Article Database

Exploring Diverse Pre-College Students’ Interests and Understandings of Engineering to Promote Engineering Education for All

Abstract:

Engaging a representatively diverse (across class, race, gender, and cultural lines) population in a future of engineering continues to be a struggle for many countries. This paper presents a study from the U.S. context, where racial and ethnic minorities and women are significantly underrepresented in engineering. The interview study asked diverse pre-college students about their personal and career interests and how they defined engineering. These responses were coded using Holland’s Career Theory framework of six interest dimensions (realistic, investigative, artistic, social, enterprising, and conventional) to categorize students’ personal and career interests to see how they may or may not correspond to their understandings of what interests an engineering future may appeal to. The results illustrate that the students’ personal interests map to the full spectrum of Holland’s dimensions. However, students’ understandings of engineering map to a more stereotypical view of engineering that does not always match to their personal interests. The paper argues for introducing engineering in ways that highlight how engineering pervades a wide array of domains and interest areas.

A Critical Autoethnography of A Black Man Teaching Engineering to Black Boys

Abstract:

Disentangling Engineering Education Research’s Anti-Blackness

Abstract:

With this editorial, I will provide a brief elaboration on anti-Blackness and the ways it manifests in engineering education research; then I present research practices that can help engineering educators conduct research that is pro-Black (the antithesis of anti-Black).

Assessing teaming skills and major identity through collaborative sophomore design projects across disciplines

Abstract:

Collaboration and student projects than span multiple departments are often seen as too difficult to pursue due to administrative, topical, or other logistics related barriers. This project demonstrates an approach at introducing true interdisciplinary design projects within a sophomore level materials and energy balances courses in both Bioengineering and Chemical Engineering programs at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Engineering curricula have been focused on integrating design in the freshman and senior years but often fail to integrate projects into the sophomore and junior year courses. The study consists of one section of bioengineering students paired with a section of chemical engineering students. Teams are made up of equal proportions of each major. The project consists of an exploration of energy balance in the body revolving around economic resources available to meet nutritional needs. Preliminary findings show that each program of students genuinely brings different skills and emphases to the project. Survey and focus group results combined with outcomes-based assessment are used to determine direct and indirect assessment of skills.

A method of targeted cell isolation via glass surface functionalization

Abstract:

One of the limiting factors to the adoption and advancement of personalized medicine is the inability to develop diagnostic tools to probe individual nuances in expression from patient to patient. Current methodologies that try to separate cells to fill this niche result in disruption of physiological expression, making the separation technique useless as a diagnostic tool. In this protocol, we describe the functionalization and optimization of a surface for the cellular capture and release. This functionalized surface integrates biotinylated antibodies with a glass surface functionalized with an aminosilane (APTES), desthiobiotin and streptavidin. Cell release is facilitated through the introduction of biotin, allowing the recollection and purification of cells captured by the surface. This release is done through the targeting of the secondary moiety desthiobiotin, which results in a much more gentle release paradigm. This reduction in harsh reagents and shear forces reduces changes in cellular expression. The functionalized surface captures up to 80% of cells in a single cell mixture and has demonstrated 50% capture in a dual-cell mixture. Applications of this technology to xenografts and cancer separation studies are investigated. Quantification techniques for surface verification such as plate reader and ImageJ analyses are described as well.

doi: 10.3791/54315

Aerosol relationships to warm season clouds and rainfall at monthly scales over east China: Urban land versus ocean

Abstract:

This paper provides a prototype study on combining the advanced satellite
observations of rainfall, clouds, and aerosols to examine their interrelationships. Monthly
satellite observations from the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) and
Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) for July (2000–2005) were
analyzed to assess how urban aerosols affect cloud droplet size and cumulative
rainfall over the eastern China mainland and the China Sea, respectively. It seems that
aerosol effects may be more evident on clouds than on convective rainfall: high
correlation coefficients between aerosol optical thickness (AOT) and water cloud droplet
size are observed, while only a weak aerosol-rainfall relationship is detectable during
light rainfall cases (i.e., rainfall rate < 2.5 mm/d) and that is most likely for warm
rain clouds only. In addition, aerosols affect clouds more significantly over ocean than
over land. Over the ocean, at the monthly scale, the aerosol-cloud relationship is
evident: the cloud effective radius decreases as aerosol optical thickness (AOT) increases.
However, over land, cloud effective radius does not show an apparent
relationship with aerosol processes, which indicates that aerosols are not
the only physical process affecting clouds. Dynamic processes related to factors
like urban land cover may play at least an equally critical role in
cloud formation.

Professionalism versus general critical thinking abilities of senior nursing students in four types of nursing curricula

Abstract:

This descriptive study was undertaken to investigate the relationship between professionalism and critical thinking abilities of senior nursing students in four types of nursing educational programs: generic baccalaureate, associate, and diploma—the basic registered nurse (RN) programs—along with the upper division baccalaureate, specifically RN completion, program. Fifty students from each type of program were conveniently selected during the same spring semester before graduation. Professionalism was measured by the Health Care Professional Attitude Inventory; general critical thinking abilities, by the Watson-Glaser Critical Thinking Appraisal. For individual programs, low to moderate correlations ranging from r = 0.263 (diploma) to 0.516 (upper division) were found between critical thinking and professionalism. This culminated in a significant, low positive correlation (r = 0.447) between critical thinking and professionalism across all programs. Upper division seniors showed significant low to moderate positive correlations for age with critical thinking (r = 0.487) and professionalism (r = 0.327) that were not observed in the other programs. Comparisons of professionalism scores among programs showed that upper division seniors scored highest. The measure of professionalism for seniors from 4-year generic programs was not significantly different from associate degree seniors. Diploma program seniors showed the lowest level of professionalism. When critical thinking abilities were compared, seniors from generic and upper division baccalaureate programs showed significantly higher levels than those from associate and diploma programs.

The contribution of mesoscale convective complexes to rainfall across subtropical South America

Abstract:

This study uses a database consisting of 330 austral warm-season (October–May) mesoscale convective
complexes (MCCs) during 1998–2007 to determine the contribution of MCCs to rainfall across subtropical
South America (SSA). A unique precipitation analysis is conducted using Tropical Rainfall Measuring
Mission (TRMM) 3B42 version 6 data. The average MCC produces 15.7 mm of rainfall across 381 000 km2
,
with a volume of 7.0 km3
. MCCs in SSA have the largest precipitation areas compared to North American and
African systems. MCCs accounted for 15%–21% of the total rainfall across portions of northern Argentina
and Paraguay during 1998–2007. However, MCCs account for larger fractions of the total precipitation when
analyzed on monthly and warm-season time scales. Widespread MCC rainfall contributions of 11%–20%
were observed in all months. MCCs accounted for 20%–30% of the total rainfall between November and
February, and 30%–50% in December, primarily across northern Argentina and Paraguay. MCCs also
produced 25%–66% of the total rainfall across portions of west-central Argentina. Similar MCC rainfall
contributions were observed during warm seasons. An MCC impact factor (MIF) was developed to determine
the overall impact of MCC rainfall on warm-season precipitation anomalies. Results show that the greatest
impacts on precipitation anomalies from MCC rainfall were located near the center of the La Plata basin. This
study demonstrates that MCCs in SSA produce widespread precipitation that contributes substantially to the
total rainfall across the region.

The Current Debate on the Linkage Between Global Warming and Hurricanes

Abstract:

Following Hurricane Katrina and the parade of storms that affected the conterminous
United States in 2004–2005, the apparent recent increase in intense hurricane
activity in the Atlantic basin, and the reported increases in recent decades in some
hurricane intensity and duration measures in several basins have received considerable
attention. An important ongoing avenue of investigation in the climate and
meteorology research communities is to determine the relative roles of anthropogenic
forcing (i.e., global warming) and natural variability in producing the observed
recent increases in hurricane frequency in the Atlantic, as well as the reported
increases of tropical cyclone activity measures in several other ocean basins. A survey
of the existing literature shows that many types of data have been used to describe
hurricane intensity, and not all records are of sufficient length to reliably identify
historical trends. Additionally, there are concerns among researchers about possible
effects of data inhomogeneities on the reported trends. Much of the current debate
has focused on the relative roles of sea-surface temperatures or large-scale potential
intensity versus the role of other environmental factors such as vertical wind shear
in causing observed changes in hurricane statistics. Significantly more research –
from observations, theory, and modeling – is needed to resolve the current debate
around global warming and hurricanes.

Quantifying the contribution of tropical cyclones to extreme rainfall along the coastal southeastern United States

Abstract:

Analysis of a unique satellite precipitation dataset
coupled with an extensive database of storm tracks are used to develop a parameter called the ‘‘millimeter-day (MD).’’ MD analysis in 4 mini-basins near coastal southeastern United States reveals that September and October account for the largest number of extreme rainfall days (e.g. ‘‘wet millimeter-days’’ or MD > 0) during the 1998 – 2006 Atlantic hurricane seasons. Tropical cyclone (TC) days are more likely to produce ‘‘wet millimeter days’’ than non-TC days, and category 3 – 5 hurricane days (e.g., major hurricanes) produce the wet millimeter-days of largest magnitude. Major hurricanes produce the most extreme rainfall days, but tropical depression/storm days contribute
most significantly to cumulative seasonal rainfall (8 – 17%, basin-dependent) due to frequency of occurrence. Thus, the influence of major hurricanes on rainfall may be most apparent in extreme daily events while weaker storms may be more critical for assessing trends in cumulative seasonal rainfall.