Recruitment and engagement of undergraduate Engineering and Technology students in interdisciplinary research projects

This paper discusses current recruitment and student engagement efforts by the Principal Investigator (PI). Eight undergraduate students have been successfully recruited for an interdisciplinary sensor development project. Undergraduate students from the School of Engineering and Technology (ET) were targeted for their specific majors of study. Majors of Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, and Industrial Technology Management were included in the pool. Project descriptions were written and advertised through the PI's web site and via flyers spread around the ET building. Students were also reached through classrooms via "elevator pitch" presentations by the PI. Furthermore, individual students have been encouraged to participate by expressing how their work can become valuable assets towards graduate school applications and career resumes. Once the students were recruited, the PI informed them of the common theme for the many projects (sensors for physiological activity monitoring) and how each project would be integrated into an all-inclusive system with mutual benefit. Students were encouraged to collaborate rather than compete. Weekly group meetings were organized and students shared their findings with the group. Each student also discussed their progress at least once every few months. Students were required to send weekly reports and even daily updates on their progress via e-mail. At the end of each semester, a performance review session was organized for each individual student. Students were required to criticize their performance and propose ways for furthering opportunities. The PI provided constructive feedback and clearly explained expectations. A 360 degree survey has been implemented by the human resources department of the university where students have the same opportunity to critique the PI, anonymously. International and U.S.-based students were successfully merged to form small research sub-groups to improve productivity. This paper outlines the details on recruitment and student engagement efforts by providing data such as survey results, student profiles, and brief project descriptions. Outcomes from student projects will be reported and future plans to improve retention will be discussed.