E3 Summer Pathway to Engineering Programs
The Emerging Ethnic Engineers (E3) Program in the College of Engineering at University of Cincinnati (UC) has established programs aimed at increasing the number of underrepresented ethnic students entering the "pipeline." The objective of the "Pathway Programs" is to increase the awareness and interest of underrepresented ethnic students in pursuing engineering as an academic major; by illustrating the relevance of math and science concepts in their daily lives. The long-range goal is to increase the pool of prospective ethnic engineering students from the greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky that are eligible for admission to the College of Engineering. The Cincinnati Public Schools has the largest concentration of prospective ethnic students; and therefore the target district, but all programs are open to Greater Cincinnati students.
The three Pathway Activities begin with the Family Science Academy (4th - 8th), followed by the Summer Institute (9th - 12th). Underrepresented ethnic students accepted into the UC's College of Engineering are invited to participate in our Summer Bridge Program.
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The objective of the Family Science Academy to increase science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) awareness among Cincinnati Public School students, but is open to students from Greater Cincinnati. For five summer weeks at the Academy, children carry out hands-on chemistry and physics, activities and experiments in college labs. Meanwhile, their parents are required to attend workshops designed to help them learn how to encourage their children to pursue STEM majors. (92.8%) of students indicated that the program increased their understanding of math, science, and engineering. (88.9%) of parents indicated that they will send their students to the Family Science Academy next year.
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| Bridge student works with green roof project |
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Following the Family Science Academy, students who have a "B" average or higher in math and science receive an invitation to the five-week Summer Institute, held Monday through Friday. The Institute seeks to improve student's understanding of math and science through project base learning, and engineering departmental presentations. Students work on a number of projects that reinforce their understanding of math and science concepts.
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| Students calculate measurements for the Crash Dummy Car Ramp.
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The institute students have an opportunity to see some of the current new trends in science, engineering, technology and math like the visit to the University of Cincinnati college of Medicine Center for Surgical Innovation. At the center the staff demonstrated the da Vinci surgical system, a $1,000,000 robot designed to train doctors on less intrusive surgical procedures. It is through experience like this and the engineering departmental presentations that the institution demonstrates the importance of math and science in our daily lives.
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| Students see demonstration of the da Vinci surgical system. |
Institute students report (91%) that their participation in the institute increased their interest in math. More importantly, (72.8%) of students indicated that they would have an advantage in their math class over students who did not participate in the program.
The Summer Bridge Program (21st year) is a seven-week residential program for incoming under-represented ethnic engineering freshman. The objective of the program is to create a "learning community" of E3 students who develop the academic and social skills necessary for achieving academic excellence from the freshman year through graduation. This process begins with the structure of the course, which includes (Pre-Calculus, Chemistry, Physics, and English), taken during the program.
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All instructors use collaborative learning, an instructional method that requires students to interact on a higher level than in a traditional classroom setting. It involves learning methods and techniques using cooperative task structures in which students spend time working in 4-6 member heterogeneous groups. Students are required to work collectively toward the common goal of mastering the course material. Classes are ninety minutes long, Monday through Thursday with Fridays designated for company field trips.
Mandatory study sessions are held from Monday through Friday from 6:00 to 8:00 PM, and are coordinated by our resident manager. Current E3 students assist in the study sessions by making sure that the bridge students are implementing the collaborative learning process during the study sessions.
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| Bridge students building their academic community. |
Weekly staff meetings are used to discuss the progress of the bridge students and to gauge how well they are implementing the collaborative learning process. The resident manager provides information on their performance in the study sessions and in the residence hall. Each course instructor talks about the progress students have made, and in particular they talk about students who are having difficulty and what they plan to do to address the problem. Instructors compare notes on students to see if the same students are having difficulty in more than one course, and students who are performing at a higher level.
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E3 students make annual visits to area companies, where they meet former E3 students who share their academic and professional success strategies. Four visits were organized, which included the following: 1) Procter and Gamble Health Care Headquarters; 2) General Electric Aircraft Engines Jet Engine Training Center; 3) Toyota Motor Engineering and Manufacturing North America, Inc. headquarters in Erlanger, Kentucky; and 4) Toyota's Georgetown, Kentucky manufacturing plant, which produces the Avalon, Camry, Camry Hybrid,and the Solara vehicles.
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| Bridge students at the General Electric Aircraft Engines Learning Center |
During these visits the students learned background information on the companies, structure of the different divisions, and possible co-op assignments. The company representatives explained the importance of time on task, time management skills, self-ownership of learning, high scholastic performance, and collaborative learning methodology and its relevance to the engineering process. (84.9%) of students indicated that they feel prepared to succeed at the University of Cincinnati as a result of participating in the program.
With the national crisis in attracting students in general and underrepresented students in particular; the Emerging Ethnic Engineers Pathway Programs are designed to assist in increasing the number of students who may seek educational majors and careers in engineering.
For more information and an application please visit the links on the left.
