Engaging Engineering Graduate Students in Applied Research at Morgan State University

• Published in: 2015 ASEE Annual Conference and Exposition Proceedings
• Main Authors: Guangming Chen, Jumoke 'Kemi' Ladeji-Osias, Gbekeloluwa B. Oguntimein, Young-Jae Lee
• Format: Text
• Language: unknown
• Published: ASEE Conferences 2015
• Subjects: Diversity; McMurdo Sound
• Online Access: http://peer.asee.org/23942; https://doi.org/10.18260/p.23942

Engaging Graduate Students in Applied Research AbstractMorgan State University (MSU) is a historically black college/university (HBCU) and isclassified as a doctoral/research university (DRU) under the Carnegie classification system.Under the leadership of MSU President David Wilson, the University has developed a ten-yearstrategic plan that includes a vision to propel the University from the current DRU Carnegieclassification to RU/H Research University (high research activity). The MSU School ofEngineering offers the Doctor of Engineering and Master of Engineering degrees, which focuson applied and interdisciplinary research topics for graduate theses, rather than pure andtheoretical research topics. The School of Engineering also offers Master of Science degrees inElectrical Engineering and Transportation.Graduate study provides a passion and a pathway for students to follow or pursue advancededucation or career advancement. Many MSU graduate students come from economicallydisadvantageous families and have no or very limited financial support for their fulltime graduatestudy. Some of them solely count on the scholarships provided by the school or have to takefinancial loans commercial banks or companies. Supported by NSF S-STEM scholarships,NASA research grants and other federal research grants, many MSU engineering graduatestudents have been involved in applied research projects with NASA Goddard Space FlightCenter, Army Research Lab, and the local industry. These projects include the reliability andmaintainability study for McMurdo antenna system, which is located in McMurdo Sound inAntarctica, and integration of NASA systems engineering approach into software defined radiotechnology development projects. By being involved in applied research projects, graduatestudents benefit significantly in terms of inspiring their research interests, developing skills tocollaborate with engineers and scientists of Federal laboratories or industry, and enhancing theirfuture employability. In this paper, we will discuss several graduate student outcomes andstatistical analysis for the impact of the applied research topics and NSF S-STEM scholarshipson the student’s performance in graduate study and career development. Our experiences haveconvinced us of the effectiveness of this setting, which can not only retain student’s vigorousinterests and enthusiasm, but also enhance their employability in today’s job market. (Thisresearch is supported in part by NSF S-STEM grants). Comment: 15 pages