IMAGE OF ECE : Recruiting

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IMAGE OF ECE Recruiting Retention Strategies
ECEDHA 2007 Annual Meeting Issa Batarseh EECS
Director University of Central Florida
batarseh_at_mail.ucf.edu March 17, 2007
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OUTLINES

• The Current Landscape
• Understanding the Issues - Student Surveys
• Recruitment Retention Activities
• Conclusions

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University of Central Florida
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UNIVERSITY OF CENTRAL FLORIDA
1969 Enrollment 1,948 Students
2006 Enrollment 47,000 Students
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Quick Facts

• College Enrollment 5,710
• 4,700 Undergraduates
• 1,010 Graduates
• EECS Enrollment 2,363
• 1,885 Undergraduates
• 478 Graduates
• EECS has 60 T/TT faculty members

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Understanding the Issues- The Current Landscape -

• Declining engineering and science degrees. Only
  5 of HS students seek engineering or science
  degree.
• However, the real issue is not that US
  engineering graduates are 5X less that Asias, it
  is when these countries figure our the USs
  innovative culture that integrates research,
  education, economic development.
• 10 of HS students take math through calculus
  Science through physics.
• Lack of preparations, exposure, and interest in
  engineering.
• HS students have no meaningful engineering
  classroom experience.
• HS students have more and more technology in
  their pockets and less and less technology in
  their heads!
• Disconnect between higher ed, industry and k-12.

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Interest in Engineering in the U.S. has declined
for 20 Years
Over the last ten years there has been

• 50 decline instudent interest in engineering
• 14 decline in engineering degrees awarded to US
  students

Source National Science Board Science and
Engineering Indicators 2002
Courtesy of www.infinity-project.org
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Future U.S. Engineers are Scarce

• Likelihood that a High School graduate obtains an
  engineering degree
• All students 2.1
• Women 0.9
• Minorities 0.8

• In a Typical High School Graduating Class of 400
  students
• There will be 8 engineers
• 5 white males
• 2 women
• 1 minority

Courtesy of www.infinity-project.org
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US Bachelors Degrees
Source National Science Board Science and
Engineering Indicators 2002 From Mark Conner
presentation at SECEDHA 2006
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Interest in Engineering in the Asia has
Increased for 20 Years
Asia China, India, Japan, South Korea and
Taiwan. Natural science math, physics,
chemistry, astronomy, biological, and earth,
atmospheric, ocean, agricultural sciences and
computer sciences. (Source Science
Engineering Indicators, 2002)
From Mark Conner presentation at SECEDHA 2006
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Understanding the IssuesSenior Student Views

• There is a huge problem in marketing
  engineering.
• Most High School teachers do not know about the
  existing engineering and science programs. HS
  students generally dont know what engineers do
  and may often make uninformed decisions
• Some students were not motivated enough to enroll
  themselves in these intermediate high
  school/college programs.
• The teachers only teach them how to deal with the
  politics of being a high school teacher and not
  about getting young minds involved in technical
  majors or technical after school programs.
• The HS math and science curricula are not
  exciting and appear irrelevant.

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Understanding the IssuesUndergraduate College
Survey

• What influenced you to choose your current Major?
• What influenced you to change your Major?
• Students Survey
• 164 students who changed majors during Fall Sp
  04
• Respondents 113 - Students with GPA gt3.0
• Female 15 46 of all Students
• Male 85 53 left the college
• Classification
• Freshman 31 Sophomore 22
• Junior 34 Seniors 13

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Table of Major Changes
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Reasons for Choosing the Major(College)
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Reasons for Changing the Major(College)
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Understanding the IssuesUndergraduate Dept.
Survey

• Students Survey
• Respondents 93
• Female 15
• Male 85
• Classification
• Freshman 9 Sophomore 8
• Junior 27 Seniors 53
• Second Degree 2
• Expectations Met
• Yes 63 No 37
• Program Recommendation
• Would Recommend 87 Would Not 13

1. Why did you select your major? 2. Have your
expectation been met? 3. Would you recommend your
major to others? Why or why not?
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Have your expectation been met?NO 37
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Reasons to Recommend the Program(87 Yes)
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Reasons Not to Recommend the Program (13 No)
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• Recruitment Initiatives

• The Infinity Project
• FIRST Robotics
• BEST Robotics
• Robot Camp
• Florida Science Olympiad
• others

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The Infinity Project

• Partnering with SMUs initiative, The Infinity
  Project, to promote pre-engineering education in
  HS
• Exciting and innovative high school engineering
  education program
• Rooted in math and science
• Hands-on, loaded with design projects
• Emphasizes creativity
• Students learn to think like engineers and
  apply math to real problems
• Built off of the simple truth about engineering
• basic math basic technology cool stuff

photo courtesy of www.infinity-project.org
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The Infinity Project

• A year long course in cool and relevant
  engineering concepts to HS Students Sophomores
  Seniors.
• Focal point of the content is Digital Signal
  Processing
• Strong text. LabVIEW DSP. TI Hardware.
• Solid training.

photo courtesy of www.infinity-project.org
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Infinity Project objectives

• The student develops an understanding of the
  engineering design process
• The student uses a variety of technological
  devices to design, build and test engineering
  concepts.
• The student applies mathematical knowledge to
  engineering technology.
• The student explores the connections between
  humans and technology to enhance the human
  utility of engineering designs.

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Student Impact
Infinity is in place at schools in 34 states
today.

• 80 of students completing program report a very
  strong interest in pursuing engineering.
• 95 learned new math concepts
• Nearly 100 would recommend course to friend.
• Long-term, longitudinal impact studies underway

photo courtesy of www.infinity-project.org
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UCF Role in Helping HS

• UCF serves as Infinity Professional Development
  Site for schools in Florida and Southeast region.
• Help secure funds for the program, and seek
  industry support.
• Organize and host lab tours at UCF to interested
  high school students
• Serve as a contact point for interested schools.
• Help develop web-based interactive instruction
  materials.
• Fifteen HS are part of the Infinity Project.
• Creating a dual-enrollment course

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The Infinity ProjectUCF Web-Based Experiments

• Online interactive laboratory
• Provides a WEB-based complement to the Infinity
  Project
• Allows students access to the various laboratory
  assignments via the internet
• Students can now expand on their laboratory
  experience and ask additional questions by
  running the web based labs several times

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Key Features

• 45 Lab Applets in
• Sinusoids and Audio Signals
• Image Resolution and Manipulation
• Aliasing and Clipping
• Compression Encoding/Decoding
• Communications
• Forum
• Email
• Lab Notes
• EINO Interactive Intelligent Tutor

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Course Support Materials

• Outstanding textbook!
• Daily Lesson Plans Guide
• Instructors Manual
• Presentation Slides
• Student Lab Manual

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Typical Total Program Costs

• Professional Development for Teachers 750
• 750/teacher plus travel expenses
• Classroom Technology Acquisition 3,500
• 350/kit typically 10 kits per school
• Course Textbook (Prentice Hall) 1,250
• 50/book for typical class size of 25 students
• ________
• Approx. cost per Classroom 5,500

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More about the Infinity Project
www.infinity-project.org Power Point
presentation A video describing the
program Teacher comments Sample materials
All the application forms.
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FIRST Roboticshttp//www.usfirst.org
FIRST - For Inspiration Recognition of Science
and Technology

• A unique varsity sport of the mind designed to
  help HS students discover how interesting and
  rewarding the life of engineers and researchers
  can be.

UCF has hosted the state competition for the last
four years
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First Robotics What is Unique?

• It is a sport where the participants play with
  the pros and learn from them.
• Designing and building a robot is a fascinating
  real-world professional experience.
• Competing on stage brings participants as much
  excitement and adrenaline rush as conventional
  varsity tournaments.
• The game rules are a surprise every year.

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First Robotics How it Works

• INPUTS
• Teams of 15-25 HS students
• Professional engineers, mentors
• Teachers, parents, community
• Corporate sponsors
• New game challenge every year

• OUTPUTS
• Real-world engineering experience
• Technological literacy
• Inspired minds
• Teamwork skills
• Career path

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First Robotics Impact

• Inspiring student interest and participation in
  Science Technology
• 27,500 high school students engage in science and
  technology through the excitement, intensity,
  learning and fun of the FIRST Robotics
  Competition
• Building academic success
• Creating scholarship opportunities in Science
  Technology
• Close to 8 million in scholarship awards are
  available exclusively to FIRST students from some
  leading colleges and universities
• Enabling careers in Science Technology

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First Robotics How to Get involved

• Become a host campus, Organize an event or
  program
• Provide mentors
• Provide equipment and facilities
• Offer scholarships
• Provide internships
• Help out at a competition
• Make a difference in the lives of young people
• Help celebrate science and technology

FIRST Movie
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BEST Robotics
www.bestinc.org
Mission BEST is a non-profit, volunteer
organization whose mission is to inspire students
to pursue careers in engineering, science, and
technology through participation in a
sports-like, science- and engineering-based
robotics competition.
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Robot Camp
Robotics summer camps (100 students participate)

• Homegrown, week-long intensive program focusing
  on the science and math behind robotic problem
  solving
• For ages 11-18
• Over 400 students have participated
• Summer teacher trainings sponsored

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Reaching Way Out

• Students from Puerto Rico attended summer camp
  05
• Teachers from Canada have attended instructor
  training 05

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Engineering Explorers
The Engineering Explorer Post is dedicated to
helping High School students learn about careers
in science and engineering. We offer an
opportunity for students to meet engineers in the
Peoria area and learn what they do for a living.
The Engineering Explorer Post is a Learning for
Life program. We are dedicated to helping
students learn about engineering career
opportunities. The program is sponsored by
Caterpillar, Inc. and run by volunteer engineers.
Meetings are designed to introduce engineering
principles and give students insight as to what
engineers do.       Most of all, the program is
designed to be fun! We mix learning with fun
competitions designed to challenge students to
two key skills for engineers problem solving and
creativity. The program is open to high school
students grades 9 12. Our meetings are
generally held in evenings for about ten weeks in
the fall. Engineering Explorers are one of
several posts in the Central Illinois area.
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Science Olympiad

• Established in 1983 to increase interest in
  science and as an alternative to traditional
  science fairs and single-discipline tournaments.
• Has members in all 50 states, totaling more than
  12,000 actively participating K-12 schools.
• Devoted to improving the quality of science
  education, increasing student interest in science
  
• Providing recognition for outstanding achievement
  in science education by both students and
  teachers.
• Bring academic competition to the same level of
  recognition and praise normally reserved for
  athletic competitions in this country.

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Florida Science OlympiadState of Florida
Championship

• Each secondary team will compete at the local,
  state and national levels.
• These inter-scholastic competitions consist of a
  series of 32 individual and team events that
  encourage learning in biology, earth science,
  chemistry, physics, problem solving and
  technology.
• Events in the Science Olympiad have been designed
  to recognize the wide variety of skills that
  students possess.

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Florida Science OlympiadState of Florida
Championship

• On March 24th the School of EECS will host the
  State of Florida Championship for the National
  Science Olympiad competition for high school and
  middle school students.
• This event will bring over 52 high schools and
  middle school student teams to campus.
• Each team consists of up to 15 students. It is
  anticipated that the event will bring
  approximately 1000 visitors to campus.
• The goal is to bring the National Finals to UCF
  in 2012.

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Recruitment

• Participation in advising sessions and career
  fairs at local community colleges
• Participate in career fairs and other events
  hosted by local high schools and community
  colleges.
• Articulation agreements with community college
• Work with community colleges throughout the state
  of Florida to establish articulation agreements
  to support a large population of transfer
  students, allowing smooth transfer into UCF.

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K-12 Outreach

• Freshman Experience Dual Enrollment (High
  Schools)
• Provides local high school students the
  opportunity to take two introductory engineering
  courses as dual enrollment with UCF.
• JETS (100 students participate)
• JETS is a test that covers engineering concepts
  through questions regarding analysis and design.
• To provide HS students the opportunity to compete
  in teams, solving engineering problems. Interest
  them in the colleges programs and give them an
  outlet to use there academic skills.
• Participants range between 8-15 teams from
  schools throughout the central Florida area.
• Numbers vary by team with an average of
  approximately 100 students and 10 coaches
  (teachers).

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Other Recruitment Initiatives

• Open Houses (9 times/year)
• Provide prospective students information about
  CECS and its departments. Faculty and current
  students are on hand to answer questions and
  provide in-depth information on there departments
  and activities.
• Opportunity to talk about dept programs
  (Accelerated BSMS, Infinity, ...etc)
• College information sessions (every 2 weeks)
• To provide information about college
  undergraduate programs to prospective students
  and their families. Include college presentation
  program presentations highlighting the various
  departments and majors.

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K-12 Outreach

• Science Engineering Communication Mathematics
  Enrichment
• SECME is a pre-college program that focuses on
  the preparation and motivation of students who
  will follow an engineering career.
• SECMEs goal is to increase the number of
  students who are prepared to enter and complete
  post-secondary studies in science, mathematics,
  engineering and technology (SMET).
• Over 500 students from three Florida School
  Districts compete in ten engineering related
  activities.
• Expanding your Horizons (300 female students
  participate)
• Encourages young women to pursue careers in
  engineering science.
• Each year, for the past 19 years, UCF hosted EYH
  program which supplies young girls in the 4th -
  9th grades with fun and exciting workshops
  (offering 15 diverse technical workshops and the
  girls chose 2 to attend).

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K-12 Outreach

• Florida Engineering Education Conference

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K-12 Outreach

• Florida Foundation for Future Scientists
  (200,000 students participate)
• Is a statewide, non-profit organization
  authorized in1957 discover scientific and
  technical talent in the schools of Florida and to
  encourage the pursuit of careers in science,
  technology, engineering and math.
• Internet Science and Technology Fair (250
  student teams participate representing 900
  students)
• Is a 9-year old, national technology literacy
  program administered by the college
• It enables student teams in grades 3-12 to
  research technical solutions to real world
  problems using information technology tools.
• Teams are judged nationally with awards from the
  National Medal of Technology Program at the U.S.
  Department of Commerce.

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Retention_at_UCFFreshman Experience

• Goals of the freshman seminars
• Welcome to the CECS community
• Foundation for basic engineering skills
• Hands-on experience
• Competitions
• Student success skills
• Team building
• Peer mentoring
• Practical information on careers in each
  discipline
• Helped in Retention

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Freshman Seminars

• Courses
• EGN 1006 Introduction to the Engineering
  Profession (fall)
• EGN 1007 Engineering Concepts and Methods
  (spring)
• Required for all engineering majors except
  engineering technology, computer science, and
  information technology

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Freshman Seminars

• Enrollment in courses
• On avg. over 900 in fall (EGN 1006)
• On avg. over 700 in spring (EGN 1007)
• Textbooks package (Pearson publishing)
• Customized materials
• Lecture and lab components

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Lecture and Labs

• Lectures
• Taught by full-time faculty
• Departmental and administrative college guest
  speakers
• External guest speakers (industry executives,
  practicing engineers)
• Labs
• Breakout lab sessions (software tools)
• Taught by TAs (juniors, seniors, or MS students)

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Retention

• Freshman seminars 1st established fall 1998
• Maturing program over the past 8 years
• Retention definition
• Engineering FTICs (excludes CS, IT, ENT)
• Full-time engineering students enrolled in fall
  semester
• Retention 1 year later in fall
• Began as engineering or engineering pending and
  retained as engineering
• Does not include FTICs who began in CS, IT, or
  ENT and then transferred to engineering 1 year
  later

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Retention

• Fall 2000 64
• Fall 2001 69
• Fall 2002 69
• Fall 2003 69
• Fall 2004 69
• Fall 2005 67
• New college initiatives to improve flat retention
  rates

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New Initiatives _at_UCF

• Problem-solving sessions-open to HS students
• HS offering Calculus Physics are usually in
  need of tutors.
• Using undergraduate engineering students
• Mentoring Program
• Probation workshops

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Conclusions

• Recruitment, Recruitment, Recruitment
• Dept vision/mission statement should mention K-12
  outreach
• Establish and actively participate in national
  programs that promote engineering disciplines,
  and design.
• Have faculty members actively involve in working
  with area HS and/or K-12 leadership to shape
  their programs.
• Work with HS to establish a focused, long-term
  engineering Curriculum.

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Conclusions

• Alternate between the high school and university
  campuses - build bridges with HS teachers.
• Focus on improving the retention rates for
  current students
• EE and CompE programs are exciting, engaging,
  involve creativity and innovation.
• ECE is cool!
• We should not have any problem creating the WOW
  reaction

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Thank you!?