ASEE Rocky Mountain Section Conference 2023

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This collection contains some of the submitted posters and presentations that were presented at the May 2023 American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE) Rocky Mountain Section Conference held May 15-17, 2023, at Colorado School of Mines, Golden, Colorado.

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  • Publication
    The bigger the better?: a comparison of institutional repository statistics and sizes across Carnegie R1 institutions
    (Colorado School of Mines. Arthur Lakes Library) Kraus, Joseph; Bongiovanni, Emily
    This project compares the Colorado School of Mines (Mines) Library and Repository with other similarly sized public institutions and with the other R1 universities in Colorado. This poster presents data on institutional repositories at research intensive institutions across the United States, with a specific focus on Mines. There are currently 146 Research 1 (R1) institutions in the Carnegie Classification: 107 public institutions and 39 private institutions. Colorado School of Mines is compared to 27 R1 public universities that have the smallest library budgets (salaries plus materials). This is the 4th quartile of 107 public universities found in the NCES database. Mines is also compared to five R1 institutions in the state of Colorado.
  • Publication
    Making science-engineering inquiry culturally relevant in rural Colorado
    (Colorado School of Mines. Arthur Lakes Library) Kennedy, Joe M.; Knight, Daniel; Polman, Joseph
    The Science-Engineering Inquiry Collaborative in Rural Colorado (SCENIC) project involves collaboration between students and faculty from CU's College of Engineering and Applied Sciences and School of Education with teachers and students in rural Colorado high schools. The SCENIC project is a research-practice partnership focused on engaging youth in 11 rural high schools, mentored by engineering students from CU, in scientific and engineering inquiry with the help of air quality and soil quality monitoring tools. SCENIC focuses on project-based learning and place-based pedagogy in the context of independently formed K-12 student driven projects which allow students to connect scientific inquiry to their lives outside of school. The aim of this research-practice partnership is to better understand how project-based scientific inquiry involving high school students, supported by university students, can serve the needs of rural schools. Not everyone can or necessarily should aspire to be a scientist or engineer by trade, but the skills and knowledge acquired through formal science education are likely to benefit all students in today's world. Rural students have been historically underrepresented in the fields of science and engineering and SCENIC aims to increase access to science as a field for this population. For this poster, our research question is: how can educators make engineering-science inquiry culturally relevant to rural students? We will conduct a mixed methods analysis based on K-12 student responses to surveys, participant observations of project work, and coding of students' final project posters. By gaining understanding of the varying ways the project-based curriculum and practices can be structured, organized, and implemented, we can promote the learning and development of everyone involved. From the CU Boulder mentors to the rural high school students and teachers, SCENIC will add value to academic education research in scientific inquiry by researching structural and pedagogical approaches to project-based teaching.
  • Publication
    Addressing accommodation gaps for students with disabilities entering higher education
    (Colorado School of Mines. Arthur Lakes Library) Regan, Jamie M.
    Regulatory support for individuals with disabilities decreases when students enter college. While in primary and secondary school students can rely on the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) which ensures they receive appropriate accommodations. It also ensures staff meet students' needs as outlined in their Individualized Education Program (IEP). Upon entering higher education these policies no longer apply and institutions are often unable to provide the same level of support to which these students have grown accustomed. Research has shown that even when an institution has a disability support department, it doesn't have the power to enforce significant institutional change. What this means is that the students are being thrust into a new environment, usually alone, where they must learn to advocate for themselves and learn without the aid of policies upon which they had previously relied. In Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) disciplines the disparity between high school and college is even more apparent. Historically STEM education has had a small population of disabled students, this has led to the belief that people with disabilities cannot succeed in STEM. This also means that many programs do not have the resources or experience to handle accessibility issues. This poster will outline my research, including an extensive literature review, into the ways in which students are struggling with the transition from high school to college as well as examples of programs being implemented to make STEM more accessible.
  • Publication
    Rethinking electronics industry workforce development: case studies on high school and middle school students with semiconductor design and advanced electronics prototyping
    (Colorado School of Mines. Arthur Lakes Library) Edwards, Nathan J.; Kiss, Steven; Grizzle, Carter; Edwards, Asher; Sekar, Vaanathi; Branning, John; Meadows, Brett; Kassem, Mohamed; McGivern, Michael
    For more than ten years the United States has experienced a major gap in skilled workforce availability with over 100,000 unfilled jobs for the electronics industry, yet the majority of talent pipeline discussions only consider university-level matriculation and overlook the ability of high school and middle school students to learn and contribute to electronics innovation and industry. The large misconception is that students must complete a post-secondary degree or education program to start contributing to electronics innovation or to begin their career. This paper provides two case studies that challenges those assumptions and establishes what high school students and middle school students can accomplish with mentoring, streamlined coursework, and experiential learning through applied engineering projects in semiconductor design and advanced electronics prototyping. By rethinking how to conduct STEM education using observations from these case studies, closing the sustained U.S. electronics workforce gap can become more of a reality.