2026 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

The work presented here describes the expansion of an established framework for a novel first-year experience course aimed at increasing student persistence and retention of students in engineering majors. Originally developed for students pursuing mechanical engineering at a mid-size urban R2 institution, this framework was expanded to and adapted towards first-year students pursuing biomedical engineering at the same institution. An existing first-year course for biomedical engineers was modified to include a weekly recitation for implementation of a two-pronged approach, the first of which consists of weekly hands-on activities framed around a metaphor that allowed students to explore certain ABET professional skills, and the second prong being the near-peer mentorship structure that facilitates and supports both the weekly activities and provides academic support throughout the term. Near-peer mentors were recruited based on their undergraduate involvement and to reflect the diversity of career goals in the field of biomedical engineering, industry careers in medical devices, clinical careers in professional health sciences, and academic careers through graduate studies. Student mentees were assigned to groups based primarily on their math placement and ability, and secondarily to balance gender. Activities were developed around a metaphor and incorporated multiple evidence-based pedagogical practices and active learning techniques. Though the two engineering programs differ in student size and gender distribution, the existing framework was easily adapted to suit the needs of their respective student populations. For example, instead of having students utilize the jigsaw learning method to explore the theme of learning styles and study skills by optimizing the design of an air-propelled rocket (mechanical engineering-specific activity), biomedical engineering students utilized the jigsaw learning method to assemble a 3D-printed hydraulic claw and simulate an aspect of robotic-assisted surgery. During weekly activities that focused on ABET professional skills, the activities remained largely the same as they did not have a discipline-specific aspect. One such activity included a networking event, where first-year students simulated forming their professional network through having organic conversations with peers, near-peers, and department faculty – in each conversation, participants would exchange 3D-printed components that would ultimately assemble into a recognizable object such as a gearbox. While mechanical engineering saw an increase of 7% in first-to-second year retention, this was not observed in the biomedical engineering cohort. However, a confounding factor is that student retention in biomedical engineering is generally higher, and thus a lower ceiling for improvement is available. While there was some attrition of students in biomedical engineering, the retention of those students at the university averaged 87.1% over the last three academic years, suggesting that students enrolled in this novel first-year experience were able to develop a sense of belonging to the university and successfully sought out resources for their own academic success. Students in the current cohort will be surveyed with anonymous Likert-scale questions to assess their confidence in persisting in engineering, their sense of belonging, and their development of professional skills.