Engineering Commons^™

Challenges In Designing A Mentorship Program For Electrical Engineering Freshmen, Branimir Pejcinovic, Melinda Holtzman

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

This Work in Progress Innovative Practice Paper addresses three challenges we face when teaching freshmen: a) how to present a wide variety of sub-fields in electrical engineering, b) how to establish the relevance of electrical engineering to things they care about, and c) how to relate electrical engineering to students' experiences. We are attempting to address these through a mentorship program involving recent alumni working with teams of freshman electrical engineering students. Mentors are expected to: (i) come to class and speak about their job experience, (ii) meet with their teams early in the term to help them get started …