Elizabeth T. Cady

Using music to cue autobiographical memories of different lifetime periods

Little previous research has examined the link between popular music and autobiographical memory. College-age participants recalled a memory associated with a song from each of five lifetime eras and then described and rated the memories. Participants heard part of the song, read the lyrics, saw a picture of the artist or began describing their memory immediately. Ratings for vividness, specificity, feeling brought back and feeling emotional in connection with the memory were all significantly different across lifetime eras. Differences also existed between sensory conditions in memory description length, feeling brought back and feeling emotional. However, hearing the song did not produce higher ratings than all the other sensory conditions. These findings show that music is a valuable cue to evoke autobiographical memory.

Work in progress: Annals of research on engineering education

The annals of research on engineering education website, containing research summaries and reflective essays written by authors of rigorous engineering education research articles, exists to build a collaborative community of engineering education researchers. This paper presents a preliminary examination of the challenges faced by the website in developing collaboration among researchers. Both quantitative and qualitative information are presented. A survey of site users is currently underway and will also provide information about the development of and issues facing the website. In addition, the developers and maintainers of the site have offered their views on its development. The resulting analysis will be used to improve the site as well as inform other education researchers of potential challenges in building collaborative communities.

Work in progress: Engaging new PIs using an electronic mentoring system

Success as a Principal Investigator (PI) of a National Science Foundation (NSF)-funded project requires both project management and change leadership skills, disciplinary knowledge, and familiarity with the project itself. Because gaining the skills of management and leadership involves either first-hand or vicarious experience, new PIs might struggle to find the best course of action when facing a difficult situation. While individual mentoring could enable new and prospective PIs to acquire these skills, arranging a mentor for all new PIs is not feasible. In addition, prior work has indicated a preference in faculty for gaining knowledge informally (e.g., using case studies) from mentors who have experienced similar situations rather than in more formally assigned partnerships. Thus, we seek to understand whether a many-to-many electronic mentoring website is an effective method to aid new and prospective PIs in a range of NSF programs in developing project and change management skills.

Results from a pilot survey of engineering and engineering technology students in 2-year and 4-year institutions

Taking full advantage of community colleges as sources of science and engineering majors is a critical component of U.S. science and technology policy. Although data are available on the number of degree recipients in engineering and engineering technology (e/et) at the associates degree level, there are not reliable data on either the number of community college students who intend to transfer to baccalaureate e/et programs or the number who successfully make the transition. As a first step in examining this issue, the current project is a pilot study with a purposeful sample of 35 community colleges and 15 engineering colleges in the U.S. The survey of the identified institutions is completed. Institutions provided information on the number and demographic information of students who have or will transfer to four-year e/et programs. Issues with data collection and results are discussed.

Workshop — Less teaching, more learning: A toolkit for classroom transformation

The aim of the workshop is to empower participants to be able to utilize research-based tips for recruiting, retaining, and advancing female students in engineering by better engaging the diverse skills, interests, and backgrounds of their female students and by connecting educational activities to engineering opportunities. This workshop highlights research-based strategies and practical steps to build engineering career awareness and recruitment, enhance retention, and promote academic advancement in engineering coursework by pre-college and undergraduate students with an emphasis on young women. We will use scenarios to model the use of the strategies in and out of classroom settings. Participants will identify barriers to engaging others in use of research-based methods and to brainstorm strategies to overcoming the barriers. Group work will be emphasized. Three reference booklets and three 10-minute videos will be provided to each registrant.

Work in progress - strengthening HBCU engineering education research capacity

The Center for the Advancement of Scholarship on Engineering Education (CASEE) has collaborated with the council of Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) engineering school deans to develop each schools capacity for rigorous engineering education research. As the project has drawn to a close, the schools were asked to provide written reports summarizing their activities, knowledge gained, and research planned or performed. This paper will summarize a) the campus reports on the impact of their participation in the project, b) the lessons learned by individuals attending engineering education research conferences, and c) the future plans submitted by the participating campuses. Particular attention will be paid to emerging themes and concerns of the campuses and individuals.