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In this paper, the design and development of Unmanned Aerial System (UAS) by a team of interdisciplinary undergraduate students is discussed. The on-going project spans over the period of several years. In this working paper, the research goals are discussed, student participations and task breakdown are highlighted. The key emphasis is on the value of this project-based course offered to undergraduate students at all levels and engineering disciplines. Dissemination plan, student tasks and schedules, and student perspectives are discussed. Learning objectives and assessment are reviewed. Student perspectives and the value of this research-based course are highlighted. Additionally, some results obtained from this research are examined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the need to meet ABET outcomes around professional skills, such as communication and teamwork, engineering programs have long explored approaches to ensure their graduates are able to participate in the workplace in ways that employers demand. While approaches vary and success depends on a number of factors, research demonstrates that an integrated approach to professional skill development is the most impactful for student learning. How can an engineering program build an integrated approach that provides meaningful communication education? This paper shares the experiences from faculty in the Micron School of Materials Science and Engineering (MSMSE) at Boise State University that has created an integrated approach to communication and is working toward creating a cohesive culture around communication and professional skill development. This program started small: a technical communication faculty from the Department of Writing Studies at Boise State was recruited to work with a materials science faculty managing the Materials Teaching Lab and teaching junior- and senior-level project courses. The focus of the program was primarily on bolstering written skills, but in recent years has expanded to consider professional skills more broadly, including working on diverse teams and supporting equity and inclusion through writing and collaboration. The goal of this paper is to share where the program is currently and the next steps to expand efforts to continue to support student learning. Starting in 2022, the integrated communication education has been expanded to the sophomore lab to create a three-course sequence focused on communication and professional skill development. This scaffolding and multi-year focus allows faculty to build student confidence in their ability to work as technical professionals after they graduate. By the time undergraduates reach their senior capstone, they are more fully prepared to take on complex communication situations within challenging team projects. Future efforts focus on more consistently scaffolding writing throughout the full materials science program and engaging a larger set of faculty around these areas. The paper will share findings of how these efforts have supported student learning and explore how faculty can address areas that still need support. Overall, this collaboration has not only allowed the materials science program to fully meet ABET outcomes but also understand the ways communication support enables graduates to develop engineering identities and move into the next phase with the skills they need to be successful. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Engineering courses have seen a rise in the usage of online textbooks, especially in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and the need for classes to be remote. Some of these online textbooks contain learning questions, video media, animations, simulations, 3D tools, and other interactive elements. The goal for these interactive elements is for students to engage through reading, answering questions, watching videos, stepping through animations, or otherwise participating with the interactive content. Despite the availability of such interactivity, student engagement is not a guarantee. Due to time constraints and other pressures, students may opt for racing through the textbook or skipping the interactive elements entirely, rather than earnestly interacting with the material. In response, some instructors have tried to motivate reading by assigning the completion of reading assignments as a percentage of the final course grade. This paper investigates how student textbook engagement is affected when reading assignments are tied to the final course grade. This paper uses data from online interactive engineering textbooks containing short answer, matching, and multiple-choice questions, along with animations as assigned activities. The animations show key conceptual information and are viewed in a sequential step order. All steps must be viewed in order to receive credit. For this paper, we measure student engagement through activity completion percentage. We describe the various components of interactive engineering textbooks, outline a definition of engagement, and summarize overall textbook engagement data. Across three engineering textbooks (Callister's Materials Science and Engineering: An Introduction, Nise's Control Systems Engineering, and Irwin's Basic Engineering Circuit Analysis), we confirm a significant positive correlation between student engagement and the percentage of final course grade awarded for completion of assigned activities. Assigning any percentage at all corresponds to over a 35% increase in content completion, and the higher the assigned percentage, the greater the completion increase. These results strongly suggest that instructors should assign course credit for completion of interactive textbook material if they want students to read and engage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reservoir simulation is a state-of-the-art tool for reservoir performance prediction and remains an essential part of chemical and petroleum engineering undergraduate and post-graduate curricula. While the science of reservoir simulation is considered well-taught in academic programs, the literature suggests that students are still unaware of the foundational coding processes behind reservoir simulation software packages. Very little teaching attention has been given to the coding of the governing models and solutions to make these software packages, making reservoir simulation appear like a black box to students. Yet, the coding is indisputably the link between the science and the art. This paper stems from an ongoing project called Pedagogical Unboxing of Reservoir Simulation with Python (PURSIM-Py). This paper presents a proposed classroom adaptation of the project at a private University in Nigeria. Using backward design, in this paper, we present an alignment of the proposed course contents, assessment, and pedagogy (CAP) elements of the course. We propose this alignment be implemented in classes either as a stand-alone course or an accompanying lab to help students unbox reservoir simulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper seeks to identify and share research quality considerations associated with studying engineering faculty members' and engineering practitioners' mental models of ethics and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) in engineering. Our overarching research objective is to generate and synthesize mental models held by experts in ethics and DEI in engineering or engineering education. In this paper, we describe validation considerations to promote research quality with respect to "making data" and "handling data" when studying mental models. We share and rationalize decisions and iterations to research procedures that occurred during the study design and implementation. Specifically, we depict how these shifts aligned with six research quality considerations: theoretical validation, procedural validation, pragmatic validation, communicative validation, ethical validation, and process reliability. As one example, we expound upon procedural validation considerations for making data, wherein we continuously questioned and revised the flow and structure of the interview by 91) seeking and integrating internal feedback (i.e., team) and external feedback (i.e., advisory board), (2) creating memos after each interview, and (3) continuously discussing interview experiences and procedural adjustments. We offer the instrumentation (i.e., the interview protocol included as an Appendix) for cultivating conversations on ethics and DEI in engineering classrooms, amongst engineering faculty bodies, or throughout engineering organizations. Lessons from this study will also guide other researchers who study similarly complex mental models in engineering. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2017, ABET published a revised list of student outcomes detailed under ABET General Criterion 3, which replaced outcomes (a) through (k) with outcomes (1) through (7). The revised student outcomes place greater emphasis on measuring students' ability to consider a wide range of factors in engineering situations and to be able to communicate and work with a wider range of stakeholders. Outcome (3) is like the previous criterion's outcome (g), which requires that students have "an ability to communicate effectively". This paper describes an assessment method for the current ABET student outcome (3), which assesses "...an ability to communicate effectively with a range of audiences". The capstone project sequence at Grand Valley State University (GVSU) is well-suited to assess students' ability to communicate with a wide range of audiences due to their interactions within a team, with a customer, and with the general public at the conclusion of their project. To complicate the assessment, ABET requires each program to be assessed independently without data from students of different majors, even when students with multiple majors take the same course. GVSU's emphasis on the use of multidisciplinary teams drawn from multiple engineering programs and interacting with a wide variety of people including the public makes this an ideal opportunity to assess outcome (3), but it also complicates the disaggregation of data. The assessment tools presented in this paper use faculty advisor evaluations to measure key elements of communication for outcome (3) in a multidisciplinary industry-sponsored design and build project. These elements include Clarity & Audience Focus, Organization, Presentation Mechanics, Visual Aid Usage, Professionalism, Style, and Format. This assessment tool disaggregates team performance data to determine an independent metric for each program major while preserving the multidisciplinary nature of the capstone projects. Data from the capstone sequence at GVSU is used to demonstrate these methods. The result of the methods detailed in the paper is a clear, stable, and independent metric that can be used to assess outcome (3) for each program major in a multidisciplinary capstone project. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research paper illuminates the different contexts elicited by seven instructors who taught fundamental engineering courses (FECs) when discussing their test usage beliefs and behaviors, beginning to address a gap in engineering education research on instructors' beliefs and behaviors and test usage in engineering courses. Tests and exams are typically heavily used in FECs like statics, dynamics, thermodynamics, and other courses in various engineering disciplines. Understanding why engineering instructors heavily rely on tests to assess student learning in these courses can be crucial in promoting the use of more diverse types of assessments, such as portfolios, concept inventory, reflection-based practices, project-based practices, and intentionality in terms of designing, administering, and interpreting tests, but research has been scarce on documenting research on this topic. Conversations around why instructors make certain course decisions typically involve the contexts these instructors are situated in, emphasizing how important contexts are in terms of influencing decision-making in these courses. Illuminating some of these contexts can be helpful to further understand instructors' beliefs and behaviors in course decision-making, specifically on heavily using tests in fundamental courses. We answered the research question: What are some of the contexts that seven instructors of fundamental engineering courses raise when discussing their test usage in their courses? The data are collected as part of a larger multi-case study that explores test usage beliefs and behaviors of seven individual engineering instructors (seven cases). Multiple sources of data and evidence triangulate to shape the case profiles for these seven instructors, with contexts emerging as an important element of these profiles. Our findings show several key contexts discussed substantially by some of these seven instructors, though not all instructors discussed the same contexts. These contexts include the influence of inertia to continue using tests, course context that includes large enrollment, and the limited autonomy for some instructors to make changes to assessment in the courses. These contexts show some intertwining characteristics to influence test usage among the participants. In addition, our findings support existing literature on inertia and course context and prominent contexts to influence course decision-making, and this paper focuses on the test usage as a form of course design decision. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There has been an increase in overall accessibility (a11y) for students with blind/visual impairments (BVI) at colleges and universities across the country. However, there is a lack of details in content that is made accessible, which can help inform accessibility compliance guidelines for specialized areas of study. While the general a11y guidelines are helpful for many students at a baseline, creating accessible content in many engineering disciplines is difficult and a desire still exists to do more to support students with BVI. Ideally, accessible content should help a student learn the material so that the student can use those skills in other courses or in the workforce. However, it is entirely possible that accessible content can pass the minimum requirements to be compliant with ADA requirements, but remain non-functional for effective student learning. The current paper outlines what barriers exist for students with BVI in engineering despite baseline accessibility compliance and performs a short literature review of the current assistive technologies that exist to overcome these barriers. The paper discusses some conclusions and possible future steps towards specialized guidelines for engineering course materials that are better suited for the discipline as a whole. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper summarizes the approach and findings of a targeted, year-long orientation program in the first year of graduate school for minority genders in engineering, implemented in the Fall 2022 - Spring 2023 academic year. The program aimed to enhance the first-year graduate experience of gender minorities in engineering through several interventions: professional networking, community building, advice for finding financial support, supporting the undergraduate-to-graduate transition, and sharing strategies for navigating academia. The program achieved these interventions through a series of events and measured their impact through surveys. Findings from the programmatic effort and lessons learned are provided in this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the key components to an introductory Computer Science course is the lab component. This serves as a time for students to gain hands on experience with the concepts they are learning in lecture that week. Typically, the way the lab time is structured is students will be given the assignment and be allotted the entire lab period to work on their own with instructor help available if need be. While straightforward enough, this approach is less than ideal. With lab sizes in introductory courses increasing the number of students who need instructor help during the lab time increases. This approach leads to students not being able to get the attention they need as the instructor needs to move between students quickly or even worse...students may "fall through the cracks" as demand for help outpaces the instructor resources available. The result is students leaving lab with knowledge gaps regarding the topic that prevent them from creating a solid foundation on which to build their basic programming knowledge. Even worse is the fact this approach teaches students when they are handed a programming task to dive straight to code as fast as possible which may not be consistent with how they will work in industry. The goal of this paper is to outline a new paradigm for structuring the lab period which teaches students how to work with peers to solve a problem, think before they code, and build conceptual understanding. In this approach students do a combination of group work, individual work, and whole class work to solve the problem. This allows the instructor to better manage the students in the class and enables them to point out common "pain points" with the material being covered that week and show ways to optimize / speed up the code being written. This paper discusses the effectiveness of this approach by looking at qualitative student feedback as well as analyzing the student performance (grades) across sections of the class that had this new, combination approach versus the normal approach to lab of giving students the lab and having them work independently. The initial statistical analysis (difference in means, 95% confidence level) shows a statistically significant increase in lab, homework, and overall course grades for students that experienced the new, combination approach when compared to the students that experienced the normal approach to the computer science lab experience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Project-based assignments help students enhance their learning experience and promote the application of engineering concepts to solve real-world problems. This paper discusses the implementation of three different project-based assignments in three different upper-level undergraduate civil engineering courses at the University of Connecticut. All these three courses, viz., Mechanics of Materials, Soil Mechanics, and Principles of Construction-I had large enrollments (n >75). These courses were offered as a part of the inclusive approach taken by the Civil and Environmental Engineering department. The students were allowed to make a choice regarding the mode of the final project deliverable - a written report, a PowerPoint presentation, or an oral video presentation. It enabled them to personalize their learning based on their unique strengths and challenges. In Mechanics of Materials, the students were divided into two sections. The students in one section (the experimental group) completed the individual projects in which they had the choice to create a physical model or analyze an object from their areas of interest by using mechanics concepts. The students in the other section (the control group) were not assigned this project. A post-assessment test was administered in both sections. The purpose of this assessment was to investigate if the students in the experimental group benefited from completing the project. In Soil Mechanics, the term group project was used to assess the students' ability to apply the knowledge gained from the first seven of the eight course modules to solve a real-life problem. The CATME tool - developed and licensed by Purdue University, was used to form teams based on different criteria such as GPA, preferred schedule, software skills, writing skills, leadership preferences, commitment level, and big-picture/detail-oriented thought process. The project had three phases. In the last phase, the groups had the option to submit the final deliverable in the form of a written report or an oral video presentation. In Principles of Construction I, students were instructed to explore their creative strength in addition to their analytical skill in an optional strengths-based group project. They were allowed to choose their group members and assignment submission method. The project provided students opportunities to apply all major components of their learning throughout the semester. Students were provided with support from the instructor and the teaching assistants. Lastly, as part of the inclusive approach, they could choose an optional comprehensive final exam instead of the group project. In each of these courses, the students were invited to participate in an anonymous survey to share their feedback. In this paper, the survey results will be discussed to demonstrate if these projects enhanced the students' learning experience as well as their overall learning outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Industry 4.0 is a new paradigm in the technology world. Through this project a set of research problems in the realm of Industry 4.0 are presented to the students. Research problems are selected broadly from the domain of Industry 4.0 which includes current and emerging technologies. Students are also given the opportunity to select the topics, however, they need to receive the instructor's approval. During the project, students conduct literature reviews on the selected topics. The cohort size of the pilot class is 23 students; ten teams with two students each, and one team with three students. The objectives and deliverables of the project are clearly stated in advance to keep students informed. The objective of this project is to incorporate Industry 4.0 skills and knowledge to the students in addition to learn the methods to stay current in industry. The project deliverables are (1) students will present their work to the rest of the class, and (2) submit a reflective paper on their experience. This paper will discuss the setup of research problems, survey results of the student experience before and after working on the project, and summary of findings on the student experience from the reflective papers. Reflective papers serve as a tool both to summarize the student experience and for continuous improvement in the context of this project and future studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Those who do not conform to the ideology of the "ideal" normative human body/mind are often excluded from Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM). Lacking the diversity in experience and perspectives that diverse students, staff, and faculty bring to STEM impedes our society's progress to a better world. The purpose of this work-in-progress (WIP) paper is to explore the experiences of dis/abled, queer, AFAB1 STEM graduate students navigating a culture of productivity in their educational journey. This WIP paper offers a narrow preview of the findings in a larger exploratory study. This paper begins to untangle some of the intricacies in a short narrative excerpt through a neoliberal-critical, ableism-critical, and queer lens. This paper offers an invitation to the STEM community to collectively reflect on and engage in conversation regarding our cultural norms and assumptions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Equity has been newly introduced as an outcome that needs to be addressed and assessed in undergraduate engineering programs in North America. In Canada, the Canadian Engineering Accreditation Board has been emphasizing that equity and ethics be embedded in the curriculum through their accreditation visits. This required several programs within our institution to work on methods that can be included to make students more aware of equity issues and assess their understanding on the above subjects. This paper discusses how courses were changed to include equity as part of the curriculum. Equity discussions were focused through the introduction of universal design as applied in building design-making students experience first-hand what the implications of design choices are on a diverse (age, physical / cognitive ability, race, gender) user group. Three different first year engineering groups were assessed in their knowledge of equity. Group 1 was the group that were prompted with a presentation in class about the different aspects of requirements for building design to address mobility issues followed by an audio recording prompting the students to do a tour on campus and experience first-hand these effects. The second group has done a campus tour without the audio and have been exposed to only the presentation in class. The third group is the control group who has only done the campus tour with no prompts and did not have the presentation. All three groups were assessed later in their knowledge of equity issues in building designs. This paper will share these findings and the details of what the students were exposed to in the three different groups. It also discusses recommendations for future changes that could be done to better include equity discussions and assessments in the curriculum. The paper also states how this could be modified for any undergraduate program. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This conference paper provides an update on the Early Research Scholars Program (ERSP) background, structure, and implementation at the University of Illinois Chicago (UIC), developed at the University of California San Diego and funded by the National Science Foundation Improving Undergraduate STEM Education program. The program aims to support retention of students from marginalized backgrounds in the fields of computer science, and electrical and computer engineering. This paper provides program updates, including data from the 2022-2023 academic year and preliminary results from a reflection study that began in Spring 2020. The reflection study examined the impact of the ERSP on a student's computing and engineering identity development based on student reflection responses. In this paper, we also discuss student demographics, retention rates, and changes made to the program's curriculum at UIC. The evaluation results from the last three years of the program are also shared, which show how students are impacted by the program, as well as areas for improvement. Preliminary results show that the program has positively impacted students' computing or engineering identity development for at least three identity dimensions: recognition, competence, and community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The number of veteran enrollments in American colleges and universities is at a level not seen since the Vietnam War era. Most of these veterans use the Post-9/11 GI Bill, an educational assistance plan for eligible veterans, but many more programs are available to veterans and active duty military members. This paper presents an overview of many of these education assistance programs available to this growing population. With no end date for the Post-9/11 GI Bill and the demand for engineering degrees in an increasingly technical job market, large numbers of veterans will continue to enroll in higher education institutions. Likewise, active duty military members will be part of the engineering education landscape to support the current demand for technical expertise in the military. Every student has different needs and challenges, and all still need information and access to resources that will help them succeed and link them to the campus community, so that they feel more fully part of the learning environment and can meet their educational goals. A continuous stream of student veteran and active duty populations requires higher education faculty, advisers, staff, and administrators to both understand their strengths and challenges and to include their funding pathways for an engineering education. Scholarships and grants provide a pathway and can ease the financial burden for many students. Similarly, the educational benefits earned by the veterans and active duty military members provide great opportunities but have limitations and different applications. This paper attempts to highlight some of the major educational benefit programs available to veterans and active duty military members and inform those who interact and advise with this population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding how teams solve design problems can influence students' perspectives on designing innovative products and systems. Furthermore, education needs to be tailored to engage first-year students in undergraduate research opportunities which increases student retention and graduation rate among STEM majors. A new initiative at the University of Maryland, the First-Year Innovation & Research Experience Program (FIRE), provides authentic research experience to first-year students. This paper introduces a new program, the Designing Innovations Research Stream, that engages first-year students in design research. The goal is that students will learn about design by investigating how teams solve complex design problems and then apply this knowledge to a real-world situation. The Designing Innovations Research Stream consisted of two semesters and a 10-week summer research fellowship. In the first semester of Designing Innovations, students learned about the design process and the standard design tools used to solve design problems. In the second semester, they designed an experiment to observe and analyze design team activities. The success of the program is evaluated by (i) surveying the students who completed the program, and (ii) the published papers from students who work in the program. The survey assesses students' understanding after completing the program via four major categories: design process, research, communication, as well as teamwork. The results of 51 students over three years show that 84% of responses either strongly agree or agree that their comprehension of the four categories has improved. The results also indicate that the most important subject learned, according to the students, was research methods, design research, teamwork, and communication. Finally, three peer-reviewed papers primarily written by students presented at international conferences demonstrate the program was successful in producing publishable results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This Complete Evidence-based practice paper investigates students' perceptions regarding the presence of two extra credit (EC) modules on parallel computing topics in an introductory electrical and computer engineering course. Prior work investigating these EC modules showed a high participation rate (48-60%) across and high performance (80-88%) on the end-of-module EC quiz across three semesters [1]. The presence of extra credit has long been a topic of discussion in education, gaining strong arguments both for and against its inclusion in curriculum. Those opposed to extra credit cite ethical concerns related to grade inflation and question the utility of providing students with extra work that is not distributed as a traditional assignment. However, prior work has suggested that EC, when carefully designed, can have affordance such as motivating additional learning. This paper seeks to extend the previous, quantitative findings relating to these parallel computing EC modules by investigating students' motivations for completing or not completing the modules, as well as impacts on anxiety, effort, and learning. In doing so we seek to understand the affordances and drawbacks of extra credit in an effort to provide further insight into how to effectively design and deploy EC in introductory engineering courses. A survey, consisting of a mix of five-point Likert items and short answer questions, was distributed to a large introductory electrical and computer engineering course across two semesters gaining 105 responses. The Likert questions related to: 1) students' motivations for completing the extra credit, 2) perceived learning gains from extra credit opportunities, 3) interest generated in the topics EC assignments covered, and 4) the relationship between anxiety and the presence of EC in the course. Survey responses for a set of short answer questions were analyzed with multiple rounds of inductive coding. In cases where a large number of related codes emerged, axial coding methods were used to extract thematic groups. The following are results from the Likert questions and analysis of the corresponding short response questions. For those respondents who did complete the EC modules, the primary motivations they identified were: 1) maximizing their grade either by supplementing their current grade or protecting it from potential deductions in the future, 2) exploring new concepts, and 3) the approachability of the assessments due to their perceived low difficulty level and time requirements. Similarly, among those respondents who did not complete the EC modules, they stated a lack of time and no need for the extra points as the primary reasons. Students overwhelmingly indicated through their Likert responses that they were willing to put large amounts of effort into extra credit assignments even in cases where they were only worth a few points. When asked about the factors that influence that effort, responses expanded upon the notion of 'grade protection' with some responses indicating that, if the time and points were sufficient, they were willing to dedicate large amounts of effort to the assignment. In particular, to protect against falling below particular grade boundaries (e.g., B+ vs A-). Related to this, when students were asked about the relationship between anxiety and the presence of extra credit, though the majority indicated through Likert responses that it had no negative impact, several suggested that the increase or protection in grade that the EC provides reduced their anxiety. With that said, a few did indicate that they either felt stress while completing the EC quiz or some stress immediately prior to beginning the quiz. In terms of the impact of parallel computing EC modules on students' interest in those concepts, responses were evenly split between no impact and some degree of positive impact, with no participants reporting a negative impact. Those who felt it had a positive impact mentioned enjoying the opportunity to engage with a new concept and that opportunity increased their interest in that topic. When asked to reflect on what aspects of the assignments they found interesting and why, students' responses contained themes such as gaining further insight into and extending their knowledge of more fundamental concepts they had learned previously. Furthermore, several mentioned enjoying the authentic, "real-world" feel of the tasks with which they were presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is a recurring issue of low enrollments across many civil engineering departments in postsecondary institutions. While there have been moments where enrollments begin to increase, civil engineering departments find themselves facing low enrollments that have decreased by 60% over the last five years across the Middle East and the United States. There are many reasons that could be attributed to this decline, such as low entry-level salaries, over-saturation of civil engineering graduates in the job market in certain regions, and a lack of construction projects due to the impending or current recession. Low enrollment also has an effect on the availability of civil engineers, especially in times of high demand, such as the passing of the recent US legislature on rebuilding infrastructure. However, this recurring problem alludes to an intrinsic issue of the curriculum, as researchers have discovered. The societal shift to the usage of high technology such as machine learning (ML) and artificial intelligence (AI), demands individuals who are proficient at utilizing it. However, in many existing civil engineering curricula, students are not taught programming skills that would aid in using high technology and if introduced at an early level, these skills are not utilized in other courses across the curriculum. This paper aims to conduct a survey on the civil engineering curricula of the top 220 universities in the world, focusing on those in the United States based on the QS World Ranking system. Initial analysis of the survey results indicates that the majority of universities have not considered new methods of data analytics such as ML or AI in their civil engineering coursework. Based on the results of the survey, the authors will provide suggestions on how to adapt high technology concepts to civil engineering coursework, while abiding by ABET/ASCE accreditation requirements. The findings of this paper will indicate where postsecondary universities offering civil engineering can easily adapt their curricula to address the current low enrollment crisis, which in turn, supports future civil engineers for the world of high technology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Engineering education is a fast-growing field. As research questions have become more intricate and nuanced, there have been calls for more sophisticated quantitative methods in engineering education. Traditional quantitative research methods have a long history in educational research, and have been important in developing our understanding of how learning within engineering occurs. However, development of new and advanced quantitative methods allows researchers to conduct more nuanced analyses of student outcomes. In particular, methods for conducting person-centered analyses and analyzing large and nested data sets have become more pervasive in educational research. In this paper, we present a systematic review of 302 papers published in JEE from 2012 to 2022. Specifically, we examined which quantitative methods are used in JEE to develop a picture of the state of quantitative methods in engineering education. The results found that while a large number of studies used basic statistical testing, there is a trend of more advanced quantitative methods being used over the years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Different countries, colleges and universities, and even majors provide students with different kinds of engineering ethics courses. Practical course evaluation is conducive to presenting students' learning effects and subsequent course improvement. In the existing research and practice, the evaluation of engineering ethics education focusing on students' learning output has produced many positive results. On this basis, from the perspective of the sustainable development of the curriculum and benefiting more students, this study proposes that it is necessary to understand the evaluation of engineering ethics education from a broader meaning -- not only to evaluate the course of engineering ethics itself but also to evaluate the learning effect of students. By referring to the concepts, tools, and methods of engineering ethics curriculum evaluation, this study attempts to develop a comprehensive questionnaire survey. The design of this comprehensive questionnaire is based on the goals of engineering ethics education. The topic presents logical progression according to each goal and content composition of engineering ethics education, from understanding to knowledge mastery to knowledge application. The questionnaire not only includes the evaluation of students' learning achievements but also covers the assessment of the implementation of the whole curriculum and curriculum elements, which reflects the characteristics of the whole curriculum and comprehensiveness. The reliability and validity of the comprehensive questionnaire are improved by referring to the engineering ethics course evaluation questionnaire in existing studies, soliciting experts' opinions many times, conducting multi-type pre-test, in-depth discussion feedback, and scoring twice. The comprehensive questionnaire consists of three parts. The first part is about evaluating the course and students' learning experience, which includes not only the cognition and evaluation of the overall situation of the course but also students' recognition of the course and engineering ethics, self-evaluation, and feeling of course learning. This section is based on nearly 20 multiple-choice questions. The second part of the questionnaire mainly evaluates students' mastery of engineering ethics curriculum knowledge, ethical codes, and principles. Four multiple-choice questions (more than one answer) are selected by referring to the existing questionnaires, exam questions, and essential knowledge points in classic textbooks and taking into account the questionnaire's representativeness, difficulty, and length. The topic involves four aspects: engineers' aim (related to ethical principles, norms, obligation, utilitarianism, etc.), engineering ethics responsibility, the basic principles of dealing with the ethical problems of engineering, and the ethical rules of professional engineering associations. The third part contains two cases and four questions related to the cases. This paper selects two classic cases to design four essay questions from role conflict, identifying ethical dilemmas and contradictions, balancing interests, analyzing possible consequences from multiple perspectives, and proposing solutions to ethical dilemmas. In addition, detailed and quantifiable scoring criteria have been designed for the questionnaire. The completed comprehensive questionnaire developed was used in an engineering university to test 511 students taking five different forms of engineering ethics courses. The effects and differences of various engineering ethics courses are obtained through the analysis of the questionnaire results. The application of the questionnaire survey has explained the effect of questionnaire design to a large extent but also reflected some limitations. Finally, combined with the questionnaire survey and interviews, the paper also suggests the possibility of further improvement of the comprehensive questionnaire. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Capstone design is a critical culminating experience in the academic trajectory of all undergraduate engineering students. At the University of San Diego, each year a handful of engineering capstone design teams out of the several dozen across the college work on community-partnered projects. The projects are seeded and nurtured by efforts from a formalized university initiative, the Engineering Exchange for Social Justice. During the 2021-2022 academic year, the authors of this paper were instructors for the year-long, multidisciplinary engineering capstone design course. The course structure and timeline cater to traditional, corporate/industry-sponsored projects. Three out of ten teams across our two course sections worked on community-partnered projects. We sought to learn about the student experience for those working on the community project teams. Each team member completed a reflection assignment with specified prompts at the end of the fall and spring semester. We analyzed the reflections using inductive thematic analysis. We identified 'Justice' and 'Connectivity' as primary themes, which connect to sociotechnical proficiencies we hoped to develop in the students. However, the reflections also highlighted challenges and shortcomings of our current model. For this work-in-progress paper, we share our salient findings from each theme, as well as instructor observations and lessons-learned from this community project capstone model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This work-in-progress research study aims to examine what research was conducted pertaining to engineering librarianship from 2015-2019 (pre-pandemic) with a particular focus on methodology. Peer-reviewed articles published between 2015-2019 were surveyed to identify who is performing research in engineering librarianship, what research methods are being used, if the studies are repeatable, and if the methods chosen are appropriate for the research question under investigation. Each paper that matched the inclusion criteria was examined and information was extracted relating to authorship, journal published in, research design, method, and analysis, as well as research question and instrument (when relevant). Simple statistical analysis will be conducted to derive patterns around research papers in engineering librarianship during this 5-year period. This paper will report the in-progress results of this comprehensive literature review. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes a design project, the Mars in the Making project, that was developed to encourage more motivation, curiosity, and connections in first year engineering students, while also enhancing opportunities for making. The motivation behind the Mars in the Making project is to use the future establishment of a Mars colony and automation as the context and to allow students to choose an opportunity/need area to focus on based on their interests and passions, while still ensuring consistency in the amount of effort and complexity of the designs produced. The design project was implemented in 3 sections of the Introduction to Engineering course at Arizona State University in Fall 2021, 2 sections of the course in Spring 2022, and 7 sections of the course in Fall 2022, with approximately 40 students in each section. To assess the impact of this design project on student motivation, curiosity, connections, and their making skills, a survey instrument was administered to students enrolled in 7 sections of the course and a written individual reflection about their course experience was assigned to students enrolled in 4 sections of the course, both at the end of the Fall 2022 semester. Quantitative analyses of the 163 survey responses to the Likert scale questions show that students 1) corresponded mostly with the self-determined types of motivation, i.e., they were mostly motivated to do this project for their own benefits and chose to do this project themselves because of the value it provided; 2) were curious, actively seeking out new information and knowledge while working on the project, and enjoyed the personal growth and learning they gained from their project experience; and 3) improved various types of making skills through the project experience. These analyses also show that the project provided a good opportunity for students to make connections in different ways and a good yet fun learning and making experience. Qualitative analyses of the 112 individual reflections further confirm that students demonstrated the self-determined types of motivation, were curious while working on the project through demonstrating positive emotions from learning new information and skills, made connections to diverse viewpoints and alternative solutions, and acquired valuable making skills from their project experience. Suggestions offered by students to improve the project include more time for project prototype construction, more guidance on Arduino coding, more clarity about the scope of the project, and more encouragement for creativity in the designs produced. In the paper, the design project and its implementation will be described, and the assessment results will be presented and discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A substantial investment by the National Science Foundation (NSF), including awards from Engineering Education and Centers in the Engineering Directorate and the Division of Undergraduate Education in the Education and Human Resources Directorate, has led to the creation and study of the Multiple Institution Database for Investigating Engineering Longitudinal Development (MIDFIELD). This large database of student records has yielded groundbreaking research on student pathways by a small interdisciplinary team of researchers. The team has shown that while individual engineering programs may have poor graduation rates, a multi-institutional view reveals that engineering programs as a whole graduate a larger fraction of students than other groups of disciplines [1]. The team has also shown that women and men have similar graduation rates in engineering, likely a result of efforts to make engineering education a welcoming environment for women and the high academic credentials of the women who do study engineering [2]. As with the overall graduation rate, individual institutions and programs can and do have outcomes that depart from this aggregate perspective. A comprehensive study of student pathways in various engineering disciplines provided practitioners with rich information specific to their disciplinary context [3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10]. The team has also designed a variety of metrics that have provided researchers and practitioners with an improved understanding of student pathways [11]. The quality of the data source and the research team is attested by these substantial findings, multiple best paper awards, and other recognitions [1, 5, 6, 11, 12, 13]. An overview of MIDFIELD and research using it can be found in [14]. This paper provides updates on transitioning MIDFIELD to the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE), documentation of institutional policies, and supporting a growing community of researchers in using the database including the second offering of the MIDFIELD Institute. This work is supported by the NSF Division of Engineering Education and Centers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This qualitative research paper explores how undergraduate engineering students utilize social capital through the resources of a cohort program. Presented are the emerging themes generated from the data featuring descriptions of which parts of the cohort program were meaningful to undergraduate engineering students. This paper draws on social capital theory as an anti-deficit approach to guide the development of educational systems that support historically excluded students leveraging, developing, and utilizing relationships. The 16 participants in this study were in a four-year-long cohort and took part in focus groups at the end of each semester. This work focuses on the first two focus groups, representing the participants' first year in their engineering programs. Questions about how the cohort program helped the students prompted reflections on their experiences with the different facets of the program. These experiences were used to create themes representing the shared sentiment regarding the specific components of the program. Findings are presented to illustrate the importance of social capital development opportunities to first-year undergraduate students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research shows that genders are affected differently by length and word choices in job descriptions. Additionally, research exhibits the existence of a gender confidence gap where women tend not to apply unless they are 100% qualified for the job. Our hypothesis was that women not familiar with the jargon on a job description will not feel completely qualified and be less interested in applying. To investigate this potential unconscious gender bias further, an experiment was performed where people viewed three Navy job descriptions in their respective STEM fields and were asked their level of interest. This paper will show that women who do not have a background in the jargon are less likely to apply on jargon-filled, STEM job descriptions than men. Conversely, when women have a background with the jargon, this paper will show that these women have a higher interest in the jargon-filled job advertisements than men do. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Effective development of children's computational thinking (CT) skills necessitates their exposure to experiences that require the application of CT to build technological solutions. However, the integration of technology into early childhood education is often challenging due to concerns about potential harm to young children. This paper presents a best-practices technology framework constructed from the contributions of early childhood professional organizations and experts. The framework consists of nine elements (Child, Pedagogy, Context, Content, Facilitators, Environment, Evaluation, Tools & Innovations, and Screen Time) that must be understood in the context of technology usage to intentionally extend and complement early childhood learning while minimizing its harm. In addition, the paper proposes a holistic view of technological classification, age groups around technology usage, and input-device literacy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Resistance spot welding is a common subject taught to engineering students learning about manufacturing processes. Teaching welding to students can often pose quite a challenge, because of the wide variety of uncertainties. In this paper 6061 Aluminum (Al) and 1008 Carbon Steel (CS) were welded together using Resistance Spot Welding for two groups: one with a Silicon Carbide powder (SiC) added as a coating and one without the powder. Welding often causes metals to change in composition, which can lead to a decline in physical properties, including strength and corrosion resistance. Even more so when the welded pieces are dissimilar metals. In this paper it was found that the corrosion resistance of the welded joint in acidic environments (1% HCl at 35, 45, and 55 Celsius) increased when the SiC powder was added. It was also found that the tensile strength of the welded joint increased in the samples that the powder was used in. If Engineering students understand the changes to metals that welding can produce, they can make educated decisions about how to prevent any negative consequences such as failure of materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This evidence-based practice paper is a follow-up to an ASEE 2022 conference proceeding that was focused on the challenges in development, in addition to resulting student perceptions upon delivery, of a remote iteration (Spring 2021, due to the COVID-19 pandemic) of a conventionally hands-on, active learning-based makerspace course; of which employs integration and application of fundamental engineering skills and all institutional first-year engineering students are required to take. Specifically, this paper is focused on the ensuing iteration of the course (Spring 2022) in which students resumed in-person course execution, and aims to disseminate comparative resulting student perceptions on course features between the remote iteration versus the in-person iteration and, in some cases, the course iteration prior to the pandemic. At the conclusion of the 2022 (post-COVID) semester, more than 300 student participants were surveyed on respective perceptions in Perceived Belonging Uncertainty and Interest in Engineering. Resultant responses were then compared to responses to the same surveys conducted by pre-pandemic students in addition to students that experienced the course during the pandemic (in which students experienced the course under a remote environment). Student participants during the 2022 course iteration were further surveyed with a quantitative forced-choice ranking. Specifically, students were asked to rank pedagogical effectiveness of six select course features - 3D modeling, circuitry, engineering design, programming, teamwork, and technical writing - and these six features were predominantly determined by qualitative identification of effective and/or ineffective features by the (2021) remote cohort. Respective responses from the during-COVID cohort versus the post-COVID cohort were compared and assessed. Resultant implications, limitations, and revelations of these findings conclude this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

From passive instruction to highly collaborative active learning, students' success in the classroom varies based on a variety of factors. With different possible learning constructs, how the classroom environment, or climate, is structured can make a significant impact on student success. When developing or adopting new pedagogical approaches, both faculty and student perspectives need to be better understood. To help fill the gaps in active learning knowledge from a student perspective, this research looked at different active learning classroom environments by assessing them with the established College and University Classroom Environment Inventory (CUCEI). The focus of this paper centers on a single instructor that has flipped then added active learning techniques across a steel design class and a computer modeling class. To see if, and to what extent, active learning impacts the classroom climate, data from before and after active learning were compared. As part of this, CUCEI compares climates based on seven psychosocial dimensions: personalization, involvement, student cohesiveness, satisfaction, task orientation, innovation, and individualization. This paper examines: 1) how climates change between traditional and active delivery, 2) does the quantity of active learning change the climate, and lastly, 3) is there a relationship between climate and student achievement. Results show that climate perspectives do not necessarily increase or could possibly decrease when active learning is deployed. While much of the data was inconclusive, due to small sample sizes and a lack of statistical evidence, there were several observed trends that provide rich insights for educators. First, the steel course had several unique instances compared to the modeling class. In steel design, four psychosocial dimensions can best predict grades while for computer modeling only two psychosocial dimensions predict grades. Additionally for steel design, the most important climate characteristics for success are: students enjoy going class; students know exactly what has to be done; and faculty letting students decide some of the success metrics. As for computer modeling, key climate factors include: the level of in class instructor real-time support and instructors giving ample opportunity for students to pursue their class interests. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research paper examines the curricular messages perceived by students about what practices are valued and central to engineering work. Emphasis on certain practices, and de-emphasis on others, can impact if students see themselves as engineers and their interests in engineering. In this study, we compared the experiences of two 3rd-year Industrial Engineering students and two 3rd-year Mechanical Engineering students through semi-structured interviews. We analyzed these data guided by Holland and colleagues' figured worlds framework to build an understanding of the engineering practices and skills students perceived as important in their courses, what values, activities, and interests were encouraged and discouraged by their instructors and peers, and how these practices and skills aligned or misaligned with student career and engineering interests. Our findings showed that teamwork, problem-solving, technical communication, and using foundational technical knowledge were perceived by students as emphasized most in their classes. Students discussed how these practices and skills built the foundation to do their engineering work but were at times dissatisfied with the lack of social considerations around stakeholders, sustainability, and contextual aspects of their work. Students further described career interests to solve complex, societal issues. This paper has implications for incorporating sociotechnical practices and broader careers interest into engineering curriculum. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Each first-year student attending the J. B. Speed School of Engineering (SSoE) at the University of Louisville (UofL), regardless of declared major, must complete a two-course sequence of introductory engineering courses. These courses, Engineering Methods, Tools, & Practice I (ENGR 110) and Engineering Methods, Tools, & Practice II (ENGR 111), introduce the fundamental tenets of the engineering profession. The first course in the sequence, ENGR 110, focuses on introducing a variety of fundamental engineering skills. The second course, ENGR 111, is a hands-on, project-based course housed in a 15,000 square foot makerspace that has students integrate and apply the skills learned in ENGR 110. One of the many skills taught in this sequence is basic programming. The programming instruction presented in ENGR 111 is an extension of the programming skills learned in ENGR 110. However, ENGR 110 teaches programming basics in Python, whereas the ENGR 111 instruction utilizes Arduino microcontrollers for its programming curriculum. The programming instruction in ENGR 111 also forgoes standalone programming assignments for scaffolded modules that prepare students for an end-of-semester Cornerstone Project. Accordingly, students gain exposure to varying programming languages, and a wide introduction to software design concepts that help prepare them for the remainder of their academic and professional careers. In this paper, two semesters of ENGR 111 with two different Cornerstone Projects will be compared. Project 1 took place during the spring of 2022 and was comprised of a windmill power generation system. Students constructed this windmill and used Arduino programming to interpret sensor data and calculate system performance. Project 2 took place during the 2022 summer semester and was comprised of a water filtration system. In this project, students utilized the Arduino to both observe system information and control its behavior. At the end of each of these semesters, students took a survey in which they provided their perceptions of the programming instruction they received, in addition to expressing their confidence in programming. Results of these questions from Spring 2022 (Project 1) and Summer 2022 (Project 2) are compared in this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Longitudinal, student-level data are a rich resource for characterizing how students navigate the terrain of higher education. Learning to work effectively with such data, however, can be a challenge. In this paper, we share some of our experiences over years of conducting research with the Multiple Institution Database for Investigating Engineering Longitudinal Development (MIDFIELD). MIDFIELD contains individual student-level records for all undergraduate students at 19 US institutions with over 1.7 million unique students. This paper focuses on our lessons learned about processing longitudinal data to prepare it for analysis. We describe and define the steps that we take to process the data including filtering for data sufficiency, degreeseeking, and program (major), then classifying by completion status and demographics. We use the examples of calculation of graduation rate and stickiness to show the details of how the processed data is used in analysis. We hope this paper will help introduce the landscape of longitudinal research to a wider audience and provide tips for working with this valuable resource. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The goal of the inclusive classroom is to provide equal opportunity for success for all students, regardless of their background and characteristics, e.g., race, gender, and neurodiversity. To this end, re-thinking and re-designing our courses and curricula to provide greater flexibility and accommodate students' needs is of vital importance. The Statics course at this institution was recently re-designed to increase creativity and inclusion. One of the most important components of the course re-design has been the final project option, for which students may choose to create and solve their own problems as opposed to completing an exam to fulfill the learning objectives of the course. There are two options that students may choose for the final project: 1) the problem-solving track and 2) the creativity, or open-ended, track. This paper describes the final phase of the development of the project option and its assessment results regarding creativity and inclusion. The final project files from three semesters, between Fall 2020 and Fall 2021, and four sections were de-identified and rated for creativity by three experts in civil engineering, using the Consensual Assessment Technique. This paper reports the final project components and rubric, results related to students' demonstrated creativity for the problem-solving versus open-ended track, and the lessons learned, impact, and challenges of implementing the final project option. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) employs a systematic approach to aligning the civil engineering profession's needs with its education and practice standards. The primary tools involved in this approach are the Civil Engineering Body of Knowledge (CEBOK) and the program criteria for ABET-accredited civil engineering programs, which are developed with substantial community review and input. Both the CEBOK and the Civil Engineering Program Criteria (CEPC) are reviewed by ASCE committees and revised, if deemed necessary, on an eight-year cycle. In May 2019, ASCE published the Civil Engineering Body of Knowledge, 3rd Edition (CEBOK3). ASCE then convened a Civil Engineering Program Criteria Task Committee (CEPCTC) in January 2020 to review the current ABET Civil Engineering Program Criteria and propose revisions, if needed, based on (1) the publication of the CEBOK3, (2) a major revision to the EAC/ABET General Criteria which became effective for reviews during the 2019-2020 accreditation cycle, and (3) compliance with guidance from EAC/ABET on curricular topics and faculty qualifications. This paper is the third in a series to describe the efforts by ASCE and the CEPCTC in reviewing and revising the Civil Engineering Program Criteria. The first paper, presented at the 2021 ASEE National Conference, documented the formation of CEPCTC and its development of an initial draft of proposed CEPC revisions. The second paper, presented at the 2022 ASEE National Conference, focused on a) the solicitation and collection of feedback from a broad community of stakeholders regarding the initial 2021 draft of proposed CEPC changes, and b) further revisions to the proposed CEPC in response to that feedback. This third paper describes the changes to the CEPC resulting from the first phase of the ongoing ABET review and approval process and focuses on the development of commentary and training materials to support the proposed CEPC implementation and use. These materials support programs and program evaluators (PEVs). Although not officially part of the CEPC, these supplementary materials help explain the intent of the CEPC and offer best practices, references to literature, PEV training, and other helpful resources. This paper will aid in understanding and implementing the revised Civil Engineering Program Criteria by the education and professional communities. It is also hoped that ABET's Member Societies might be encouraged by this series of papers to share their approaches to program criteria development, thereby fostering a "best practices" dialogue for the betterment of the engineering profession. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this evidence-based practice paper, we discuss design rationale, implementation and evidence from a professional development program for emerging education researchers (PEER). Many STEM faculty, trained only in disciplinary research, transition into research on the teaching and learning side of their discipline, with transitions occurring after typical formal training opportunities (e.g. grad school, postdocs) are over. There are limited opportunities for professional development when starting education research, and options are highly dependent on home institution type, department priorities, and faculty career stage. The PEER program helps faculty at any institution jumpstart their transition into discipline-based education research. Our goal is to help foster the next generation of STEM education researchers. PEER participants develop quality research projects, engage in targeted experiential work to develop their projects and skills, and collaborate and form a long-term support community of peers, mentors and collaborators. Over the last 8 years, more than 1000 participants have engaged in PEER field schools worldwide. In this paper, we lay out the guiding principles of PEER: collaboration, responsiveness, communication, and playfulness. We situate the program within existing models for faculty professional development and describe the available modalities of PEER field schools: extended introductory in-person field schools (3-5 days), online or in-person gateway workshops (1.5 hours), and the new advanced in-person field schools (5 days). Each of these modalities is built off collaborative work among participants, blending development of foundational skills in education research with individual progress in their own specific education research projects. Drawing on evidence from interviews and surveys with STEM participants, we demonstrate the impact of different module activities on their professional skills, identity, and self-efficacy. We discuss the affordances and constraints of different formats and implications for faculty professional development. We prefer to present this work through a roundtable discussion, but we are also open to a lightning talk or a poster. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This complete research paper explores two different research questions associated with a larger, more comprehensive research study ultimately aimed at formal makerspace course characterization in conjunction with student interest in engineering and its associated impact on engineering retention. More specifically, this paper is predominantly focused on student perceptions in personal levels of interest triggered by varying fundamental engineering topics and associated activities, in addition to investigating the effectiveness of a formal makerspace course in increasing students' maintained interest in engineering through the promotion of the various (triggered) situational interests among first-year engineering students. Situational interest refers to environmentally triggered responses, such as focused attention and affective reactions, that are predominantly short-term. Maintained interest refers to beliefs related to the enjoyment and/or usefulness of engineering that are relatively stable across pedagogical settings, which have been shown to be more effective at positively influencing longer-term engineering student retention. While makerspaces have excited considerable interest, much of the research on makerspace impacts and practices have focused on K-12 and informal educational settings. Little is known about how a well-designed makerspace-based engineering course can contribute to first-year students' persistence in engineering. The platform for this study is an introductory engineering makerspace course at a Southeastern, public university. The course's objective is to facilitate the application and integration of fundamental engineering skills. Six course features were identified by course instructors as potential pedagogical features that can activate students' situational interest: technical writing, hand tool usage, 3D modelling, 3D printing, circuitry, and programming. Other course-related factors were also considered with respect to impact on situational interest, such as, engineering design sub-features, personal satisfaction in proficiency, and teamwork. Participants were 314 first-year, undergraduate students enrolled in the makerspace course during Spring of 2022. From January 2022 to April 2022, students completed a series of surveys that prompted them to reflect on their interest regarding specific course-related experiences and activities. Situational interest surveys were administered immediately following the completion of the feature modules identified above, whereas the maintained interest survey was administered at the end of the course. Surveys regarding other course-related factors were administered throughout the semester at appropriate times. Findings suggested that hand tool usage elicited the highest situational interest among students, whereas technical writing was the lowest. In this sample, maintained interest in engineering did not differ based on student demographic (i.e., age, gender, and race). Additionally, situational interest in all feature modules, with the exception of programming, significantly and positively explained the variance of students' maintained interest in engineering. The majority of students reported an increase in interest in engineering for all course-related factors. Lastly, implications of these findings and limitations of the study are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This evidence-based practice paper describes the CS POGIL Activity Writing Program (AWP), a faculty development program to help computing faculty create classroom activities for Process Oriented Guided Inquiry Learning (POGIL). In POGIL, student teams work during class time on activities that are specifically designed to develop concept understanding and skills such as critical thinking and problem solving. Research has documented POGIL's benefits for student engagement and learning. However, faculty can find it difficult to adopt POGIL, particularly if classroom activities are not available for the content they need. This program sought to increase the number of available CS POGIL activities by increasing the number of active qualified authors. This paper summarizes relevant background, presents the program's structure, and describes outcomes, evaluation, and directions for future work. During the program, 31 participants, experienced with POGIL, attended virtual meetings and workshops, including a virtual Kickoff Workshop, a hybrid Writers Retreat, and 1:1 coaching with the Project Coordinator and other writing mentors. By the end of the AWP, 27 authors had drafted 71 activities in 17 areas of CS. Fifty-eight activities were revised and approved by the program as ready for classroom testing. Almost all of the authors planned to use the developed activities in their classes (88%) and share them with others (78%), while 75% planned to develop more activities. Almost all (88%) felt that the writing process impacted how they teach with POGIL activities. Thus, the AWP is an effective model to support faculty and produce quality activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This methods paper describes the development, use, and initial findings for the Focus & Actions of Students & Teachers Observation Protocol (FASTOP). The ICAP model describes the benefits of interactive (I), constructive (C), and active (A) learning over passive (P) learning. However, instructors who seek to adopt more effective pedagogies often overestimate their use of such practices and/or omit key elements. Thus, our research seeks to enhance understanding of classroom practice by combining data from student surveys, instructor surveys, and classroom observations (both live and video recorded). This paper describes a new classroom observation protocol intended to monitor the focus (e.g., solo, pair, team, or whole class) and action (e.g., discuss, speak/present, watch/listen, or distracted) of both students and teachers (instructors). The paper summarizes relevant background on evidence-based learning, student engagement, and classroom observation protocols, describes the development and structure of FASTOP, presents results from different pedagogies (e.g., lecture, laboratory, POGIL), and describes lessons learned and future directions. Results show distinctive patterns of student and teacher behaviors for different pedagogies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the focus of the aerospace industry shifts toward the space sector, increasing numbers of college students across the country are searching for ways to gain practical, hands-on experience in designing, manufacturing, and testing rockets. Student-led clubs are one way for students to obtain that experience. This paper highlights one engineering club at Iowa State University (a Midwestern university in the U.S.), the Cyclone Rocketry club, and focuses specifically on the club's propulsion team. The paper presents the propulsion team's efforts to pioneer new rocket technologies, create several powerful rocket motors, and collaborate with the university's aerospace engineering faculty to create supplementary teaching materials for a new rocket propulsion course. Furthermore, the paper describes lessons learned and provides recommendations for starting and running a propulsion team in a university setting. The paper benefits college students interested in creating similar student-led rocket clubs in their respective universities and engineering faculty members interested in collaborating with such clubs to introduce real-world problems and demonstrations in their rocketry courses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This WIP paper will present our results to date in conducting a multimethod single case study, which is appropriate for deeply understanding multiple stakeholder perspectives within a bounded environment, in our case, the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Pennsylvania State University. The in-progress goal of our team in Mechanical Engineering at this large, research-focused institution, is to reconceptualize student success that enfolds four dimensions. These dimensions have been previously siloed in engineering education literature, though even within these groupings, engineering education researchers typically focus on one phenomenon at a time: motivation; attainment; experiential opportunities; and success across career stages. This project is underway and, in this work-in-progress paper, we share preliminary findings from our qualitative investigation of thriving in online Master of Science Mechanical Engineering students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This work in progress paper addresses the national imperative to promote involvement in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields across all ethnicities, races, genders, and economic backgrounds. The United States Air Force Academy (USAFA) developed a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Strategic Plan in 2021, which includes an objective to increase the participation of students from diverse backgrounds in engineering majors. Additionally, the Accreditation Board of Engineering and Technology recently made a commitment to diversity and is considering changes to curriculum criteria which would require engineering programs to demonstrate a culture of diversity, equity, and inclusion [1]. In alignment with USAFA's strategic plan and the anticipated accreditation criteria, the authors are developing a new foundational engineering course as one element of an institution-wide effort to improve students' sense of belonging, make engineering majors more accessible to a wider audience, and ultimately increase diversity among engineering graduates. In addition to exploring best practices from literature and other institutions, this paper describes how the authors conducted surveys and interviews from students that took a summer civil engineering field course, extracted lessons learned, and developed course content for the new foundational engineering course informed by the key findings. The interviews revealed student perceptions of how activities and interactions with instructors and peers affected their selfconfidence, skill development, and sense of belonging. The first-year course under development is centered on two features: 1) a problem-based learning approach to spark interest and develop the technical skills necessary for students to be successful in an engineering major, and 2) challenging stereotypes of what types of people do engineering while stimulating a sense of belonging in engineering from students of all backgrounds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Communication is an important part of our everyday life. It allows us to share knowledge, information, and skill sets with people around us. Many professionals are likely aware that effective communication can lead to faster success and the resolution of many outstanding problems in a university working environment, however, the knowledge of students' communication styles is lacking. In most cases, proper communication does not take place or is not available due to a lack of information. For example, instructors may not know the predominant communication style of the class and, in most cases, may not fully understand their own communication style. This paper will address four different communication styles and compare their differences to help instructors understand how to communicate with their students more effectively. The purpose of this paper is to determine the differences in the communication styles between engineering students and instructors through a survey, then, use the results to better equip the instructor in adapting the communication of the course to the class communication style. The results of this paper will demonstrate trends in communication styles between engineering students and instructors. In addition, survey results will be analyzed and discussed. This paper will help instructors facilitate improved communication with students both in verbal and written communication, thereby increasing the effectiveness of teaching and learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explicates the unique strategies utilized in the implementation of the continuous improvement (CI) process in the department of Engineering Technology (ET) programs at Austin Peay State University (APSU). Three ET programs - Bachelor of Science (BS) in Electrical ET, Mechanical ET and Manufacturing ET - are accredited by the Engineering Technology Accreditation Commission (ETAC) of ABET by involving the constituents (students, faculty, alumni, and Industrial Advisory Board or, IAB) that are integral to the CI process. ETAC of ABET's Criterion 4 CI [11] states, "The program must regularly use appropriate, documented processes for assessing and evaluating the extent to which the student outcomes are being attained. The results of these evaluations must be systematically utilized as input for the program's continuous improvement actions". To accomplish the CI requirements, the department followed four strategies that encapsulate the faculty efforts toward CI. The four strategies were: (1) Department faculty, led by the main author of this paper, developed a 3-year schedule of assessment and evaluation, two Student Outcomes (SO) each year in a rotating cycle. (2) Documented evidence of implemented action items (2019-22) demonstrating that the results of student outcome assessment and evaluation are systematically utilized as input for the program's continuous improvement actions (involving the constituents). (3) As part of the CI process, during spring and fall 2022, department faculty led by the main author, performed a periodic review and revision of the course description, pre-requisite, and degree requirements of all the course offerings in the three BS in ET/ABET Programs. (4) Documented evidence of implemented action items demonstrating that feedback from the regional industry / IAB was systematically utilized as input for the program's continuous improvement actions. The full paper is aimed at elucidating all the four strategies (1-4) deployed in the efficacious implementation and attainment of ABET Criterion 4 CI in the three BS ET programs - Electrical ET, Mechanical ET and Manufacturing ET, a description of assessment methods used for the CI process, statement of results and conclusion. Strategy 1 is ongoing and strategies 2, 3, and 4 are complete. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to identify the needs of engineering graduate women at Penn State and propose a student-led approach to increase their sense of community and belonging. As recent reports indicate, women's enrollment in engineering graduate programs increased by only 4 percent from 2014 to 2019. To increase retention, departments and universities often rely on a professional development driven approach to establish community. While useful, these efforts are misdirected because literature shows that women's isolation and lack of sense of community, rather than lack of career preparedness, contribute to attrition from graduate programs. To best eradicate this isolation and lack of belonging among graduate women in engineering, we took a user-centered approach. Community-led, stakeholder-centric, participatory research is a stakeholder-owned means by which to elicit community member needs. This process translates into strategies that are developed by community members themselves to address those needs. The authors of this paper developed a pilot survey distributed to all graduate students in the College of Engineering to gauge need for community and student interest in creating a Graduate Women in Engineering (GradWIE) group. Results from the survey indicated that students lacked community and had an overwhelming desire to be involved in a graduate women in engineering group. As such, we felt compelled to form an official student organization for the engineering community, GradWIE. GradWIE welcomes people of all gender identities to support the personal and professional well-being of graduate students through peer support, the creation of safe spaces, social events, and diverse resources. In its first year, the organization has sponsored several community-building events, reaching over 150 students across all departments in the college. Through this work, GradWIE seeks to continue supporting graduate students by involving them directly in group and event development, providing a potential example for other universities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research paper will assess the impact the COVID-19 pandemic had on learning strategies implemented by engineering faculty during the purely online phase of the pandemic and following the return to in-person classes. The Covid-19 pandemic forced faculty to entirely reformat their courses such that they could be accessible in an online format. In this paper, the authors interrogate how this dramatic restructuring of courses has had a lasting impact on how professors think about teaching. A first objective of this study is to identify changes in the learning and assessment strategies employed by engineering faculty pre-pandemic, during-pandemic, and following the return to in-person teaching. Furthermore, this study aims to identify motivations and barriers faculty faced when choosing and implementing various learning and assessment strategies in their courses following the return to in-person classes. To meet these objectives, the authors collected data using an electronic survey that evaluated learning and assessment strategies employed by faculty, along with motivations for selecting these strategies. Forty-five faculty responded and identified 26 unique learning strategies. Fourteen learning strategies showed a greater than 40% growth in implementation between prepandemic and the return to in-person teaching. The top six all leveraged technology tools, and the top three leveraged the use of virtual-video platforms for delivering course content. The key motivators for faculty to maintain and improve learning strategies following the return to in-person teaching include striking a balance between effort to implement and positive impact on students, engaging students, and improving the accessibility of course content. We intend to present this work in the traditional lecture style. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Imported from the US, STEM education has been introduced to and widely implemented in China for over a decade. Its priority is particularly promoted as China has come to a turning point called "the new development paradigm", as the supply of high-end talents in hi-tech fields gradually lags behind and thus hinders economic development. In such a context, STEM education has drawn significant attention from scholars and practitioners in China. Extant research leaves two significant lacunae. First, the exact connotation and constituent elements of STEM education in the context of China remain blurred, as it is often confused with other terminologies including college-industry integration and maker education. Second, the implementation performance of STEM education at Chinese higher education institutions remains under-investigated. To bridge above lacunae, this paper adopts a two-stage study design; Study 1 uses content analysis based on word frequency counts to refine the exact connotation and constituent element of STEM education in China. By coding the archives, including academic papers, policy documents, and news reports, which add up to more than fifty thousand words, it also identifies four major constituent elements - STEM education research, college-industry partnership, interdisciplinary integration, and maker education, which together constitute the very existing form of STEM education in the context of China. Study 2 employ an empirical analysis based on a sample of 36 first-tier universities in China over a five-year period, and investigates the effects of different constituents of STEM education on the cultivation performance of innovative talents separately. This paper is expected to theoretically and empirically contribute to STEM education in China. First, it delineates the boundary of STEM education and its relationships with other equally-popular concepts in the context of China. Second, as it examines the effects of implementing different STEM education activities on the cultivation performance of innovative talents, it can also provide a reference for policy making. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When students graduate from Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) schools, there is a discrepancy or imbalance between the job-related competencies that companies require and what academic institutions deliver. Due to this skills gap, recently recruited engineers lack what the market dictates and may need more training to gain necessary competencies, costing companies both time and money. The primary purpose of this study is to compare the skills ECE graduates should have upon graduation from the perspective of industry and ECE academic department heads. In this context, this paper presents the outcomes of two surveys, one distributed to ECE professional engineers and the other to ECE department heads. Both surveys used in this study were obtained from The College and Career Readiness and Success Center at the U.S. Department of Education. The surveys focus on nine major categories: applied academic skills, critical thinking skills, interpersonal skills, personal skills, resource management skills, information use skills, communication skills, system thinking skills, and technology use skills. ECE professional engineers and department heads were asked to rank several skills on a 1-5 Likert scale where one is not important and five is vital. This paper compares the perspectives of 45 ECE department heads and 45 ECE professionals regarding the required skills ECE graduates should possess upon graduation and how vital these skills are. Independent sample t-tests was utilized to compare the data from the two surveys and determine whether statistically significant differences existed between the department head's and professional engineers' assessments of the technical aptitude of Electrical and Computer Engineering graduates. The results of the surveys highlight the gap between academic outcomes and industry expectations for ECE graduates. System thinking, communication, and resource management skills are the most important skills for ECE graduates from the ECE professional engineer's point of view, while ECE department heads believed that applied academic skills, critical thinking skills, and technology use skills are the most important. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As universities enroll more Native American engineering majors and hire more Native faculty, it has become imperative to be able to find research related to Indigenous techniques and methods in engineering. Since fewer than 1% of all articles in Compendex and Inspec have the words "indigenous," "native," or "aboriginal" in the title, abstract or keyword fields, this becomes a challenge. As part of our broader research project into how to discover Native American research in science databases, this paper focuses on engineering terms, broad terms for engineering and specifically on prominently known Arizona tribes, whose various colonial and Native names also present challenges for identifying relevant research. Examining both Compendex and Inspec on the Engineering Village platform, we explore the Boolean command protocol challenges as well as the unique search options offered on the Engineering Village platform. The selected topics for this segment of the research highlights the challenges of the terms for Indigenous water use and Native farming techniques. This paper will highlight important skills and considerations for librarians who assist with research on Native American engineering topics and will also address current deficiencies in the controlled vocabularies in major engineering databases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]