2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Development of a Manufacturing Assessment Survey to Promote Entrepreneurial Mindset in Engineering

Presented at Entrepreneurship & Engineering Innovation Division (ENT) Technical Session 2: Assessing the Entrepreneurial Mindset, Curiosity, and Workplace Preparedness

Most manufacturing content taught in the engineering classroom is presented passively using pictures, videos, and numerical methods. Very few universities utilize an active lab component for manufacturing courses leaving students with visual media for learning a traditionally hands-on process. To address this gap, we present an entrepreneurially-minded manufacturing survey assignment where students research and select a product that is relevant to the material covered in class. The assignment is a formal manufacturing survey that allows students to investigate “real-world” components to explore how they were manufactured with justification as to why the product was made using this specific process. Students produced a manufacturing survey for each of the major manufacturing topics learned in the class. At completion, students completed a photovoice reflection for one of the assignments (manufacturing lesson on corrosion and erosion) to reflect on the manufacturing survey. In this paper, we present the survey assignment and photo voice reflection on corrosion and erosion, specifically, as it is traditionally considered a negative surface phenomenon. Thematic analysis of the photovoice reflections show that students are motivated to explore mechanisms for increasing system value and identifying opportunities. Ultimately, findings suggest that the use of hands-on surveying assignments to compliment the traditional teaching methods used in manufacturing classrooms can promote an entrepreneurial mindset when studying manufacturing content.

Authors

Fatemeh Mozaffar University of Georgia
Dr. Cheng Chen http://orcid.org/https://0000-0001-9017-9195 University of Georgia [biography]

Cheng holds a Ph.D. in mechanical engineering from the University of Georgia and has published numerous papers on topics such as computational design, geometric modeling, and engineering education. He is always seeking innovative approaches to fill knowledge gaps and to assist in solving complex design issues. He is currently working on several projects to develop various natural language models for requirement management. Cheng is passionate about applying his domain expertise to improve STEM education, with an emphasis on how AI can be incorporated into design practices.
Dr. Beshoy Morkos http://orcid.org/0000-0002-6656-3610 University of Georgia [biography]

Beshoy Morkos is an associate professor in the College of Engineering at the University of Georgia where he directs MODEL (Manufacturing Optimization, Design, and Engineering Education Lab) Group. His research group currently explores the areas of system design, manufacturing, and their respective education. His system design research focuses on developing computational representation and reasoning support for managing complex system design through the use of Model Based approaches. The goal of Dr. Morkos’ manufacturing research is to fundamentally reframe our understanding and utilization of product and process representations and computational reasoning capabilities to support the development of models which help engineers and project planners intelligently make informed decisions. On the engineering education front, Dr. Morkos’ research explores means to improve persistence and diversity in engineering education by leveraging students’ design experiences.
Dr. Jianfeng Ma

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