Pre-university Engineering Education in the IEEE April 2008 Los Angeles, California Litsa Micheli Tzanakou, Moshe Kam, Douglas Gorham IEEE Educational Activities

A Few Words about IEEE l IEEE is the largest professional engineering association in the world l Over 370,000 members in more than 150 countries l A 501(c)3 organization incorporated in New York l Originally concentrating on power engineering and communications IEEE at present spans technical interests across the spectrum of technology l From nanotechnology to oceanic engineering l 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. BellElihu ThomsonCharles SteinmetzFrank Sprague

A few more recent Presidents Lewis Terman Leah Jamieson Joseph Bordogna Michael Lightner

AIEE IRE l Established 1884 l An American Organization l Representing the establishment l Rooted in Power Engineering l First computers working group l Now the Computer Society l Established 1908 l An international Organization l Open to students, young professionals l Quick to adopt advances in radar, radio, TV, electronics, computers l Proceedings of the Institute of Radio Engineers (January 1913) 1963: Merger of AIEE and IRE to create IEEE

Total IEEE Membership

What is IEEE? l A membership organization l A major creator and guardian of technical IP l A mechanism to bring people of common technical interests together l both geographically and disciplinarily l A guardian of the future of Engineering l An implementer of technology-related Public Imperatives

What does IEEE do? l Publishes literature in engineering, technology and computing l Organizes conferences l Develops standards l Gets engineers and technologists from different locales together l Organizes professional activities among engineering students l Educates the public about Engineering

Why is IEEE interested in pre- university engineering education? l Because it is in our stated and un-stated mission l Because in many IEEE Sections there is marked decline in the interest of young people in Engineering l The future of these communities is jeopardized and would have a negative impact on their standard of living l Because we do not believe the problem is going to be tackled effectively without us l Industry does not appear to be able to address the problem directly l Governments do not appear sufficiently concerned (yet) l Other engineering associations look up to us

What is the Problem? l Flat or declining engineering enrollments in most developed nations l Insufficient number of engineers and engineering educational programs in most developing countries l Asia is far behind Europe and the US in number of engineers per capita

New baccalaureate engineering degrees per year per million citizens (2004) CountryNumber of degrees per million citizens USA468.3 China271.1 India103.7 South Africa 36.5

What is the Problem? l Women & minority students conspicuously under-represented l Public perception of engineers/ engineering/ technology is largely misinformed l Resulting in early decisions that block the path of children to Engineering

Engineering degrees US:

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

B.Sc Degrees in Engineering by Gender, US:

B.Sc Degrees in Engineering by Ethnicity, US:

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 l New Initiative l “Launching Our Children’s Path to Engineering” l Objectives l Increase the propensity of young people worldwide to select Engineering as a career path l Build a sustained public awareness program, led by IEEE, with broad support of corporations and professional associations l Current status: activities are institutionalized in the routine work plan of IEEE

Objective 1: Engineering in the pre- university classroom l Institutionalization of IEEE Teacher In Service Program l IEEE Section engineers develop and present technology-oriented subject matter to local pre-university educators l Emphasis on volunteer-teacher interaction as opposed to volunteer-student interaction l Ideally: a sustained program involving several thousand schools every year

Objective 2: Engineering Associations, Unite! l Center for Pre-University Engineering Education l Ideally, the resource of choice for pre- university cooperation with Engineering Associations l Ideally, a multi-association organization l With partners such as ASCE, ASME, IET, VDE, SEE l It is about ENGINEERING, not Electrical Engineering

Objective 3: Strong On-line presence l New on-line portals for students, teachers, school counselors, and parents l Educational and entertaining l Focused on the audience l From lesson plans for teachers to games for students l 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 l A successful portal can become a major resource for students, parents, school counselors, and teachers l But success is difficult in an ever- crowded medium l Effort needs to be coupled with more modern tools

What information is needed on line? l We met with school counselors and Engineering Associations l Need on line tools for identifying formal and informal engineering education opportunities l Engineering associations that participated in our discussions l ACM, AIChE, AIAA, ASME, ASCE, IET, JETS, SAE, SEE, Sloan Career Cornerstone Center

What information is available on line? l We conducted a comprehensive review of engineering education resources l By EAB and consultants l Conclusions: l Many “Engineering Resources” are actually focusing on Science and Mathematics l Resources for teachers are largely inadequate l 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 l Tryscience.org l “Your gateway to experience the excitement of contemporary science and technology through on and offline interactivity with science and technology centers worldwide.” l Science is exciting, and it's for everyone! l Partnership between l IBM l the New York Hall of Science l the Association of Science-Technology Centers

Next step – TryEngineering.org l Companion site to tryscience.org l Comprehensive l Ultimate Audience: young people ages l Designed to convey excitement about engineering and design l Can-do attitude l Hands-on experience l Positive image of the engineering process and engineering l Launched on 5 June 2006 l “Discover the creative engineer in you”

TryEngineering.org A portal for students, parents, school counselors and teachers School search By location, program, environment Explore Engineering – Discipline Descriptions, Day in the Life of an Engineer, Preparation Tips Virtual GamesLesson plans for teaching engineering design Ask an Expert – Ask an Engineer, Ask a Student Undergraduate Student Advice E-NewsletterStudent opportunities – summer camps, fellowships, etc.

Unique features l School search in 23 countries l University Student Opportunities l Research opportunities, summer and co-op jobs l Graduate study opportunities, academic jobs l Currently in seven languages l Coming up: l Translation into Portuguese l A new game l Additional lesson plans

On-line Presence: TryEngineering l TryEngineering.org is becoming an increasingly popular resource for the pre-university and university communities 34,000 visitors per month

Countries of Users: English Version l US l India l China l Canada l United Kingdom l Austria l Australia l Malaysia l Germany l Japan l Thailand l South Africa l Korea l Brazil

Most Requested Files: Lesson Plans l An average of 11,100 lesson plans are downloaded per month l Build a robot arm l Close to 36,000 downloads l Cracking the Code (bar codes) l Critical Load (Civil Engineering)

New University Searches: 23 Countries l Argentina l Australia l Austria l Belgium l Brazil l Canada l France l Germany l India l Japan l Korea l Malaysia l Mexico l New Zealand l Pakistan l Portugal l Russia l Singapore l South Africa l Switzerland l Turkey l United Kingdom l United States What’s new

New Languages 中文 Chinese DeutschGerman EspañolSpanish FrançaisFrench 邦人 Japanese русскийRussian 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 l Looking for graduate school and finding a graduate advisor l Graduate school homepage already available through University Search l Effective oral and written presentations l Job search and preparation for interview l Writing a resume What’s new

Future Services – interviews with students and practitioners l Interviews with students from California State University, Northridge, the University of Pretoria, South Africa and Drexel University l Interviews with ECE and Biomedical Engineering practitioners engaged in Biometrics work l Interviews with Non-US students and practitioners

l This website was purchased by EAB in an auction in March 2007 l Features: l Introduction to Accreditation l List of recognized accrediting bodies worldwide l And the programs they accredit l List of mutual recognition agreements l Including original texts and commentary l Policy papers on accreditation l Links and scholarly papers

Teacher In Service Program “Engineering in the Classroom”

The Teacher In Service Program (TISP) l A program that trains IEEE volunteers to work with pre-university teachers l Using Lesson Plans found on TryEngineering.org l Prepared by IEEE volunteers l Tested in classrooms l Aligned with Education Standards l Designed to highlight engineering design principles l The cost is less than $100 for a class of 30

How does it work? l Volunteers gather for a day and a half of training l With teachers and school administrators l EAB provides logistical support and instructors l Volunteers spread the program in their schools and school districts l Section volunteers run a TISP professional development event for pre-university teachers l 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 Conducted l Boston (R1) l Indianapolis (R4) l Memphis (R3) l Kuala Lumpur (R10) l Cape Town (R8) l Piura, Peru* l Rio de Janeiro (R9) l Baltimore (R2) l Dallas (R5) *student branch model

Participation in 2007 VenueAttendees 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? l Region 6 (LA) l Argentina (September) l Trinidad and Tobago (September) l Region 6 (San Francisco, October- November)

Plans for 2008 “From the Field” l A presentation in Little Rock Arkansas occurred on 4 January 2008 l Three presentations in South Africa l Four presentations in the Florida West Coast Section l One presentation in Houston l Two presentations in Ecuador l One presentation in Columbia l Three presentations in the Central North Carolina Section l Two presentations in Piura and Lima, Peru by Student Branch members l 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 l Demonstrate how product design differences can affect the success of a final product l in this case a bag for holding candy. l Students work in pairs to evaluate, design, and build a better candy bag

New Lesson Plans Give Binary A TryComputer arithmetic and ALU design Hand Biometrics TechnologyBiometrics Sail AwayWatercraft design Simple Kitchen MachinesSimple Machines Dispenser DesignsDesign: user satisfaction, costs, materials Engineering Ups and DownsElevators Build a Big WheelFerris Wheels What’s new

Additional New Lesson Plans l Sort it Out l Sticky Engineering Challenge l Ship the Chip l Move That Lighthouse! l A Question of Balance l Program Your Own Game l Engineering Air Traffic l Pipeline Challenge l Infrared Investigations l Hull Engineering l Engineered Sports l Engineered Memory l Wind Tunnel Testing What’s new

Questions and comments