Board 36: Increasing Student Enrollment and Achievement in Engineering and Engineering Technology

This NSF STEM Scholarship program at Vaughn College of Aeronautics and Technology is a five-year project that started in fall 2012. The Project which is titled “Increasing Student Enrollment and Achievement in Engineering and Engineering Technology” is focused on increasing enrollment and retention of talented students in STEM undergraduate education. The project included two cohorts; each cohort goes through a four-year plan. In the first year, all scholarship recipients are engaged in learning communities with well-defined projects in applied engineering such as robot building, truss design, flow visualization and aerodynamics. These hands-on modules are intended to assist students in making connections between math and physics courses and their engineering applications. In the second year, students (now sophomores) received tutor training and provided tutoring in fundamental courses to their fellow freshmen. This practice is intended to give students the opportunity to establish strong links between related courses (statics and mechanics of materials or thermodynamics and fluid mechanics) in their 1st and 2nd year, and to further enhance their hands-on, critical thinking, teamwork and communication capabilities. The third and fourth year scholarship recipients were involved in research activities to prepare them for the post-graduation. These activities provided students with a unique opportunity to work with faculty members in group research projects. All program participants have the chance to present their projects in the college’s Annual Technology Day Conference in April, and many of these projects are submitted and accepted for presentation and publication in regional, national, and international conferences such as ASEE, ASME, SEM, and LACEEI. Students in NSF STEM learning communities were encouraged to participate in the engineering seminar series, the industry connection seminar series, industry field trips, robotics and UAV club activities and competitions, and the student chapter of professional societies. They were also encouraged to publish and present at technical conferences. These activities increased the number of students who completed undergraduate research projects under the mentorship of engineering faculty, and this involvement was considered one of the most effective tools to increase enrollment and students’ retention. The program activities also impacted other students outside the program, because student clubs, mostly managed and run by students, created an environment that appealed to their fellow students outside the NSF-STEM program. As a result, the number of active students in clubs’ activities has significantly increased. The details and implementation process of the STEM program and its assessment process will be presented and discussed during the 2018 ASEE Annual Conference Proceedings.