Engineering Commons^™

Effects Of High School Engineering Course Availability And Participation On Engineering School Recruitment, Discipline Selection, Persistence Attitudes, And Self-Efficacy, Kristin S. Sandberg

Theses and Dissertations

The need for engineers in the workforce continues to grow. Filling this need requires recruiting future engineers to colleges and universities and retaining them through to degree completion. However, this is easier said than done. Universities are tasked with attempting to keep up with the demand for new engineers and companies are searching for new engineers to recruit. One avenue that has been established in the attempt to reach students for engineering is offering engineering or STEM classes in K-12 schools.

This dissertation looked at engineering classes offered at the high school level. These courses were analyzed for relationships with …

Re(Engineering) Student Success: Constructing Knowledge On Students’ Experiences In Engineering Education Programs To Encourage Holistic Student Success, Shaylin Williams

Theses and Dissertations

If a group of engineering deans were asked whether students at their institutions were successful and why, what information might they immediately or subconsciously use to measure or gauge the engineering students’ success? If only academic performance outcomes like GPA, individual course grades, or graduation rate race to their minds, then their rationale aligns with the majority of researchers. My research seeks to shift the mindset that frames engineering student success mainly within the boundaries of academic performance measures. By measuring students’ perceived autonomy, competence, social integration and relatedness within their programs, and aspirations after graduation, one can more accurately …

Exploring Senior Chemical Engineering Students’ Approach To Process Safety Decision Making, Jeffrey Saunders Stransky

Theses and Dissertations

Despite investments in chemical process safety education, evidence suggests that engineers’ decision making may contribute to process safety incidents. Currently, limited educational endeavors in process safety decision making exist, raising the need for a better understanding of how to prepare chemical engineering students for industry decisions. This dissertation fortifies current process safety education through three studies involving senior chemical engineering students. Study One developed the Engineering Process Safety Research Instrument (EPSRI) through exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses. Educators may use the EPSRI to evaluate their students’ moral development. Study Two evaluated a digital process safety game, Contents Under Pressure, on …

An Investigation Into Perceptions, Expectations, And Development Of Professional Skills In Engineering Students, Morgan Kathryn Green

Theses and Dissertations

Upon graduation from an undergraduate institution, engineering graduates are expected to have a baselevel skill in technical skills related to their discipline. Teaching technical skills comes naturally to engineering programs as the conceptual understanding of the material form the foundation of engineering ability. However, engineering graduates also are expected to have a baselevel of professional skills, which are more subjective in nature and do not have a standardized approach for teaching or assessing them at the undergraduate level. An investigation into current perceptions of professional skills by relevant parties is an initial step in providing more structure to professional skills …

Recruiting More U.S. Women Into Engineering Based On Stories From Morocco: A Qualitative Study, Soundouss Sassi

Theses and Dissertations

The objective of this project is to examine the differences between Moroccan and American students with regards to the cultural influences that led them to pursue an engineering degree. Annually since 2015, a partnership between a university in Morocco and MSU allows senior engineering Moroccan students to study at MSU to obtain their graduate degree in aerospace or mechanical engineering. The roughly equal gender representation in most Moroccan cohorts prompted our research question: “How do students from Morocco and the United States describe the cultural reasons that factored into their choice to pursue an engineering degree?” This exploratory qualitative study …

Comparing Importance Of Knowledge And Professional Skill Areas For Engineering Programming Utilizing A Two Group Delphi Survey, John F. Hutton

Theses and Dissertations

All engineering careers require some level of programming proficiency. However, beginning programming classes are challenging for many students. Difficulties have been well-documented and contribute to high drop-out rates which prevent students from pursuing engineering. While many approaches have been tried to improve the performance of students and reduce the dropout rate, continued work is needed. This research seeks to re-examine what items are critical for programming education and how those might inform what is taught in introductory programming classes (CS1). Following trends coming from accreditation and academic boards on the importance of professional skills, we desire to rank knowledge and …

Three Case Studies Of Using Hybrid Model Machine Learning Techniques In Educational Data Mining To Improve The Classification Accuracies, Sujan Poudyal

Theses and Dissertations

A multitude of data is being produced from the increase in instructional technology, e-learning resources, and online courses. This data could be used by educators to analyze and extract useful information which could be beneficial to both instructors and students. Educational Data Mining (EDM) extracts hidden information from data contained within the educational domain. In data mining, hybrid method is the combination of various machine learning techniques. Through this dissertation, the novel use of machine learning hybrid techniques was explored in EDM using three educational case studies. First, in consideration for the importance of students’ attention, on and off-task data …

Assessment Of Mechanical Engineering Skills: A Synthesis Of Industry And Academic Graduate Level Curriculum Requirements, Francie Baker

Theses and Dissertations

Students who graduate with an advanced degree in mechanical engineering are a diverse group in their path to post-baccalaureate degree attainment. Some students choose to obtain their master’s or Ph.D. post bachelors, but before they enter the workplace. Others enter the workforce and return as full-time students or progress on their advanced degrees while maintaining part- or full-time employment. Current accreditation standards for undergraduate degree programs are part of a changing landscape of standards and professional requirements that have adapted and continue to adapt as programs prepare students to work in professional engineering fields. Advanced degrees do not have the …

Developing A Methodology For Analyzing Educational Offerings Using Competency Descriptors, Andrew G. Lowe

Theses and Dissertations

The United States Air Force needs to ensure its Airmen are receiving the best possible education so that they can perform their jobs as effectively as possible. One way to improve the evaluation and development of its Airmen is to incorporate the use of competencies to develop standards for performance and use competency-based education principles to improve the quality of education delivered to the Airmen. One of the educational centers of the United States Air Force is The Civil Engineer School. However, The Civil Engineer School needs a way to evaluate its current coursework on how well it develops competencies …

Investigating Game-Based Instruction As A Tool For Engineering Ethics Education In A First-Year Engineering Program, Joshua B. Reed

Theses and Dissertations

Behaving ethically is a core foundation within engineering and is a necessity according to the National Society of Professional Engineers. Therefore, engineering ethics education has been increasingly encouraged within engineering curriculums in higher education. Many instructors have found it difficult to teach engineering ethics effectively using traditional strategies such as lectures. This has caused a trend toward more active learning strategies being researched and utilized within the engineering ethics space. One strategy that has been growing in popularity in instruction both inside and outside of engineering is game-based learning or using educational games with instruction to accomplish learning goals. To …

A Longitudinal Analysis Of Pathways To Computing Careers: Defining Broadening Participation In Computing (Bpc) Success With A Rearview Lens, Mercy Jaiyeola

Theses and Dissertations

Efforts to increase the participation of groups historically underrepresented in computing studies, and in the computing workforce, are well documented. It is a national effort with funding from a variety of sources being allocated to research in broadening participation in computing (BPC). Many of the BPC efforts are funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) but as existing literature shows, the growth in representation of traditionally underrepresented minorities and women is not commensurate to the efforts and resources that have been directed toward this aim.

Instead of attempting to tackle the barriers to increasing representation, this dissertation research tackles the …

Examining Global Perspectives Of Engineering Students: Determining Educational Impact, Brian R. Moore

Theses and Dissertations

Globalization is causing higher education to adapt their approaches to student learning, especially those in the engineering disciplines as the nature and impact of their work becomes more cross-cultural and diverse. The efforts of programmatic change have led universities to emphasize new or different student experiences and educational practices to better prepare graduates for this societal change. Given this trend, research on which educational practices have the most impact on preparing engineering graduates to enter a global workforce is needed. Research has shown that international experiences like study abroad have a positive impact on students' global perspectives, especially when they …

Civil Engineer Company Grade Officer Competency-Based Education Modeling, Scott R. Guerin

Theses and Dissertations

The importance of continuing education for professionals cannot be understated. This importance is doubly true for Air Force Civil Engineer Company Grade Officers who are members of not only the profession of engineering, but also the profession of arms. Air Force senior leaders understand this importance and required an update to the existing developmental education model, with a paradigm shift toward competency-based education and credentialing. Unfortunately, the Air Force Civil Engineer career field does not currently possess the required information to create a model in compliance with the senior leader directives. This research aims at establishing the required characteristics of …

Exploring Intercultural Wonderment As A Mediator For Global Perspective Development In Engineering Students, John A. Schneider

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study is to investigate the mediatory role intercultural wonderment plays in global learning during engineering students' international experiences. Engberg and colleagues have posited a connection between the programmatic components of an international experience (i.e., study abroad) and global learning, with international wonderment serving as a conduit for that connection. Qualitative and quantitative data were collected under an NSF multi-institutional grant that focused on identifying ways global preparedness can be developed in and out of formal curricula. Data included semi-structured, student interviews, student background data, and global perspective scores as measured by the Global Perspective Inventory (GPI). …

Unguided Cyber Education Techniques Of The Non-Expert, Seth A. Martin

Theses and Dissertations

The United States Air Force and Department of Defense continues to rely on its total workforce to provide the first layer of protection against cyber intrusion. Prior research has shown that the workforce is not adequately educated to perform this task. As a result, DoD cybersecurity strategy now includes attempting to improve education and training on cyber-related concepts and technical skills to all users of DoD networks. This paper describes an experiment designed to understand the broad methods that non-expert users may use to educate themselves on how to perform technical tasks. Preliminary results informed subsequent experiments that directly compared …

Motivating Airmen To Engage With Technical Education: Experimentation And Analysis Using Modern Gamification Techniques, Landon G.M. Tomcho

Theses and Dissertations

The development and integration of computer systems into today’s society and the subsequent growth of cyber as a warfighting domain has led to changes in military and civilian conflict. Several traits unique to cyber, including disruption and fast pace of change, has led to issues never before seen in the military environment, especially with educating and training. A new approach that leverages crowd-sourced content has been proposed. This approach relies on motivating military members to voluntarily engage with technical (cyber) education. The application of gamification, a design practice aimed at increasing user engagement by targeting core motivators in humans, in …

The Creation, Validation, And Implementation Of The Engineering Process Safety Research Instrument, Brittany Lynn Butler

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to develop and validate an instrument that can measure how senior chemical engineering students make process safety decisions. The Engineering Process Safety Research Instrument (EPSRI) contains dilemmas that represent process safety scenarios, followed by three decision options, and 12-15 considerations that fall into pre-conventional, conventional, or post-conventional forms of reasoning. Three studies were completed as a part of this research. The content validation study ensured the dilemmas represented process safety scenarios, the considerations matched their perceived theoretical definitions, and that no content areas were omitted. This study resulted in validation of the content, following …

An Investigation Of Elementary Teachers<'> Self-Efficacy For And Beliefs About The Importance Of Engineering Education, Khristen Lee Massic

Theses and Dissertations

In order for the United States to regain its global standing in science and engineering, educational and governmental organizations have started to re-emphasize science, technology, engineering, and math content in k-12 classrooms.While some preliminary research has been conducted on student and teacher perceptions related to engineering, there has been little research conducted related to teachers beliefs about the importance of engineering content in their classrooms and relatively few studies have investigated elementary teachers teaching engineering self-efficacy. Current studies have investigated the impact of professional development on teachers teaching engineering self-efficacy but these studies were conducted with limited sample sizes, for …

Cost And Fuel Usage Optimization Of Activating Solution Based Silica Fume Geopolymer Concrete, Lateef Najeh Assi

Theses and Dissertations

Development of sustainable construction materials has been the focus of research efforts worldwide in recent years. Concrete is a major construction material; hence, finding alternatives to ordinary Portland cement is of extreme importance due to high levels of carbon dioxide emissions associated with its manufacturing process. Geopolymer concrete is a potential solution; however, concerns about the high cost and the low real fuel energy efficiency are obstacles against its increase in the market share.

In this thesis, the current cost and fuel (thermal energy) usage are calculated. In addition, the cost and fuel usage were optimized based on previous experimental …

In-Shoe Plantar Pressure System To Investigate Ground Reaction Force Using Android Platform, Ahmed A. Mostfa

Theses and Dissertations

Human footwear is not yet designed to optimally relieve pressure on the heel of the foot. Proper foot pressure assessment requires personal training and measurements by specialized machinery. This research aims to investigate and hypothesize about Preferred Transition Speed (PTS) and to classify the gait phase of explicit variances in walking patterns between different subjects. An in-shoe wearable pressure system using Android application was developed to investigate walking patterns and collect data on Activities of Daily Living (ADL). In-shoe circuitry used Flexi-Force A201 sensors placed at three major areas: heel contact, 1st metatarsal, and 5th metatarsal with a PIC16F688 microcontroller …

An Extensible Technology Framework For Cyber Security Education, Frank Jordan Sheen

Theses and Dissertations

Cyber security education has evolved over the last decade to include new methods of teaching and technology to prepare students. Instructors in this field of study often deal with a subject matter that has rigid principles, but changing ways of applying those principles. This makes maintaining courses difficult. This case study explored the kind of teaching methods, technology, and means used to explain these concepts. This study shows that generally, cyber security courses require more time to keep up to date. It also evaluates one effort, the NxSecLab, on how it attempted to relieve the administrative issues in teaching these …

An Investigation Of The Impact Of A Flipped Classroom Instructional Approach On High School Students' Content Knowledge And Attitudes Toward The Learning Environment, Matthew R. Bell

Theses and Dissertations

The idea of the “flipped classroom” is a relatively new concept in education that has become increasingly popular. Instructors who flip their classrooms reverse the roles of school work and homework by recording video lectures for students to watch before coming to class. Students then work on their homework in the classroom while the instructor is present to help them. Very little research has been done on the effectiveness of the flipped classroom to determine if students can perform better on exams by learning in a flipped classroom environment, especially for high school demographics. The purpose of this research is …

An Investigation Of The Asit Problem-Solving Method On Middle School Technology Education Student's Ability To Produce Creative Solutions, Jared Aaron Merrill

Theses and Dissertations

This study compared two groups of students being instructed in various methods of problem solving over a two-week period. The control group was instructed using the standard Career and Technology Education (CTE) Introduction curriculum on using brainstorming to solve problems. The treatment group was instructed using a structured problem solving method developed to help focus problem solving on finding a solution that satisfies the conditions. Students were selected from 7th grade students at a suburban middle school in Utah. The independent variable in this study was the type of problem solving instruction received. The dependent variables of interest were the …

Development And Initial Validation Of An Innovation Assessment, Jacob D. Wheadon

Theses and Dissertations

In the past two decades, there has been an increased demand for more innovative individuals and organizations. In response to this need, a number of groups have begun to teach innovation courses to improve people's innovation skills. While many of these groups report success in helping people become more innovative, there is no way to test the effectiveness of the innovation courses. This study describes the development and initial validation of an innovation test instrument. It demonstrates how the author identified the content domain of the test and created test items. Then it describes initial validation testing of the instrument. …

An Analysis Of The Best Practices Of Cooperative Education In The Us With The Purpose Of Addressing Various Armenian Engineering Education Problems, Sona White

Theses and Dissertations

This research shows that the expansion of cooperative education programs and university-industry partnerships can help to address some of the problems that engineering education in Armenia is facing today. These problems include lack of connections between universities and industry, outdated curricula, shortages of funding for university staff and facilities, and limited success in helping students qualify for job-related demands of the global economy. In order to identify requirements for developing effective cooperative education programs in Armenia, this study analyzes the characteristics and features of highly successful cooperative education programs in the United States that might be applicable to the requirements …

The Effect Of The Engineering Design Process On The Critical Thinking Skills Of High School Students, Heather Ure

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of the research reported here was to determine the impact learning the engineering design process (EDP) would have on the critical thinking skills of high school physics students. An EDP unit was conducted with 5 classes of high school physics students in grades 10-12 over 1 month. The EDP unit's curriculum allowed for the gradual release of responsibility as students became more familiar with the EDP and more consistent in using it. The six steps used in this EDP unit were Ask, Imagine, Plan, Create, Test, and Improve. The Watson-Glaser Critical Thinking Appraisal was given as a pre- …

Creativity And Innovation: A Comparative Analysis Of Assessment Measures For The Domains Of Technology, Engineering, And Business, Tyler Lewis

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this literature review is to investigate and discuss: (1) the characteristics measured by innovation assessments, and (2) the comparison of characteristics measured by creativity assessments with those of innovation assessments. This will be done by: (1) collecting creativity and innovation assessments, and (2) comparing and contrasting the characteristics measured by each assessment. This study reveals that innovation assessments do not measure the innovation process in its entirety. The findings show that creativity and innovation assessments lack in assessing the entire innovation process, assessing the innovation process on an individual level, and assessing an individual's change or growth …

Integration Of Information Operations Theory Into The Corporate Air Force, Thomas R. Kettles Jr.

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this research was to determine the desired end-state for company grade officers in terms of an information operations education. Specifically, an examination of company grade officer curricula from the pre-commissioning sources to the Squadron Officer College was performed. This assessment was then compared to the Air Force Institute of Technology Cyber Competency Areas Framework. Any areas that were missing from the current company grade officer curricula were identified and a proposed implementation plan was presented to correct these deficiencies. To aid in developing an implementation plan, redundancies between the two Squadron Officer College courses were identified. Furthermore, …

Development Of A Comprehensive Digital Avionics Curriculum For The Aeronautical Engineer, Thomas W. Hofer

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this research was to develop a comprehensive digital avionics curriculum for aeronautical engineering students at AFIT. Due to the closing of the aeronautical engineering program at the Naval Postgraduate School, and the subsequent requirement to establish a digital avionics specialty course sequence at AFIT, a mature avionics curriculum does not yet exist that satisfies the needs of graduates who will serve as aeronautical engineers involved with the development, integration, testing, fielding, and supporting of military avionics systems as part of the overall aircraft system. Research was conducted through a comprehensive literature review and the use of a …

The Predictive Validity Of The Afit Graduate Management Program Admission Requirements: A Reassessment And Extension, Sarah E. Woods

Theses and Dissertations

This research is based on the Air Force and AFIT balancing mission requirements of personnel needed for duty and training airmen in advanced studies. Currently, over 50% of AFIT students do not meet AFIT entrance requirements. The purpose of this research was to examine criteria to determine its predictability of graduate success, as measured by graduate GPA, as well as determine whether performance is different for students who require criteria to be waived. Current AFIT eligibility criteria include undergraduate GPA, GRE test scores, or GMAT test scores. Other variables examined in this study include: GRE-Analytical test scores; rank/grade; prior enlistment; …