TY - GEN
T1 - Helping undergraduate engineering students discover their interests (and reduce their fear of research)
AU - Anderson-Rowland, Mary R.
AU - Rodriguez, Armando
AU - Grierson, Anita E.
PY - 2015/12/2
Y1 - 2015/12/2
N2 - In recent years, there has been an increased emphasis on undergraduate research. High tech companies need research to keep them competitive. This paper addresses the issue of getting engineering and computer science students interested in focused engineering and computer science areas so they are excited about these topics and want to learn more by doing research in that area. Our method is to encourage the student to research and write an interest paper as a first step to writing a proposal to seek and do organized research. In order to evaluate this approach, a survey was completed by 57 students in an Academic Success and Professional Development class who were assigned the writing of an interest paper in engineering or computer science. Results show that the assignment was successful for some students in leading them to an area of research in which they were interested and in other cases learning that they were not that interested in a particular area. Other students found a second interest. In this assignment, some students used an engineering data base for the first time.
AB - In recent years, there has been an increased emphasis on undergraduate research. High tech companies need research to keep them competitive. This paper addresses the issue of getting engineering and computer science students interested in focused engineering and computer science areas so they are excited about these topics and want to learn more by doing research in that area. Our method is to encourage the student to research and write an interest paper as a first step to writing a proposal to seek and do organized research. In order to evaluate this approach, a survey was completed by 57 students in an Academic Success and Professional Development class who were assigned the writing of an interest paper in engineering or computer science. Results show that the assignment was successful for some students in leading them to an area of research in which they were interested and in other cases learning that they were not that interested in a particular area. Other students found a second interest. In this assignment, some students used an engineering data base for the first time.
KW - Increasing Interest in Engineering Topics
KW - Research
KW - Undergraduate Engineering and Computer Science Students
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84960397353&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=84960397353&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1109/FIE.2015.7344275
DO - 10.1109/FIE.2015.7344275
M3 - Conference contribution
AN - SCOPUS:84960397353
T3 - Proceedings - Frontiers in Education Conference, FIE
BT - 2015 IEEE Frontiers in Education Conference
PB - Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.
T2 - 2015 IEEE Frontiers in Education Conference, FIE 2015
Y2 - 21 October 2015 through 24 October 2015
ER -