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The NSF S-STEM funded SPIRIT: Scholarship Program Initiative via Recruitment, Innovation, and Transformation program at Western Carolina University creates a new approach to the recruitment, retention, education, and placement of academically talented and financially needy engineering and engineering technology students. Twenty-seven new and continuing students were recruited into interdisciplinary cohorts that are being nurtured and developed in a community characterized by extensive peer and faculty mentoring, vertically integrated Project Based Learning (PBL), and undergraduate research experiences. The SPIRIT Scholar program attracted a diverse group of Engineering and Engineering Technology students, thus increasing the percentage of female and minority student participation as compared to the host department program demographics. Over the last academic year, fifty-four undergraduate research projects/activities were conducted by the twenty-seven scholars under the direction of twelve faculty fellows. Additionally, peer-to-peer mentorship and student leadership were developed through the program’s vertically integrated PBL model, which incorporated four courses and seven small-group design projects. Academic and professional support for the student scholars were administered through collaborations with several offices at the host institution, including an industry-engaged product development center. The program participants reported strong benefits from engaging in the program activities during the first year. Specifically, this paper presents results from the program activities, including: cohort recruitment and demographics; support services; undergraduate research; vertically integrated PBL activities; and the external review of the program. Similar programs may benefit from the findings and the external review report, which contained several accolades as well as suggestions for potential continuous improvement.
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Initiation of Undergraduate Electrical Engineering Research at Lincoln University (PA)
This paper describes and discusses several recent faculty-student research activities at Lincoln University (PA), an HBCU. Specifically, it makes connections between NSF-sponsored faculty research and the projects that several undergraduate Engineering Science and Physics students have been working on. The Engineering Science is a relatively new major at Lincoln. New research experiences are particularly useful, so integrated learning is an attractive methodology for some of the engineering courses. The paper includes several case-studies detailing the student projects in connection to their academic progress. It also suggests the opportunities for our students upon graduation. The key findings of this study are that the research activities enabled by this research initiation grant are sufficiently diverse; they provide necessary supplements for the courses taught to students who specialize in electrical engineering. Research experiences that students get through this project are particularly useful for their future graduate studies and industry careers.
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- Award ID(s):
- 1505377
- PAR ID:
- 10032714
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Journal of modern education review
- Volume:
- 7
- Issue:
- 3
- ISSN:
- 2155-7993
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 179-184
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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- Free Publicly Accessible Full Text
-
Accepted Manuscript1.0
- Journal Article:
- https://doi.org/10.15341/jmer(2155-7993)/03.07.2017/003
