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The present study explored LGBTQ+ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and other non heterosexual/cisgender identities) engineering students' navigation of engineering educational contexts and reported the impacts of the engineering educational culture on LGBTQ + students' well-being. Drawing from a sample of ten LGBTQ + university students in the United States, we found that students described cultural norms sustained through minimal tolerance for and the avoidance of identity talk or expression. Systemic homogeneous cultural norms redefine safety expectations for LGBTQ + engineering students while normalizing expectations that LGBTQ + students be silent and tolerate mistreatment. Participants also described the consequences of invisibility and identity conflict that they face for being different within an inequitable field. These findings bring attention to a culture within engineering programs that silences LGBTQ + expression and leaves students feeling isolated. Further research is needed to explore the effect of affirming communities on LGBTQ + engineering students' well-being. We conclude with research and clinical implications for working with LGBTQ + engineering students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article describes a program session that focused on publishers’ experiences launching Open Access (OA) journals and lessons learned. The speakers discussed the current journal marketplace, current journal business models, and the possible shape of the OA landscape and marketplace in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper examines professional identity construction within engineering. It is meant to contribute toward better understanding dynamics surrounding women's status within engineering in the United States, where women comprise only 11% of the engineering workforce and the culture has been described as gendered masculine. This article considers the multiple roles engineers enact at work and how the discourse surrounding these roles may help to maintain a gendered image of engineering despite the actual practice. Using interview data from women and men engineers, this paper identifies six different roles that the engineers enacted at work. These roles range from being more technical to more social and are not presented in an either/or fashion as the social/technical binary would expect. From the participants' narratives, I found that engineers manage these roles within the context of their professional identity using a process I call ‘role configuration,’ which takes three different forms: balancing, grafting, and swapping. Women and men alike were comfortable with their multi-faceted roles, yet at times participants discussed the roles in a gendered and stereotyped manner. This discourse may help to perpetuate the gendered masculine image of the engineering culture and work despite the actual practices in which engineers engage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper summarizes the phenomenon of offshore outsourcing and relates it to the history and current state of engineering education and the engineering profession in Europe and the USA. In order to assess the climate affecting employment decisions by and about engineers we have used as sources mostly the serious press, with an emphasis on material dating from 2004 forward. The authors conclude that despite anxiety about the out-migration of engineering and technical jobs to places such as India and China, there is reason to see offshoring as the result of Western investment in capacity building in developing countries and to believe that the creation of new jobs will outpace the rate of job loss in Europe and the USA. The paper should serve as a prod to policy-makers and educators to set about creating an environment in which highly educated engineers and technical employees can continue a pattern of economic revitalization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Increased efforts to diversify science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education in the United States have drastically increased the number of studies offering insight into the experiences of women in STEM programs in higher education. This paper presents a thematic review of the literature regarding their status from 2007 to 2017 including journals, trade magazines, theses, and dissertations. It focuses on areas of recruitment, retention, barriers, and faculty issues. Stereotypes, biases, campus culture, classroom experiences, identity, and sense of belonging are also explored. The author additionally identifies gaps and suggests related areas for new research as well as implications for librarians. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Assessing the efficacy of technical communication service courses is a complex task, yet it is a task that service course providers should embrace as an opportunity to learn more about student and faculty needs and to update and improve curricula. This assessment has become more immediate for many educators because of ABET 2000 (Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology), a comprehensive revamping of the way engineering programs are accredited. ABET 2000 criteria require that engineering programs provide evidence of the efficacy of all instruction, including communication. When the new ABET criteria were released, we had already begun a comprehensive evaluation of not only our service courses but also the total writing experience of engineering students at the University of Washington. This paper gives a theoretical rationale for a portfolio evaluation project and describes a directly applicable structure and procedure for such a project. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article announces the launching of the "Education for Chemical Engineers" (ECE), an online journal from the Institution of Chemical Engineers (IChemE), with the aim of becoming the principal international journal for chemical, process and biomolecular engineering education. ECE has been declared the official journal of the European Federation of Chemical Engineering. Doctor David Shallcross of the University of Melbourne, Australia, is the editor of the journal supported by an international editorial board. The journal has already established a global subscriber base and published papers from Europe, Australasia, and North America.

This paper examines initiatives in engineering formation in the USA as, in part, responses to dominant territorial identities defining what counts as progress. The absence of a primary method of engineering formation during the antebellum period suggests that no metric of progress had yet scaled up to a level of dominance. Robert Thurston's efforts in the 1890s to scale up school-based formation without liberal education did not fit a country that emphasized high-volume production at low costs. The attempts of the Wickenden study in the 1920s to achieve coordination did not fit a country highlighting self-realization through consumption. The 1955 Grinter Report achieved great success when the sudden appearance of Sputnik scaled up a new territorial identity for the USA. Overall, by responding to the evolving metric of low cost, mass use, advocates of engineering formation have designed engineers to serve the country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presents a calendar of events for engineers, scientists and practitioners in the U.S. and Europe from August 2004 to February 2005. 7th European Adhesion Conference; Macromolecules and Interfaces at Virginia Tech: A Showcase of Emerging Science and Technology; 28th Annual Meeting of The Adhesion Society Inc.

By the end of the 1960s, many engineers and scientists in the US questioned the social and political dimensions of science and technology. This introspection came as critics assailed science and technology as elements of the militaristic, alienating structure of modern society. Engineers and scientists repudiated, appropriated, or sometimes even acted in concert with these critics. Also relevant, however, in engineers' and scientists' evaluations of their role in society were the emergence of "engineering science," pre-existing political ideologies, and simply making a living in a volatile economy. This paper presents dissention from three vantages within the technical community: design engineer Steve Slaby at Princeton University, the Fluid Mechanics Laboratory at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and the activist organization Science for the People, located in chapters across the country. These cases differ in the actors' level of political consciousness, their involvement in military research, and the tactics they employed. All, however, suggest cause for reassessment both of the borders between "critics" and "scientists" and of the culture of "total control" ascribed to the era. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Functional analysis concept design (FACD) is a method by which owners and designers can 'partner' during the design phase of projects. Much has been written and reported about partnering on construction projects, but little is available on the applications and results of FACD. While FACD has been mentioned in the literature to be a valuable tool, evidence on its effectiveness has been missing. Consequently, FACD has not hitherto emerged as a common management system used during design. Management processes on its implementation also had not been developed fully until the United States Navy carried out research, much involving tedious trials and revisions. This paper describes processes that have been found suitable. The economic benefits of FACD have never been directly evaluated, but by examining and testing the quantum of change orders on projects, this study finds that FACD is a viable method that can reduce construction costs overall. Whereas value engineering and constructability review are other common tools, FACD is distinct from them both. FACD is allied to functional analysis system technique (FAST); regulations, and specifications have been developed to implement FACD to ensure its success. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, we analyze a two-semester effort to integrate writing instruction into a multi-disciplinary sophomore engineering design course in Northern Arizona University's College of Engineering and Technology. Specifically, we describe the programmatic implementation and assessment approach to evaluate whether student writing improved over the course of the semester. After discussing the reasons for taking a writing-intensive approach to engineering, we analyze the results of a pre- and post-test administered over the span of an academic semester. Although the outcome of our assessment did not show significant improvement, we argue that writing instruction is important for increasing students' overall learning skills. We conclude by pointing out several benefits and disadvantages of trying to assess writing improvement over two one-semester periods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The incorporation of Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics (STEAM) into library programming is a continuing trend in the United States. At the Mount Prospect Public Library (MPPL) in Illinois, there are many STEAM programs in-house that focus on science and technology, but we were looking for ways to add it to outreach programming. Our receipt of the Association for Library Service to Children's (ALSC) Building STEAM with Día grant allowed us to build upon an established Día de los Niños, Día de los Libros (Día) program. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

People with disabilities have been historically marginalised and consistently underrepresented at all levels of education. In the U.S., the Individuals with Disabilities Act (IDEA) in the 1970s changed the landscape for primary and secondary education, increasing access for many students. In 1990, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) was passed, and since that time students with disabilities have entered postsecondary institutions at greater rates. While in 2001, only about 5% of college students identified as having a disability, more recent estimates put the proportion of undergraduate students with disabilities at approximately 11%. Despite this growth, only 5% of post-baccalaureate students report having a disability relative to undergraduate students. This raises the question of how accessible graduate and professional education is for students with disabilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Describes the project mode of instruction for engineering education in the United States. Project-based engineering education; Informal survey on project-based education; Modes of project organization and offering; Outcome and assessment mechanisms; Trends in engineering education in the US.

Results presented are part of a larger mixed-mode study on supplier quality practices focusing on the cross-analysis of interviews, focus groups, and a questionnaire, which collected actual data about timing, costs, practices, and non-conformances associated with purchase orders (POs) from Engineering Procure and Construct (EPC) projects for four material types considered relevant to projects built by EPC contractors based in the United States. The present discussion specifically focuses on the analysis of the non-parametric dataset obtained from the POs to investigate a subset of companies labelled as highly effective companies (HECs). This contribution is unique as it used a mixed-mode approach to collect data beyond construction sites and investigate the product/supplier side of construction processes to advance knowledge of how materials can be sent to construction project sites free of defects and rework and indicates practices that contribute to this goal. When compared to other companies in the dataset, HECs engage in more hours of observation in suppliers' facilities, communicate more often with suppliers, put more effort and time in the planning stages of the project, use more practices related to supplier quality surveillance and supplier quality management, and find non-conformances earlier in the project. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Science teachers are being called on to incorporate engineering practices into their classrooms. This study explores whether the Engineering-Infused Lesson Rubric, a new rubric designed to target best practices in engineering education, could be used to evaluate the extent to which engineering is infused into online science lessons. Eighty lessons were selected at random from three online repositories, and coded with the rubric. Overall results documented the strengths of existing lessons, as well as many components that teachers might strengthen. In addition, a subset of characteristics was found to distinguish lessons with the highest level of engineering infusion. Findings are discussed in relation to the potential of the rubric to help teachers use research evidence-informed practice generally, and in relation to the new content demands of the U.S.Next Generation Science Standards, in particular. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article examines the concentration of Asian Americans in the STEM and health-care fields of study and occupations by generation, ethnic group and gender, compared to white Americans, based on the 2009–11 American Community Surveys. By making a generational comparison, it suggests that the selective migration of Asian immigrants is the most important factor to their concentration in these fields of study and occupations. Asian immigrants as a whole are highly selective in these fields of study and occupations, compared to white Americans, with some Asian groups showing much higher levels of concentration. While younger-generation Asian groups whose immigrant generations have an extremely high concentration have experienced significant reductions in STEM, the other groups have experienced moderate or significant increases. All younger-generation Asian groups apart from Filipino have significantly or moderately higher levels of representation in non-nurse health-care occupations than their immigrant counterparts. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The purpose of this study is to better understand the differences in selected retention constructs by student nationality in US graduate programs. Surveys administered at four universities across the United States during fall 2010 resulted in responses from 685 PhD students from six international regions. Using univariate ANOVA, responses were analyzed to characterize demographic differences in participant responses to constructs related to intention to complete the degree. Five constructs were found to be both statistically and practically significant relative to students' degree completion; these were: expectations, individual preferences, perception of value, project ownership, and climate. Post hoc pairwise comparisons highlight differences in specific nationality groups. Results are explored in light of existing retention literature, and implications for graduate programs or other fields with similar levels of international diversity are offered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Virginia Military Institute (VMI) adapted an elite French tradition of engineering training in order to (1) provide a practical career for lower class boys and (2) to legitimize the school itself within a field of higher education dominated by the liberal colleges. This French tradition, which first manifested in America through West Point, made its way to the VMI through multiple pathways. First, West Point graduates provided much of VMI's faculty. They employed West Point textbooks for many of their courses. Second, the VMI drew directly on French sources. Claudius Crozet, a French engineer who had immigrated to America, drafted the initial curriculum of the school. Also, many of the textbooks used at the VMI were either French books, translated from the French, or were American books based on French texts. The VMI used French pedagogical methods of quantitative ranking of student performance and public examination to demonstrate the competence of their students and their school to the public, thus gaining legitimacy. The officers also emphasized the usefulness of the training, in contrast to what they saw as an abstract education in the colleges, in order to establish their legitimacy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A U.S. printing company successfully implemented a team-based variability reduction methodology to enable operations teams, primarily pressmen and bindery operators, to establish standard processes, identify and eliminate sources of variability, establish the daily disciplines necessary to sustain the productivity improvements over time, and create an environment to facilitate step-change productivity improvement through Six Sigma projects. This article shares the methodology and how it addressed the hallmarks of a problem requiring statistical engineering and incorporated key aspects of the theory of statistical engineering. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article extends the new product development (NPD) literature by presenting a case study of a lean product development (LPD) transformation framework implemented at a U.S. based manufacturing firm. In a departure from typical LPD methods, in this article the design structure matrix and the cause and effect matrix are integrated into the lean transformation framework, allowing analysis of the underlying complexity of a product development (PD) system, and thus facilitating determination of the root causes of wasteful reworks. Several strategies to transform the current PD process into a lean process are discussed. Besides the two-phase improvement plan, a new organizational structure roadmap and a human resources plan are also suggested to support the recommended changes in the NPD process. The results of the first phase show a 32% reduction in PD cycle time due to the proposed NPD process. The article concludes with lessons learned and implications for engineering managers based on the case study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article provides information from various aspects of the field of international serials and electronic resource management. Abstracts for several research articles are included on topics such as scholarly electronic books (e-books) and open source data in academic publishing. Additionally, awards and grants presented by the American Library Association (ALA) in 2011 are highlighted along with notes on the reorganization of the United Kingdom Serials Group (UKSG). Brief information regarding the 2012 conference for the UKSG and a list of online resources related to serials librarians are also included.

This article critically appraises 'engineering for development' initiatives and seeks to imagine new models of interaction that incorporate social justice goals more effectively. In recent years, interest in engineering for development has surged within engineering communities in the US and around the world. While worthy of recognition and praise for directing engineers' attention to the problems arising from global economic inequity, many engineering-for-development programs share problematic assumptions about technology's role in community development and fail to grapple with the economic and cultural structures that direct (implicitly or explicitly) most development interventions. Using a case study approach, this article draws out some of these assumptions and shows how they impede the achievement of social justice goals - both in the context of specific development interventions as well as in the context of engineering as a professional activity. The first of two cases involves an interdisciplinary collaboration between two universities in Nicaragua and two in the US focused on educational capacity building for product design with an eye to local economic empowerment. Social justice considerations discussed here include power relations throughout the collaboration among individuals and institutions - including what constitutes meaningful community involvement - and the economic models assumed when launching products in the marketplace. The second case involves the work of a non-governmental organization in Sri Lanka and its approach to community development through renewable energy technologies. In this case, social justice considerations include questions of control over project decision making as well as power inequities inherent in development assistance. In both cases, concerns of technical functionality tend to occlude social power imbalances and epistemological divergence, leading to projects that inadvertently extend social injustices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the many changes in policy and practice that colleges and universities in the United States have instituted to help women faculty achieve work life balance, challenges persist. This article discusses the difficulties still faced by female engineering and engineering technology faculty who are trying to balance the demands of a successful academic career and motherhood. The data, both qualitative and quantitative, are derived from a survey of tenure track female faculty who are members of the Women in Engineering Division of the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE). Data indicate that, despite the widespread adoption of policies intended to create a more helpful and collegial environment, almost 40% of the respondents rated the quality of the institutional support they receive as fair, poor, or very poor. This research identifies policies that appear to have succeeded, and others that appear to have made little difference, suggesting structural and cultural changes that would address the continuing problems that motherhood creates for female engineering and technology faculty. Such changes could prove helpful to female faculty generally, regardless of their disciplines. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the result of first set of experiment in Human Practices at the Synthetic Biology Engineering Research Center (SynBERC) by anthropologist Paul Rabinow in the U.S. It notes that the experiment was unsuccessful but was not considered failed experiment. In addition, it mentions that the experiment should need to be refined to achieve better result or to become fruitful.

The manufacturing engineering work in nine Japanese firms is structured by a horizontal division of labor between manufacturing design engineers and production process engineers, in contrast to a vertical division of labor between manufacturing engineers and technicians in three American firms. The production process engineers in the Japanese firms link manufacturing engineering processes closely with production processes, whereas less coordination between the two processes occurs in the American firms. Regarding product design, manufacturing engineering, and production processes in the Japanese firms, employees engaged in downstream processes are more heavily involved with work concerned with upstream processes than in the American firms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This longitudinal, cross-institutional, qualitative study of undergraduate women engineering students revealed an under-recognized type of student who succeeds in engineering undergraduate programs. Non-traditional Engineering Organized (NEO) students have excellent overall high school grades and organizational skills but lack a concentrated background in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) areas compared with the familiar Traditional Engineering Discipline (TED) Students with strong STEM backgrounds. In this study, both types of students were able to achieve success academically and in terms of their happiness. This indicates that more attention to NEO students may be warranted in attempting to recruit high school women into engineering. In recruiting these students, social aspects of engineering design should be emphasized, and recruiters should visit all advanced placement classes, not just STEM-oriented ones. In addition, retention programs should be aware of this type of student within their population so as to better support them. Support for NEO students in engineering programs should emphasize the differences between grading schemes in engineering and those in non-STEM disciplines and prepare students for a period of adjustment in grades relative to their expectations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Selecting the appropriate firm is of paramount importance especially when using a unique delivery method such as construction management at risk. In addition to general contracting services, the construction management at risk firm provides construction management services throughout the design and construction phases. A new decision support model is proposed to assist owners in the selection decision. Key selection factors were identified through a literature review. They are divided into four categories: firm characteristics; technical and commercial bid; construction management services; and general contracting services. Each consists of five selection factors. The selection criteria were determined using the analytical hierarchy process (AHP) based on a questionnaire that was sent to construction professionals. The proposed model consists of five functions: strategic alignment; selection criteria; initial screening; firms' evaluations; and sensitivity analysis. The heart of the model is the use of the AHP to develop the decision criteria and compare candidate firms. A case study is also presented to demonstrate the application of the model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Polymer education started in the 1920s and 1930s focusing on particular centers of polymer activity often supported by industrial centers and clusters. By the 1970s, it became evident that a concerted effort in polymer education was needed in the United States. With both personnel and financial support from the ACS Divisions of Polymer Chemistry and Polymeric Materials: Science and Engineering, PolyEd emerged to address this need. PolyEd started in the 1970s and continues to be the leading organization in the world for polymer education. PolyEd offers programs ranging from pre-K through post-professional training. It also has a National Information Center for Polymer Education that is the first center of its kind dedicated to materials science education. For many years, PolyEd has worked diligently to encourage the integration of polymer topics throughout undergraduate chemical education and this recently was affirmed by the ACS-CPT in their new guidelines calling for polymer fundamentals to be included in the training of all chemistry students in ACS-certified programs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The author argues that the Internet would be a totally inappropriate model for massive-scale technological systems. He looks at several interacting developments which are responsible for the Internet's deficiencies. He outlines the 14 grand engineering challenges for the 21st century identified by the U.S. National Science Foundation. He proposes the formation of a top governmental agency entitled The Agency For Long-Term Strategic Societal Developments.

The article discusses the impact of offshore outsourcing on the competitive position of the U.S. in science and technology. Signs of layoffs extend to research and development as U.S. companies expand research operations in Asia. Author Ron Hira sees an end to U.S. dominance in the high technology sector unless it adopts new policies for U.S. talent preservation. Robert P. Morgan of Washington University emphasizes the need to focus on the impact of offshoring on the U.S. engineering workforce.

The article presents questions answers on How do some Black male student-athletes explore and plan for careers in sports and in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.

The article presents a discussion on the societal implications of nanotechnology in the United States. It illustrates the evolution of nanoscale science and engineering (NSE) research in the United States, the speculations and concerns about the implications of nanotechnology, and the government's commitment in supporting research on the societal implications of nanotechnology.

Traditional cost accounting systems have been replaced in recent years in the manufacturing sector by Activity-Based Costing (ABC) systems. This study tests and demonstrates whether the incorporation of ABC data into traditional menu engineering methods provides food service managers with an improved tool for cost and profitability analysis. The study uses ABC data collected from a restaurant in a western urban area of the United States. The results reveal that ABC Menu Engineering is a superior method for establishing overall menu profitability, and that a restaurant manager's menu management decisions will change dramatically if he or she is confronted with differing results from a contribution margin menu engineering analysis and an ABC approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Civil infrastructure in the United States is at risk from aging, leading to structural deterioration of bridges, buildings, and other facilities from aggressive chemical attack, corrosion, and other physical mechanisms. Decisions regarding maintenance, rehabilitation and other requirements for continued utilization of a facility should be supported by quantitative evidence that aging has not caused structural strength or stiffness to deteriorate to the point where the capacity of the system to withstand or mitigate future extreme events is impaired. Current codes of practice provide little guidance for the proper evaluation of existing facilities for continued service, since their focus is on new construction. Rehabilitation investments should be aimed at maximizing the likelihood of successful future performance at minimum costs. Probabilistic risk analysis methods can provide quantitative tools for the management of uncertainty in condition assessment and are an essential ingredient of risk-informed management decisions. Such tools are data-intensive and require improved physical models of deterioration processes to realize their full potential in facility risk management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Focuses on the debate over the quantity and quality of the U.S. scientific and engineering workforce. Discussion of the unemployment rates for technology workers; Challenges posed by the boom-bust cycles for technology for policy-makers; Role of institutions in the career paradigm for engineers.

Presents a study which assessed the engineering programs and accreditation for higher education in the United States (US). Brief overview of engineering higher education in the US; Voluntary peer accreditation procedures in the US; Conclusions and suggestions.

The article focuses on women's position in the field of engineering. Engineering remains the most male dominated profession. Research conducted in 1986 focused on engineering graduates of two southern California public universities. The participants were mailed a questionnaire. Fifteen percent of women and twenty percent of men were above designing field, that is considered the most important field of work in engineering. There was no significant gender differences in work-related values such as desire for occupational autonomy and participation in strategic projects, attitude toward creative technical work, and interest in acquiring administrative experience. Career continuity patterns of women and men were also similar. Women are least occupationally mobile where the culture of engineering is most extensive. They do best where bureaucratization and affirmative action minimize that culture. Where engineers enjoy power, the culture promotes male-typed aggressive displays of technical virtuosity and devalues many female-typed attributes.

Focuses on the image problem of engineering profession in the United States (U.S.). Information on the attempt of engineers to establish a separate identity; Social background of U.S. engineers; Trends in the attempt to broaden the education of engineers. INSET: WHERE HAVE ALL THE TEACHERS GONE?.

Presents information on a report from the National Academy of Engineering regarding the future of engineering in the U.S. Adoption of a scenario-based planning technique; Scenarios considered for the project including global conflict and globalization; Suggestions regarding the engineering profession.

Features the Alliance for Science & Technology Research in America (ASTRA), a collaborative effort to help provide the background work and continuous advocacy needed to solve the inadequate federal funding in the physical and mathematical sciences and engineering in the United States. Trends in science and technology workforce; Operations of ASTRA for public policy research; Contributors to ASTRA.