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Impact of COVID-19 on Engineering Courses at West Texas A&M University

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Conference

2022 ASEE Gulf Southwest Annual Conference

Location

Prairie View, Texas

Publication Date

March 16, 2022

Start Date

March 16, 2022

End Date

March 18, 2022

Page Count

13

DOI

10.18260/1-2--39184

Permanent URL

https://peer.asee.org/39184

Download Count

207

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Paper Authors

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Kenneth R. Leitch P.E. West Texas A&M University Orcid 16x16 orcid.org/0000-0003-3322-779X

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Kenneth R. Leitch holds a Ph.D. in civil engineering from New Mexico State University and M.B.A. from Colorado Christian University. He is an Associate Professor of civil engineering at West Texas A&M University in Canyon, Texas. He is a registered P.E. in Texas and Indiana and a LEED Green Associate. His primary interests are in sustainable development, construction materials, photogrammetry, structural analysis, transportation safety and structures, STEM outreach, and engineering instruction.

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Roy Jean Issa P.E. West Texas A&M University

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Dr. Issa is a professor of Mechanical Engineering at West Texas A&M University. He joined the School of Engineering, Computer Science and Mathematics in 2004. His background is in the area of thermal-fluid sciences, particularly in single and multi-phase heat transfer. He received his B.S. and M.S. degrees in Mechanical Engineering from University of Tennessee, Knoxville, and Ph.D. degree in Mechanical Engineering from University of Pittsburgh. Dr. Issa has 4 years of prior work experience in the aerospace industry and 8 years of experience in the steel rolling industry. His work experience in the aerospace industry included lift-off load studies on the shuttle system, assembly of space station Freedom, hydraulic line model developments of the thrust vector control system, and robot programming for foam and paint stripping of the SRB tunnel covers. While working in the steel industry, he conducted extensive studies on the cooling of rolls and flat products in the hot strip mill, and mill torsional vibration and torque amplification studies. He is a co-inventor on a US patent on the rolling of flat products. His academic activities focus on conducting research in areas that are important to the industry but is fundamental in nature such as using multiphase (air-mist) cooling in the quenching of metals for the steel industry, tempering of glass for the auto industry, and chilling of beef carcasses for the meat processing industry. In addition, he has conducted studies on sustainable energy systems such as wind towers for indoor cooling, green roofs, active solar distillation systems, and the incorporation of phase change materials in conventional building walls. His recent studies focused on the enhancement of the thermal transport in heat exchanger systems using nanofluids. Dr. Issa is an author and co-author of over 50 journal and conference papers in the area of heat transfer and fluid dynamics. He was selected a Fulbright Scholar to Austria in 2016.

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Nathan Howell West Texas A&M University

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I am an associate professor examining micropollutants in natural water systems: their origins, processes that control their distribution in the environment (air, sediment, soil, and water), and their fate-and-transport and risk to biota and humans. My research includes experimental studies, field measurements, and model development. I am also investigating large deep groundwater aquifer water quality data sets to determine what possible use such water could be to alleviate water stress.

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Emad Manla West Texas A&M University

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Dr. Manla joined the College of Engineering as an Assistant Professor of Electrical Engineering in 2019. Prior to that, he worked at the University of New Haven as a Visiting Assistant Professor for three consecutive years where he taught a wide variety of courses in Electrical Engineering and Calculus. He received his M.S. and Ph.D in Electrical Engineering from the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee in 2009 and 2015 respectively. Dr. Manla's research insterests include Energy Storage System Testing and Modeling, Electric Drives, Automobile Electrification, Smart Grid, and Power Electronics.

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Abstract

The objective of this work-in-progress study is to gain insight into the effect COVID-19 pandemic may have had on the outcome of engineering courses offered at Redacted University. The challenges brought by the pandemic have provided the faculty with a unique opportunity for them to learn best practices in promoting students learning and engagement in such situations. It also provides an environment to study the possibility to offer complete engineering programs online and study the possibility to have bachelors’ degree holders in engineering as qualified and competent as students who graduate from regular engineering colleges. The paper compares the assessment and performance of courses across different engineering programs, namely Mechanical, Civil, Environmental, and Electrical Engineering. The paper also compares the findings across multiple semesters for the delivery mode of the courses (face-to-face, hyflex, and online), and the adjustments faculty had to make in the design of their courses. The paper examines the impact the pandemic may have had on students’ enrollment, number of students dropping their courses, students’ satisfaction with their courses, and their access to laboratories, machine shop, and technology resources. The study will be supplemented by surveys that evaluates how students are/were impacted during the outbreak. Problem-based and project-based courses as well as courses having a lab component offered for third and fourth-year engineering students are selected for this comparative study. These courses include select junior and senior level courses and capstone senior design from the mechanical, civil, environmental, and electrical engineering programs.

Leitch, K. R., & Issa, R. J., & Howell, N., & Manla, E. (2022, March), Impact of COVID-19 on Engineering Courses at West Texas A&M University Paper presented at 2022 ASEE Gulf Southwest Annual Conference, Prairie View, Texas. 10.18260/1-2--39184

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