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1. Configuring mission-specific behavior in a product line of collaborating Small Unmanned Aerial Systems

   https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jss.2022.111543  

   Islam, Md Nafee; Chowdhury, Muhammed Tawfiq; Agrawal, Ankit; Murphy, Michael; Mehta, Raj; Kudriavtseva, Daria; Cleland-Huang, Jane; Vierhauser, Michael; Chechik, Marsha (March 2023, Journal of Systems and Software)

   In emergency response scenarios, autonomous small Unmanned Aerial Systems (sUAS) must be configured and deployed quickly and safely to perform mission-specific tasks. In this paper, we present \DR, a Software Product Line for rapidly configuring and deploying a multi-role, multi-sUAS mission whilst guaranteeing a set of safety properties related to the sequencing of tasks within the mission. Individual sUAS behavior is governed by an onboard state machine, combined with coordination handlers which are configured dynamically within seconds of launch and ultimately determine the sUAS' behaviors, transition decisions, and interactions with other sUAS, as well as human operators. The just-in-time manner in which missions are configured precludes robust upfront testing of all conceivable combinations of features -- both within individual sUAS and across cohorts of collaborating ones. To ensure the absence of common types of configuration failures and to promote safe deployments, we check vital properties of the dynamically generated sUAS specifications and coordination handlers before sUAS are assigned their missions. We evaluate our approach in two ways. First, we perform validation tests to show that the end-to-end configuration process results in correctly executed missions, and second, we apply fault-based mutation testing to show that our safety checks successfully detect incorrect task sequences. 

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2. Testing Methodology for Spacecraft Precision Formation Flying Missions

   Kimmel, E. (February 2023, 45th Annual AAS Guidance and Control Conference)

   Distributed space systems, and specifically spacecraft formations, have been identified as a new paradigm for addressing important science questions. However, when it comes to verifying and validating these systems before launch, there is the added challenge of figuring out how to test the formation’s holistic operations on the ground since a full end-to-end mission simulation is likely infeasible due to the need for costly testing infrastructure/facilities. Building on established methods for single-spacecraft testing, this paper presents a two-phase testing methodology that can be applied to precision formation flying missions with budget, timeframe, and resource constraints. First, a testing plan with unique considerations to address the coordinated and coupled nature of precision formation flight is devised to obtain high system confidence on the ground, and second, the formation’s holistic behavior is refined on orbit during the mission’s in-space commissioning. This approach structures the pre-launch testing to make efficient use of the limited test infrastructure on hand and leverages a sequential configuration process combined with built-in operational flexibility on orbit to safely finish characterizing the formation’s performance so that it can meet mission requirements 

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3. Qualitative Investigation on the Failure Experiences of Entrepreneurial Engineering Students

   Katona, T. M. (July 2021, 2021 ASEE Virtual Annual Conference Content Access)

   null (Ed.)

   Entrepreneurial education has been rapidly expanding within universities over the past 15 years with colleges of engineering being amongst the most active participants in embedding entrepreneurship into curricular and cocurricular activities (Pittaway & Cope, 2007). Well-developed and theoretically grounded educational interventions have been shown to increase entrepreneurial skills and perception among students. (Pittaway & Cope, 2007; Matlay & Caray, 2007; Duval-Couetil & Wheadon, 2013; Duval-Couetil & Rheed-Roads, 2012). Organizations including the National Science Foundation through the Lean Launch Curriculum and I-Corps program, VentureWell through curriculum development grants and their E-Team program, and the Kern Family Foundation through the Kern Entrepreneurial Education Network (KEEN) have provided significant funding to embed and transform entrepreneurial teaching and practice into colleges of engineering (Matthew et al., 2017; Pistrui, Blessing & Mekemson, 2008; Smith et al. 2017). This activity combines with an added emphasis among engineering programs to develop an entrepreneurial mindset among their engineering students with the belief that this will lead to them being more productive and innovative whether their career path leads them into established industry (becoming “intrapreneurs”) or later as entrepreneurs. While this trend toward developing more entrepreneurially minded engineering students is supported by global economic trends and a rapidly changing work environment, one factor has been largely overlooked in this process. Statistically, most entrepreneurial ventures fail, with disproportionately large value being created from a minority of entrepreneurial endeavors (Coats, 2019). Given this fact, until we find ways to drastically increase the success rate of entrepreneurial ventures, as we increase engineering students’ exposure to entrepreneurship, we are also increasing their exposure to failure very early in their careers. With this exposure, it is unknown whether sufficient preparation and education around project/venture failure is occurring to properly equip entrepreneurially minded engineering students to learn and grow from entrepreneurial failure. In this work in progress study, current and former engineering students who formed entrepreneurial ventures and experienced either failure of the venture or significant failure during the venture are interviewed to better understand the influences that led to both adaptive and maladaptive responses to these failures. Participants have been selected from those that have received funding through the national VentureWell E-Team program. This program awards three levels of funding and provides mentorship, training, and networking for the teams. The study uses the framework developed by Henry, Shorter, Charkoudian, Heemstra, and Corwin (2018) in which they associate pre-failure dispositions related to fixed and growth mindset (Dweck, 2000, 2006) and mastery vs. performance disposition (Pintrich, 2000 a, b). Our work will utilize this framework to guide the research, but more importantly will provide a unique context for analysis, specifically within engineering entrepreneurship, which will add to the body of work and expand the understanding of this pre-failure/post-failure disposition framework. Initial interview data and analysis will be presented in the context of this framework with preliminary insights to be shared with those in the field. 

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4. Fortitude in frustration, failure: Exploring emotional responses within an at-home elementary engineering program

   Knox, P.; Simpson, A.; Maltese, A. V. (January 2023, American Society for Engineering Education)

   Research on social, emotional, and academic development of children often notes the critical role of parents. Yet, how parents perceive and engage with children’s reactions to difficulty and perceived failure, to then shape their perspective and engagement with learning remains under investigated. The current study explored children and parents’ perceptions of and reactions to frustration and failure within an out-of-school, home-based engineering program. Specifically, we asked 1) How was failure perceived by participating families? and 2) What was the subsequent action/reaction to that failure? Data were derived from post-program interviews with children and parents who participated in a home-based, elementary engineering program involving take-home kits and self-identified engineering projects. Findings derived from descriptive qualitative methods and thematic analysis illustrated development of parent thinking around failure and frustration, both within themselves and their reactions to seeing such emotions in their children. Analysis further revealed how such emotions emerge within their children and impact their experiences. These findings shed light on ways child-parent engagement and the tactics employed by parents may influence a child’s perseverance and willingness to work through difficulty. This research represents an entry point for investigating how parents perceive and react to failures and challenges, and how these reactions shape their communication around failure with their children. Such parental reactions and communication may shape children’s mindset development, perspectives, and engagement. Implications for family engagement and influence on children’s learning through academic emotions in STEM and engineering are discussed. 

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5. Co-Construction of Iteration Through Failure Moments: Interactions Between Museum Educators and Visitors

   https://doi.org/10.1080/10645578.2024.2400031  

   Simpson, Amber; Osterhout, Andrew; Anderson, Alice; Maltese, Adam V; Ruisi, Jacey (July 2024, Visitor Studies)

   Museum educators play a major role in how visitors’ experience failure moments during STEM-related activities. The purpose of this study was to explore how museum educators co-constructed iteration through failure moments with visitors during an engineering activity. Utilizing an instrumental case study, we analyzed video data and one-on-one reflective meetings from five museum educators. Through our analysis, we highlight how educators and visitors are able to jointly attend, interpret, and respond to failures that leads to continuous improvements of the prototype and/or design process (i.e., iteration). The significance of this study lies in providing informal educators with approaches they can incorporate to support visitors during the failure-learning process, namely, strategies that develop visitors’ noticing skills around failure. 

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