCHE continues to advertise the research internships conducted at the Federal Government Institution throughout southwestern Ohio. In the 2014 Program, we introduced and implemented a fifth component. This component is: (E) Counseling. This component provides personal interaction among the students and SOCHE at the Government Institution (where the students are pursuing their research projects). In this component, the Director of SOCHE drove to the Government Institution for one day (Wednesday) each week and spent four hours meeting informally with students and answering student questions regarding the Program. Approximately 20 students met the Director each day. In addition to introducing Component (E), we also standardized the location and time of each event in the four components (A)-(D). Each event was held at the same time (noon-1pm) each week in the same location. The consistency of the programming helped the students remember each weekly event and contributed to increased participation. This paper will describe the new component (E) and additional steps taken to increase student participation and student learning in the five components in the 2014 Program. This paper will also describe outcomes related to how the program is helping the students prepare for their futures and steps taken to increase faculty participation in the Faculty Advisor survey. In the 2014 Program, student participation increased in each component. Nearly 100% of the students participated in the Joint Orientation. Thirteen of the 49 students (26.5%) participated in the Kayak trip; 18 students (36.7%) participated in the resume workshop; and 21 students (42.9%) participated in the Poster Preparation Session. Seventeen students (34.7%) prepared 12 posters for the Poster Session, compared with the participation of 9 out of 43 students (21%) who together prepared 7 posters in the 2013 Poster Session (a Poster Session was not held in the 2012 Program). Faculty participation in the 2014 Faculty Advisor survey is 11 out of 13 oncampus faculty (85%) (One faculty transferred out of the country prior to the administration of the Faculty Advisor Survey and was not able to be surveyed). The increased faculty participation rate in the 2014 Program compares favorably to the Faculty Advisor response rates of 56% in the 2013 Program and 61% in the 2012 Program, respectively. Our capability to strengthen the program focuses on incorporating feedback from the students, who are government contractors, and incorporating feedback from the Faculty Advisors in order to inform best practices in workforce development. Additional results and findings of the assessment of the 2014 Summer Research Program will be discussed, and the results and findings will be compared with results from the 2012 Program and 2013 Program. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The recent national economic downturn has placed increasing pressure on higher education to do more with less, or maintain program integrity with diminishing dollars. Faced with financial challenges to adding faculty, especially in light of enrollment increases, there has to be another way to meet this challenge. In conventional course occurrences, events like a midterm, final and assignments tend to overlap between classes, and can cause big spikes in student workload. With an increased number of students in each class, students can also feel the pressure of increased competition. These stresses' on both faculty and students, negatively affect the positive outcomes desired by both groups. This paper describes the formulation, design, and execution of two planning methods used to help balance the needs, workload, and time resources for both the faculty and students in an Engineering curriculum. One approach compares weekly instructor workload for the planning and delivery across three classes. Covering items from the creation of the syllabus and homework assignments, to lecture preparation and grading, its goal is to create a workable structure for the instructor. The second approach compares the actual weekly assignment and exam load across seven classes for students with when those assignments and exams need to be graded by the instructor. This method looks at the work that needs to be accomplished and sets up a structure to help insure the success of the student learning, and the instructor's ability to actually grade the work in a balanced format. Included in the paper are the actual grading workload counts for each method. The paper also challenges the reader to review his or her own instructional planning methods for possible improvements in outcomes for both students and faculty. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, V2V communication is discussed based on a wireless protocol called Dedicated Short Range Communications (DSRC). This protocol allows cars on the road to form a dynamic wireless networks that aid in driving with the overall goal of reducing car accidents and carbon footprint. The onboard car computer manages and controls all the communication systems as well as electrical systems or subsystems in the vehicle which involve many sophisticated sensors. These sensors, and the software, help cars to make automatic, or semi-automatic, decisions and provide warning information. V2V includes control technology that comes into play at the local (sensor-level) and higher layers of the communication architecture for this dynamic wireless network to work properly. Note that V2V is also being heavily promoted by the US government and car manufacturers should have all this technology ready for deployment in the near future. The authors stress that V2V is a very good example of systems engineering where different architectures (mechanical, electrical, computers and communications), including government policy, are integrated into a product. While this type of development is being disseminated through national media, which gives the public a better understanding as to why V2V communication is important, in-depth discussion of this technology is not typically found in an electrical engineering undergraduate curriculum. This paper is based on a report written in the context of an undergraduate Electrical Engineering computer and communications course at Penn State Harrisburg. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Strategic educational investments that foster industry best practices directly and positively affect the EBITDA of the small businesses. In this paper, we show how investment from a small business to support an employees' higher education helps the overall organization in tangible and intangible ways. The specific case study project focuses on developing a web based mechanism to order and produce packaged gases in a closed loop supply chain to optimize cylinder placement through a distribution network comprised of a packaging facility for twenty distribution centers and retail store fronts that handle both outbound and inbound product. The case study provides evidence of the perceptions of organizational perception that educational investments not only create a bond between the organization and the employee but they provide a basis for which the investments sparks educational curiosity throughout the organization. This paper combines methods developed through an educational investment in key operators concerned with asset utilization as well as surveys and interviews regarding the perception of educational investments from the viewpoint of an industry buying group. The sponsoring organization sees bottom-line improvement with efforts from its own employees, including those who do not receive direct educational investments. The benefits of supporting higher education by a small business may expose some financial risk but this paper provides evidence that the investment compounds quickly throughout the organization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To date, improving the manufacturing engineering education has become a major mission for universities, particularly when manufacturing industry is currently recovering in the US. There is a need to develop tutorial software implemented in mobile device to allow students to get access of instructional material in 24/7 and enhance student learning in manufacturing engineering courses that will give future workforce engineers the skills that manufacturing companies are searching for. This paper discusses software preparation and development to support undergraduate and graduate Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) learning environments through Cyber Based Rapid Manufacturing (CBRM) - preparing students for the needs of industry and promoting advanced manufacturing technologies in higher education. The software currently aims to be used in a mobile device like Microsoft Surface and Microsoft Windows phone. It is also anticipated to be implemented in Android environment eventually. Software features are similar to 3D virtual Rapid Prototyping (RP) simulator based on "U Print" and include RP device fundamentals, virtual calibration, virtual manufacturing and virtual testing. This paper also aims at supporting the development of the multidisciplinary educational activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In higher education, courses and curriculum are purportedly the intellectual property of the faculty of academic departments. Academic departments, then, provide instructors or faculty to teach. The assignment of faculty to teach in distance-based programs directly implies there needs to exist some level of financial incentive for the home department of those faculty, as well as direct incentive to the faculty who are involved in teaching. After all expenses are accounted for, then, what model for faculty compensation provides the greatest level of incentive to participate in professional studies? Building on previous scholarship and over a year of additional research, this paper focuses on the impact of numerous employed faculty compensation models across multiple public 4-year institutions of higher education. A survey of these many institutions of higher learning, regarding their compensation strategy for tenure, tenure-track and adjunct faculty, was collected and compiled. This paper shares the results of this cross-institution study premised on previously reported research, and, furthers the discussion by exploring the ramifications of utilizing adjunct faculty for cost containment purposes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Undergraduate (UG) research is an important component of today's engineering education. Research experiences allow students to explore beyond the classroom by applying concepts towards scientific discovery and the development of products and technologies that impact society. The number of UG engineering students interested in participating in research is increasing. However, UG research opportunities are often limited to students finding a project, laboratory, and mentor on their own. Therefore, only a handful of students typically benefit from a mentored UG research experience. In addition, students seeking UG research opportunities and projects have little, if any, knowledge on how to conduct research. A well-structured, guided UG research program could enhance the undergraduate experience of a large number of students and better prepare them for making an appropriate postgraduate choice (industrial R&D, graduate school, etc.) that would lead to career success. In Armour College of Engineering at the Illinois Institute of Technology, we have developed and implemented a college-centered engineering Undergraduate R&D Program that teaches students the art of conducting research using a comprehensive approach. The students are introduced to research methods and concepts through a research course, and a series of competitive research project opportunities is provided. In addition, students are required to present their research findings at a college-wide research expo and submit a paper to studentreviewed campus research journal. The program aims to impact a large number of students interested in working on research and development projects in all disciplines within engineering. The program is centralized at the college level and supports student/faculty teams that compete by submitting formal proposals focused on basic research projects or the development of a technology or product. Proposals are solicited every semester, including summer, and reviewed for quality and impact with special attention to the mentoring plan. Since its inception (Spring 2013), 178 projects have been supported, with participation of engineering students in their second through fourth years. Student participants in this Armour R&D program reported acceptance of their work for presentation in national conferences, received research awards, and published in peer-reviewed journals. Surveys have been implemented to evaluate the impact of the UG research experience on graduate school acceptance rates, industrial internships, and placement opportunities upon graduation. Currently available metrics support the significance and impact of this program on student education and career success. In this paper we present and discuss a more comprehensive analysis of the results from the assessment of the program. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

WeBWorK is an open-source, online homework system widely used in mathematics at the postsecondary level, with a number of institutions developing WeBWorK problems for use in engineering. The WeBWorK Open Problem Library (OPL) contains around 33,000 problems that are freely available to instructors to use within their courses (currently, around 200 mechanical engineering problems are available). The OPL problems are organized under a hierarchical taxonomy structure of "subject", "chapter", and "section", where subject is an area of study (e.g. linear algebra, probability, etc.), and chapter and section locate a particular problem within the subject (e.g. linear algebra - matrices - inverses), analogous to a textbook structure2. Having an easily understandable and comprehensive taxonomy available makes it simpler for contributors to correctly and consistently designate their new problems, and for instructor-users to find appropriate problems to assign to their students. While there are some engineering problems available on the OPL, the taxonomies are either not extensive (few problems) or do not truly adhere to the structure above. As well, engineering instructors interested in building a few problems for their classes have the daunting task of creating a taxonomy structure in order to share them. We have not found any literature that outlines practices for the creation of a new OPL taxonomy. In this paper, we describe the process of creating comprehensive proposed taxonomies in three core mechanical engineering subjects (statics, dynamics, mechanics of materials) and a partial taxonomy in a fourth subject (vibrations) for use by future contributors, and outline suggestions for the systematic use of searchable keywords in OPL problems that will provide consistency across engineering subject areas and institutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Facility Management (FM) industry has traditionally attracted workers from the Architecture, Engineering, and Construction (AEC) industry. As the role and responsibilities for facility managers become more and more sophisticated, so will the need for advanced FM education. The FM industry is providing resources and support to many universities to increase FM education opportunities. Universities throughout the nation are developing successful programs to providing training in FM, from certifications to master degrees. The University of Oklahoma is located geographically within two hundred miles of three large metropolitan cities. Industry relations and support have been a large factor in the success of FM programs. The paper's objective is to perform an exploratory study of the FM educational opportunities at the University of Oklahoma. Using past research, a survey was created and circulated to local FM associations for data collection. The methodology presented provides direction for future regional studies related to the FM industry. Responses are used to identify area FM demographics, education requirements within FM, current and future talent needs, potential employment opportunities for students, and transparency with the local FM career path. The findings provide direction for the University of Oklahoma to address education opportunities valuable to the regional FM industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Creating a community of purpose amongst engineering students is helpful in guiding their successful transition from high school to higher education learning environments. In such learning environments, the capacity to studiously pursue long-term goals can be a defining characteristic of successful students. Duckworth and associates refer to this as the "tendency to sustain interest in and effort towards very long-term goals" [1]. In this paper, we will discuss the work we are currently doing to develop strength in character for our students. First, it is important to understand the word 'grit' as one that encompasses traits we wish for our students to build upon. Essentially, to have grit implies having a trait-level perseverance, resilience, and passion for achieving long-term goals; all attributes which are recognized as important to the retention and graduation of first-generation university students. We are currently fostering the development of grittiness in students at two interconnected institutions of higher learning: El Paso Community College (EPCC) and The University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP). Using online tools to support self-awareness, we monitor their progress as they begin to cross behavioral boundaries. We will also extensively discuss EduGuide [2], an online toolset that incorporates a series of life lessons which we use to investigate how effectively we can impress upon students the benefits of growing grittiness. The discussion will center on EduGuide's features, accessibility, and reported effectiveness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The underrepresentation of women of color in faculty positions in the U.S has presented a longstanding challenge for most universities that desire the benefits of faculty diversity for equity and excellence, student learning, and ongoing knowledge and technology development. Lower status and fewer opportunities for women who are also members of a racial/ethnic minority group lead to their experiencing a "double bind," with increased consequences for the survival and success of women of color in the academic profession [1], [2]. Women of color in the disciplines of science, mathematics, and engineering are even more scarce and isolated than those in many humanities and social science fields [3]. To improve this situation, some universities have in recent years developed, implemented, hosted, and learned from professional development conferences or workshops engaging academic women of color, and focused on understanding and responding to their needs. This paper describes four such programs, challenges in conceptualizing and implementing their strategies, and frames a discussion about how and why such initiatives offer important elements in the development, advancement, and success of faculty of color and institutional excellence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Spatial Visualization (SV) is the mental representation and manipulation of 2D and 3D shapes. Skills in SV have been correlated to high GPAs in math, engineering, computer programming, and science, yet SV is not formally part of K-12 or traditional undergraduate curriculums. A single course that teaches SV skills has been shown to increase GPA and graduation rates in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) fields. Studies have also shown that sketching of 3D shapes, which has traditionally been done with paper and pencil, is an important component of SV training. However, hand sketching is labor intensive to grade and students do not receive immediate feedback regarding their work. To create a more engaging and more costeffective SV training method, an interactive SV drawing application was developed at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) using touchscreen interface technology on an iPad. The application includes an algorithm that automatically grades students' sketches and provides guidance when requested. This paper describes the development of the Spatial Visualization Trainer (SVT) and its pilot implementation at UCSD on undergraduate and high school students. Features of the SVT and areas for future work will be described. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Student peer review has been integrated to multiple upper level (i.e., graduate and senior technical elective) geotechnical engineering courses at California Polytechnic State University. The peer review process was established as an integral part of a term project that included a written report and oral presentation to the class. A staged sequence of deadlines and milestones was administered to assure that students maintained progress with their projects. The format of the term papers was highly prescribed and based on a template for technical conference manuscripts. Content from the student projects was included in the final examination supporting a students teaching students integrated learning environment. Peer review was determined to be beneficial to the students in terms of both technical content and writing skills. Student assessment of the teaching methodology is provided. Faculty observations of experiences are described in the paper and suggestions are provided for effective use of this teaching methodology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper documents our continued efforts to integrate the use of complex programmable logic devices (CPLD) into our introductory logic circuits course at the University of Hartford. Although programmable logic devices (PLDs) have been long introduced in our advanced courses, the widespread acceptance demands that PLDs be introduced earlier in the electrical and computer engineering curriculum. In the fall semester of 2011, we selected a CPLD as the choice of PLDs for the introductory logic circuits course, because CPLDs allows for an experience that includes modern design tools and devices, as well as hands-on activities. Our CPLD module allows such a device to be used with a classic breadboard. In prior research we found that in using this module, students can easily identify the CPLD and with modest wiring they can construct circuits that they feel are both satisfying and engaging. In this paper, the most recent developments, which include both software and hardware upgrades, along with student feedback, are documented. With the Xilinx XC9536 CPLDs now obsolete we adopted a newer CPLD, and designed a new logic circuits trainer. The newer XC9536XL CPLDs require 3.3V signals and power, which is not compatible with any commercially available trainer that we are aware of. Facing this inevitable trend to lower Voltage logic, we decided to adopt the 3.3V CPLD devices and design our own trainer that provides 3.3V power and I/O signal. The artwork for the module and trainer are available at our webpage under free software license for your use. On the software front, we revised our tutorial and started having our students working with test bench files. The CAD software used in our labs was upgraded from Xilinx ISE Version 10.1 to Version 13.2. In the past, we specifically chose Xilinx ISE 10.1 32-bit version for its graphical test bench generator which is very convenient for students to use when performing simulation. Unfortunately, this feature is absent in the ISE 10.1 64-bit version as well as the subsequent versions of Xilinx ISE, including 13.2. On the other hand, version 13.2 is much more stable in comparison to version 10.1. In adopting version 13.2, we had concerns regarding how students would generate the simulation test bench, which involves modifying VHDL codes, since students do not learn to write hardware description language (HDL) in our introductory logic circuits course. Xilinx ISE provides an aid in generating a skeleton which our students are able to modify for their own use following the instructions in our revised tutorial. New lecture material was developed to help students understand these upgrades. Based on student feedback, we also provided some historical context with regard to the current state of the art in logic circuits. New lab content was developed to address some concerns from our previous experience, which include: a) start-up activities to help students master the CAD software better and earlier in the course; b) incorporating the use of hierarchical design earlier and in more experiments. The students' experience and feedback, as well as the instructors' observations are presented concerning both the hardware and software upgrades along with other changes made. In closing, we present our future plans. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper documents our continued efforts to integrate the use of complex programmable logic devices (CPLD) into our introductory logic circuits course at the University of Hartford. Although programmable logic devices (PLDs) have been long introduced in our advanced courses, the widespread acceptance demands that PLDs be introduced earlier in the electrical and computer engineering curriculum. In the fall semester of 2011, we selected a CPLD as the choice of PLDs for the introductory logic circuits course, because CPLDs allows for an experience that includes modern design tools and devices, as well as hands-on activities. Our CPLD module allows such a device to be used with a classic breadboard. In prior research we found that in using this module, students can easily identify the CPLD and with modest wiring they can construct circuits that they feel are both satisfying and engaging. In this paper, the most recent developments, which include both software and hardware upgrades, along with student feedback, are documented. With the Xilinx XC9536 CPLDs now obsolete we adopted a newer CPLD, and designed a new logic circuits trainer. The newer XC9536XL CPLDs require 3.3V signals and power, which is not compatible with any commercially available trainer that we are aware of. Facing this inevitable trend to lower Voltage logic, we decided to adopt the 3.3V CPLD devices and design our own trainer that provides 3.3V power and I/O signal. The artwork for the module and trainer are available at our webpage under free software license for your use. On the software front, we revised our tutorial and started having our students working with test bench files. The CAD software used in our labs was upgraded from Xilinx ISE Version 10.1 to Version 13.2. In the past, we specifically chose Xilinx ISE 10.1 32-bit version for its graphical test bench generator which is very convenient for students to use when performing simulation. Unfortunately, this feature is absent in the ISE 10.1 64-bit version as well as the subsequent versions of Xilinx ISE, including 13.2. On the other hand, version 13.2 is much more stable in comparison to version 10.1. In adopting version 13.2, we had concerns regarding how students would generate the simulation test bench, which involves modifying VHDL codes, since students do not learn to write hardware description language (HDL) in our introductory logic circuits course. Xilinx ISE provides an aid in generating a skeleton which our students are able to modify for their own use following the instructions in our revised tutorial. New lecture material was developed to help students understand these upgrades. Based on student feedback, we also provided some historical context with regard to the current state of the art in logic circuits. New lab content was developed to address some concerns from our previous experience, which include: a) start-up activities to help students master the CAD software better and earlier in the course; b) incorporating the use of hierarchical design earlier and in more experiments. The students' experience and feedback, as well as the instructors' observations are presented concerning both the hardware and software upgrades along with other changes made. In closing, we present our future plans. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]