Student Evaluations Of Sponsor Interaction In A Capstone Interdisciplinary Senior Design Program
- Conference
- Location
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Austin, Texas
- Publication Date
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June 14, 2009
- Start Date
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June 14, 2009
- End Date
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June 17, 2009
- ISSN
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2153-5965
- Conference Session
- Tagged Division
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Design in Engineering Education
- Page Count
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18
- Page Numbers
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14.1082.1 - 14.1082.18
- DOI
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10.18260/1-2--4597
- Permanent URL
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https://strategy.asee.org/4597
- Download Count
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325
Paper Authors
Peter Schmidt University of North Carolina, Charlotte
James Conrad University of North Carolina, Charlotte
William Heybruck University of North Carolina, Charlotte
William Heybruck received his Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte in 2001. Prior to becoming the Director of the UNC Charlotte College of Engineering Industrial Solutions Laboratory he was a Senior Engineer for Hitachi Global Storage Technologies specializing in the Microdrive and automotive hard disk drives. Prior to Hitachi, he was Product Development Manager for the Wireless products at IBM. He has three patents in the field of test technology.
Daniel Hoch University of North Carolina, Charlotte
Dan Hoch is a faculty associate in the Engineering Technology Department at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. He teaches courses in the Mechanical Engineering Technology department such as machining practices, senior design, and thermodynamics. Das areas of interest are related to thermal fluid design, internal combustion engines, and energy conversion.
Prior to his current position at UNC-Charlotte, Dan worked for Mercury Marine in Fond du lac, Wisconsin developing 2-stroke and 4-stroke engines and propulsion systems. After completing his graduate studies at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, Dan spent two years working as a research engineer in the Mechanical Engineering Department at the UW-Madison focusing on cryogenic and thermal fluid systems.
Deborah Sharer University of North Carolina, Charlotte
Deborah Sharer earned her B.S., M.S. and Ph.D. from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. Dr. Sharer is currently an Associate Professor in the Engineering Technology department at UNC-Charlotte. Dr. Sharer was the first woman Ph.D. graduate from the Lee College of Engineering at UNC-Charlotte. Prior to joining the faculty in 2001, She was an assistant Professor of Electrical Engineering at John C. Smith University. She has also worked as a Test Engineer at the Electrical Power Research Institute (EPRI) in Charlotte.
Dr. Sharer’s research interests include assessment and modeling of the behavior of microelectronic devices and solid state materials. She has served in numerous mentoring and educational roles for undergraduates, high school and middle school students.
Linda Thurman University of North Carolina, Charlotte
Linda Thurman is currently the Faculty Associate for Student Professional Development and Student Success for the Lee College of Engineering at The University of North Carolina at Charlotte. She has nine years of experience in higher ed. Prior to coming to the university she held positions as a technical recruiter and a senior account executive in the technical recruiting and sales industry for companies in both Chicago and Charlotte. She completed her graduate internship at United Airlines-Chicago O’Hare Airport and at their headquarters. Ms. Thurman holds a Masters degree in Industrial/Organizational Psychology from Roosevelt University, Chicago, Illinois. She is a member of NACE (National Associate of Colleges and Employers) and served as the 2007-2008 president of the American Business Women’s Association (ABWA) University Chapter.
Nabila (Nan) BouSaba University of North Carolina, Charlotte
Nan is a faculty associate in the Electrical and Computer Engineering department at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. She teaches courses in Computer engineering and Senior Design. Nas area of interest is in computer security. Nan receive her B.S. in Electrical Engineering and her M.S. in Computer and Electrical Engineering from North Carolina A&T University.
Prior to joining the faculty at UNC-Charlotte, Nan worked in development and test engineering for Solectron Technology , and for IBM Corporation in Charlotte.
Patricia Tolley University of North Carolina, Charlotte
Patricia Tolley is Assistant Dean for Student Development and Success in the Lee College of Engineering at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. Ms. Tolley also holds an appointment as an Associate professor in the Engineering Technology Department. She received a BS in Mechanical Engineering and an MS in Mechanical Engineering from UNC Charlotte in 1988 and 1991, respectively. She is a registered Professional Engineer in NC. Prior to coming to UNC-Charlotte, she worked as a practicing engineer, consultant, and manager for Duke Energy.
Martin Kane University of North Carolina, Charlotte
Martin Kane earned his Ph.D. degree in Civil Engineering from Michigan State University (East Lansing, Michigan) in 1995. He also earned his BS in Civil Engineering (1990) and MS in Civil Engineering (1991) from the College of Engineering at MSU. Dr. Kane is currently an associate professor and Undergraduate Director in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. His research interests include Highway Operations, Transportation and Urban Planning, Human Factors in Transportation, Public Transportation, Traffic Engineering, and Aviation infrastructure. Dr. Kane is an Eno Fellow, and is a member of ASEE, ASCE, ITE, Sigma Xi, and Chi Epsilon.
Abstract
NOTE: The first page of text has been automatically extracted and included below in lieu of an abstract
Student Evaluations of Sponsor Interaction in a Capstone Interdisciplinary Senior Design Program
Abstract One possible benefit to students of an industrially sponsored capstone senior design program is the ability to try working with a particular organization prior to committing to full time employment. This can also be viewed as an incentive to sponsoring organizations as a way to observe students before making a permanent hiring decision. The student population in the program analyzed is composed of Millennial generation students (born between 1982 and 2002), who expect a fun work environment, competitive compensation and benefits, company paid training and travel opportunities along with a flexible work schedule. As experience in the classroom has shown, the Millennial student does not respond to traditional instructional techniques as past experience might indicate. This readjustment must also be made by employers in general and by first line managers in particular.
Assessing the experience that students had with an interdisciplinary capstone senior design course provides valuable insight into workforce expectations and areas for management style adaptation to maximize retention of technical staff. This work details and evaluates the responses received from students taking an anonymous survey of their experiences working with technical contacts associated with sponsored design projects. This body of knowledge is important for faculty in capstone design programs to understand, and more importantly, to communicate to sponsoring organizations when soliciting involvement with their programs. The authors make specific recommendations for managers of Millennial students based on these surveys and end- of-project discussions with industry participants. The major observation is that students had a poor impression of the management they experienced during these projects, and few would consider employment with the organization sponsoring their projects. Lessons learned in developing and implementing an Interdisciplinary Senior Design Program that meets learning objectives, prepares students to successfully transition into needs is shared.
Introduction and Class Overview This study takes place at the William States Lee School of Engineering at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. The program discussed in this work is designed to be an introduction to workplace practices and expectations for students during their senior year of study at the undergraduate level in Engineering and Engineering Technology. The authors participate in two roles in the program, as instructors and as faculty mentors for individual projects.
Each project in the program is composed of a team of Engineering and Engineering Technology students as dictated by the scope of work generated by the project sponsor and approved by the
Schmidt, P., & Conrad, J., & Heybruck, W., & Hoch, D., & Sharer, D., & Thurman, L., & BouSaba, N. N., & Tolley, P., & Kane, M. (2009, June), Student Evaluations Of Sponsor Interaction In A Capstone Interdisciplinary Senior Design Program Paper presented at 2009 Annual Conference & Exposition, Austin, Texas. 10.18260/1-2--4597
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