BOOSTing preparedness through engineering project-based service learning
- Conference
- Location
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California State University, Los Angeles , California
- Publication Date
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April 4, 2019
- Start Date
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April 4, 2019
- End Date
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April 6, 2019
- Conference Session
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PSW Section Meeting Papers - Disregard start and end time - for online paper access only
- Tagged Topics
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Diversity and Pacific Southwest Section Meeting Paper Submissions
- Page Count
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13
- DOI
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10.18260/1-2--31817
- Permanent URL
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https://strategy.asee.org/31817
- Download Count
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293
Paper Authors
Deborah Won California State University, Los Angeles
Deborah Won is Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at California State University, Los Angeles. Her specialization is in Biomedical Engineering and her scientific research area focuses on neuro-rehabilitative technology. Her educational research interests include use of Tablet PCs and technology to better engage students in the classroom as well as pedagogical and advisement approaches to closing the achievement gap for historically under-represented minority groups.
Gisele Ragusa University of Southern California
Gisele Ragusa is a Professor of Engineering Education at the University of Southern California. She conducts research on college transitions and retention of underrepresented students in engineering and also research about engineering global preparedness and engineering innovation. She also has research expertise in STEM K-12 and in STEM assessment. She chairs USC's STEM Consortium.
Gustavo B Menezes California State University, Los Angeles
Menezes is a Professor in Civil Engineering Department at CalStateLA. His specialization is in Environmental and Water Resources Engineering. Since becoming part of the faculty in 2009, Menezes has also focused on improving student success and has led a number of engineering education projects. He is currently the Director of the First-Year Experience program at ECST (FYrE@ECST). He has also developed an open access, web-based audience response system (educatools.com).
Adel Sharif California State University, Los Angeles
After finishing his BS in Mechanical Engineering at California State University, Los Angeles, Adel A. Sharif continued with graduate studies in Materials Science and Engineering at University of California, Irvine. He earned his MS and Ph.D. in Materials Science and Engineering in 1995 and 1998, respectively. Upon graduation, he accepted a postdoctoral position at Los Alamos National Lab, where he worked on development of ultra-high temperature structural material among other things. In 2000, he accepted a tenure track faculty position at University of Michigan, Flint and stayed there for two year. Finally he joined the Department of Mechanical Engineering at California State University, Los Angeles in 2002 where he is currently a full professor. Dr. Sharif’s expertise in materials science is in deformation mechanisms, specifically at high temperatures.
Masood Shahverdi California State University, Los Angeles
Masood Shahverdi received the B.S. and M.S. degrees from K.N. Toosi University of Technology, Tehran, Iran, in 2005 and 2007, respectively, and the Ph.D. degree from Mississippi State University, Starkville, MS, USA, in 2015, all in electrical engineering. He was a postdoctoral fellow in Center for Advanced Vehicular System from March to August 2015. His research interests include power management strategies in power and energy systems, such as electric vehicle and distributed generation systems and power electronics. Since September 2015, he has been an Assistant Professor with the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, California State University, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
Ni Li California State University, Los Angeles
Ni Li, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor of the Department of Mechanical Engineering at California State University, Los Angeles. She earned her BS in Electrical Engineering from Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi’an, China, and her MS in Electrical Engineering, MS in Aerospace Engineering, and PhD in Mechanical Engineering from University of Central Florida. She previously served as a lecturer at University of Central Florida.
Arturo Pacheco-Vega California State University, Los Angeles
Arturo Pacheco-Vega did his undergraduate studies in mechanical and electrical engineering at the Universidad Iberoamericana in Leon, Mexico. His graduate work was at Universidad de Guanajuato in Mexico, and at University of Notre Dame, as a Fulbright scholar, where he obtained his Ph.D. in 2002. From 2003 to 2008 he was a faculty member in the Department of Chemical Engineering at the Universidad Autonoma de San Luis Potosi in Mexico. In 2008 Dr. Pacheco-Vega joined the Department of Mechanical Engineering at California State University, Los Angeles, where he is currently a full professor. His research interests are related to the thermal and fluid sciences, and include thermal/energy systems, thermal control, system optimization, soft computing techniques, heat transfer enhancement, nonlinear dynamical systems, micro-scale thermal/fluid devices, and biological systems.
Abstract
(I intend to follow up with a full paper.)
Our College of xxxxxxx at xxxxxxx is proud to serve a student body rich in first-generation college students and underrepresented Latino (74%). However, the 6-year graduation rate, while on the rise, is still at 38%. There is currently a 33% equity gap in 6-year graduation rate between URM and non-URM students. An engineering design service learning based summer bridge was developed, with support from the National Science Foundation (NSF), for rising sophomore engineering majors. The goal of Bridge Opportunities Offered for the Sophomore Transition, better known as BOOST, was to help the engineering students at xxxxxx capitalize on their potential for engineering innovation, social capital, and resistant capital (as per Yosso’s Community Cultural Wealth Model). A combination of experiencing the engineering design process from concept through to delivery, working in teams with peers, a peer mentor, and a faculty mentor, and serving their local community contributed to helping BOOST students identify more with engineers who care about their community, and think critically and persevere to deliver engineering projects which serve their community.
During BOOST, teams of rising sophomores, with mentorship from faculty and near-peers, spend six weeks of their summer innovating and working collaboratively on Engineering projects which serve one of four highly impactful local community organizations. Despite a majority of BOOST students being first-generation college students, and almost no BOOST student having had any previous engineering design experience prior to participation in the program, the first two cohorts of BOOST students completed seven substantial design projects which were all very well received by the community partners, and have already shown academic gains compared to a matched control group. Results from 2 cohorts (in 2016 and 2017) based on grades, a questionnaire measuring engineering innovation and social capital on a validated scale, and focus group interviews indicate that BOOST can help us work toward closing the achievement gap. Comparisons of BOOST participants with matched controls indicate BOOST students had higher pre-post changes in STEM GPA (-0.35 vs -0.69 for Cohort 1, and -0.40 vs. -0.96 for Cohort 2), and that BOOST encouraged students to persist through the challenge and rigor of the Engineering program.
Won, D., & Ragusa, G., & Menezes, G. B., & Sharif, A., & Shahverdi, M., & Li, N., & Pacheco-Vega, A. (2019, April), BOOSTing preparedness through engineering project-based service learning Paper presented at 2019 Pacific Southwest Section Meeting, California State University, Los Angeles , California. 10.18260/1-2--31817
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