Many computer science departments in general, and less-research-intensive departments in particular, experience high dropout of undergraduate students. This is particularly worrisome given that the US Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts that by 2020, half of all STEM jobs will be in computing. Sever ...

Numerous national reports assert improving diversity of students in key engineering majors, such as aerospace, mechanical, electrical, and computer engineering, are national priorities. While lack of diversity in aerospace engineering has been acknowledged as a problem for over 20 years, past and cu ...

Academic departments are complex, knowledge-intensive social systems of interacting and interdependent agents (e.g., students, faculty, and staff). Complexity theorists describe such systems as social networks that are continuously reconstructed as agents within the network interact and influence on ...

Engineers are increasingly called upon to solve society's most complex problems, working in teams to find elegant solutions that meet multiple constraints. Research shows that diverse teams produce superior solutions to complex problems than do homogeneous teams. Unfortunately, the engineering workf ...

The culture of a program or department plays a significant role in effective, inclusive, and innovative STEM education. Despite immense efforts to diversify the student body in engineering programs, research suggests that department culture continues to challenge engineering education and the educat ...

This project will revolutionize the preparation of engineers to serve needs of the United States in scientific progress, health, prosperity and national defense by dramatically increasing engineers' desire to learn and to persist in highly competitive professional environments. Success in identifyin ...