The impetus for the Sustainable Bridges from Campus to Campus study is to address the urgent need to expand the pool of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) graduates, especially African American, Native American, and Hispanic students. Long-term improvements in the pipeline of a diverse STEM workforce start with sustaining effective bridge programs that can produce more Engineering baccalaureates. To improve retention in Engineering, this study will conduct academic enrichment programs for racially underrepresented Engineering students at three points in their career at the Pennsylvania State University—entering freshmen, rising sophomores, and rising juniors. The goals of the study are to (a) increase retention in Engineering among racially underrepresented students in the Pennsylvania State University system, (b) develop long-term sustainability plans for these enrichment programs, and (c) compare retention rates in Engineering depending on whether students attended a summer academic enhancement program at their local campus or at a different campus and whether they transfer between campuses within the University system. The guiding framework for the bridge programs is the Minority Engineering Program (MEP) Model. The study started in January 2016. During summer 2016, we conducted 5 summer bridge programs with the first cohort of freshmen across 4 campuses in the University system. The students in Cohort 1 are currently in the fall semester of their freshmen year. At this early point in the study, our paper can present an overview of the project as well as reporting preliminary data on Cohort 1 after their first semester (Fall 2016). Academic performance data after the first semester include grade point average, math course grades, academic social support, and whether they are retained at the University.
http://orcid.org/0000-0002-7484-0729
Pennsylvania State University, University Park
[biography]
Dr. Amy L. Freeman holds a Master of Science degree in Engineering and a Ph.D. in Workforce Education. She has a been a practitioner of engineering education for almost two decades and is a member of several organizations and networks that support her research interest: access and inclusion to STEM education. Dr. Freeman is currently serving as Assistant Dean in the College of Engineering at The Pennsylvania State University and continues to provide administrative direction for the Center for Engineering Outreach and Inclusion through the cultivation of partnerships with corporations, alumni, university constituents and organizational alliances.
Mikhail (Mike) Kagan is an assistant professor of physics at Penn State Abington. He received a Ph.D. in Physics from the Pennsylvania State University. Dr. Kagan's research interests are diverse and include Quantum Gravity and Cosmology, Physical Applications of Graph Theory, as well as Physics Education. Dr. Kagan has over twenty years of experience teaching math, physics an astronomy at middle, high school and university level. For the last several years, he has implemented Investigative Science Learning Environment (ISLE) in his classes.
Dr. Peter J. Shull is an associate professor of engineering at Penn State University. He received his undergraduate degree from Bucknell University in mechanical engineering and his graduate degrees from The Johns Hopkins University in engineering science. Dr. Shull’s research has two main foci—nondestructive evaluation methods as applied to process control (NDE) and pedagogical methodology. Dr. Shull’s pedagogical efforts include meta-cognitive strategy learning to improve student academic success, an interest in women’s issues within the engineering environment, integrated, experiential techniques to improve engineering students’ social emotional development as applied to teamwork and communication, and program assessment methods that minimize stakeholders’ efforts while maximizing the effectiveness of the measurement tool.
Catherine Cohan, Ph.D. has been a research psychologist for over 20 years. Her areas of expertise include engineering education, retention of underrepresented students, measurement, and assessment. She is currently an Assistant Research Professor and coordinates the Sustainable Bridges NSF IUSE project (Peter Butler, PI). Previously, she was the project coordinator the the Toys'n MORE NSF STEP project (Renata Engel, PI).
Are you a researcher? Would you like to cite this paper? Visit the ASEE document repository at peer.asee.org for more tools and easy citations.