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Promoting equitable undergraduate engineering education is an overarching concern at many minority-serving institutions (MSI). In addition, historical analysis of student performance in lower-division math and engineering courses at one of the largest MSI revealed an achievement gap in performance between the underrepresented minority students and other students. Furthermore, critical analysis of underlying factors overwhelmingly suggests that academic intervention coupled with sociocultural intervention may be a possible solution to help address this problem. Academic and sociocultural intervention strategies were designed and implemented in lower-division math courses through the National Science Foundation-funded project, “Building Capacity: Advancing Student Success in Undergraduate Engineering and Computer Science (ASSURE-US).” These strategies involved application-based math courses targeted explicitly at undergraduate engineering students. Results of academic intervention strategies in the lower-division math courses at one of the largest MSI demonstrate mixed effectiveness. The results of the academic intervention in lower-division Calculus I (N=150) show that 36% of students reported that the intervention was helpful and helped them learn math, while 38% were neutral. Overall, students reported having difficulty connecting the projects with the mathematics being taught. Similarly, only 10% of students expressed satisfaction with the redesigned intervention modules implemented in Integral Calculus II (N=90), while 52% were neutral.more »The sociocultural interventions include activities facilitated through the Student-Teacher Interaction Council. These activities include motivational speakers, exam preparation and stress-relief workshop, campus resources and college financial planning workshops, peer advising and learning communities, summer research, and faculty development and support. Results of the sociocultural intervention strategies show that 39% of students reported that the ASSURE-US project helped them identify role models in their discipline, while 34% reported that the project helped them identify and connect to a mentor. Students also reported higher awareness of campus resources, including mental health resources and academic support, with 89% and 90% of students reporting fully or partial understanding of these resources. The academic and sociocultural interventions of the ASSURE-US project were initially designed for in-person, hands-on, project-based, and student-faculty-involved activities; however, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many of these activities were reimagined and redesigned for virtual instruction. The outcomes of this project so far were significantly impacted by the pandemic.« less

Promoting equitable undergraduate engineering education is an overarching concern at many minority-serving institutions (MSI). In addition, historical analysis of student performance in lower-division math and engineering courses at one of the largest MSI revealed an achievement gap in performance between the underrepresented minority students and other students. Furthermore, critical analysis of underlying factors overwhelmingly suggests that academic intervention coupled with sociocultural intervention may be a possible solution to help address this problem. Academic and sociocultural intervention strategies were designed and implemented in lower-division math courses through the National Science Foundation-funded project, “Building Capacity: Advancing Student Success in Undergraduate Engineering and Computer Science (ASSURE-US).” These strategies involved application-based math courses targeted explicitly at undergraduate engineering students. Results of academic intervention strategies in the lower-division math courses at one of the largest MSI demonstrate mixed effectiveness. The results of the academic intervention in lower-division Calculus I (N=150) show that 36% of students reported that the intervention was helpful and helped them learn math, while 38% were neutral. Overall, students reported having difficulty connecting the projects with the mathematics being taught. Similarly, only 10% of students expressed satisfaction with the redesigned intervention modules implemented in Integral Calculus II (N=90), while 52% were neutral.more »The sociocultural interventions include activities facilitated through the Student-Teacher Interaction Council. These activities include motivational speakers, exam preparation and stress-relief workshop, campus resources and college financial planning workshops, peer advising and learning communities, summer research, and faculty development and support. Results of the sociocultural intervention strategies show that 39% of students reported that the ASSURE-US project helped them identify role models in their discipline, while 34% reported that the project helped them identify and connect to a mentor. Students also reported higher awareness of campus resources, including mental health resources and academic support, with 89% and 90% of students reporting fully or partial understanding of these resources. The academic and sociocultural interventions of the ASSURE-US project were initially designed for in-person, hands-on, project-based, and student-faculty-involved activities; however, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many of these activities were reimagined and redesigned for virtual instruction. The outcomes of this project so far were significantly impacted by the pandemic.« less

United Nations recognized access to safe drinking water as a human right, yet many countries in the developing world lack access to potable water. Recurrent incidences of water-borne illnesses have a devastating effect on the morale and personal well-being of many people living in developing countries, contrasting the achievement of the UN’s objective. Qualitative and semi-quantitative approaches used for risk assessment are often ineffective, time-consuming, and do not discern the risk due to ingestion of unsafe drinking water at the global scale. This research utilizes a global dataset of drinking water facilities to evaluate the risks using a clustering approach. Extensive data analysis involving predetermined risk thresholds, the exceedance of which indicates the potential adverse risk. These risk-thresholds are based on the JMP Service Ladder, which effectively utilizes density-based spatial clustering of applications. Risk analysis of 132 datasets was conducted to designate the risk categories ranging from low, medium, and high-risk. Of the dataset analyzed, 90 areas were designated as a low-risk category while 42 were medium-risk. Overall, the clustering approach is an excellent tool to analyze a large dataset for risk assessment which will help the potential stakeholder, including the water utility manager, to assess the potential risk duemore »to declining water quality quickly. Additionally, the clustering approach can be further harnessed for better data visualization, long-term performance evaluation of water utility, and real-time drinking water quality monitoring.« less

In order to contextualize calculus, first-year engineering students take on a semester-long design project that grounds engineering design as an epistemic practice. The project is designed to motivate students to creatively and collaboratively apply mathematical modeling to design roller coasters. Students are asked to engage as engineers and respond to a hypothetical theme park that has solicited design proposals for a new roller coaster. Students are required to use various mathematical functions such as polynomials and exponentials to create a piece-wise function that models the roller coaster track geometry. The entire project is composed of five modules, each lasting three weeks. Each module is associated with a specific calculus topic and is integrated into the design process in a form of a design constraint or performance metric. The module topics include continuity, smoothness, local maxima and minima, inflection points, and area under the curve. Students are expected to refine their models in each module, resulting in the iteration of the previous design to satisfy a new set of requirements. This paper presents the project organization, assessment methods, and student feedback. This work is part of a multi-year course intervention and professional development NSF project to increase the success of underrepresentedmore »and women students in engineering.« less

The Introduction to engineering (EGGN-100) is a project-based course offered every fall semester to first-year students with undecided engineering majors at California State University, Fullerton (CSUF). The primary objective of this course is to provide project-based learning (PBL) and introduce these students to major projects in Civil, Mechanical, Electrical, and Computer Engineering projects so that they can make an informed decision about their major. The PBL is an active learning method that aims to engage students in acquiring knowledge and skills through real-world experiences and well-planned project activities in engineering disciplines. The course comprises four team-based unique projects related to Civil, Mechanical, Electrical, and Computer Engineering. The project involves using a variety of engineering tools like AutoCAD, Multisim, and Arduino platforms. For the first time, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the hands-on project-based EGGN-100 course was offered virtually. In this research, we document the learning experiences of students who attended EGGN-100 in a traditional face-to-face mode of instruction and students who participated in the same course in a virtual instruction mode. Surveys conducted during seemingly different modes of instruction show varying levels of satisfaction among students. Of the students who attended the course in traditional and instructional instruction mode, 69%more »and 90% responded that discipline-specific projects enabled them to make an informed decision, and PBL helped them choose their preferred major. Even the percentage of students who believed the PBL helped them make an informed decision about their major, they like to do more hands-on projects and prefer to attend the classes on campus. Students rated higher satisfaction in virtual instructional mode primarily due to the availability of video lectures, self-paced learning, and readily accessible project simulations. Learning by doing would have bought out the challenges and minor nuances of designing and executing an engineering project. Learning by watching is surficial and not necessarily exposes students to minor details that are critical. As such, the significance of this study is that maybe, after all, not all courses can be taught in a virtual environment, and some courses may be strictly taught in a traditional, hands-on instruction mode. We also study the socio-psychological impact of traditional and virtual learning experiences and report the remedies to cope with stress and loneliness in the online learning environment.« less

ASSURE-US program, started in 2018 through NSF funding, targets first- and second-year engineering and computer science students, especially those underrepresented ones, enrolled at California State University, Fullerton (CSUF) to foster socio-cultural interaction, demonstration-based learning experiences, and curriculum-related research experiences of students. Our activities have affected nearly 400 out of the approximate 4700 students enrolled in engineering and computer science programs at CSUF as of Fall 2020, with many of them as first-year freshman students. In this paper, we present the preliminary findings of the two first-year enrichment programs in ASSURE-US: the student teacher interaction council (STIC) and student summer research, and lessons learned from two years’ implementation of the project in order to improve the project implementations for future years.

n order to contextualize calculus, first-year engineering students take on a semester-long design project that grounds engineering design as an epistemic practice. The project is designed to motivate students to creatively and collaboratively apply mathematical modeling to design roller coasters. Students are asked to engage as engineers and respond to a hypothetical theme park that has solicited design proposals for a new roller coaster. Students are required to use various mathematical functions such as polynomials and exponentials to create a piece-wise function that models the roller coaster track geometry. The entire project is composed of five modules, each lasting three weeks. Each module is associated with a specific calculus topic and is integrated into the design process in a form of a design constraint or performance metric. The module topics include continuity, smoothness, local maxima and minima, inflection points, and area under the curve. Students are expected to refine their models in each module, resulting in the iteration of the previous design to satisfy a new set of requirements. This paper presents the project organization, assessment methods, and student feedback. This work is part of a multi-year course intervention and professional development NSF project to increase the success of underrepresentedmore »and women students in engineering.« less

In order to contextualize calculus, first-year engineering students take on a semester-long design project that grounds engineering design as an epistemic practice. The project is designed to motivate students to creatively and collaboratively apply mathematical modeling to design roller coasters. Students are asked to engage as engineers and respond to a hypothetical theme park that has solicited design proposals for a new roller coaster. Students are required to use various mathematical functions such as polynomials and exponentials to create a piece-wise function that models the roller coaster track geometry. The entire project is composed of five modules, each lasting three weeks. Each module is associated with a specific calculus topic and is integrated into the design process in a form of a design constraint or performance metric. The module topics include continuity, smoothness, local maxima and minima, inflection points, and area under the curve. Students are expected to refine their models in each module, resulting in the iteration of the previous design to satisfy a new set of requirements. This paper presents the project organization, assessment methods, and student feedback. This work is part of a multi-year course intervention and professional development NSF project to increase the success of underrepresentedmore »and women students in engineering.« less

Despite national efforts in increasing representation of minority students in STEM disciplines, disparities prevail. Hispanics account for 17.4% of the U.S. population, and nearly 20% of the youth population (21 years and below) in the U.S. is Hispanic, yet they account for just 7% of the STEM workforce. To tackle these challenges, the National Science Foundation (NSF) has granted a 5-year project – ASSURE-US, that seeks to improve undergraduate education in Engineering and Computer Science (ECS) at California State University, Fullerton. The project seeks to advance student success during the first two years of college for ECS students. Towards that goal, the project incorporates a very diverse set of approaches, such as socio-cultural and academic interventions. Multiple strategies including developing early intervention strategies in gateway STEM courses, creating a nurturing faculty-student interaction and collaborative learning environment, providing relevant, contextual-based learning experiences, integrating project-based learning with engineering design in lower-division courses, exposing lower-division students to research to sustain student interests, and helping students develop career-readiness skills. The project also seeks to develop an understanding of the personal, social, cognitive, and contextual factors contributing to student persistence in STEM learning that can be used by STEM faculty to improve their pedagogical andmore »student-interaction approaches. This paper summarizes the major approaches the ASSURE-US project plans to implement to reduce the achievement gap and motivate ECS students to remain in the program. Preliminary findings from the first-year implementation of the project including pre- and post- data were collected and analyzed from about one hundred freshmen and sophomore ECS students regarding their academic experience in lower-division classes and their feedback for various social support events held by the ASSURE-US project during the academic year 2018-19. The preliminary results obtained during the first year of ASSURE-US project suggests that among the different ASSURE-US activities implemented in the first year, both the informal faculty-student interactions and summer research experiences helped students commit more to their major during their lower-division years. The pre-post surveys also show improvements in terms of awareness among ASSURE-US students for obtaining academic support services, understanding career options and pathways, and obtaining personal counseling services.« less