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Engineering Education News: July 12

Get the inside scoop on what's happening in the Virginia Tech world of Engineering Education.

A decorative graphic that reads "This week in Engineering Education."

This week in Engineering Education news: read our research; explore our work from ASEE 2023; celebrate our doctoral students; listen our latest podcast episode; and check out our research portfolio!

A graphic called "read the research" featuring the images of Drs. Jenni Case and Andrew Katz, and graduate student Yasir Gamieldien.

Ah, manual coding. It's everyone's favorite part of the research process when it comes to qualitative data.

But can the traditional process of manually coding be improved by today's technological advancements of #ArtificialIntelligence and ChatGPT?

Featuring the work of Drs. Jenni Case and Andrew Katz and engineering education graduate student, Yasir Gamieldien, this article seeks to understand and answer that question. Utilizing manual thematic coding, Natural Language Processing Cluster Assisted and NLP using GPT-3.5, the team analyzed a dataset of 3,800 student responses from an engineering physics course.

A graphic called "read the research" featuring the images of Drs. Jenni Case, Holly Matusovich, Marie Paretti and Rachel Kajfez.

Ever wonder what happens to all the data collected in #qualitativeresearch?

So did the team behind "Building capacity in engineering education research through collaborative secondary data analysis," published in the Australasian Journal of Engineering Education.

Written by the dynamic team of Marie ParettiJenni CaseLisa BensonDavid DelaineShawn JordanRachel KajfezSusan LordHolly MatusovichTyler Young and Yevgeniya (Zhenya) Zastavker, the article highlights how secondary data analysis can, "bring new researchers into the field and honor the time and energy of the participants who tell their stories."

Virginia Tech logo over a black background, over a collection of photos of poster sessions from ASEE.

ENGE at ASEE 2023

1, 2, skip a few, 19, 20! More than 20 Engineering Education research posters were presented at the American Society for Engineering Education annual conference last week, and we've compiled them into a lovely little bundle for you.

The posters in this collection highlight the latest research from across the field of engineering education, including:

🔸 disrupting the status quo of who gets to be an engineer;

🔸 gamified approaches to discovering solutions for engineering problems;

🔸 broadening engineering participation;

🔸 secondary data analysis in engineering education research; and

🔸 inclusive engineering classrooms.

A graphic celebrating the dissertation defense of Alaa Abdalla.

Congratulations, Dr. Alaa Abdalla

In her dissertation, "Students’ Perspective on the Purposes of Engineering Higher Education: A Longitudinal Qualitative Case Study of the U.S. and England," our newest engineering education doctor, Alaa Abdalla, explores students' perspectives on the purpose of enrolling in higher education and obtaining an engineering degree. She studied four institutions across the U.S. and England, with twenty individual student stories, and utilized the "Capabilities Approach" as her main theoretical framework.

In addition to her research, Alaa is the recipient of the Bevlee Watford Outstanding Doctoral Student for 2022. She's has been involved with international engineering education by being a track leader for the Rising Sophomore Abroad Program and serving as the Graduate Assistant for Programs in the Global Engineering Education and Research Office. Alaa has a BS in mechanical engineering from Texas A&M University at Qatar.

Her committee includes advisor Nicole PittersonHomero Murzi, Ph.D.Jenni Case and Paul Ashwin.

A promotional image for the Careers for Engineers podcast, featuring Dr. Andre Stevenson Jr.

When André Stevenson, Jr., PhD was thinking about college, he wasn't thinking engineering - until a simple Google search for "math and science" pointed him in a life-altering direction.

Now, as a secondary market research analyst for W. L. Gore & Associates, André applies the engineering thinking skills he learned at Vanderbilt University School of Engineering and Virginia Tech Materials Science and Engineering to study data for the extensive medical products division.

Join André and hosts Niki Hazuda and Megan Reese in the newest Careers for Engineers podcast episode!

The cover of the 2022-23 Funded Research Portfolio for Engineering Education. The image is a link that takes you to the full portfolio PDF.

Whether developing a center for equity in graduate education; discovering natural language processing; or even developing a compassionate community of scholar practictioners, our faculty have received funding for a wide variety of research areas. View our portfolio!