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This paper represents a narrative of the process of department-level reform through the eyes of the initiating agent of change. Over the course of reform, our program has grown by 40%, primarily through retaining students. We exhibit a 10% net important rate of engineering students in the first two years of the curriculum relative to the college's 5% mean export rate. Student freshmen SAT scores also indicate that we are attracting students with more balanced learning interests. The design of our Department Level Reform grant was to advance the knowledge of how to design engineering learning experiences that accomplish two social imperatives: retaining women and other underrepresented groups in the engineering degree programs; and equipping engineers to solve the technical challenges in the context of our complex global society. There is evidence that we are fulfilling our aims, but time will tell. This paper is focused on the impact that our reforms have had on the faculty. In the process of reform, I have emerged with these convictions: 1. Decisions are not made by data but by examining consequences against our values; 2. Humans should not be viewed or treated like mechanistic objects; 3. Structural changes that do not proceed from changes in mental models will not survive; 4. The anxiety around change must be mindfully managed at multiple stakeholder levels; and 5. Sustained change requires interactions with external agents. In this paper, I chronicle the process of change, the agents of change, their actions, and some of the results by the numbers. I also reflect on the meaning and provide recommendations.

In this article we describe the challenges of transdisciplinary teamwork involving four faculty members from dissimilar epistemological traditions in the process of developing a manuscript on the lessons learned in our teaching collaboration. Our difficulty originated in implicit mental models and assumptions that caused incongruence between our intent to collaborate and the (habituated) relationship structure of the partnership. The dynamics are described through the lens of Tannenbaum and Schmidt's leadership model and Aristotle's causality. We suggest that successful collaboration necessitates careful attention to the process of establishing the collaboration, its structure, and the metacognitive capacities to see one's own thinking, suspend one's epistemic beliefs, and engage in productive dialogue around conflict.

Equipping engineering students with the skills and knowledge required to be successful global engineers in the 21st century is one of the primary objectives of undergraduate educators. Enabling students to practice self-directed learning, to find solutions to design problems that are sustainable and to recognize that they are part of a global community are just a few of our educational goals. Self-directed learning can define an individual's ability to practice life-long learning. It places the responsibility on the individual to initiate and direct the learning process and can enable an individual to adapt to change. Project-based learning provides the contextual environment that makes learning exciting and relevant. It provides an opportunity for students to explore technical problems from a systems-level perspective and to develop an appreciation for the inter-connectedness of science and engineering principles. In Materials Engineering, the model of a tetrahedron is often invoked to illustrate the bottoms-up principles associated with a material's processing, structure and properties, which must be optimized to reach a desired performance. In addition, a top-down tetrahedron can be envisioned with the need for sustainability guiding the balance between economic, societal and environmental factors, which also influence the choice of the optimum design solution for a project. For students to fully explore this paradigm, it is imperative that project-based learning experiences be integrated throughout their undergraduate education. This article will explore methodologies that we have adopted to implement project-based learning through our four year undergraduate curriculum. Significantly, our course evaluations indicate that students strongly feel that this is a better method for "learning" and believe that the projects provide a more realistic environment for applying the principles of engineering, science and mathematics towards solving practical problems.

The texture of electroplated copper lines of 0.375, 0.5 and 1.5 micron widths with Ta and TiN barrier layers was examined through x-ray pole figure and electron backscatter diffraction methods. Both methods showed a strong (111) fiber texture compared to the bottom surface of the trench for samples with a Ta barrier layer and a 400 deg C, 30 min, postelectroplating anneal. Samples with a TiN barrier and no anneal showed a weak (111) texture.

This paper describes the educators' disposition that we believe is required for transformational innovation. Innovating in this domain relies on interrupting existing patterns. This interruption requires the conscious recognition of patterns through an active practice of self observation. Though self observation does not necessarily need a collective process, it is served by encountering the diversity of views present in groups. Innovation in this sense consists of a fundamental identity shift in the human system and the innovators themselves. Unlike the processes of problem solving and process improvement, transformational innovation requires insight into the individual and collective attention of the designers. It also allows access to unexamined mental models and apparent cause and effect relationships. The praxis of transformational innovation within organizations looks like an active practice of reflection, experimentation and learning within the human system. We explain the theoretical perspective, suggest a protocol to begin experimenting with self observation for the purpose of pattern interruption, summarize preliminary results from a year-long process of action research involving over 25 university agents in such a change process, and comment on the limitations and risks in the protocol. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper is grounded in the premise that learning occurs within a dynamic system of social and ecological interactions in the learning environment. Our intent is to open the conversation about how we, as engineering educators, design effective learning experiences for this dynamic system, particularly in light of the deeply ethical, adaptive expertise required of today's graduates. Drawing from two well-researched theories of psychological development (self-determination and self-regulation), we assert that fostering the engagement and positive growth required for adaptive expertise necessitates a holistic educational approach. This approach requires us to consider both the psychological needs of the learner, and the interaction between ecological factors and these psychological needs. We present a dynamic systems simulation model that is based on key concepts from self-determination and self-regulation theory. The model links factors in the learning environments, or 'ecological factors,' to outcomes related to student learning. To demonstrate that the model simulates the observed behavior of the system, we compare model simulations with student motivation measures in three learning situations that were designed and implemented by the authors. The evidence highlights the dramatic influence of ecological factors: high and low intrinsic motivations in different situations, and strong correlations between students' motivational orientations and ecological factors. Comparison of the simulated and measured student responses illustrates the potential for the integrated use of systems dynamics and learning science to aid design of learning environments that foster student motivation, engagement, and learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many studies have illuminated our understanding of the kinds of competencies and behaviors exhibited by effective designers. Against the backdrop of global challenges made more urgent by unintentional negative impacts of engineered products and systems, however, we are left to deduce that our ways of educating engineering designers is fundamentally flawed. We assert that one can trace the cause of our collective, unintended negative consequences to the mental models of reality that we consciously or unconsciously carry. In this paper, we present the case for developing awareness and facility with mental models. We also suggest an alternate mental model as the foundation for sustainable design. This model depicts reality as embedded systems of economies inside society and inside the environment. We also discuss how the engineering educator can use the model to build a foundation for holistically viewing design for sustainability. Student responses to a course based on the proposed ideas are also presented as evidence that students' can value mental models and that working with them effectively changes their world conception. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]