Materials Education 2004 Topical Trends And Outreach Efforts

Abstract

This research explores the history of topical trends in the ASEE Materials Division. This history will be compared with national trends. It is observed that creative materials education efforts in non-major curricula are highly sought, following national trends of higher contact numbers of students in related engineering programs versus relatively small numbers of students in materials programs. Issues of implementing laboratory curricula reflect the increasing attention to safety and liability concerns. Every year, at least one session topic has been multi-disciplinary and co- sponsored with another division.

Analysis of other efforts in Materials Education will be presented, along with any interaction the ASEE Materials Division has with these efforts. Specific mention will be made of efforts by TMS, ASM, MRS and ACERS. Efforts of these organizations have been largely independent and compartmental.

The data presented in this study will be used during the business meeting to generate discussion and selection of future materials division session topics. It will also be used as a focus for a discussion on any outreach efforts that the materials division may enact.

American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE) has a mission to support engineering education within its own organization and through interactions with other technical societies promoting similar goals. Specifically, ASEE is structured with ‘divisions’ (by technical topic) and the Materials Division has been a small, but active division for the last three decades. The internal efforts of the Materials Division include hosting technical sessions at the annual national conferences and contributing relevant articles to the organization’s journals, i.e., PRISM and Journal of Engineering Education. The primary focus of this analysis is to look at the internal engineering education effort of the Materials Division and the activity of the division at the annual national conference over the last five years. The Materials Division has also been involved in external activities, such as joint sponsorship of an appropriate conference or faculty development opportunities with National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). Additionally, this analysis will acknowledge our current collaborators and help identify new potential ‘partners’ as resources for our membership of engineering educators.

American Society for Engineering Education Divisions has the responsibility of supporting the organizations efforts in their discipline. The Materials Division follows this model, which includes publishing ‘requests for papers’ in the summer PRISM journal issue, and implementing

“Proceedings of the 2004 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition Copyright © 2004, American Society for Engineering Education”