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Environmental DNA (eDNA) quantification and sequencing are emerging techniques for assessing biodiversity in marine ecosystems. Environmental DNA can be transported by ocean currents and may remain at detectable concentrations far from its source depending on how long it persist. Thus, predicting the persistence time of eDNA is crucial to defining the spatial context of the information derived from it. To investigate the physicochemical controls of eDNA persistence, we performed degradation experiments at temperature, pH, and oxygen conditions relevant to the open ocean and the deep sea. The eDNA degradation process was best explained by a model with two phases with different decay rate constants. During the initial phase, eDNA degraded rapidly, and the rate was independent of physicochemical factors. During the second phase, eDNA degraded slowly, and the rate was strongly controlled by temperature, weakly controlled by pH, and not controlled by dissolved oxygen concentration. We demonstrate that marine eDNA can persist at quantifiable concentrations for over 2 weeks at low temperatures (≤10 °C) but for a week or less at ≥20 °C. The relationship between temperature and eDNA persistence is independent of the source species. We propose a general temperature-dependent model to predict the maximum persistence time of eDNA detectable through single-species eDNA quantification methods.

For more than a century, experiential learning—most notably cooperative education—has been embedded in the curriculum at Northeastern University. The original program placed eight students in four ...

This Work-in-Progress paper presents a framework for students' holistic learning, growth, and development recently created at and for Northeastern University. The Student Assessed Integrated Learning (SAIL) initiative was introduced for the first time to 179 first-year students who had not designated their major prior to entering the University. Our preliminary data indicate that most students felt the SAIL framework informed how they viewed their past experiences and helped them to shape their academic, personal, and/or professional goals. Further data collection and analyses to investigate the SAIL framework's effectiveness in helping students articulate and shape holistic learning is ongoing.

Faculty Member #1 I came to the university excited about the prospect of working with a cohort of young colleagues who had impressed me when I interviewed. I liked the department head very much. He not only recruited me enthusiastically, but he was incredibly supportive. He was fair in distributing resources and made sure that junior faculty got high-quality graduate students. He provided a clear assessment of my progress each year prior to tenure and set a tone indicating that it was normal for junior faculty to seek help and mentoring. But the year I was granted tenure a new head entered the picture and life changed drastically. He rapidly alienated several senior colleagues I admired as well as some of my junior colleagues, many of whom ended up leaving the department. The new head played favorites, ignored established processes, and didn't support the promotion of several outstanding young faculty hired under the former head. He also reneged on several promises that the former head had made to me. It's been years since he became the department head, but I am still disillusioned and disappointed. I find myself advising newly hired colleagues to build their CVs and keep an eye open for other jobs; I tell them "outstanding work does not assure success in this department." Faculty Member #2 When I first came to the university, one of the things that gave me the most satisfaction was working closely with two of my senior colleagues: Ed and Jon. I truly valued their collaboration on grants, research, and publications, and had always believed that we worked well together and respected one another. That's why I was so taken aback, on the eve of my tenure decision, to learn from others in the department that Ed and Jon had voiced concerns to the tenure committee about my performance. Neither Ed nor Jon had ever shared these concerns with me, and I felt disconcerted and hurt. Although I eventually did receive tenure, the experience left a bad taste in my mouth. Now, when I hear Ed and Jon speak in faculty meetings, I wonder what their words are hiding. I see the glances they exchange when I'm speaking, and I resent their implication. Because I find it uncomfortable to be with these two colleagues, I avoid them whenever possible. I have extricated myself from joint research ventures and purposely avoid Ed and Jon in other venues of departmental life. Introduction: What Our Research Revealed What do the two stories above have in common? First, they portray senior (defined in this study as tenured) faculty members who are dissatisfied with their respective experiences at their institution. Second, in both cases, negative or disillusioning experiences at key times in their professional lives have colored the lens through which these individuals view their colleagues and experience life in their departments. They have responded to these events in ways that are counter to fostering collegiality and a sense of community--two primary sources of satisfaction in academic life (Barnes, Agago, & Coombs, 1998; Manger & Eikeland, 1990; Matier, 1990; Weiler, 1985). Although dissatisfied senior faculty members are hardly rare in academia (Amey & VanDerLinden, 2002; Boice, 1993; Hamrick, 2003; Karpiak, 1997; Mills, 2000), what is interesting about these particular stories is that they describe faculty who are not stagnant professionally but who continue to be remarkably productive: They publish extensively, secure prestigious grants, and succeed in a variety of other areas, as described below. In other words, these senior faculty members are at the top of their game. Nevertheless, they remain withdrawn in important ways at their own university, a problem we believe is not unique to this institution. What characterizes the experiences of faculty such as these, and what is the impact on their institutions? To what extent does the literature help us to understand the sources of their dissatisfaction and their responses to it? …

Drawing on narrative theory, we propose a scenario-based approach to conducting discussions among junior and senior faculty about issues affecting job satisfaction. This study reports how discussions of fictional scenarios (based on data drawn from 123 faculty interviews) prompt open dialogue, foster greater consciousness, empathy, and empowerment among faculty, and guide positive institutional responses.

Universities attempt to hire the highest quality faculty they can, but they are not always successful at retaining them. Furthermore, some faculty members who do remain may not function as engaging colleagues who make others want to stay. This study investigates why some faculty members leave and why others stay by illuminating the complexities of individual experiences. Using semi-structured interviews rather than surveys, a matched cohort of 123 faculty members (half current and half former) from one institution was interviewed. Although some of their primary reasons for satisfaction or dissatisfaction (e.g., collegiality, mentoring) were predicted by general survey research, there were also unforeseeable issues that strongly influenced satisfaction and decisions to stay or leave, demonstrating the importance of institution-specific research. This paper provides a method for collecting institution-specific information as well as several arguments for conducting interviews instead of pre-defined surveys.

Engineering education faces significant challenges as it seeks to meet the demands on the engineering profession in the twenty-first century. Engineering faculty will need to continue to learn new approaches to teaching and learning, which in turn will require effective professional development for both new and experienced instructors alike. This article explores approaches to effective professional development and provides a conceptual framework for responding to the challenge of becoming a professional engineering educator. The “cycle of professional practice” is introduced as a prelude for identifying what individual professors and their institutions can do to generate more powerful forms of engineering education. The article concludes with two case studies that illustrate the possibilities when faculty and academic leaders join together in addressing calls for change.

It can be difficult for new faculty to get the information they need on issues such as teaching, advising, and setting up a research program. While some have excellent mentors, others have come to rely on trial and error or word of mouth. In 1996, the NSF Engineering Education Scholars Workshop began at Carnegie Mellon University to address the needs of new and future engineering faculty by: • providing professional teaching development; • offering guidance in supervising graduate students and conducting research; • discussing likely engineering education and research challenges in the 21st century; and • providing intellectual and social support with colleagues. After three years, a significant amount of knowledge and experience has been gathered by the workshop co-chairs. This paper details the structure of the workshop and discusses the underlying principles and implementation to provide guidance for those planning similar workshops.

This paper describes lessons from stories of thirty-six women in engineering and six women in computer science narrated in our book on journeys of women in science and engineering.1 These stories underscore the various factors that have been described in the literature as reasons women choose and stay in engineering. This paper discusses several of these factors. Students who reach college are a select group who have overcome the early barriers and are set on a potential track to becoming engineers. The experiences of these women as narrated in the book point to some of the positive and negative factors in the formative stages of their lives. Albert Bandura's model of perceived self-efficacy is a theoretical framework that may be useful in exploring ways of teaching and advising in engineering schools to better meet the needs of the increasingly diverse student population. This framework is discussed briefly, and its components illustrated by examples from the stories. As college advisors and teachers, we need to reaffirm the methods and thinking students have evolved, but which may be challenged by the system based on a “normative student” model.

Carnegie Mellon University offers a first-year course titled Fundamentals of Mechanical Engineering to introduce undergraduate students to the discipline of mechanical engineering. The goals of the course are to excite students about the field of mechanical engineering early in their careers, introduce basic mechanical engineering concepts in an integrated way, provide a link to the basic physics and mathematics courses, and present design and problem-solving skills as central engineering activities. These goals are met through a combination of real-world engineering examples, classroom demonstrations, and hands-on experience in assignments and laboratories. Over the eleven semesters that this course has been taught, teams of first-year students have designed and assembled energy conversion mechanisms using miniature steam engines and Meccano sets to drive a mobile vehicle or to generate electricity for lighting a bulb. This paper describes the systematic process used to design this course and emphasizes this process of carefully integrating lectures with classroom demonstrations, laboratory experiments and hands-on projects to encourage students' active learning.

"Survive and thrive in graduate school. Designed to unravel some of the mystery around graduate school programs in science and engineering, this one-stop resource reinforces strategies for succeeding. Qualitative interviews offer first-hand stories and tips from women who have found success in academia, industry, and the public sector. Each chapter covers a different aspect of graduate school, from identifying funding sources, to writing the dissertation, to looking for a job. THE WOMAN'S GUIDE TO NAVIGATING THE PH.D. IN ENGINEERING & SCIENCE also focuses on the emotional and social difficulties women may experience, and offers practical suggestions and advice for surviving and thriving in graduate school. Featured topics include: * funding, requirements and standards, qualifiers * making the advising process work * writing the dissertation and defending * searching for a job * learning by critique * balancing competing needs THE WOMAN'S GU DE TO NAVIGATING THE PH.D. IN ENGINEERING & SCIENCE's goal is to help women overcome the stereotypes and hidden barriers they may encounter in graduate school - so that they may emerge ready for careers in the academic, corporate or public sector. About the Authors Dr. Barbara B. Lazarus is the associate provost for academic affairs and an adjunct professor of educational anthropology at Carnegie Mellon University. Recent publications include "Journeys of Women in Science and Engineering: No Universal Constants" (Temple University Press, 1997) and "The Equity Equation: Fostering the Advancement of Women in the Sciences, Mathematics and Engineering" (Jossey-Bass, 1996). Dr. Lazarus serves as a member of the Committee on Women's Studies in Asia, on the Advisory Committee of MentorNet, and as a board member of the Women in Engineering Programs and Advocates Network. Lisa M. Ritter is a communications consultant at Carnegie Mellon University and the editor of the quarterly graduate newsletter on campus. She has also worked as a public relations director and coordinator of professional development seminars for graduate students. Dr. Susan A. Ambrose is associate provost for educational development, director of the Eberly Center for Teaching Excellence, and a principal lecturer in the Department of History at Carnegie Mellon University. Her research interests include applying cognitive principles to education and understanding how class origin, sex, race and ethnicity, social conceptions of women, and other variables collectively influence women's life decisions and careers in engineering and science. Recent publications include "Journeys of Women in Science and Engineering: No Universal Constants" (Temple University Press, 1997) and "The New Professor's Handbook" (Anker Press, 1994). Dr. Ambrose was recently honored with an American Council on Education fellowship for the 1999-2000 academic year."

This chapter contains sections titled: The Job Search What it's Like Out There What the Future Holds for Women Scientists and Engineers

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Publisher Summary This chapter focuses on the metal zone. Metals are found everywhere in the Materials World, and a world without any metals are unimaginable. Some objects, such as forks, could be made of plastics rather than sterling silver, however, some applications like skyscrapers or jet planes would never exist without metals. The chapter explores metals across several length scales, from the atomic level up to the bulk, and establishes how the properties are a direct outcome of the structure. Different schemes or frameworks of how to think about some of the concepts are presented. Certain phrases that are descriptive of “concepts” are used to help understand the “effects” or behavior of metals. The lists of the effects, concepts, and constructs are presented in this chapter. Metals are primarily made up of metallic elements. A quick scan of the Periodic Table reveals that most elements are metals. The metallic elements are electropositive and are quite willing to give up or share their valence electrons.

Publisher Summary This chapter focuses on the land of ceramics that help to organize bits of ceramic knowledge in some logical files, enabling to retrieve them more easily. It examines the aspects of ceramics that give them their unique properties. A connection between the performance of a ceramic product and how that product was made is established. The chapter shows the basic structure of Kaolinite, a common mineral used in porcelain, whiteware, and pottery. It consists of stacked layers or sheets of atoms. One of the things that set advanced ceramics apart from the traditional and glass is that they are usually made from precursors that have been chemically purified. In addition to being made from pure precursors, advanced ceramics require complex and expensive fabrication processes to maintain their purity. The physical and chemical changes that take place in ceramics processes are different than those of metal.

Publisher Summary This chapter discusses the useful properties of semiconductor materials, and why they are so valuable to modern world. Computers and communication equipment, sensors, transportation, automation, and entertainment devices all have chips to provide functional control and data storage. These chips are composed of small pieces of semiconductor material with electronic circuits embedded in them. The unique properties of semiconductors allow making versatile components of electronic circuits, such as resistors, capacitors, diodes, and transistors, all on the same small piece of material. Like all materials, the crystallographic and defect structure of the semiconductor materials determines its structural, mechanical, electrical, thermodynamic, and other properties. The chapter focuses on the electrical and optical properties of semiconductors. A few behaviors that are specific to semiconductors, such as variable conductivity, photoconductivity, and the special role played by impurities are introduced in the chapter.

Statistics are generally used to identify and address needs such as the inclusion of more women and minorities in engineering. In this paper, the authors synthesize the experiences of thirty-six engineers and six computer scientists in order to understand some of the positive and negative factors in these women's lives, and explore ways of teaching and advising in engineering schools that would allow the increasingly diverse student population to be better served. The students who reach college are a select group who have overcome the early barriers and are set on a potential track to becoming an engineer. College advisors and teachers need to reaffirm the methods and thinking these students have evolved, but which may be challenged by the system based on a "normative student" model. The authors present a theory that begins to explore these aspects.