Engineering for American Communities: Engaging Engineering Students in Multidisciplinary Altruistic Engineering Design Projects

Malinda S. Zarske; Lauren A. Rockenbaugh; Daria A. Kotys-Schwartz; Derek T. Reamon

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Conference: 2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition
Location: Vancouver, BC
Publication Date: June 26, 2011
Start Date: June 26, 2011
End Date: June 29, 2011
ISSN: 2153-5965
Conference Session: Multidisciplinary Technical Session
Tagged Division: Multidisciplinary Engineering
Page Count: 14
Page Numbers: 22.589.1 - 22.589.14
DOI: 10.18260/1-2--17870
Permanent URL: https://strategy.asee.org/17870
Download Count: 306

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Paper Authors

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Malinda S. Zarske University of Colorado, Boulder

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Malinda Schaefer Zarske is a doctoral candidate at the University of Colorado, Boulder in engineering education. Her research interests include engineering student learning, diversity, and recruitment. Her current research is centered on the impacts of project-based service-learning on student identity, recruitment, and retention in engineering. She is a Co-Director of the Engineering for American Communities student organization, on the development team as well as a content editor for the TeachEngineering.org digital library, and has co-created and co-taught engineering elective courses for both high school and undergraduate students through CU, Boulder’s Integrated Teaching and Learning Program. A former middle and high school math and science teacher, she received her MAT in secondary science from the Johns Hopkins University and her M.S. in civil engineering from CU, Boulder.

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Lauren A. Rockenbaugh University of Colorado, Boulder

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Lauren Rockenbaugh is a Ph.D. student at the University of Colorado, Boulder. Her research involves project-based service learning and student motivation. Lauren is also the co-director of Engineering for American Communities, a multidisciplinary engineering student organization whose mission is to perform entrepreneurial engineering design work to create affordable living innovations for people in need in local communities.

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Daria A. Kotys-Schwartz University of Colorado, Boulder

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Daria Kotys-Schwartzis the Faculty Director for the Mesa State College-University of Colorado Mechanical Engineering Partnership Program and an Instructor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Colorado Boulder. She received B.S. and M.S. degrees in Mechanical Engineering from The Ohio State University and a Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Colorado Boulder. Dr. Kotys-Schwartz has focused her research in engineering epistemology, engineering student learning, retention and diversity. She is currently investigating the use of Oral Discourse Method for conceptual development in engineering, the impact of a four-year hands-on design curriculum in engineering, the effects of service learning in engineering education, and informal learning in engineering.

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Derek T. Reamon University of Colorado, Boulder

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Derek Reamon is Co-Director of the Integrated Teaching and Learning Program, and a Senior Instructor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Colorado Boulder. He received his Ph.D. in Educational Interface Design from Stanford University and has won numerous outstanding teaching awards. Dr. Reamon’s research interests encompass the foundations of educational theory, the practical issues involved in curricular improvement, and the assessment techniques required to measure the effectiveness of new methods.

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Abstract

Engineering for American Communities: Engaging engineering students in multidisciplinary altruistic engineering design projectsFreshly graduated engineers often find themselves working in teams of people very differentfrom themselves, where they must engage in more entrepreneurship and integrative thinking.Today’s world is a global market and a place of rapid technological change. Even though ABETcriteria establishes guidelines for universities to teach about the impact of engineering solutionsin a global, economic, environmental, and societal context and the National Academy ofEngineering’s Engineer of 2020 recommends graduating engineers well-trained incommunication, leadership, and the ability to work in multicultural settings, many engineeringcollege graduates find that their first or second post-graduation engineering job requires a set ofskills different than what they learned during their undergraduate engineering career.Engineering for American Communities (EFAC) is a multidisciplinary engineering studentorganization whose mission is to perform entrepreneurial engineering design work to createaffordable living innovations for people in need in local communities. The motivation behindEFAC is to provide engineering students with academic “real world” opportunities that addressthe dynamic and global nature of engineering profession and practice. EFAC engages students inauthentic design projects with real community clients, while building essential professionalskills, such as: teamwork, communication, leadership, project management, and commitment toservice.EFAC’s core team currently consists of dedicated undergraduate and graduate students fromMechanical, Electrical, Civil, and Environmental engineering departments. The demonstratedsuccess of our first client project has set the course for future projects, allowing us to replicatethis authentic learning experience for more students from our community and create a model thatis replicable at other engineering institutions. This paper will discuss the design and evolution ofEFAC, a multidisciplinary service-based extracurricular student organization. Insights on projectacquisition, organizational structure, lessons learned, student/client assessment, and future planswill be presented.

Citation
Format

Zarske, M. S., & Rockenbaugh, L. A., & Kotys-Schwartz, D. A., & Reamon, D. T. (2011, June), Engineering for American Communities: Engaging Engineering Students in Multidisciplinary Altruistic Engineering Design Projects Paper presented at 2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Vancouver, BC. 10.18260/1-2--17870

TY  - CPAPER
AB  -            Engineering for American Communities: Engaging engineering        students in multidisciplinary altruistic engineering design projectsFreshly graduated engineers often find themselves working in teams of people very differentfrom themselves, where they must engage in more entrepreneurship and integrative thinking.Today’s world is a global market and a place of rapid technological change. Even though ABETcriteria establishes guidelines for universities to teach about the impact of engineering solutionsin a global, economic, environmental, and societal context and the National Academy ofEngineering’s Engineer of 2020 recommends graduating engineers well-trained incommunication, leadership, and the ability to work in multicultural settings, many engineeringcollege graduates find that their first or second post-graduation engineering job requires a set ofskills different than what they learned during their undergraduate engineering career.Engineering for American Communities (EFAC) is a multidisciplinary engineering studentorganization whose mission is to perform entrepreneurial engineering design work to createaffordable living innovations for people in need in local communities. The motivation behindEFAC is to provide engineering students with academic “real world” opportunities that addressthe dynamic and global nature of engineering profession and practice. EFAC engages students inauthentic design projects with real community clients, while building essential professionalskills, such as: teamwork, communication, leadership, project management, and commitment toservice.EFAC’s core team currently consists of dedicated undergraduate and graduate students fromMechanical, Electrical, Civil, and Environmental engineering departments. The demonstratedsuccess of our first client project has set the course for future projects, allowing us to replicatethis authentic learning experience for more students from our community and create a model thatis replicable at other engineering institutions. This paper will discuss the design and evolution ofEFAC, a multidisciplinary service-based extracurricular student organization. Insights on projectacquisition, organizational structure, lessons learned, student/client assessment, and future planswill be presented.
AU  - Malinda S. Zarske
AU  - Lauren A. Rockenbaugh
AU  - Daria A. Kotys-Schwartz
AU  - Derek T. Reamon
CY  - Vancouver, BC
DA  - 2011/06/26
PB  - ASEE Conferences
TI  - Engineering for American Communities: Engaging Engineering Students in Multidisciplinary Altruistic Engineering Design Projects 
UR  - https://strategy.asee.org/17870
DO  - 10.18260/1-2--17870
ER  -