Friday Key Note Address

Matthew W. Ohland - Purdue University

Matthew W. Ohland is Professor of Engineering Education at Purdue University and has been elected a Fellow of the American Society for Engineering Education. His research on the longitudinal study of engineering students, team assignment, peer evaluation, and active and collaborative teaching methods has been supported by over $11.6 million from the National Science Foundation and the Sloan Foundation. With his research colleagues, he has received the William Elgin Wickenden Award for the Best Paper in the Journal of Engineering Education in 2008 2011. Dr. Ohland holds or has held leadership roles in ASEE’s Educational Research and Methods division, the IEEE Education Society, and Tau Beta Pi, the national engineering honor society.

Key Note Discussion

Institutions have various ways of engaging first-year engineering students, including entry into formal First-Year Engineering programs, matriculation directly to specific engineering disciplines, and pathways that introduce students to engineering after completing general education requirements. The choices institutions make regarding how students first engage with engineering have consequences. Findings from the Multiple-Institution Database for Investigating Engineering Longitudinal Development (MIDFIELD) will be used to compare and contrast the impact of various approaches. Dr. Matthew Ohland, who has taught exclusively first-year engineering students for 12 years and has had a significant role in curriculum design and coordination at both Clemson and Purdue, will help frame these findings as evidence supporting the achievement of certain outcomes as well as recommendations for policy and practice.