Pre-university Engineering Education in the IEEE

April 2008Los Angeles, California

Litsa Micheli Tzanakou, Moshe Kam, Douglas Gorham

IEEE Educational Activities

A Few Words about IEEE

IEEE is the largest professional engineering association in the world

Over 370,000 members in more than 150 countries A 501(c)3 organization incorporated in New York

Originally concentrating on power engineering and communications IEEE at present spans technical interests across the spectrum of technology

From nanotechnology to oceanic engineering

In many respects IEEE has become “the steward of Engineering”

It all starts in Philadelphia… AIEE

In 1884 the Franklin Institute organized the International Electrical Exhibition in Philadelphia

The Operator, 15 April 1884 “The…exhibition would be attended by foreign electrical savants, engineers, and manufacturers...it would be a lasting disgrace to American electricians if no American electrical national society was in existence to receive them with the honors due them from their co-laborers in the United States." Thomas Edison, Elihu Thomson, Edwin Houston, and Edward Weston

AIEE’s First Technical Meeting 7-8 October 1884, the Franklin Institute

Early Presidents

Alexander G. Bell Elihu Thomson Charles Steinmetz Frank Sprague

A few more recent Presidents

Lewis Terman Leah Jamieson Joseph Bordogna Michael Lightner

AIEE IRE

Established 1884

An American Organization

Representing the establishment

Rooted in Power Engineering

First computers working group Now the Computer Society

Established 1908

An international Organization

Open to students, young professionals

Quick to adopt advances in radar, radio, TV, electronics, computers

Proceedings of the Institute of Radio Engineers (January 1913)

1963: Merger of AIEE and IRE to create IEEE

Total IEEE Membership1963 - 2007

1963 1973

1983

1993

2007

What is IEEE?

A membership organization

A major creator and guardian of technical IP

A mechanism to bring people of common technical interests together

both geographically and disciplinarily

A guardian of the future of Engineering

An implementer of technology-related Public Imperatives

What does IEEE do?

Publishes literature in engineering, technology and computing

Organizes conferences

Develops standards

Gets engineers and technologists from different locales together

Organizes professional activities among engineering students

Educates the public about Engineering

Why is IEEE interested in pre-university engineering education?

Because it is in our stated and un-stated mission

Because in many IEEE Sections there is marked decline in the interest of young people in Engineering

The future of these communities is jeopardized and would have a negative impact on their standard of living

Because we do not believe the problem is going to be tackled effectively without us

Industry does not appear to be able to address the problem directly

Governments do not appear sufficiently concerned (yet) Other engineering associations look up to us

What is the Problem?

Flat or declining engineering enrollments in most developed nations

Insufficient number of engineers and engineering educational programs in most developing countries

Asia is far behind Europe and the US in number of engineers per capita

New baccalaureate engineering degrees per year per million citizens (2004)

Country Number of degrees per million citizens

USA 468.3

China 271.1

India 103.7

South Africa

36.5

What is the Problem?

Women & minority students conspicuously under-represented

Public perception of engineers/ engineering/ technology is largely misinformed Resulting in early decisions that block

the path of children to Engineering

Engineering degrees US: 2005-2006

http://www.asee.org/publications/profiles/upload/2006ProfileEng.pdf

Percentage of Science Degrees Awarded

Science degrees include life sciences, physical sciences, mathematics, statistics, computer sciences, engineering, manufacturing, and building

Source: Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development

41

.83

63

2.4

18

.41

5.6

38

.43

2.5

28

.21

5.8

13

39

.53

1.5

24

.21

5.9 15

38

.43

12

5.9

15

.71

4.9

38

.93

1.1

25

16

.4 17

.4

38

.53

0.8

24

.61

4.8

16

.2

39

.73

3.3

27

.91

6.7

17

.1

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

50

1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005

South Korea

Germany

Czech Rep.

USA

Norway

B.Sc Degrees in Engineering by Gender, US: 2005-2006

http://www.asee.org/publications/profiles/upload/2006ProfileEng.pdf

B.Sc Degrees in Engineering by Ethnicity, US: 2005-2006

OECD Program for International Student Assessment

Mathematics, 15 year old students

The United States

Finland, Korea, the Netherlands, Japan

Pre-university activities in IEEE

IEEE’s Pre-University Initiative 2005-2006 New Initiative

“Launching Our Children’s Path to Engineering”

Objectives

Increase the propensity of young people worldwide to select Engineering as a career path

Build a sustained public awareness program, led by IEEE,

with broad support of corporations and professional associations

Current status: activities are institutionalized in the routine work plan of IEEE

Objective 1: Engineering in the pre-university classroom

Institutionalization of IEEE Teacher In Service Program

IEEE Section engineers develop and present technology-oriented subject matter to local pre-university educators

Emphasis on volunteer-teacher interaction as opposed to volunteer-student interaction

Ideally: a sustained program involving several thousand schools every year

Objective 2: Engineering Associations, Unite!

Center for Pre-University Engineering Education

Ideally, the resource of choice for pre-university cooperation with Engineering Associations

Ideally, a multi-association organization With partners such as ASCE, ASME, IET, VDE, SEE

It is about ENGINEERING, not Electrical Engineering

Objective 3: Strong On-line presence

New on-line portals for students, teachers, school counselors, and parents

Educational and entertaining Focused on the audience

From lesson plans for teachers to games for students

Ideally, the premier on-line resource on engineering for pre-university counselors, teachers and students

On Line Portal

Tryengineering.org

“Strong On-line presence”

The Web provides us with high potential for reachability

A successful portal can become a major resource for students, parents, school counselors, and teachers But success is difficult in an ever-

crowded medium

Effort needs to be coupled with more modern tools

What information is needed on line?

We met with school counselors and Engineering Associations

Need on line tools for identifying formal and informal engineering education opportunities

Engineering associations that participated in our discussions

ACM, AIChE, AIAA, ASME, ASCE, IET, JETS, SAE, SEE, Sloan Career Cornerstone Center

What information is available on line?

We conducted a comprehensive review of engineering education resources

By EAB and consultants

Conclusions: Many “Engineering Resources” are actually

focusing on Science and Mathematics Resources for teachers are largely inadequate Wrong message is sent about the nature of

engineering and the life of engineers

From Collegeboard.com: Law

It helps to be… Are you ready to…

fascinated by the relationship between law and society

engage in intense discussion of thorny legal problems ?

From Collegeboard.com: Broadcast Journalism

It helps to be… Are you ready to…

sharp of mind and quick of tongue

learn how to find and interview sources?

From Collegeboard.com: Civil Engineering

It helps to be… Are you ready to…

A problem-solver who’s creative, curious, logical, and a fan of math.

Spend hours and hours working on problem sets and design projects?

From Collegeboard.com: Civil Engineering

It helps to be… Are you ready to…

A problem-solver who’s creative, curious, logical, and a fan of math.

Spend hours and hours working on problem sets and design projects?

From Collegeboard.com: Civil Engineering

It helps to be… Are you ready to…

A problem-solver who’s creative, curious, logical, and a fan of math.

Spend hours and hours working on problem sets and design projects?

From Collegeboard.com: Mechanical Engineering

It helps to be… Are you ready to…

A fan of science and math, a creative problem solver, and someone who likes to take things apart to find out how they work.

Rely on your math skills? Master difficult scientific concepts? Take on a heavy course load? Spend five years as an undergrad…

From Collegeboard.com: Electrical Engineering

It helps to be… Are you ready to…

A fan of science and math who’s curious about the way things work

Spend hours building detailed, complicated systems

Try, try, and try again when at first a project doesn’t succeed

Good existing model

Tryscience.org “Your gateway to experience the excitement of

contemporary science and technology through on and offline interactivity with science and technology centers worldwide.”

Science is exciting, and it's for everyone!

Partnership between IBM the New York Hall of Science the Association of Science-Technology

Centers

Next step – TryEngineering.org Companion site to tryscience.org Comprehensive Ultimate Audience: young people ages 8-

18 Designed to convey excitement about

engineering and design Can-do attitude Hands-on experience Positive image of the engineering process and

engineering Launched on 5 June 2006 “Discover the creative engineer in you”

TryEngineering.orgA portal for students, parents, school counselors and teachers

School searchBy location, program, environment

Explore Engineering – Discipline Descriptions, Day in the Life of an Engineer, Preparation Tips

Virtual Games Lesson plans for teaching engineering design

Ask an Expert – Ask an Engineer, Ask a Student

Undergraduate Student Advice

E-Newsletter Student opportunities – summer camps, fellowships, etc.

Unique features School search in 23 countries

University Student Opportunities Research opportunities, summer and co-op

jobs Graduate study opportunities, academic jobs

Currently in seven languages

Coming up: Translation into Portuguese A new game Additional lesson plans

On-line Presence: TryEngineering TryEngineering.org is becoming an

increasingly popular resource for the pre-university and university communities

34,000 visitors per month

Visitors per Month

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Countries of Users: English Version

US India China Canada United Kingdom Austria Australia

Malaysia Germany Japan Thailand South Africa Korea Brazil

Most Requested Files: Lesson Plans

An average of 11,100 lesson plans are downloaded per month

Build a robot arm Close to 36,000 downloads

Cracking the Code (bar codes)

Critical Load (Civil Engineering)

New University Searches: 23 Countries

Argentina Australia Austria Belgium Brazil Canada France Germany India Japan Korea

Malaysia Mexico New Zealand Pakistan Portugal Russia Singapore South Africa Switzerland Turkey United Kingdom United States

What’s new

New Languages

中文 Chinese

Deutsch German

Español Spanish

Français French

邦人 Japanese

русский Russian

What’s new

1 June 2007

A New Original Game: Questioneering

What’s new

Question: The following are examples of word processing applications:

(A)LaTex and Microsoft Word(B)MIDI and RS-232 (C)Pdf and PCM(D)QWERTY and AZERTY

Questions created by 26 graduate students, engineers, and engineering professors

A New Original Game: Questioneering

What’s new

Question: Artificial neural networks are...

(A)Brain implants designed by biomedical engineers(B)Models of interconnected processors used for

signal processing and computation (C)Neuron architectures present in people who were in

bad brain accidents(D) Internet discussion groups devoted to Cognitive

Science

We are looking for an Intern to provide players with more feedback

Future services – focus on the University/College Student

Looking for graduate school and finding a graduate advisor

Graduate school homepage already available through University Search

Effective oral and written presentations

Job search and preparation for interview

Writing a resume

What’s new

Future Services – interviews with students and practitioners

Interviews with students from California State University, Northridge, the University of Pretoria, South Africa and Drexel University

Interviews with ECE and Biomedical Engineering practitioners engaged in Biometrics work

Interviews with Non-US students and practitioners

www.Accreditation.org

This website was purchased by EAB in an auction in March 2007

Features: Introduction to Accreditation List of recognized accrediting bodies

worldwide And the programs they accredit

List of mutual recognition agreements Including original texts and commentary

Policy papers on accreditation Links and scholarly papers

Teacher In Service Program

“Engineering in the Classroom”

The Teacher In Service Program (TISP)

A program that trains IEEE volunteers to work with pre-university teachers

Using Lesson Plans found on TryEngineering.org

Prepared by IEEE volunteers Tested in classrooms Aligned with Education Standards Designed to highlight engineering design

principles The cost is less than $100 for a class of 30

How does it work?

Volunteers gather for a day and a half of training With teachers and school administrators EAB provides logistical support and instructors

Volunteers spread the program in their schools and school districts

Section volunteers run a TISP professional development event for pre-university teachers

EAB provides support for the materials and supplies needed to conduct a TISP session

for teachers for up to 12 months following the training workshop thanks to support from IEEE USA, MGAB and EAB

TISP Training Workshops Conducted2006 2007

Boston (R1)

Indianapolis (R4)

Memphis (R3)

Kuala Lumpur (R10)

Cape Town (R8)

Piura, Peru*

Rio de Janeiro (R9)

Baltimore (R2)

Dallas (R5)

*student branch model

Participation in 2007

Venue Attendees

Piura (student branch model)

105 from 3 countries

Rio de Janeiro (Region 9)

100 from 13 countries

Dallas (Region 5) 70 from 15 Sections

Baltimore (Region 2)

45 from 11 Sections

What are we doing in 2008?

Region 6 (LA)

Argentina (September)

Trinidad and Tobago (September)

Region 6 (San Francisco, October-November)

Plans for 2008 “From the Field” A presentation in Little Rock Arkansas occurred

on 4 January 2008 Three presentations in South Africa Four presentations in the Florida West Coast

Section One presentation in Houston Two presentations in Ecuador One presentation in Columbia Three presentations in the Central North Carolina

Section Two presentations in Piura and Lima, Peru by

Student Branch members We think that much more activity is occurring that

is not being communicated

Activity Samples

Rotational Equilibrium: A Question of Balance

Demonstrate the concept of rotational equilibrium, by building and testing a Mobile

Build working models with household items

Design and Build a Better Candy Bag

Lesson Focus

Demonstrate how product design differences can affect the success of a final product

in this case a bag for holding candy.

Students work in pairs to evaluate, design, and build a better candy bag

New Lesson Plans

Give Binary A Try Computer arithmetic and ALU design

Hand Biometrics Technology Biometrics

Sail Away Watercraft design

Simple Kitchen Machines Simple Machines

Dispenser Designs Design: user satisfaction, costs, materials

Engineering Ups and Downs Elevators

Build a Big Wheel Ferris Wheels

What’s new

Additional New Lesson Plans

Sort it Out Sticky Engineering

Challenge Ship the Chip Move That

Lighthouse! A Question of Balance Program Your Own

Game

Engineering Air Traffic Pipeline Challenge Infrared Investigations Hull Engineering Engineered Sports Engineered Memory Wind Tunnel Testing

What’s new

Questions and comments