Two ISU professors have been selected to present at the Frontiers of Engineering Education symposium.

Raj Raman, professor of agricultural and biosystems engineering, and Tim Bigelow, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering, have been selected to attend the symposium from Oct. 27 to 30 in Irvine, Calif. 

The symposium, in its fifth year, is run by the National Academy of Engineering. Only 73 educators from across the U.S. were selected to attend. Raman and Bigelow were nominated by a dean from the College of Engineering and then chosen from a pool of applicants.

“This is a real honor,” Raman said. “Only 73 people were invited, and think about how many people teach engineering in this country,” 

At the symposium, Raman plans to use a poster display based on his Engineering 160 class as the core of his presentation. During his presentation, he plans to talk about broader issues pertaining to engineering education, such as: student retention in engineering programs, education materials being delivered and what incentive structures are being used across the country for professors pertaining to their delivery of information.

Raman also said he wants to emphasize the point of hands-on learning in engineering classes. He will use his Engineering 160 class, which was a test plot for a hands-on learning experience, as an example.

“One thing that comes out of my presentation is that the inclusion of a hands-on component in this freshman-level programming class [has] increased student learning and engagement,” Raman said.

Amy Kaleita, associate professor in agricultural and biosystems engineering, said it does not come as a shock to her that ISU professors are being selected to participate in these types of meetings.

Kaleita, who has worked on research with Raman and has attended a similar meeting put on by the National Academy, also said this type of symposium is a very selective process and that it indicates Raman is a recognized leader in the engineering education area.

“Not many students are aware of the effort that goes into improving a degree program and the educational process here,” Kaleita said in reference to Raman’s work within the College of Engineering.

The purpose of the symposium according to their website is for faculty members to come to share ideas, learn from research and best practice in education and leave with a charter to bring about improvement in their home institution.

Raman, who has done a fair amount of research pertaining to teaching, said he hopes to bring back some new teaching ideas and implement them at Iowa State. But he still wants to leave his mark on other professors.

“Students learn when they are engaged with their hands,” Raman said. “Theory is really easy to teach to a big class and hands-on learning is relatively expensive. … Students come to engineering school to learn engineering, not theory all day long.

“This is a highly transferable teaching technique and offers opportunities to get students’ hands dirty, so let’s do it.”