2026 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

ABET Engineering Accreditation Commission Student Outcomes (SO) describe what students are expected to know and be able to do by the time of graduation. Engineering programs are required to assess and evaluate the extent to which SOs are being attained. The focus of this paper will be on SO4, “students will recognize ethical and professional responsibilities in engineering situations and make informed judgements, which must consider the impact of engineering solutions in global, economic, environmental, and societal contexts” [1]. SO4 is a complicated outcome to assess and evaluate. Definitions of the terms “global, economic, environmental, and societal” are left to the program as well as decisions regarding the appropriate professional and ethical codes used to make informed judgements. At some level, each program might have a unique assessment and evaluation process depending on their interpretation of the expectations and terms described by SO4.
The proposed paper will present an interpretation of SO4 and the process for assessing and evaluating the outcome in a new mechanical engineering (ME) program seeking initial accreditation. It builds on the work of Pfluger, Butkus, and Wallen [2], Kumpaty, Reichl, and Vyas [3], and Washuta, Eggleston, et al. [4]. Measuring a student’s understanding of professional responsibilities is guided by the National Society of Professional Engineers (NSPE) code of ethics [5]. Definitions for the broad impact terms in SO4 such as global and environmental were established with assistance from Gemini AI and woven throughout the program beginning with the first-year introduction course through the capstone design experience. Three key performance indicators (KPIs) were defined and used in the assessment process for a second year ME course, a third year ME course, and for the capstone design course. This permitted us to track student performance over time. To consider the impact of engineering solutions, case studies from NSPE were selected that align with topics of interest to ME majors [6]. Canvas-based, multiple-choice exam questions about the NSPE case studies were carefully crafted to assess student performance relative to the KPIs. An assessment involving a multiple-choice quiz was selected because of the large number of students enrolled in both the second- and third-year courses making a review of a written assessment challenging.
The assessment process was first implemented in Spring Semester 2025 with evaluation of the results at the conclusion of the semester. Based on the evaluation, the quiz questions for the second- and third-year assessments have been revised and the assessment process will be implemented during Fall Semester 2025. The paper will present preliminary results of the Fall assessment process. Early results suggest the assessment and evaluation processes could be easily generalized to other ME programs with large enrollments.

[1] ABET, “Criteria for accrediting engineering programs, 2025-2026”, Accessed 9/23/2025. Online. Available: https://www.abet.org/accreditation/accreditation-criteria/criteria-for-accrediting-engineering-programs-2025-2026/
[2] Framework for Defining and Mapping to Key Words in ABET Engineering Accreditation Commission Student Outcomes 1 – 7, A Pfluger, M Butkus, B Wallen, in Proceedings of the 2022 Annual American Society of Engineering Education (ASEE) Conference and Exposition, Minneapolis, Minnesota, June 26-29, 2022.
[3] New ABET Student Outcomes Assessment: Developing Performance Indicators and Instruments for Outcome 4, S. Kumpaty, K. Reichl, A. Vyas, Proceedings of the ASME 2020 International Mechanical Engineering Congress and Exposition, Virtual, Online, November 16-19, 2020.
[4] N. Washuta, A. Eggleton, J Righter, R Rabb, “Defining key terms in new ABET student outcomes,” in Proceedings of the 2022 Annual American Society of Engineering Education (ASEE) Conference and Exposition, Minneapolis, Minnesota, June 26-29, 2022.
[5] National Society of Professional Engineers, “Code of ethics,” Accessed 9/23/2025. Online. Available: https://www.nspe.org/sites/default/files/resources/pdfs/Ethics/CodeofEthics/NSPECodeofEthicsforEngineers.pdf.
[6] National Society of Professional Engineers, “Board of ethical review cases,” Accessed 9/23/2025. Online. Available: https://www.nspe.org/career-growth/ethics/board-ethical-review-cases.