Material Advantage at Iowa State: A Case Study for Student Pre- professional Society Success
For four years in a row, the Material Advantage student society at Iowa State University (ISU) has been selected as the nation’s Most Outstanding Chapter. This paper examines, as a case study, the activities and programs of the chapter at ISU, with implications to other student preprofessional societies. Activities have included plant tours, technical meetings and seminars, special events, joint meetings, community involvement, fundraising, and participation in various technical conferences. In addition, the results of a survey are presented aimed at identifying the factors that most contribute to the society’s success at ISU.
Eight Factors For Creating An Active Student Professional Society And How It Enhances The Engineering Curriculum
In the past four years the South Dakota State University American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) Student Chapter has been recognized as one of the top student chapters in the nation. ASCE has four zones in the United States and the South Dakota State University student chapter has been awarded as the best in their zone three times and the nations top student chapter once. At South Dakota State University, eight factors have been identified as critical to creating this success: 1) outstanding student leaders, 2) younger member involvement, 3) support from the institution, 4) active program, 5) attending ASCE activities away from campus, 6) active practitioner advisor, 7) active advisor, and 8) adequate funds and fund raising activities. The outstanding work of this chapter has complimented the curriculum of the civil engineering department in the following ways: 1) exposure to the practice of engineering and the types of work and contributions they may make as an engineer, 2) creating contacts for summer and postgraduation employment, 3) providing avenues to learn about and exercise social responsibility, 4) exposure to the importance of life-long learning and licensure, 5) development of teamwork, communication, and leadership skills, and 6) service to profession. This paper will provide examples of how the eight factors for a successful chapter are implemented and how the student chapter supports departmental outcomes.
Environmental education for all engineers.
Environmental engineering education at universities is a rapidly changing field globally. Traditionally it has resided in the civil engineering program addressing water and wastewater quality, treatment, design and regulatory issues. In recent years environmental engineering has become a much broader field encompassing water, wastewater, soil pollution, air pollution, risk assessment, ecosystems, human health, toxicology, sustainable development, regulatory aspects and much more. The need to introduce environmental engineering/green engineering/pollution prevention/design for the environment concepts to undergraduate engineering students has become recognized to be increasingly important. This need is being driven in part through the US Engineering Accreditation Commission Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology criteria 2000. Thus there has been a major shift in environmental engineering education and it no longer resides only within the civil engineering discipline. This paper focuses on the development of innovative curricula for a brand new engineering program at Rowan University that integrates environmental education for all engineers. A common course known as "engineering clinic" was developed for all engineering students throughout their eight semesters of engineering education. One of the clinic goals is to integrate engineering design and the environment. The program, in its seventh year, indicates successful implementation of environmental education in all four engineering disciplines in their course work and clinics.