Engineering Commons^™

Evaluating Company Culture Of Roofing Contracting Companies To Attract And Retain Women In The Industry, Gopika Viswanathan

All Theses

The US construction industry, similar to many other industries, has a low representation of women. This difference is even more pronounced in construction trades, such as the roofing industry. The admission of more women into the industry is important to address workforce shortage issues that the industry is facing. Company culture has been cited as one of the primary reasons why women choose not to enter the industry or face barriers during their careers. The main objective of this study was to evaluate the company culture of roofing companies through factors identified by literature and by women and companies in …

Disruptions To The “Modeled Minority” In Engineering: Why Do Some Asian American Students Leave Engineering?, Michelle Choi Ausman, Qin Zhu

Research Papers

Asian American students are the largest non-White racial group in US undergraduate engineering, but they are often labeled as the "model minority." This stereotype confines them to STEM majors, limiting their access to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs. Little attention has been given to why some Asian American students leave engineering. To address this gap, a pilot study using semi-structured interviews aims to explore the reasons behind their decision to leave the field or change their major. The study seeks to contribute to engineering education scholarship by promoting more inclusive learning environments for Asian American students and providing recommendations …

Comparing Polytechnic And Liberal Arts Institutions: Leaks In The System, Ryan Drew Baldwin

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

The United States has long been a pioneer in higher education, yet the last few decades have proven challenging in maintaining its lead in the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics fields (STEM). Students entering postsecondary education and participating in a STEM degree face increased academic rigor and this study’s goal is to better understand factors that influence their retention. There are many psychosocial, environmental, and academic variables that may impact a student’s retention and this study aims to investigate how those variables inform a students likelihood of being retained and if there are meaningful differences between polytechnic and non-polytechnic institutions.

The First Annual Teaching And Research Showcase Poster Tu Dublin – The Proof Is In The Pudding – Using Perceived Stress To Measure Short-Term Impact In Initiatives To Enhance Gender Balance In Computing Education, Alina Berry, Sarah Jane Delany

Other resources

The problem of gender imbalance in computing higher education has forced academics and professionals to implement a wide range of initiatives. Many initiatives use recruitment or retention numbers as their most obvious evidence of impact. This type of evidence of impact is, however, more resource heavy to obtain, as well as often requires a longitudinal approach. There are many shorter term initiatives that use other ways to measure their success.

First, this poster presents with a review of existing evaluation measures in interventions to recruit and retain women in computing education across the board. Three main groups of evaluation come …

Factors That Influence The Recruitment And Retention Of Civil Engineers, Gina Young Souriac

Theses and Dissertations

With a growing demand for civil engineers in the United States, understanding factors that influence students to choose civil engineering (CE) as a major in college, pursue an M.S. degree in CE, and persist in the CE industry can lead to valuable insights for recruitment and retention of future and current civil engineers. Additionally, understanding factors that prominently influence male and female civil engineers to persist in and depart from CE, separately, can lead to valuable insight towards improving focused recruitment and retention of both genders. This thesis includes three research studies that identify, analyze, and discuss these important factors. …

Generation Z And Their Use Of Learning Management System In Programming Courses, Ole Schultz, Tomasz Blaszczyk

Practice Papers

Generation Z students have grown up with ICT (information and communication technology) and are therefore used to being online more or less simultaneously on different types of media. Universities have different kinds of Learning Management Systems (LMS) with different possibilities for engagement. In the Electrical Engineering B. Eng. program at the Technical University of Denmark (DTU) we use a system called Learn. It has features for setting up individual study plans as well as common plans. Features such as surveys, quizzes, peer reviews are built in. We are interested in the students' use of the LMS, their engagement and the …

A Novel Numerical Model Of Gelant Inaccessible Pore Volume For In Situ Gel Treatment, Jianqiao Leng, Xindi Sun, Mingzhen Wei, Baojun Bai

Geosciences and Geological and Petroleum Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Inaccessible pore volume (IAPV) can have an important impact on the placement of gelant during in situ gel treatment for conformance control. Previously, IAPV was considered to be a constant factor in simulators, yet it lacked dynamic characterization. This paper proposes a numerical simulation model of IAPV. The model was derived based on the theoretical hydrodynamic model of gelant molecules. The model considers both static features, such as gelant and formation properties, and dynamic features, such as gelant rheology and retention. To validate our model, we collected IAPV from 64 experiments and the results showed that our model fit moderately …

A Novel Numerical Model Of Gelant Inaccessible Pore Volume For In Situ Gel Treatment, Jianqiao Leng, Xindi Sun, Mingzhen Wei, Baojun Bai

Geosciences and Geological and Petroleum Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Inaccessible pore volume (IAPV) can have an important impact on the placement of gelant during in situ gel treatment for conformance control. Previously, IAPV was considered to be a constant factor in simulators, yet it lacked dynamic characterization. This paper proposes a numerical simulation model of IAPV. The model was derived based on the theoretical hydrodynamic model of gelant molecules. The model considers both static features, such as gelant and formation properties, and dynamic features, such as gelant rheology and retention. To validate our model, we collected IAPV from 64 experiments and the results showed that our model fit moderately …

Pathways Towards An Engineering Baccalaureate Degree - Critical Incidents And Factors Leading Students To Choose Community College: A Phenomenological Study, Joan Zitur Carter

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

Women and underrepresented minorities can help fill the ever-growing demand for engineers in the United States. Quality teaching methods, an understanding of the cognitive aspects of learning, and faculty addressing biases help ensure student success in engineering majors. Accordingly, the community college engineering pathway can help fill the national need for engineers. This phenomenological study sought to describe the experience of students who choose the community college pathway toward a Bachelor of Science degree in Engineering. Thirteen participants were interviewed; all took engineering courses at the same community college, transferred to a four-year engineering university (10 to a R1), and …

Predicting Student Success In An Electrical Engineering Program, Edward Carl Greco Jr., Matthew Garett Young

Faculty Publications - Electrical Engineering

Successful completion of course of study leading to graduation in electrical engineering was found to be linked to a couple of key gateway courses. Students that performed below a threshold in these early courses had a lower probability of graduating and could then be identified for additional assistance. Based on these results, changes were implemented in the curriculum to enhance student success in these preliminary courses to facilitate retention.

Women And Bipoc In Aerospace: Where Did They Come From And How Did They Get Here?, Tracy L. Yother, Anne M. Lucietto, Geanie Umberger, Mary E. Johnson

School of Engineering Education Faculty Publications

The low number of women and black, indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) compared to their population, is well-documented in engineering, engineering technology, and other STEM fields. Through this and ancillary documentation there is agreement that increasing the numbers of women and other minorities in these areas will enhance productivity and the breadth of new innovation. Many efforts have been made to increase the number of women and BIPOC in STEM fields. The result of those efforts has been disappointing as they have resulted in minimal growth in engineering and virtual stagnation in other areas of STEM. The aviation and …

Women’S Perceptions Of The Aviation Workplace: An Exploratory Study, Lindsay Stevenson, Haydee Cuevas, Katya K. Rivera, Katie Kirkpatrick, Marisa Aguiar, Jorge L. D. Albelo

Publications

The purpose of this exploratory study was to garner a better understanding of the following research question: What factors may contribute to women’s retention in aviation occupations in the United States? The Aviation Occupation Survey was developed drawing from the published literature in organizational retention and diversity in aviation to explore this research question. The survey consisted of 50 Likert-scale items on nine subjects related to career retention. A total of 188 participants (women = 70, men = 118) completed the survey. Results revealed similarities between women and men on perceptions about numerous aspects of their workplace, particularly job satisfaction, …

Modeling Air Force Retention With Macroeconomic Indicators, Michelle K. Mcgee

Theses and Dissertations

Officer retention has been a longstanding problem for Air Force leadership. Both intuition and previous research suggest economic and demographic factors play important roles in an officers decision to separate from service. Leading economic indicators are nationally reported statistics that tend to be predictive of where the economy is heading. This work targets the research gap of how leading economic indicators explain and predict attrition. Due to the noisy, complex nature of the data, the model had varied success in accurately predicting future attrition rates. As a result of this research, the current models can incorporate these findings to become …

Cardiovascular Surgery Practice Remodel: Increasing Job Satisfaction And Reducing Turnover Rates Of Advanced Practice Providers, Christian Brooks

Doctor of Nursing Practice Scholarly Project

Cardiovascular Surgery Practice Remodel: Increasing Job Satisfaction and Reducing Turnover Rates of Advanced Practice Providers

Background: The CVS practice in a Midwestern state had a shift in morale and job satisfaction in their advanced practice providers (APPs). This shift lead to the high turnover rate of 35% in 2018. In an effort to bring a halt to the high turnover rate, and to continue the excellent patient care for which the hospital is known, hospital administration became involved and set up a committee to guide the development of a new CVS APP practice model. The goal was to develop …

Student Learning And Retention Using A Flight Training Device: A Case Study, Adeel Khalid

National Training Aircraft Symposium (NTAS)

Student learning and retention as a function of the mode of teaching is analyzed in this study. Different groups of students receive information about aircraft flight operations either via lecture, through directed study, a combination of the two or through a pre-recorded flight demonstration video. Their level of learning is assessed by evaluating how well they fly an aircraft and perform a predefined mission using a flight simulator. Scores of different groups are compared qualitatively and quantitatively and students are surveyed after the flight. It is hypothesized that students that learn through watching a demonstration video and have the ability …

The Engineering Decisions For Mitigation Of Damages In Landslide Hazardous Regions Of Uzbekistan, M.Х. Miralimov, Sh.U. Normurodov

Journal of Tashkent Institute of Railway Engineers

The article provides information on ongoing measures to protect the population, territory and infrastructure from the hazards associated with landslides and the elimination of their consequences. The whole complex of measures aimed to the decision the engineering tasks of anti-landslide protection are turned into the recognition and assessment of threats, stabilization and retention of the landslide massif.

Partnering Undergraduate Engineering Students With Preservice Teachers To Design And Teach An Elementary Engineering Lesson Through Ed+Gineering, Kristie Gutierrez, Stacie I. Ringleb, Jennifer Jill Kidd, Orlando M. Ayala, Pilar Pazos, Krishnanand Kaipa

Teaching & Learning Faculty Publications

Major challenges in engineering education include retention of undergraduate engineering students (UESs) and continued engagement after the first year when concepts increase in difficulty. Additionally, employers, as well as ABET, look for students to demonstrate non-technical skills, including the ability to work successfully in groups, the ability to communicate both within and outside their discipline, and the ability to find information that will help them solve problems and contribute to lifelong learning. Teacher education is also facing challenges given the recent incorporation of engineering practices and core ideas into the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) and state level standards of …

Strategies Road Freight Transport Leaders Use To Increase Driver Retention, Johnny Mumphrey Jr.

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The turnover of skilled over-the-road (OTR) truck drivers in the road freight transportation (RFT) industry results in significant yearly financial losses to organizations across the United States. Leaders in the industry continue to struggle to develop successful strategies for retaining these drivers. Grounded in the motivation hygiene theory, the purpose of this multiple case study was to explore strategies 5 transformational leaders from two RFT firms in North Texas used to improve OTR driver retention. Data collection included semi structured face-to-face interviews, a review of company webpages, and an assessment of company documents (e.g., employee handbooks, training manuals, and vision …

Removal Of Trace Organic Contaminants By Enzymatic Membrane Bioreactors: Role Of Membrane Retention And Biodegradation, Muhammad Bilal Asif, Jingwei Hou, William E. Price, Vicki Chen, Faisal I. Hai

Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences - Papers: Part B

Performance of an enzymatic membrane bioreactor (EMBR) equipped with either an ultrafiltration (UF) or a nanofiltration (NF) membrane was explored for the degradation of a set of 29 chemically diverse trace organic contaminants (TrOCs). The NF membrane provided effective retention (90-99%) of TrOCs within the NF-EMBR. On the other hand, partial retention of charged and significantly hydrophobic (log >3) TrOCs was achieved by the UF membrane via charge repulsion and adsorption on the enzyme gel-layer formed on the membrane surface during UF-EMBR operation. Laccase achieved TrOC-specific degradation in both EMBRs. The extent of TrOC degradation was significantly (5 to 65%) …

A Study Of Onboarding And Turnover Mediating Variables In U.S. Air Force Officers, Brett S. Bowers

Theses and Dissertations

Employee retention, while always a concern in the workplace, has become a greater challenge for organizations in recent years. Today’s working class has displayed a propensity to change jobs more rapidly than previous generations, exacerbating not only turnover rates but also the costs associated with them (Frankel, 2016). This challenge is especially relevant to the United States Air Force, which has experienced difficulty retaining young officers in recent years. The problems resulting from this voluntary turnover are exceedingly impactful to the military command structure, as senior leaders must work their way up from the lowest ranks. As such, the Air …

Effect Of Project Lead The Way Participation On Retention In Engineering Degree Programs, Juliana Utley, Toni Ivey, John Weaver, Mary Jo Self

Journal of Pre-College Engineering Education Research (J-PEER)

A key goal of pre-college engineering programs is to increase the number and retention of students pursuing engineering degrees. The researchers conducted a transcript analysis in order to compare the retention of entering engineering majors at a university based on whether or not they participated in Project Lead the Way (PLTW) in high school. PLTW Engineering is a high school pre-engineering curriculum that offers a series of courses to increase student awareness and scaffold an understanding of engineering design. The findings from this study offer little support regarding the impact of students’ PLTW participation on engineering degree completion. However, findings …

Engineering Technology Graduates: A Survey Of Demographics And Mentoring, Anne M. Lucietto, Elizabeth Dell, Elaine M. Cooney, Lisa Ann Russel, Emily Schott

School of Engineering Education Faculty Publications

Early in 2017, a team of engineering technology practitioners along with others interested in the state of engineering technology published a report entitled “Engineering Technology Education in the United States.” This report garnered a list of recommendations and things that needed to be investigated to further our understanding of this student population; specifically focusing on the students and how they relate to other students studying both similar and different material. A team of like-minded engineering technology education researchers have been working together to ascertain the answers to the findings. They prepared two surveys, obtained institutional approval, and distributed it throughout …

Engineering Technology Undergraduate Students: A Survey Of Demographics And Mentoring, Anne M. Lucietto, Elizabeth Dell, Elaine M. Cooney, Lisa Ann Russell, Emily Schott

School of Engineering Education Faculty Publications

A report published by a group of engineering technology practitioners and others interested in engineering technology called “Engineering Technology Education in the United States” was released in early 2017. The report provided recommendations of areas for further study related to engineering technology students to increase our understanding of the population. These specifically suggested focusing on the students in comparison to other students in similar and different fields of study. Following these recommendations, a team of engineering technology education researchers has been collaborating to gather information in these areas. The team obtained institutional approval and distributed two surveys throughout the United …

Optimization Of The Retention Rates Of Ready Mix Usa Drivers, Pruthvi Hira, Jaime Harmon, Kenneth Correa, Destiny Sessums

Senior Design Project For Engineers

Ready Mix USA, a CEMEX company, is a giant in the building materials industry, servicing the Southeastern region of the United States through various commercial and residential projects. The Atlanta Division of RMUSA currently consists of 15 operational plants in the state of Georgia with its headquarters located in Woodstock. From the years 2015 to 2018, managers at Ready Mix USA noticed a drastic increase in turnover rates of ready mix truck drivers and did not have an answer for the increasing percentages. The Continuous Improvement at RMUSA tasked the student project team from the Industrial and Systems Engineering department …

Aligning Best Practices In Student Success And Career Preparedness: An Exploratory Study To Establish Pathways To Stem Careers For Undergraduate Minority Students, Kimberly D. Kendricks, Anthony A. Arment, K. V. Nedunuri, Cadance A. Lowell

Journal of Research in Technical Careers

Undergraduate minority retention and graduation rates in STEM disciplines is a nationally recognized challenge for workforce growth and diversification. The Benjamin Banneker Scholars Program (BBSP) was a five-year undergraduate study developed to increase minority student retention and graduation rates at an HBCU. The program structure utilized a family model as a vehicle to orient students to the demands of college. Program activities integrated best K-12 practices and workforce skillsets to increase academic preparedness and career readiness. Findings revealed that a familial atmosphere improved academic performance, increased undergraduate research, and generated positive perceptions of faculty mentoring. Retention rates among BBSP participants …

Retention Strategies For Oil And Gas Industry Managers, Faye Gerard

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The turnover cost of specialized employees in the oil and gas industry can exceed 400% of an employee's annual salary. The purpose of this multiple case study was to explore successful strategies that oil and gas company managers used to retain specialized employees. The specific population for the study was 8 managers from 4 oil and gas companies in a metropolitan city in the southern United States, which included 5 hiring managers and 3 engineering managers who had demonstrated success in retaining specialized employees. The conceptual lens used in this research study was the job embeddedness theory. Study data were …

Using Active Learning And The Wright State Model For Engineering Mathematics Education To Cultivate Academic Success Among First-Year Engineering Students, Leroy Long Iii

Publications

A mid-sized private university in the Southeast has created an experimental first-year engineering course based on the Wright State Model for Engineering Mathematics Education. The course aims to increase student retention, motivation, and success in engineering through an application-oriented, hands-on introduction to engineering mathematics. Therefore, active learning techniques were used throughout the course. Students provided preliminary qualitative data via end-of-course evaluations. Preliminary quantitative data included student course grades, cumulative GPAs (CGPAs), and retention rates. Thus far, students taking the experimental firstyear engineering course believe they gain confidence and skills such as problem-solving, time management, study habits, computer programming, as well …

"I Don't Belong With All The Really Smart Kids Here": Student Characterizations Of Belonging In Engineering, Lisa J. Musselman, Jacqueline A. Rohde, Brianna S. Benedict, Allison Godwin

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

This research paper is a qualitative study of how students with diverse demographics, mindsets, and identities describe what it means to belong in engineering. Engineering students’ sense of belonging has a significant impact on students’ decisions to leave engineering. Talented students who feel that they do not belong in engineering are more likely to leave than their peers. Previous studies have focused on belonging for underrepresented students in engineering (e.g., women or minorities) or specific factors contributing to student belonging (e.g., classroom performance). However, few have explored how students describe what it means for them to belong in engineering to …

Writing And Women's Retention In Engineering, Jennifer C. Mallette

English Literature Faculty Publications and Presentations

Engineering disciplines have focused on recruiting and retaining women, assessing factors that contribute to decisions to enter or exit the field at every level. While many studies have examined writing in engineering disciplines, few have looked at writing’s role in women’s decisions to remain in or leave engineering. Using a case study of a professional civil engineer, Katy, this study examines the role that writing played in her dissatisfaction with engineering and her ultimate decision to leave the field. The author analyzes two genres of writing, meeting minutes and a preliminary engineering report, to explore how Katy’s writing practices often …

Testing Our Assumptions: The Role Of First Course Grade And Course Level In Mathematics And English, Janet Callahan, Marcia Belcheir

Materials Science and Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Methods that provide an early indicator of factors that affect student persistence are important to colleges and universities. This quantitative research focused on the role of level of entry mathematics and English and also on grades earned in those classes as they relate to persistence after one year. The research showed that by far, the variable most predictive of first-time, full-time students enrolling one year later was earning a grade of “A” in English. Compared to those who did not pass their first English course, students who earned an “A” were three times more likely to persist. The variables which …