Engineering Commons^™

Developing Professional Skills In Stem Students: Data Information Literacy, Lisa Zilinski, Megan R. Sapp Nelson, Amy S. Van Epps

Lisa Zilinski

Undergraduate STEM students are increasingly expected to have some data use skills upon graduation, whether they pursue post-graduate education or move into industry. This project was an initial foray into the application of data information literacy competencies to training undergraduate students to identify markers of data and information quality. The data consumer training appeared within two courses to help students evaluate data objects, including databases and datasets available on the Internet. The application of the Data Credibility Checklist provides a foundation for developing data reuse competencies. Based upon the initial presentation of the content, it became obvious that students need …

Creating A Stem Identity: Investment With Return, Janet Callahan, Patricia Pyke, Susan Shadle, R. Eric Landrum

R. Eric Landrum

The Aeronautics Education, Research, And Industry Alliance (Aerial) 2002 Report, Brent D. Bowen, Mary M. Fink, Jocelyn S. Nickerson

Brent Bowen

UNOAI Report 02-7 The NASA Nebraska Space Grant Consortium (NSGC) & EPSCoR programs at the University I of Nebraska at Omaha are involved in a variety of innovative research activities. Such research is supported through the Aeronautics Education, Research, and Industry Alliance (AERIAL) and collaborative seed funds. AERIAL is a comprehensive, mulch-faceted, five year NASA EPSCoR initiative that contributes substantially to the strategic research and technology priorities of NASA while intensifying Nebraska’s rapidly growing aeronautics research and development endeavors. AERIAL includes three major collaborative research teams (CRTs) whose nexus is a common focus in aeronautics research. Each CRT - Small …

What Matters In College For Retaining Aspiring Scientists And Engineers From Underrepresented Racial Groups, Mitchell J. Chang, Jessica Sharkness, Sylvia Hurtado, Christopher B. Newman

Christopher B. Newman

This longitudinal study examined factors that contribute to the persistence of underrepresented racial minority (URM) undergraduates in STEM fields. The primary source of data came from the Cooperative Institutional Research Program’s 2004 The Freshman Survey (TFS) and 2008 College Senior Survey (CSS). The sample included 3,670 students at 217 institutions who indicated on the TFS that they intended to major in a STEM field, 1,634 of whom were underrepresented minority (URM) students. Findings indicate that Black and Latino undergraduates were significantly less likely to persist in STEM majors than were their White and Asian American counterparts. Background characteristics and college …

Open Source Software To Enhance The Stem Learning Environment, Maurice E. Dawson Jr., Imad Al Saeed, Jorja Wright, Festus Onyegbula

Maurice Dawson

This chapter examines the use of Open Source Software (OSS) technologies that can be used to improve the learning of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM). Explored are the various methods that can be utilized to improve the percentage of STEM majors in the American educational system with resources such as: Open Source as Alternative (OSALT), virtualization, cloud computing, Linux distributions, open source programming, and open source hardware platforms. Increasing the amount of students that pursue STEM majors is important because the projected job growth in the STEM field compared to non-STEM jobs is 33%. OSALT provides cost-effective alternatives to …