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This work in progress explores the impact of activities developed to improve students’ persistence in engineering undergraduate programs as part of a five-year NSF grant. The Program for Engineering Access, Retention, and LIATS Success (PEARLS), has been running for one year in the College of Engineering (CoE) in our institution attempting to increase persistence, retention and graduation rates, and professional success of low-income, academically talented students (LIATS). This paper describes the design of a novel engineering learning community (ELC) introduced as part of the PEARLS project interventions. The ELC is fostered through activities included in a course designed for PEARLS first-year students. During the course, first-year and senior students engaged in different ways: through senior design and capstone projects, peer demonstrations of team projects, and lab visits. We discuss the course structure, activities, and early findings of its implementation.
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Team-Based Learning of Sustainability: Incorporation of Sustainability Concept and Assessment into Chemical Engineering Senior Design Course
Design for Sustainability (DfS) becomes as an increasing important component in engineering education. One of the most effective educational strategies for sustainability integration is through undergraduate senior capstone courses. Chemical engineering as a main engineering discipline aims to prepare next-generation engineers with adequate knowledge and skills for pursing sustainable engineering in the near future. In this paper, we introduce our approach for introducing sustainability concepts and sustainability assessment methods into our undergraduate capstone design course. In the course, we guided students to conduct a sophisticated team project: Process Design, Modification, and Sustainability Assessment for Distributed Biodiesel Manufacturing. Students in teams developed and evaluated all design options from the sustainability point of view using different sustainability metrics systems and discussed for identification of most desirable solutions. Educational experience with the team-based approach was summarized through classroom evaluation.
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- Award ID(s):
- 1604756
- PAR ID:
- 10351899
- Editor(s):
- Rachuri, S.; Huang, Y.
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Smart and sustainable manufacturing systems
- Volume:
- 5
- Issue:
- 2
- ISSN:
- 2520-6478
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 25-35
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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- Free Publicly Accessible Full Text
-
Accepted Manuscript
- Journal Article:
- https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1520/SSMS20200011
