Get Involved in 2014

Another year and another semester are upon us.  I made a New Year’s Resolution to drink more water.  In order to drink more water I need to drink less Diet Coke.  It’s day 9 of no Diet Coke and I haven’t died of dehydration, so I think that means I’m doing pretty well so far.   I’d like to challenge all of our UTA Industrial Engineering undergraduate students to make a New Semester’s Resolution.  Let’s call it “Get Involved in 2014!”

There are so many great opportunities for students to get involved in the department, at UTA, in the community and as industrial engineers.  Our student chapter of the Institute of Industrial Engineers is very active.  They have monthly meetings, plant tours, social outings, a student lounge in Woolf Hall, intermural teams, a newsletter, and a Facebook page just off the top of my head.  If you haven’t been active with IIE in the past, that’s an easy, fun, rewarding way to “Get Involved in 2014”.

If you want to challenge yourself even more think about taking advantage of one of the many extra opportunities that are available to IE undergraduate students.  One example is the Values and Ventures competition being sponsored by TCU and open to undergraduate student teams from UTA.  The competition involves building a business plan for “for-profit enterprises that impact society in meaningful ways.”  I know a lot of you are interested in entrepreneurship and this would be a great way to gain some experience in that arena.  You can find more information about the competition at the following website:

http://www.neeley.tcu.edu/Centers/Neeley_Entrepreneurship_Center/Values_and_Ventures/Participant_Guide.aspx

Texas A&M University is accepting applications for its 2014 Summer Undergraduate Research Program.  As part of the program, undergraduate students work closely with faculty members on current or individual research projects, attend development and GRE workshops, make a formal poster presentation of their research experience, and submit a final written report describing the results of their research.   A $5,000 scholarship, tuition and fees, housing and travel expenses are provided.  This is opportunity would be especially valuable for any student considering graduate school.  You can find eligibility requirements and details can be found here:  http://easa.tamu.edu/usrg.

There are also several opportunities to get involved with service learning in the IMSE department this coming semester.  I have an immediate opportunity to work with Mission Arlington on improving operations in their healthcare clinic.  I also have a very exciting upcoming project involving developing a healthcare app for older adults.  These opportunities would allow you to put your IE skills to use in some service environments as well as allow you to serve your community.

These are just a few opportunities. There are many, many more announced every week.  These types of activities allow you to improve your resume, network with professionals from around the world, gain valuable experience, and give back to the community.  All while improving your IE skills.  If you have any questions about any of the specific activities I’ve mentioned or want to learn how to make yourself aware of other opportunities feel free to contact me.  UTA IE undergrads, I challenge you to “Get Involved in 2014.”  If I can give up Diet Coke you can do anything!

Written by
Dr. Bonnie Boardman
IMSE Faculty

Dr. Boardman’s Conference Experience in Pittsburgh

Earlier this summer I attended the First Year Engineering Experience conference at the University of Pittsburgh.  The conference afforded me an opportunity to meet with other engineering educators, discuss ideas, reflect on the topics and issues from the sessions, and chart new directions and collaborations.  I met lots of great people and was inspired by what I heard.  I’m already using many of the tips and techniques that I learned.  At the conference I presented a paper about the correlation between being good at working in teams and being successful in graduating with an engineering degree at UTA.

Each semester a new batch of engineering students join one of UTA’s six departments offering an undergraduate degree in engineering.  They all sign up for an interdisciplinary Introduction to Engineering course.   Students in the class are assigned by the instructors to interdisciplinary teams of six students each.  At the end of the semester, each student is required to submit a peer evaluation of each of his or her teammates as well as evaluate their own participation and contribution to the team’s activities. The instructors read each of the team members’ evaluations and note when a student consistently earns low marks from his or her peers.  Those students rated low enough in peer evaluations for the instructors to reduce their project score are defined as “team underachievers.”  Dr. Peterson and I hypothesized that there was a correlation between team performance in this first semester interdisciplinary group work effort and ultimate success in the College of Engineering.  For this analysis we identified team underachievers from the Fall 2008 semester and tracked their academic career at UTA.

We compared the number of team underachievers in each of the categories to a randomly-selected group of students from the same peer group who were not deemed team underachievers to look for significant differences in their educational path.  A chi-square test for association was performed to see if there was a relationship between team achievement in the Introduction to Engineering class and the current educational status of students who took the class in the fall 2008 semester.  The results showed that the null hypothesis was rejected and there is a relationship between team achievement in the Introduction to Engineering class and educational status of the student population sampled.

These results suggest that while it not is necessary to be good at team work to be successful in university level education it is necessary to be successful in engineering education.  So work on your teamwork skills students.  It will be important to you now and later!

If you are interested in seeing the complete statistical analysis feel free to email me (boardman@uta.edu) for a copy of the paper presented.

Written by Dr. Bonnie Boardman
IMSE Faculty