Board 203: Assuring Student Success in Engineering-Technology Programs

Mohsen Ayoobi; Mukasa E. Ssemakula; David Merolla; Ece Yaprak; Mark A Jager

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Conference: 2024 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition
Location: Portland, Oregon
Publication Date: June 23, 2024
Start Date: June 23, 2024
End Date: July 12, 2024
Conference Session: NSF Grantees Poster Session
Tagged Topic: NSF Grantees Poster Session
Permanent URL: https://strategy.asee.org/46770

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Paper Authors

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Mohsen Ayoobi Wayne State University

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Dr. Ayoobi is currently serving as an associate professor in the Division of Engineering Technology in Wayne State University's College of Engineering. Dr. Ayoobi's research interests include Computational Reactive Flow, Thermal Management, and Engineering Education.

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Mukasa E. Ssemakula Wayne State University

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Mukasa E. Ssemakula is a Professor in the Division of Engineering Technology, at Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology, in England. After working in industr

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David Merolla Wayne State University

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David M. Merolla is association professor and chair of sociology at Wayne University in Detroit, MI. His research interests include how identity processes shape the trajectories of STEM students.

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Ece Yaprak Wayne State University

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Dr. Ece Yaprak is a Professor and Chair of the Engineering Technology Division in the College of Engineering at Wayne State University. She received her BS degree in electrical engineering from the University of Michigan (Dearborn) in 1980 and MS and PhD degrees in computer engineering from Wayne State University in 1984 and 1989, respectively.
Dr. Yaprak’s research interests are in computer networks and communications, especially in wireless communications and wireless sensor networks. Her research has been published in leading scholarly journals in engineering, including the IEEE Transactions on Communications, the IEEE/ACM Transactions on Networking, IEEE Transactions on Education and the International Journal of Modeling and Simulation. Dr. Yaprak’s research has been funded by grants awarded her from the National Science Foundation, the US Department of Energy, NASA, the US Navy, and the business community. She has held 8 research fellowships at NASA research centers (John Glenn Laboratory at Case Western, Jet Propulsion Laboratory at Cal Tech, Ames Research Center at Stanford, and the Johnson Space Center at Texas A&M Universities) and the U.S. Navy (at its SPAWAR Research Center in San Diego). She has also served as a Fulbright scholar at the Nokia Wireless Communications Research Center at the University of Oulu in Finland.
Dr. Yaprak has been involved with ABET Accreditation in various capacities since 2002: From 2002 to 2012 she served as Program Evaluator, evaluating Electrical Engineering Technology and Computer Engineering Technology programs, both in the US and internationally. From 2006 to 2012 she served on the IEEE Committee on Engineering Technology Accreditation Activities (CETAA) as Chair (April 2010 – April 2012), Vice-Chair (April 2008-April 2010) and Committee member (April 2006-April 2008 and April 2017 - present). Dr. Yaprak also served as an ABET IEEE/ETAC Commissioner (July 2012-July 2017). Dr. Yaprak also serves on the ABET Board of Delegates (November 2019-November 2025).
Dr. Yaprak served as a Program Director at the National Science Foundation's (NSF) Division of Undergraduate Education, Feb 2015 to Feb 2017. In that role, she was responsible for planning and budgeting for science in engineering education; managing the awards process; marketing the program; working with other NSF programs, federal agencies and organizations; advising and assisting the division's director in long-range planning; and reviewing research, education and infrastructure proposals.

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Mark A Jager Wayne State University

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Mark Jager has over 40 years of teaching and engineering experience in the automotive and defense industries focused on welding and metallurgical engineering.

Since 2023 Mark has held the position of Assistant Professor (Teaching) and Program Director in the Welding and Metallurgical Engineering program in the Engineering Technology Department at Wayne State University (WSU) in Detroit, MI. Prior to joining Wayne State, he was full-time faculty at the Monroe County Community College (MCCC) in the Welding Technology program. Before beginning his teaching career, Mark spent 35 years at Tenneco in Monroe, MI as an Engineer, Lab Supervisor, Engineering Manager and Global Materials Engineering Manager. At Tenneco, Mark also served as the corporate Welding Metallurgist and Chief Metallurgist. Prior to Tenneco, Mark held the position as a Welding and Metallurgical Engineer at the General Dynamics Electric Boat Division in Groton, CT for 4 years. Mark has an Associate of Applied Science Degree in Metallurgical Technology from Macomb Community College in Warren, MI, a Bachelor of Science Degree in Metallurgical Engineering, and a Master of Science Degree in Engineering Technology, both from Wayne State University.

Mark is a member of the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE), American Welding Society (AWS) and American Materials Society (ASM) International.

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Abstract

Wayne State University’s Division of Engineering Technology (ET) offers upper division only programs (2+2) leading to 4-year degrees. The typical challenges facing transfer students are in this case compressed into 2-year upper-division-only program offerings, which provides manifold opportunities to acquire new insights into how to help this sub-group of students, especially those with low social-economic status. In this project that in its early stages, PIs will (a) provide financial support to 4 cohorts of 12 high-achieving, low-income ET transfer students with unmet financial need (48 total unique students with each cohort running for two years); (b) implement evidence-based techniques to improve overall student retention rates, 4-year graduation rates, and average time-to-degree; and (c) foster professional identity and prepare students to enter the STEM workforce or graduate school. Authors hypothesize that (i) early engagement, and (ii) continuous support play a key role in fostering identification with the engineering profession, retention, and persistence of ET transfer students, thus improving their academic and professional outcomes. Accordingly, multiple evidence-based social, academic, and professional activities have been designed to engage and continuously support the scholars through their degree completion. The first cohort of students (10 students) are already recruited and enrolled for Fall 2023. In this process, PIs examined different recruitment strategies and learned important lessons for the next year. For example, the full-time enrollment requirement was changed to a minimum of 8 credit hours per semester to avoid the potential to cause negative impacts on students' performance and allow students more flexibility as most of them already have other work and familial responsivities. Also, minimum of credit hours to transfer at the time of application was lowered to a) be able to attract a larger pool of applicants, and b) address the inconsistency in how the applicants’ transfer credit hours were calculated. Most of students were coming with more transferrable credit hours than the number of credit hours that could actually be counted toward their degree. There were also some applicants who were enrolled for a good number of transferrable credit hours at the time of application that could count toward their degree when admitted. However, those credit hours were not visible in their official transcript when they applied for the scholarship. In the next round of application, PIs will request for unofficial transcripts as well to find a more accurate idea on the number of credit hours they could use toward their ET degree. So far, PIs have a) organized an orientation meeting for the scholars, b) created a Canvas group for the scholars for effective communications, and c) introduced the scholars to their faculty mentors. They have also distributed the first survey to both scholarship recipients and non-recipients and are eager to analyze the preliminary results for the continuous improvement of the project.

Citation
Format

Ayoobi, M., & Ssemakula, M. E., & Merolla, D., & Yaprak, E., & Jager, M. A. (2024, June), Board 203: Assuring Student Success in Engineering-Technology Programs Paper presented at 2024 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Portland, Oregon. https://strategy.asee.org/46770

TY  - CPAPER
AB  - Wayne State University’s Division of Engineering Technology (ET) offers upper division only programs (2+2) leading to 4-year degrees. The typical challenges facing transfer students are in this case compressed into 2-year upper-division-only program offerings, which provides manifold opportunities to acquire new insights into how to help this sub-group of students, especially those with low social-economic status. In this project that in its early stages, PIs will (a) provide financial support to 4 cohorts of 12 high-achieving, low-income ET transfer students with unmet financial need (48 total unique students with each cohort running for two years); (b) implement evidence-based techniques to improve overall student retention rates, 4-year graduation rates, and average time-to-degree; and (c) foster professional identity and prepare students to enter the STEM workforce or graduate school. Authors hypothesize that (i) early engagement, and (ii) continuous support play a key role in fostering identification with the engineering profession, retention, and persistence of ET transfer students, thus improving their academic and professional outcomes. Accordingly, multiple evidence-based social, academic, and professional activities have been designed to engage and continuously support the scholars through their degree completion.  
The first cohort of students (10 students) are already recruited and enrolled for Fall 2023. In this process, PIs examined different recruitment strategies and learned important lessons for the next year. For example, the full-time enrollment requirement was changed to a minimum of 8 credit hours per semester to avoid the potential to cause negative impacts on students&#39; performance and allow students more flexibility as most of them already have other work and familial responsivities. Also, minimum of credit hours to transfer at the time of application was lowered to a) be able to attract a larger pool of applicants, and b) address the inconsistency in how the applicants’ transfer credit hours were calculated. Most of students were coming with more transferrable credit hours than the number of credit hours that could actually be counted toward their degree. There were also some applicants who were enrolled for a good number of transferrable credit hours at the time of application that could count toward their degree when admitted. However, those credit hours were not visible in their official transcript when they applied for the scholarship. In the next round of application, PIs will request for unofficial transcripts as well to find a more accurate idea on the number of credit hours they could use toward their ET degree. 
So far, PIs have a) organized an orientation meeting for the scholars, b) created a Canvas group for the scholars for effective communications, and c) introduced the scholars to their faculty mentors. They have also distributed the first survey to both scholarship recipients and non-recipients and are eager to analyze the preliminary results for the continuous improvement of the project.  
AU  - Mohsen Ayoobi
AU  - Mukasa E. Ssemakula
AU  - David Merolla
AU  - Ece Yaprak
AU  - Mark A Jager
CY  - Portland, Oregon
DA  - 2024/06/23
PB  - ASEE Conferences
TI  - Board 203: Assuring Student Success in Engineering-Technology Programs 
UR  - https://strategy.asee.org/46770
ER  -