Current Undergraduate Students
Emily Fitzpatrick
Mechanical & Materials Engineering
Program & Project Year: John Woollam Scholar October 2022 – present
Project Advisor: Dr. Jessica Deters
Project Title: Examining the Impact of COVID-19 on Undergraduate Student Readiness for Engineering
Description: The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted educational systems across the globe, including K-12 education and higher education. As students graduate high school and transition into college, they will likely have gaps in their knowledge base, which will impact their readiness for engineering coursework. This research project will investigate the following research question: 1) What impacts has the COVID-19 had on first- and second-year engineering students’ readiness for engineering coursework, according to faculty who teach first- and second-year engineering courses?
Dorian Bobbett
Chemical Engineering
Program & Project Year: McNair Scholar Summer 2021 - present
Project Advisor: Dr. Grace Panther
Project Title: RAPID: Faculty Adaptability and Community Engagement when Teaching in a Crisis
Description: Instructors at colleges and universities around the world had to rapidly alter their teaching methods due to the COVID-19 pandemic to accommodate remote and hybrid learning. Instructors had to constantly make adjustments from Spring 2020 through Spring 2021 semesters due to the ever evolving situation. The purpose of this case study was to examine how one engineering faculty member responded to the change in teaching format through the lens of adaptability. The research questions include: (1) How did the challenges that one instructor faced during emergency remote teaching impact their behaviors? (2) How did the instructor's behavioral adaptability lead to teaching successes during emergency remote teaching?
Project Dissemination:
Bobbett, D., Panther, G., & Diefes-Dux, H. A. (2022). Engineering faculty experience during emergency remote teaching & beyond: A case study. Proceedings of the 127th ASEE Annual Conference and Exposition, Minneapolis, MN.
Emily Stratman
Biological System Engineering - Biomedical Engineering
Program & Project Year: Undergraduate Research Summer 2021 - present
Project Advisor: Dr. Heidi Diefes-Dux
Project Title: Metacognitive Dimensions Found in First-Year Engineering Students' Self-Reflections
Description: New engineering educators are often unaware that students struggle to reach a deep level of metacognitive processing when reflecting on thinking/learning strategies. Differently worded reflection prompts have the potential to elicit distinctive student responses in terms of their engagement in thinking about their weekly performance in a course and the learning strategies they use to meet course objectives. The research question being addressed in this study is: How do reflection prompts impact the type (planning, monitoring, and evaluation) and level of metacognition expressed by first-year engineering students in weekly reflections on their learning?
Project Dissemination:
Stratman, E., & Diefes-Dux, H. A. (2022). Impact of differently worded reflection prompts on engineering students’ metacognitive strategies. Proceedings of the 127th ASEE Annual Conference and Exposition, Minneapolis, MN. [New Engineering Educators Division (NEE) 3rd Place Best Paper Award]
Ney, K., Strattman, E., & Diefes-Dux, H. A. (2022). Low and high performing first-year engineering students’ learning and metacognitive strategies. Proceedings of the 127th ASEE Annual Conference and Exposition, Minneapolis, MN. [First-year Programs Division (FPD) 2nd Place Best Paper Award]