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Recognizing the State of Ohio and regional need for a highly trained computing workforce with 4-year degrees, the Choose Ohio First - IMProving Retention and Student Success in Computing (COF-IMPRESS-C) project provides financial support and an ecosystem of high-impact curricular and co-curricular activities to increase the success of academically talented students. The COF-IMPRESS-C team will leverage student-centered strategies and academic support, such as undergraduate research, faculty/peer mentoring, and academic success sessions to enhance academic and personal success. The project will facilitate the recruitment, retention, and matriculation of scholarship recipients, provide them with access to a continuum of student support services, resources, and opportunities for professional growth, and prepare scholarship recipients for graduate school or careers in computing. COF-IMPRESS-C will facilitate dual-enrollment of students in the Honors College, allowing an additional focus on developing leadership, entrepreneurial skills, and a success mindset. The goals of the project are to (1) increase the number and diversity of students pursuing degrees in computing; and (2) Add to the body of knowledge regarding best practices in computing education and promote the employment of computing graduates to meet the local and regional workforce needs. The project team is led by the College of Engineering and includes THE Community College. The project brings together computing academic programs that are offered through the College of Engineering and programs in the Honors College, an inclusive and unique college designed around high-impact educational practices. The paper will address second year project activities including the COF-IMPRESS-C recruitment, and advertisement plan to first-year and community college transfer students. The paper will also address the student eligibility and selection process, the recruitment of the second cohort scholars, and finally the orientation program. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For the past 23 years, The Ohio State University's College of Engineering has offered to firstyear engineering honors students the Fundamentals of Engineering for Honors (FEH) program. In that time, The Ohio State University has worked to incorporate and develop best practices for student development in engineering. With student immersion and growth in mind, the program has developed to include an engineering cornerstone project in which students work in teams to design, build, and program autonomous robots to complete tasks on an interactive robotics course. In support of the project, a variety of technologies were designed and polished as the program grew. Classroom methodologies were also evaluated and improved with time in response to student feedback and research on best practices. This paper provides a historical review of practice for the program with an emphasis on the technologies and methodologies that have been most effective in the program as it has developed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The impacts of unconventional exploration of oil and gas in eastern Ohio on local landscape and regional surface water quality were studied. The landscaping alteration associated with unconventional exploration resulted in deforestation and increased the impervious and developed land areas on regional scale. It accelerated the movement of water and sediment across the landscape causing a deterioration in surface water quality. A total of ten surface water sampling sites were selected along surface streams in two Ohio counties where hydraulic fracking oil and gas exploration boom was observed in the past decade. Drainage areas were delineated around each sampling site using USGS StreamStats online tool. Land use and land cover were investigated for each delineated drainage area for 2013 and 2019 to study the changes in landscaping patterns. Forest land areas have maintained their steady percentage (with less than ±1% changes) in the majority of the investigated drainage basins since 2013; during the same period, developed land areas have increased by a range of 1.5% to 4.7%. Additionally, landscaping fragmentation was studied using FRAGSTATS to assess the class-level fragmentation of the forested land. Forest patch number within the drainage areas were not observed with significant variations since 2013, which suggest a minor or neglectable deforestation within the region. Surface water sampling were carried out in 2018 and 2019 by collecting surface water samples from two streams and one reservoir. Eleven water quality parameters, including pH, dissolved oxygen, total suspended solids, conductivity, nitrate, Ba, Sr, Ca, and etc., were analyzed onsite and in the lab. Principal Component Analysis showed elevated impacts on water quality in the upstream sampling sites near the unconventional oil and gas well drilling fields. Strong positive correlations (coefficient values close to +0.9) were reported between developed land percentage and metal element concentrations, as well as forestry patch number and turbidity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]