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.
AN UNDERGRADUATE MATERIALS RECRUITMENT AND OUTREACH PROGRAM
An aggressive recruitment strategy, building on previous efforts, began in the Materials Science and Engineering Department at Iowa State University in the late 1990s. Since then the population of undergraduate majors has doubled, as has the percentage of women students, and the average achievement of incoming freshmen (as measured by ACT or SAT scores, high school rank, numbers in the Honors Program, etc.) has also increased dramatically. This recruitment program has its costs; most notably in faculty and staff time. Its cornerstone is a one hour demonstration/presentation (see Appendix for complete listing of demonstrations) that incorporates audience interaction and relates materials properties to real world events (Challenger and Columbia Shuttles, the Titanic, etc.). This presentation is often featured in university and college recruitment events on campus and has been “performed” at K-12 schools and community college events around the state. It has also been given at a distance with the help of the Engineering Distance Education staff. While this is the cornerstone of the recruitment program, it by no means is the only piece. There are numerous efforts integrated in this plan including an innovative, educational, web-based scanning electron microscope that has been used across the globe. Disciplines Engineering Education | Materials Science and Engineering Comments This is a conference proceeding from American Society for Engineering Education (2007): 1. Posted with permission. This conference proceeding is available at Iowa State University Digital Repository: http://lib.dr.iastate.edu/mse_conf/9 AC 2007-3113: AN UNDERGRADUATE MATERIALS RECRUITMENT AND OUTREACH PROGRAM Lawrence Genalo, Iowa State University LAWRENCE J. GENALO is Professor and Assistant Chair of the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at Iowa State University. He received a Ph. D. in Applied Mathematics with Systems Engineering emphasis in 1977, served as Chair for Freshman Programs and DELOS Divisions, and runs the Toying With TechnologySM Program at Iowa State and the recruitment program in the Materials Science and Engineering Department. Scott Chumbley, Iowa State University L.S. CHUMBLEY Scott Chumbley is a Professor in the Materials Science and Engineering Department at Iowa State University (ISU) and a Scientist at Ames Laboratory, the Department of Energy national laboratory located on the ISU campus. His expertise is in the field of electron microscopy. He has taught the undergraduate Materials Characterization class and graduate level classes on electron microscopy. © American Society for Engineering Education, 2007 An Undergraduate Materials Recruitment and Outreach Program Abstract An aggressive recruitment strategy, building on previous efforts, began in the Materials Science and Engineering Department at Iowa State University in the late 1990s. Since then the population of undergraduate majors has doubled, as has the percentage of women students, and the average achievement of incoming freshmen (as measured by ACT or SAT scores, high school rank, numbers in the Honors Program, etc.) has also increased dramatically. This recruitment program has its costs; most notably in faculty and staff time. Its cornerstone is a one hour demonstration/presentation (see Appendix for complete listing of demonstrations) that incorporates audience interaction and relates materials properties to real world events (Challenger and Columbia Shuttles, the Titanic, etc.). This presentation is often featured in university and college recruitment events on campus and has been “performed” at K-12 schools and community college events around the state. It has also been given at a distance with the help of the Engineering Distance Education staff. While this is the cornerstone of the recruitment program, it by no means is the only piece. There are numerous efforts integrated in this plan including an innovative, educational, web-based scanning electron microscope that has been used across the globe.An aggressive recruitment strategy, building on previous efforts, began in the Materials Science and Engineering Department at Iowa State University in the late 1990s. Since then the population of undergraduate majors has doubled, as has the percentage of women students, and the average achievement of incoming freshmen (as measured by ACT or SAT scores, high school rank, numbers in the Honors Program, etc.) has also increased dramatically. This recruitment program has its costs; most notably in faculty and staff time. Its cornerstone is a one hour demonstration/presentation (see Appendix for complete listing of demonstrations) that incorporates audience interaction and relates materials properties to real world events (Challenger and Columbia Shuttles, the Titanic, etc.). This presentation is often featured in university and college recruitment events on campus and has been “performed” at K-12 schools and community college events around the state. It has also been given at a distance with the help of the Engineering Distance Education staff. While this is the cornerstone of the recruitment program, it by no means is the only piece. There are numerous efforts integrated in this plan including an innovative, educational, web-based scanning electron microscope that has been used across the globe. This paper will describe the presentation and the supplies needed for it. The paper will also detail the extensive outreach program in the department that has grown during this same period. A scanning electron microscope featuring web access for K-12 partners is a unique feature of this program. K-12 teachers are given training on the use of the microscope and then create lessons that they use in their classrooms with the help of this remote hook-up to the WebSEM. The excellent core of highly involved undergraduate students who have been recruited now form an integral part of the outreach and recruitment efforts. The student Materials Advantage organization has been named outstanding chapter in the country the past three years. Need The need for more engineers in the United States, including materials engineers, has been well documented in recent years. “Rising Above The Gathering Storm: Energizing and Employing America for a Brighter Economic Future,” a publication from the National Academies, states that “Last year more than 600,000 engineers graduated from institutions of higher education in China. In India, the figure was 350,000. In America, it was about 70,000.” The report proposes scholarships to put 25,000 more science and engineering majors into the pipeline each year. Despite a growing, critical need for engineers, "the number of bachelor's degrees awarded in engineering began declining in 1987 and has continued to stay at about the same level through much of the 1990s. The total number of graduates from engineering programs is not expected to increase significantly over the projection period (2000-2010).” In the year 2000 an estimated 400,000 engineering jobs were unfilled; projections indicate that number will grow to 1.75 million by 2008. More locally, at Iowa State University in the early to mid 1990s, the number of materials engineering (which at that time consisted of separate ceramic and metallurgical engineering) majors was less than 80. At a time when university budgets were beginning to see drastic cuts, the department was in danger of being eliminated. A recruitment and retention plan needed to be immediately put in place. Recruitment and Retention Plan It was recognized that the best recruitment strategy was for faculty to spend time with prospective students. The Materials Science and Engineering Department Chair, Dr. Mufit Akinc at the time, appointed the first-named author, Dr. Lawrence J. Genalo, as the recruitment coordinator and allowed for 1⁄4-time faculty release for this position. The second-named author, Dr. L. Scott Chumbley, in cooperation with other department faculty, had developed a materials presentation aimed at making K-12 students more aware of materials engineering as a possible career path. The presentation includes demonstrations involving audience participation that relate materials information, often about the atomic structure of materials, to real-world events (such as the Titanic, the Challenger, and the Columbia) and current state-of-the-art research projects in the department. Figures 1A: Engineering Day at the Mall, Kids with Memory Wire Figures 1B: Engineering Day at the Mall, Dr. Genalo Doing Demos A focused effort was made to develop an aggressive outreach schedule to bring that presentation out to schools and other public venues (for example, the Iowa State Fair). It also is often used when students (in fact, people of all ages) visit Iowa State University. The number of such demonstrations has grown exponentially so that one person can no longer handle the requests. Fortunately the recruitment program has been immensely successful and the resulting student body, who themselves were recruited when they experienced the presentation, are anxious to take part and “perform” the presentation themselves. Today this presentation is often performed by materials engineering undergraduate majors who are part of our student professional organization, The Materials Advantage. This group has been named the outstanding student chapter in the country the past three years. These materials demonstrations are often presented under the titles of “What’s Hot and What’s Not” due to the high temperature treatments used to demonstrate tempering steel and glass or “Cool Stuff” due to the low temperature (liquid nitrogen) treatments to demonstrate brittle failure. An advertising description such as the following is often used. Live demonstrations on properties of materials will be performed. The focus is on the atomic structure of the material and how the properties of the material change when the atomic structure is changed. Th
Music and Ethical Responsibility
Introduction 1. Meaning and ethics in music 2. Experiencing music 3. Framing elements of musical experience 4. Improvisation and ethical responsibility 5. Musical improvisation as festival 6. Music, proximity, ethics 7. Ethical responsibility and other people's music Conclusion: ethical responsibility in musical experience.