2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Boosting Study Program Awareness via a Structured Introductory Experience to Engineering

Presented at First-Year Programs Division (FYP) - Technical Session 4: Supporting Success 1

The experiences accumulated by students during their first year in college have a lasting impact on the rest of their academic lives. In particular, their sense of belonging to a study program and institution as well as their self-efficacy perceptions have been identified as crucial factors during this period. Both these factors are affected by the awareness these students develop about their chosen field of study. This is particularly true in institutions where students enter since their first year in a specific major. We report on our experience of boosting study program awareness via a structured introductory experience to engineering in a Hispanic serving institution (HSI).
An assessment of the reasons reported by first- and second-year students in the host institution for choosing an engineering major denotes a wide range of responses. Parent or relatives’ influence, expected salaries, and curiosity were among the most common reasons reported. Surprisingly, less than three percent responses pointed to career or vocational assessment tests, professional orientation, or academic related interventions as determinant factors. Moreover, when asked about the kind of jobs they understood were performed by engineers in their chosen fields of study, a large proportion of respondents denoted incongruity and narrow view of the role of engineers in their responses. This mismatch is considered to be a reason for the observed number of early program transfers applications, low academic performance, and late attrition among students.
In an attempt to address the low perceived level of awareness about engineering, the <> introduced a pilot one-credit Introduction to Engineering course for first- and second-year students. <> is a college-wide initiative that seeks to increase success statistics among low-income, academically talented students (LIATS) in the College of Engineering (CoE). It incorporates multiple strategies that include talks and workshops, faculty and peer mentoring, and career planning among others. The insertion of this course tries to answer the question of how the early provision of career information and awareness impact the engineering retention and persistence of students and their interest in their chosen majors.
Introduction to engineering is structured to provide students with knowledge about the roles of engineers, the engineering method, ethics, team working, and detailed information about each of the engineering majors offered in the host institution CoE. It also incorporates a hands-on, cross disciplinary team project that allows for students to use science and math to design a solution for a simple problem and to develop a prototype solution to test the accuracy of their designs. Through this experience, they not only put in practice the engineering method, but also begin to cultivate their soft skills while learning about the roles of engineers in their own and other majors. Results of over three years of offering this course show encouraging trends. Increases of more than 30% in awareness indicators, career choice reassurance, and knowledge about their chosen major are among salient indicators. This paper discusses the course structure, context of implementation, metrics, and preliminary results measured via descriptive statistics among participant students.

Authors

Prof. Manuel A. Jimenez http://orcid.org/0000-0002-4038-7102 University of Puerto Rico, Mayaguez Campus [biography]

Dr. Jimenez is a professor at the Electrical & Computer Engineering Department in the University of Puerto Rico Mayaguez (UPRM). He earned his B.S from Universidad Autonoma de Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic in 1986, M.S. from Univ. of Puerto Rico in 1992, and Ph.D. from Michigan State University in 1999. His current teaching and reseach interests include rapid systems prototyping, electronics characterization, and engineering education. He is a senior IEEE and honorary Golden Key member.
Dr. Luisa Guillemard University of Puerto Rico, Mayaguez Campus [biography]

Luisa Guillemard is a psychology professor at the University of Puerto Rico, MayagÃ¼ez Campus. She has a M.S. in Clinical Psychology from the Caribbean Center of Advanced Studies in Puerto Rico [today the Carlos Albizu University] and a Ph.D. in Education
Dr. Aidsa I. Santiago-Roman http://orcid.org/0000-0003-4136-9990 University of Puerto Rico, Mayaguez Campus [biography]

Dr. Aidsa I. Santiago-Román is a Professor and Former Chair in the Engineering Sciences and Materials (CIIM) Department at the University of Puerto Rico, Mayagüez Campus (UPRM). Dr. Santiago earned a BS and MS in Industrial Engineering from UPRM and Ph.D. in Engineering Education from Purdue University. Dr. Santiago has over 20 years of experience in academia and has been successful in obtaining funding and publishing for various research projects. She's also the founder and advisor of the first ASEE student chapter in Puerto Rico at UPRM.

Her research interests include investigating students' understanding of difficult concepts in engineering sciences, especially for underrepresented populations (Hispanic students). She has studied the effectiveness engineering concept inventories (Statics Concept Inventory - CATS and the Thermal and Transport Concept Inventory - TTCI) for diagnostic assessment and cultural differences among bilingual students. She has also contributed to the training and development of faculty in developing and evaluating various engineering curriculum and courses at UPRM, applying the outcome-based educational framework.

She has also incorporated theories on social cognitive career choices and student attrition mitigation to investigate the effectiveness of institutional interventions in increasing the retention and academic success of talented engineering students from economically disadvantaged families. She's also involved in a project that explores the relationship between the institutional policies at UPRM and faculty and graduate students' motivation to create good relationships between advisors and advisees.
Dr. Nayda G. Santiago P.E. http://orcid.org/0000-0002-6049-8782 University of Puerto Rico, Mayaguez Campus [biography]

Nayda G. Santiago is professor at the Electrical and Computer Engineering department, University of Puerto Rico, Mayaguez Campus (UPRM) where she teaches the Capstone Course in Computer Engineering. She received an BS in EE from the University of PR, Maya
Dr. Pedro O. Quintero [biography]

Pedro Quintero earned a B.S. in mechanical engineering from the University of Puerto Rico, MayagÃ¼ez and an M.S .from that same institution. After spending nine years in the electronics industry, he joined the University of Maryland, College Park, where
Dr. Carla Lopez Del Puerto http://orcid.org/0000-0002-0334-7208 University of Puerto Rico, Mayaguez Campus [biography]

Dr. Carla LÃ³pez del Puerto is a professor in the Civil Engineering Department at the University of Puerto Rico Mayaguez (UPRM). She received her Ph.D. in Higher Education Administration from Saint Louis University in 2009, M.S. in Construction Management
Prof. Nelson Cardona-Martinez http://orcid.org/0000-0003-1523-0960 University of Puerto Rico, Mayaguez Campus [biography]

Nelson Cardona-MartÃnez is a Chemical Engineering Professor at the University of Puerto Rico - MayagÃ¼ez. His research focuses on the development of catalytic materials and processes for the conversion of biomass derived feedstocks into valuable chemica
Dr. Sonia M. Bartolomei-Suarez University of Puerto Rico Mayagüez Campus [biography]

Sonia M. Bartolomei-Suarez is a Professor of Industrial Engineering at the University of Puerto Rico MayagÃ¼ez (UPRM). She graduated with a BS in Industrial Engineering from UPRM (1983), a MSIE (1985) from Purdue University, and a PhD in Industrial Engine

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