2026 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

WIP: "From Concept to Delivery": Lessons Learned from Offering a New Interdisciplinary First-Year Experience

Presented at FPD: WIP Papers - Engaging FYE Students Through Active and Project-Based Learning

This Work in Progress paper presents lessons from the inaugural implementation of a redesigned first-year experience for engineering and computer science students at a medium-sized, private student-centered university in the Western United States. Building on a faculty-led backward design process that was previously presented at ASEE, a new two-course sequence was offered for the first time in the 2024-25 academic year. The courses integrate human-centered design, professional skills development, and interdisciplinary, project-based learning with the goal to strengthen students’ sense of belonging and persistence. In this paper, we report on the evolution of the curriculum, lessons learned, and initial outcomes.

Prior to the launch of the course sequence, a summer curriculum working group refined the course content to better support student engagement and to ensure alignment between course activities and learning outcomes. For instance, we introduced semester-long themes of resilience and empathy to provide a cohesive narrative and purpose for student work. The course projects were also completely overhauled, leveraging insights from prior ASEE literature (to incorporate tangible deliverables early on) and resources from the Kern Entrepreneurial Engineering Network (KEEN) to foster an entrepreneurial mindset. In the second semester, students collaborated with an external community partner to develop projects for neurodiverse individuals, building empathy and connecting course concepts to real-world impact. Other changes made were to redirect class time initially planned for applying mathematics concepts to the project-based activities that directly reinforced course themes.

Throughout this rollout, we also introduced students to the school’s new makerspace facility, providing opportunities for hands-on fabrication. Student projects culminated in end-of-semester showcases featuring posters and interactive prototypes, with faculty and peers as the audience. All incoming engineering and computer science students were engaged in this space early on, fostering familiarity with design and fabrication tools.

In this paper, we discuss the evolution from initial concept to course delivery, successes and challenges we encountered, as well as initial results from data we collected (student reflections at the end of each project and community inventory surveys at the end of each semester). We saw improvements in students’ sense of connection to the course community compared to the prior offering, as well as an emerging human-centered view of engineering as a discipline. The approaches presented here may be relevant for other institutions aiming to create an engaging and effective first-year engineering program.

Authors

Dr. David Mueller http://orcid.org/0000-0001-9094-6593 University of the Pacific [biography]

Dr. David Mueller is an Associate Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering and Assistant Dean for Technology and Facilities at the University of the Pacific, School of Engineering and Computer Science. He received his Ph.D. in Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Missouri in 2015, where he was a Graduate Teaching Fellow for 3 years. His research interests include engineering education and renewable energy and carbon emissions of renewable resources such as wind and photovoltaics.
Dr. Shelly Gulati http://orcid.org/0000-0003-3284-442X University of the Pacific [biography]

Dr. Shelly Gulati is Professor of Bioengineering and Associate Dean for Student Success in the School of Engineering and Computer Science at University of the Pacific. She has been at Pacific since 2010. She received a BS in Chemical Engineering from Johns Hopkins University and a PhD in Bioengineering from University of California, Berkeley. She also spent two years as a postdoctoral fellow in London at Imperial College. Her research interests are in biomicrofluidics as well as engineering education. Her recent projects have focused on creating engaging learning environments that promote students' sense of belonging, persistence, and success in engineering.
Dr. Sebastian Dziallas University of the Pacific [biography]

Sebastian Dziallas is an Assistant Professor of Computer Science at the University of the Pacific. He previously served as a founding faculty member at Fulbright University in Vietnam. He received a Ph.D. in Computer Science from the University of Kent and a B.S. in Engineering from Olin College of Engineering. His research interests in computing education research include using narrative methodologies to understand student experiences and exploring novel work-based learning approaches.
Dr. Maryam Heidaripour University of the Pacific [biography]

Maryam Heidaripour is an Assistant Professor of Design, Innovation, and Entrepreneurship at the University of the Pacific. Her research explores how emerging technologies, social change, and environmental challenges are reshaping engineering education and practice. Grounded in the view that change emerges through collective action, her work brings engineers and collaborators together to shape new approaches to the field.

Note

The full paper will be available to logged in and registered conference attendees once the conference starts on June 21, 2026, and to all visitors after the conference ends on June 24, 2026

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