2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Board 84: The 2TO4 Project - Facilitated Transition from 2-Year to 4-Year Engineering Studies (WIP)

Presented at Electrical and Computer Engineering Division (ECE) Poster Session

The Inclusive Engineering Consortium (IEC) is a nonprofit organization that enables collective efforts through equitable partnerships between its 20 MSI members, 12 PWI members and 7 corporate members. The IEC 2TO4 Project builds on its Pathways to Success program to support students who begin their studies at a community college or other 2-year institution by providing financial support (scholarships, internships, academic year stipends), mentoring and other transition support, professional guidance, and community engagement.

The 2TO4 network of community colleges (CCs) consists of 20 sub-networks built around the 20 HBCUs, HSIs and TCUs that form the core membership of IEC. Generally, a small number (1-3) of CCs located near a core member educate a few students who transfer to the local 4-year MSI ECE program. Some IEC core members have well-developed relationships with their local CCs and see much larger numbers of transfer students. The vision of 2TO4 is to at least double the total number of students following this pathway to their BS degree in ECE by sharing best practices and providing a robust transition support infrastructure and increased financial support for those students who should have MSIs on their radar as they complete their associates degrees. Participating CCs become members of IEC and engage in equitable partnerships with 4-year MSIs and PWIs, industry and DoD labs to implement the various building blocks of 2TO4.

During the first year of this multi-year effort, a base version of 2TO4 is being created. Program leadership is connecting with DoDSTEM and the other CC programs it funds, defining the parameters of 2TO4 1.0 (formalizing the relationship between MSI core members and their key local CCs), and working through institutional challenges with the 60+ program partners. Regular meetings are scheduled, and a general communication infrastructure is being rolled out. The first cohort of student participants is being selected along with individual faculty and staff who are creating and often delivering student support resources. A key element of 2TO4 is students supporting other students. Since all students are new to the program, a significant fraction of the first cohort includes students who have already transferred to their chosen 4-year school. While they have not benefited from any of the IEC 2TO4 transition infrastructure, their experiences provide valuable insights on what works and what does not and their stories are well received by their more junior peers.

In this early phase, assessment is focused on the extent to which each programmatic component is implemented with fidelity and the program has built the necessary capacity to support students. Formative feedback from each participant is collected and student progress is tracked. Key to this stage of the project is building trust and equitable partnerships, along with making necessary programmatic changes. There is a lot for each partner to learn from the other program partners.

Authors

Dr. Kenneth A Connor http://orcid.org/0000-0002-4216-763X Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute [biography]

Kenneth Connor is an emeritus professor in the Department of Electrical, Computer, and Systems Engineering (ECSE) at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) where he taught courses on electromagnetics, electronics and instrumentation, plasma physics, electric power, and general engineering. His research involves plasma physics, electromagnetics, photonics, biomedical sensors, engineering education, diversity in the engineering workforce, and technology enhanced learning. He learned problem solving from his father (who ran a gray iron foundry), his mother (a nurse) and grandparents (dairy farmers). He has had the great good fortune to always work with amazing people, most recently the members and leadership of the Inclusive Engineering Consortium (IEC) from HBCU, HSI, and TCU ECE programs and the faculty, staff and students of the Lighting Enabled Systems and Applications (LESA) ERC, where he was Education Director until his retirement in 2018. He was RPI ECSE Department Head from 2001 to 2008 and served on the board of the ECE Department Heads Association (ECEDHA) from 2003 to 2008. He is a Life Fellow of the IEEE.
Dr. Bruk T. Berhane Florida International University [biography]

Dr. Bruk T. Berhane received his bachelor's degree in electrical engineering from the University of Maryland in 2003. He holds an M.S. in engineering management from the George Washington University and a Ph.D. in minority and urban education from the University of Maryland. In 2003, Bruk was hired by the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (JHUAPL), where he worked on nanotechnology and microsystems. In 2005 he left JHUAPL for a fellowship with the National Academies and researched methods of increasing the number of women in engineering. Later that year, he briefly served as a mathematics instructor in Baltimore City High Schools.

From 2005 through 2018, Dr. Berhane directed engineering recruitment and scholarship programs for the University of Maryland. He oversaw an increase in the admission of students of color and women during his tenure and supported initiatives that reduce the time to degree for transfers from Maryland community colleges. The broader implications of his research are informed by his comprehensive experiences as a college administrator. His areas of scholarly interest include: 1) Broadening participation in engineering through community college pathways and 2) Experiences of first and second-generation African diasporic Americans in engineering undergraduate programs.
Dr. Mohamed F. Chouikha Prairie View A&M University [biography]

Dr. Mohamed Chouikha is a professor and chair of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Howard University. He received his M.S. and Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Coloradoâ€“Boulder. Dr. Chouikhaâ€™s research inte
Prof. Miguel Velez-Reyes P.E. http://orcid.org/0000-0002-6983-7250 University of Texas at El Paso [biography]

Dr. Miguel Velez-Reyes is the George W. Edwards Distinguished Professor in Engineering and Chair of the ECE Department at University of Texas at El Paso. He received his BSEE degree from the University of Puerto Rico at Mayaguez (UPRM) in 1985, and his SM
Dr. Barry J. Sullivan Electrical & Computer Engineering Department Heads Assn [biography]

Barry J. Sullivan is Director of Program Development for the Inclusive Engineering Consortium. His 40-year career includes significant experience as a researcher, educator, and executive in industry, academia, and the non-profit sector. He has developed
Michelle Klein Electrical and Computer Engineering Dept. Heads Assoc. (ECEDHA)
Yeimidy Lagunas Inclusive Engineering Consortium
Milford Muskett
Amanda Nastiuk
Sinais Alvarado
Elizabeth Hibbler Conference for Industry and Education Collaboration (CIEC)

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