Day 2

Making the PIE Bigger: Collaborative Strategies Between Community Colleges and Universities to Enhance Engineering Enrollment and Student Success 9am-10am (Auditorium)

This session will explore how community colleges and four-year universities can collaborate to increase overall enrollment in mechanical engineering programs and enhance student success. It will address challenges such as curricular misalignment, transfer agreements, and competition for students. The discussion will focus on creating partnerships that benefit both institutions and students through coordination rather than competition.

Speaker: Oscar Barton, Ph.D.

Moderator: Yiheng Wang, Ph.D.

Awards Presentation

A formal presentation and notable acknowledgements honoring award recipients of the Edwin F. Church Medal, the Donald N. Zwiep Innovation in Education Award and ASME MEDHEC Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Award. Brief presentations and other will be made.

Moderator: Pierre Larochelle, Ph.D.

Break

11:30 PM – 12:00 PM
(Concurrent session)

Current Challenges in ME & MET

ME and MET department leaders face a multitude of challenges that might include declining enrollments, recruiting of faculty and students, increasing start-up packages, service demands, mentoring junior faculty, and equipping labs of the future. Participants will be organized into affinity groups to share ideas and identify strategies to mitigate these challenges. After the session concludes, a summary document will be prepared and shared with all MEEd 2025 attendees.

Moderators: Pierre Larochelle, Ph.D. and Karim Muci-Kuchler, Ph.D.

Preparing for the Future: Integrating Emerging Technologies into Terminal Degree Programs at 2-Year Colleges

Moderator: Yiheng Wang, Ph.D.

Lunch & Visit Exhibitors

1:00 PM – 2:15 PM
(Concurrent session)

Digital Twins in Mechanical Engineering
Digital Twin technology is evolving at a very rapid pace and is becoming prevalent in industry. To adequately prepare students to create, implement, and use Digital Twins when they join the workforce, it is important to understand how industry is currently using this technology and the tools that are available to develop Digital Twins.

Moderators: Karim Muci-Kuchler, Ph.D. and Rungun Nathan, Ph.D.

Building Tomorrow's Engineers Today: (Early) Industry Partnerships to Enhance Student Success
Strengthening partnerships with industry to provide real-world, hands-on, design-and-build projects will not only better prepare students for contemporary engineering challenges but also promote innovation. By increasing engagement and retention in ME/MET programs, these initiatives seek to address industry workforce needs. This session will explore current approaches and innovations at community colleges and four-year institutions aimed at fostering design thinking skills in students through industry partnerships.

Moderator: Yiheng Wang, Ph.D., Orlando M. Ayala, Ph.D. and Harish Cherukuri, Ph.D.

Mechanical Engineering Education in the time of AI

Moderator: Ahmad Fayed, Ph.D. and Harish Cherukuri, Ph.D.

Townhall

Five @ 5 - ME Presentations & Updates
The Five @ 5 session is a forum for ME and MET department leaders to present on the innovative practices being implemented at their institutions. Topics might include curriculum development, student recruitment/retention, faculty recruitment/retention, faculty development, co-curricular programs, mentoring, and more. Each speaker will have exactly 5 minutes to present. This is an opportunity to showcase successful initiatives, learn from each other, and build community around shared challenges. Must be a registered MEEd attendee to participate.

Learn more about this opportunity to present

Moderator: Leigh McCue-Weil, Ph.D.