No Universal Constants: Journeys of Women in Engineering and Computer Science*

This paper describes lessons from stories of thirty-six women in engineering and six women in computer science narrated in our book on journeys of women in science and engineering.¹ These stories underscore the various factors that have been described in the literature as reasons women choose and stay in engineering. This paper discusses several of these factors. Students who reach college are a select group who have overcome the early barriers and are set on a potential track to becoming engineers. The experiences of these women as narrated in the book point to some of the positive and negative factors in the formative stages of their lives. Albert Bandura's model of perceived self-efficacy is a theoretical framework that may be useful in exploring ways of teaching and advising in engineering schools to better meet the needs of the increasingly diverse student population. This framework is discussed briefly, and its components illustrated by examples from the stories. As college advisors and teachers, we need to reaffirm the methods and thinking students have evolved, but which may be challenged by the system based on a “normative student” model.     

The Non-Use of Computers in Undergraduate Engineering Science Courses

Based on visits to twelve institutions spread across the United States, a survey was made of how engineering science courses have been influenced by the ready availability of computers. Although the sample was too small to support general conclusions, the findings were so consistent that they are presented as a possible stimulus to faculty members and others to make the same observations at other institutions. The survey supports the conclusion that computers are usually not used effectively in undergraduate engineering science courses. Often, they are not used at all. Problem-solving approaches and calculation methods are little influenced by the availability of computers. Typically, faculty members reacted to this conclusion with disbelief and denial until they made their own observations. Speculation is offered on why faculty members do not use computers effectively in engineering science courses and why they initially deny the conclusion above. The challenge suggested for faculty members and industrial advisory board members is to make similar observations. The results may be eye-opening.     

A Venture Capital Fund for Undergraduate Engineering Students at Rowan University*

All engineering students at Rowan University are required to take the eight‐semester Engineering Clinic sequence wherein multidisciplinary student teams engage in semester‐long design projects. In addition to projects that are funded by local industry, faculty research grants or departmental budgets, a Venture Capital Fund has been created, which is specifically ear‐marked for the development of original student inventions. Funding of up to $2,500 per student team per semester is competitively awarded based on student‐generated proposals to the Venture Capital Fund, which has been created through a series of grants from the National Collegiate Inventors and Innovators Alliance (NCIIA). To qualify for funding, a multidisciplinary student team must propose, plan and implement an original, semester‐long product development enterprise. To date, 11 projects have been funded through the Venture Capital Fund. This paper describes the results of several student entrepreneurial projects and compares the results of student surveys to assess the effectiveness of entrepreneurial projects in satisfying the technical objectives of the Engineering Clinic. The results suggest that students engaged in entrepreneurial projects devote more hours per week on their projects, have more “ownership” in their projects and have a better understanding of the technical aspects and societal impact of their projects than their counterparts who are engaged in the more traditional engineering design projects.     

Faculty Perspectives Regarding the Undergraduate Research Experience in Science and Engineering

This study examined the perceptions of 155 science and engineering faculty at a mid‐size university with a very extensive undergraduate research program. The faculty thought the undergraduate research experience provided important educational benefits to the students, in good agreement with results from a recent alumni survey. The faculty who supervised undergraduates for a longer period of time and who modified their research program to accommodate undergraduates perceived a greater enhancement of important cognitive and personal skills. Undergraduate research was also believed to provide important mentoring and teaching experience for graduate students who worked with undergraduate research assistants.     

A Longitudinal Study of Engineering Student Performance and Retention. IV. Instructional Methods

As part of an ongoing longitudinal study, the author taught five chemical engineering courses in consecutive semesters to a cohort of students, using cooperative learning and other instructional methods designed to address a broad spectrum of learning styles. This paper outlines the policies and procedures, assignments, and classroom activities in the experimental course sequence and describes the students' performance and attitudes as they progressed through the sequence. The results suggest that active and cooperative learning methods facilitate both learning and a variety of interpersonal and thinking skills, and that while these methods may initially provoke student resistance, the resistance can be overcome if the methods are implemented with care.     

Using the Affinity Research Group Model to Involve Undergraduate Students in Computer Science Research*

The Affinity Research Group model is an attractive vehicle for involving undergraduates in research, retaining them, and fostering their interest in higher education. Using this model, students are given opportunities to develop, employ, and integrate knowledge and skills required for research with knowledge and skills required for cooperative work. Potential adopters of the model often inquire about the feasibility of applying the model in a field like computer science, in which it often is the case that a student must have a solid academic foundation in order to be involved in research. This paper addresses this question by illustrating how the model has been applied to computer science research projects that involve students with different skill levels and experience. In particular, the paper presents example structured tasks and related activities that demonstrate how students develop domain expertise, gain an understanding and appreciation of the research process and its practice, and acquire technical, team, communication, problem‐solving, and higher‐level thinking skills.     

A Survey of Computational Paradigms in Undergraduate Mechanical Engineering Education

Undergraduate mechanical engineering programs in the United States were surveyed to determine the usage of structured programming languages (such as C or FORTRAN) versus the use of computational software systems (such as Matlab or Mathcad). A survey form was e‐mailed to all mechanical engineering programs. The survey form was used to determine the following: (1) programming courses required, (2) use of structured programming in mechanical engineering curricula, (3) use of computational systems in mechanical engineering curricula, (4) junior‐level analysis courses required, and (5) computer ownership requirements. Seventy‐four responses, representing a good cross section (size, research mission, and geographical location) of mechanical engineering programs were received. The survey showed that about three‐fourths required at least one course in a structured programming language but that only about one‐third of the programs requiring a formal programming course used structured programming in two or more required courses. More than three‐fourths of all programs used computational systems such as Matlab or Mathcad, and about the same number required a junior‐level analysis course. Thirteen of the seventy‐four mechanical engineering programs that responded to the survey required students to own computers.     

高等学校工业工程本科专业类课程体系模型框架

本文旨在构建符合中国国民经济发展需要的高等学校工业工程本科专业类课程体系模型,为工业工程本科专业课程体系的建设提供理论指导。使用文献研究的方法,研究了高等学校工业工程本科专业课程体系构建的影响因素。在此基础上,提出了符合工业工程专业课程体系构建框架模型,并以吉林大学工业工程本科专业课程体系的建设为例详细解读了该模型的使用方法,需要考虑的因素。研究指出：课程体系建设是一项系统工程,在建设过程中不应盲目拷贝欧美发达国家的课程体系,而应从中国国民经济发展的需要出发构建适合中国工业化进程与社会形态发展的工业工程本科专业课程体系。     

Identifying Factors Influencing Engineering Student Graduation: A Longitudinal and Cross‐Institutional Study

Pre‐existing factors are quantitatively evaluated as to their impact on engineering student success. This study uses a database of all engineering students at nine institutions from 1987 through 2002 (a total of 87,167 engineering students) and focuses on graduation in any of the engineering disciplines. We report graduation rate as a function of years since matriculation, and determine the typical time‐to‐graduation. A multiple logistic regression model is fitted to each institution's data to explore the relationship between graduation and demographic and academic characteristics. A pooled model is fitted to six institutions where a complete data set was available. High school GPA, gender, ethnicity, quantitative SAT scores, verbal SAT scores, and citizenship had significant impact on graduation. While HSGPA, SATQ were significant for all models tested, the significance of other predictors varied among institutions. These studies add to the existing body of research about factors affecting the success of engineering students.     

Ethics Teaching in Undergraduate Engineering Education

This paper asks how undergraduate engineering education supports students' ethical development, broadly defined, in a diverse sample of U.S. engineering schools and offers an analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of those efforts. The paper draws on observational case studies that were based on site visits to undergraduate mechanical and electrical engineering programs at seven universities or engineering schools in the U.S. It begins by proposing professional codes of ethics in engineering as a useful framework for thinking about the goals for student learning in the area of ethics and professional responsibility. The paper then discusses how and to what degree these goals are being addressed in the case study schools, with additional context provided through reference to published research in the field. The paper concludes with recommendations for strengthening the teaching of engineering ethics and professional responsibility.     

Impact of Undergraduate Research Experience in Engineering

A survey of alumni from the College of Engineering at the University of Delaware was conducted to assess the impact of the undergraduate research experience. Students who had participated in undergraduate research were matched with a comparable group of alumni who had no research experience. Alumni were unaware that their responses would be used to assess the impact of undergraduate research. Respondents who had participated in research indicated that this experience was “very” or “extremely” important, with a greater perceived benefit for students who had participated in research for a longer time. Alumni with research experience were more likely to pursue graduate degrees, and they reported greater enhancement of important cognitive and personal skills. In addition, respondents who had been involved in research were much more likely to have reported that they had a faculty member play an important role in their career choice.     

A Longitudinal Study of Engineering Student Performance and Retention. V. Comparisons with Traditionally-Taught Students

In a longitudinal study at North Carolina State University, a cohort of students took five chemical engineering courses taught by the same instructor in five consecutive semesters. The courses made extensive use of active and cooperative learning and a variety of other techniques designed to address a broad spectrum of learning styles. Previous reports on the study summarized the instructional methods used in the experimental course sequence, described the performance of the cohort in the introductory chemical engineering course, and examined performance and attitude differences between students from rural and urban backgrounds and between male and female students.^1–4 This paper compares outcomes for the experimental cohort with outcomes for students in a traditionally-taught comparison group. The experimental group outperformed the comparison group on a number of measures, including retention and graduation in chemical engineering, and many more of the graduates in this group chose to pursue advanced study in the field. Since the experimental instructional model did not require small classes (the smallest of the experimental classes had 90 students) or specially equipped classrooms, it should be adaptable to any engineering curriculum at any institution.     

A Longitudinal Study of Engineering Student Performance and Retention II. Rural/Urban Student Differences

A cohort of chemical engineering students has been taught in an experimental sequence of five chemical engineering courses, beginning with the introductory course in the Fall 1990 semester. Differences in academic performance have been observed between students from rural and small town backgrounds (“rural students,” N=55) and students from urban and suburban backgrounds (“urban students,” N=65), with the urban students doing better on almost every measure investigated. In the introductory course, 80% of the urban students and 55% of the rural students passed with a grade of C or better, with average grades of 2.63 for the urban students and 1.80 for the rural students (A=4.0). The urban group continued to earn higher grades in subsequent chemical engineering courses. After four years, 79% of the urban students and 64% of the rural students had graduated or were still enrolled in chemical engineering; the others had either transferred out of engineering or were no longer attending the university. This paper presents data on the students' home and school backgrounds and speculates on possible causes of observed performance differences between the two populations.     

Excellence in Engineering Education: Views of Undergraduate Engineering Students

The purpose of this study was to understand the views and perceptions of engineering undergraduate students on engineering education. The method of content analysis was used to analyze the language used by engineering undergraduate students, and to extract the underlying common factors or perceived characteristics of “Excellence in Engineering Education.” These common factors were then used to identify and compare the similarities and differences in views between engineering students and perspectives from three types of stakeholders in the field. Forty‐seven undergraduate engineering students (17 females and 30 males) participated voluntarily in this study to answer four individual questions and ten group questions. The results showed that students strongly emphasized the importance of their own roles in the educational system and the value of instructional technology and real work examples in enhancing the quality of engineering education. The implications of the research results on excellence in engineering education are discussed.     

A Longitudinal Study of Engineering Student Performance and Retention: I. Success and Failure in the Introductory Course

A profile of 124 students enrolled in an introductory chemical engineering course has been assembled. The information collected includes data on family and educational backgrounds, profiles on the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator and the Learning and Study Strategies Inventory, and responses to a questionnaire regarding attitudes and expectations. Student performance in the introductory course was correlated with the assessment data. The results suggest several significant predictors of success or failure in the introductory course, and by extension, in the chemical engineering curriculum.     

A Longitudinal Study of Engineering Student Performance and Retention. III. Gender Differences in Student Performance and Attitudes

In a continuing study under way at North Carolina State University, a cohort of students took five chemical engineering courses taught by the same instructor in five consecutive semesters. This report examines gender differences in the students' academic performance, persistence in chemical engineering, and attitudes toward their education and themselves. The women in the study on average entered chemical engineering with credentials equal to or better than those of the men, but exhibited an erosion relative to the men in both academic performance and confidence as they progressed through the curriculum. Possible causes of the observed disparities are suggested and remedial measures are proposed.     

Developing an Environmentally Friendly Engineering Ethic: A Course for Undergraduate Engineering Students

An undergraduate course designed to develop a new, environmentally-friendly, engineering ethic is described. The various components of the course are: individual and societal values clarification, the current state of the environment, critical and creative thinking skills development and conflict resolution. For each component, the rationale is given along with activities and evaluation of the unit.