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1. Creating Significant Learning Experiences in an Engineering Technology Bridge Course: a backward design approach

   Villalta-Cerdas, A.; Yildiz, F. (January 2022, 2022 ASEE Virtual Annual Conference Content Access)

   Academic bridge courses are implemented to impact students’ academic success by revising fundamental concepts and skills necessary to successfully complete discipline-specific courses. The bridge courses are often short (one to three weeks) and highly dense in content (commonly mathematics or math-related applications). With the support of the NSF-funded (DUE - Division of Undergraduate Education) STEM Center at Sam Houston State University (SHSU), we designed a course for upcoming engineering majors (i.e., first-year students and transfer students) that consists of a two-week-long pre-semester course organized into two main sessions. The first sessions (delivered in the mornings) were synchronous activities focused on strengthening student academic preparedness and socio-academic integration and fostering networking leading to a strong STEM learning community. The second sessions (delivered in the afternoons) were asynchronous activities focused on discipline-specific content knowledge in engineering. The engineering concepts were organized via eight learning modules covering basic math operations, applied trigonometry, functions in engineering, applied physics, introduction to statics and Microsoft Excel, and engineering economics and its applied decision. All materials in the course were designed by engineering faculty (from the chair of the department to assistant professors and lecturers in engineering) and one educational research faculty (from the department of chemistry). The course design process started with a literature review on engineering bridge courses to understand prior work, followed by surveying current engineering faculty to propose goals for the course. The designed team met weekly after setting the course goals over two semesters. The design process was initiated with backward design principles (i.e., start with the course goals, then the assessments, end with the learning activities) and continued with ongoing revision. The work herein presents this new engineering bridge course’s goals, strategy, and design process. Preliminary student outcomes will be discussed based on the course’s first implementation during summer 2021. 

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2. Launching the Urban STEM Collaboratory

   Goodman, K Ivey (July 2020, ASEE annual conference)

   The Urban STEM Collaboratory is a tri-institution collaboration of University of Memphis (UofM), University of Colorado Denver (CU Denver), and Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI). Each of the three partner universities is embedded in a large city, and serves similar student populations, i.e. students who tend to be first generation, minorities, and/or commuters. These universities encounter similar challenges in first-year retention and graduation rates, especially in the STEM disciplines. As they strive to improve the first year engineering and/or mathematics student experience at their campuses, they have engaged in different approaches; including Peer Led Team Learning (PLTL), formation of an Engineering Learning Community (ELC), and engaging students in outreach as STEM Ambassadors. Incorporating these individual strengths with new activities that will be shared across institutions, the team is currently embarking on a multi-year research project to uncover how students develop STEM identity in an urban context, identify interventions that support this development, and determine the impact that STEM identity has on student success. Through the support of an NSF S-STEM grant, the three universities are also providing scholarships to students engaged in the project. Here, we share the initial efforts of our tri-campus interaction and collaboration, our overarching goals, our systems of recruiting students, and our initial collection of preliminary data and findings for Year 1. 

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3. Board 265: Enhancing the Transfer Experience through a Collaborative Cohort Program: the Culmination of a 5-year NSF S-STEM Program at a Community College

   Dancz, Claire L_A; Adams, Elizabeth A; Orfi, Nihal; Evans, Emily (June 2024, 2024 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition)

   This paper reports on the culmination of an NSF Scholarships in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (S-STEM) awarded to a two-year college located in a metro area with high rates of concentrated poverty and low levels of educational attainment. This two-year college is a minority-serving institution with curriculum to prepare students majoring in engineering to transfer and complete a baccalaureate degree at a four-year university. The Engineering Scholars Program (ESP) was established in fall 2019 to award students majoring in engineering annual scholarships of up to $6000, depending on financial need. In addition to supporting students through scholarships, the program engages scholars in professional development activities inclusive of academic seminars, extracurricular events, and undergraduate research opportunities in collaboration with the local four-year university. The program also established a mentorship structure with faculty mentors, student peer mentors, and academic advising. In addition to supporting scholars at the two-year college, the ESP provides support for a portion of cohorts that have transferred to the local four-year university and remained connected to the program. To date, the ESP has awarded a total of 131 semester long scholarships; 16 in year one (2019-2020), 28 in year two (2020-2021), 35 in year three (2021-2022), including six transfers, 38 in year four (2022-2023), including eight transfers, and 28 in year five (2023-2024), including 10 transfers. In year three, the ESP was awarded supplemental funding to support a larger portion of students and transfer cohorts; this helped reduce the financial burdens resulting from exacerbated financial needs due to the COVID-19 pandemic during years two and three of this project. This paper details the progress made towards the achievement of the program goals of creating a welcoming STEM climate at the two-year college, increasing the participation and persistence in engineering among economically disadvantaged students, and establishing transfer support to the local four-year university. Program evaluation findings have identified several opportunities for sustaining scholar transfer support outside of the financial support provided in the form of scholarships. These opportunities fell into two major themes: (1) peer-led transfer support inclusive of connecting transferred students and students preparing for transfer with emphasis on navigating different university structures, and (2) collaboration across engineering disciplines to develop and offer interdisciplinary undergraduate research and/or collaborative work on other projects. Furthermore, research findings from interviews with scholars provided additional context for taking action on program outcomes while also enhancing the understanding of how participation in a collaborative cohort experience can contribute to students’ membership within the STEM community and the construction of their own STEM identity. Although formal financial support sunsets during the final year of the ESP, program and research findings have identified programmatic elements that provide key support for students and can be sustained into the future. This paper reports on the program strategy for meeting the future needs of scholars at both the two-year college and the four-year transfer university. 

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4. Broadening Participation in Engineering Track 2: The PROMISE Engineering Institute Mentor Academy – NSF EEC #2233683

   https://doi.org/10.18260/1-2--59389  

   Jangha, Sundiata; Cresiski, Robin; Bhan, Jee Young; Lewis, Ebony; Lopez, Elaina; Garrison_Tull, Renetta; Rutledge, Janet; Sanchez, Maria; Medina, Yarazeth (June 2026, ASEE Conferences)

   This paper describes the Broadening Participation in Engineering Track 2 program: the PROMISE Engineering Institute Mentor Academy (PEI-MA) supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF) EEC Award #2233683. PEI-MA aimed to develop future academic leaders by training engineering PhD students in core skills related to engineering excellence and leadership. This initiative addresses the persistently low levels of faculty positions and leadership roles in academia and industry for historically marginalized individuals. The main research question — “How does the development of a generational engineering leadership identity factor into PhD persistence toward a faculty and higher education leadership track?”— was explored using qualitative methods. The project had two goals: designing and piloting a Leadership Model for doctoral engineering scholars emphasizing community, skills-building, and networking; and expanding Mentorship in Engineering models with proven success. The project was externally evaluated, and the results are being disseminated to scale the model across various STEM fields, thereby strengthening the pipeline of future engineering academic leaders who will reach executive administration levels. Research shows that mentoring is crucial for degree completion, workforce entry, and career advancement in STEM fields. The PEI-MA introduced a new component: it offered one-on-one mentoring with current and former university presidents who are also engineers. Mentees, in turn, are expected to serve as mentors to nurture the next generation and grow the pool of leaders. The project also proposed innovative methods for building professional networks to adapt to the permanent shifts in work and education caused by the COVID pandemic, including in-person, hybrid, and virtual interactions. Key project activities include: 1) a three-day in-person leadership conference; 2) ongoing virtual engagement with mentor presidents; 3) networking sessions at national engineering conferences; and 4) a two-day workshop focused on higher education academic and career success. Activities #1, #2, and #3 are entirely new and complement Activity #4, which already existed. Several program activities were opened to larger audiences to extend reach beyond the cohorts. Descriptive statistics of post-activity surveys and thematic content analysis of focus group interviews were used to further understand Fellows' experiences. Participants strongly agreed that the program content increased their awareness of careers and leadership, clarifying the pathway to becoming a faculty member and academic leader. Access to senior academy leaders and meaningful interactions with mentors and PEI program leadership were consistently highlighted as the most beneficial aspects of the program. They also valued the diversity of perspectives and experiences shared through various workshops and speaking engagements. The feedback from participants showed that the methods used by the PEI-MA project helped achieve its goal of strengthening the pipeline of future academic leaders. 

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5. From Resistance to Readiness – Building Capacity to Pilot and Scale Co-requisite Calculus for First-Year Engineering Gateway Courses

   https://doi.org/10.18260/1-2--46866  

   Olsen, Darlene; Supan, Karen; Johnson, Liz (June 2024, Gardening outdoor living)

   Norwich University, the oldest Senior Military College in the nation and the first private U.S. institution to teach engineering, has a residential program for approximately 2,100 primarily undergraduate students in both the Corps of Cadets and civilian lifestyles. Norwich secured a National Science Foundation S-STEM award in the beginning of 2020 to develop a program to attract and retain highly talented, low-income students in STEM. One of the aims of the project was to support students who enter college with less experience in mathematics as these students were significantly less likely to graduate with a STEM degree. In the fall of 2020, as a result of the S-STEM award, the mathematics department offered a pilot corequisite calculus course to STEM majors requiring calculus their first semester but placed into precalculus by the mathematics departmental placement test. The corequisite calculus course includes content from precalculus into a one semester calculus course that meets daily for 6 contact hours rather than a standard 4 credit hour calculus course. The Norwich University Civil, Electrical and Computer, and Mechanical Engineering programs are accredited by the Engineering Accreditation Commission of ABET, placing restrictions on the 8-semester engineering degree pathway. The added credits to the first semester corequisite calculus course fit the constraints of the first semester engineering course load and this course has enabled engineering students that place into precalculus to complete an on-time degree plan without taking summer courses. The corequisite course has been approved by the university curriculum committee and is a regular offering at the institution. The initial offering of the corequisite course occurred during the COVID pandemic necessitating the use of additional instructional technology. There was also an increase in low stakes assessments to encourage students to engage in the material. The added credits also increased the regularity of student interacting with calculus. Since the implementation of this pilot course, there have been several similar changes in other courses required by engineering majors. The pilot corequisite course has become institutionalized and even is now scaling, with the engineering department requesting the course to be offered each semester to benefit students who are out of sync with the intended curriculum pathway. This project examines how the corequisite calculus course may have influenced changes in the general education courses and engineering first year sequence. Outcome harvesting as well as process tracing are used to determine the strength of evidence linking the corequisite course to institutional change. Qualitative and quantitative data will be examined as well to understand how the S-STEM award contributed to breakdown of the resistance to curriculum change and the readiness to implement and scale corequisite courses in other areas. It is important to understand the mechanisms used for building capacity at the institution to transform STEM education in higher education 

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