2026 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

WIP: Inventory First-Year Courses in Direct Enrollment Engineering

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

This Work in Progress Paper will analyze first-year department-specific introductory engineering courses to review Entrepreneurial Minded Learning (EML) modules and common themes for each course. First-year undergraduate engineering programs are often split into two types: general enrollment with engineering-major selection after the first or second year, or direct-admit department-specific programming. For general enrollment engineering students, the introductory first-year engineering course is typically interdisciplinary and run by a single faculty member with multiple sections to ensure that all students have similar experience. Direct-admit engineering students often have a department-specific first-year course that covers topics ranging from necessary information on their future major and profession to important technical skills. In the Engineering College at this university, the 12 departments offer separate department-specific first-year courses that reflect this variability in terms of delivery, credits, learning objectives, assessments, and technical content. These first-year courses face unique challenges in terms of presenting technical knowledge without specific prerequisites, and a unique population of first-year students who are adjusting to their undergraduate program. The objectives of this study are to (1) identify and inventory the first-year experiences across a large, research-focused college of engineering, and (2) document EML modules and common themes in department-specific first year engineering courses. A pre- and post-course validated survey tool on EML was deployed for Civil and Mechanical first-year engineering students to determine best practices for introducing EML in first-year courses and disseminate them to all first-year department-specific courses to create consistent language and learning modules across the college.
In addition, the study will analyze syllabi and assessments in each course, and establish a community of practice of instructors to open a dialogue across departments to share best practices and develop a comprehensive understanding of the first-year experiences. This will aid in identifying the number of ABET learning outcomes each course satisfies while creating opportunities to share assessment tools. A future goal will be to extend the community of practice beyond the college of engineering to other colleges to help unify the first-year experience across the university.

Authors

Kripa Damania University of Illinois at Urbana - Champaign
Dr. Ernest-John Ignacio http://orcid.org/0000-0002-9916-953X University of Illinois at Urbana - Champaign [biography]

Ernest-John Ignacio is a Teaching Assistant Professor in Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. He earned a B.Eng. (2004) and M.Eng. (2005) in Civil Engineering from the Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art in New York, NY; and Ph.D. (2024) in Civil Engineering at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Before joining the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Illinois in 2018, he worked in the construction industry in New York for eleven years as a project manager.
Prof. Jacob Henschen http://orcid.org/0000-0002-1031-2409 University of Illinois at Urbana - Champaign [biography]

Professor Henschen completed his B.S., M.S., and PhD. at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in 2007, 2009, and 2018 respectively. He was an Assistant Professor at Valparaiso University until he moved to the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign as a Teaching Assistant Professor in June 2020. He serves as the co-chair for the Teaching Methods and Education Materials Committee at ACI and the co-chair of the Committee on Faculty Development at ASCE.
Dr. Brian Woodard University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign [biography]

Dr. Woodard received his Ph.D. in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 2011. His Aerospace research interests currently focus on the effects of icing on the aerodynamics of swept-wing aircraft. In engineering education, he has an interest in the role of spatial visualization in preparing students to be engineers. Additionally, he has been working to expand faculty-led study abroad opportunities for students by supporting faculty and studying student learning outcomes associated with all types of global classrooms.
Dr. Kellie M Halloran http://orcid.org/0000-0003-1376-3069 University of Illinois at Urbana - Champaign [biography]

Kellie Halloran is a Teaching Assistant Professor in Mechanical Science and Engineering at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. She holds a BS, MS, and PhD in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Illinois and is currently investigating ways to engage undergraduate students and encourage curiosity and creativity in larger engineering classes.
Dr. Ali Ansari http://orcid.org/0000-0003-2957-8634 University of Illinois at Urbana - Champaign [biography]

Ali Ansari is a Teaching Assistant Professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He holds a Masters and Ph.D in Bioengineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and graduated from Southern Methodist University with a degree in Electrical Engineering. Ali has taught Bucknell University in both the Biomedical Engineering and Electrical and Computer Engineering and currently in the Bioengineering Department at the University of Illinois Urbana Champaign and has been focusing on student focused pedagogy centered around Game-based learning techniques. He teaches numerous first year courses and wants to integrate these experiential learning techniques to the new students to get them more engaged and invested in the field as a whole.
Dr. Molly H Goldstein http://orcid.org/0000-0002-2382-4745 University of Illinois at Urbana - Champaign [biography]

Dr. Molly H. Goldstein is a Teaching Assistant Professor and Product Design Lab Director in Industrial and Enterprise Systems Engineering at the Grainger College at the University of Illinois. She is also courtesy faculty in Mechanical Science and Engineering, Curriculum & Instruction (College of Education) and Industrial Design (School of Fine and Applied Arts). Dr. Goldstein’s research focuses on student designers through the study of their design actions and thinking.
Prof. Jonathon Kenneth Schuh http://orcid.org/https://0000-0001-6390-5972 University of Illinois at Urbana - Champaign [biography]

Jonathon Schuh is a Teaching Assistant Professor in the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He received his Ph.D. in Theoretical and Applied Mechanics from the University of Illinois in 2018 an
Dr. Keilin Jahnke University of Illinois Urbana - Champaign [biography]

Dr. Keilin Jahnke is a Teaching Assistant Professor in Innovation, Leadership and Engineering Entrepreneurship in The Grainger College of Engineering at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.
Prof. Olga Mironenko http://orcid.org/0000-0002-1239-185X University of Illinois at Urbana - Champaign [biography]

Dr. Olga Mironenko is a Teaching Assistant Professor with the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. She received a specialist degree in Physics from Omsk F.M. Dostoevsky State University, Russia in 2009, and she received a Ph.D. degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering from University of Delaware in 2020. Her current interests include improvement of introductory analog signal processing and power systems courses, training for graduate teaching assistants, and mentoring of under-represented students in ECE.
Murillo Soranso University of Illinois at Urbana - Champaign

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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