Title V Mentorship Grant

 

                   

Description

The College of Engineering and Computing has numerous existing mentorship relationships among the upper division students, faculty and staff. It is inherent in the engineering curricula, which is applied science, for students to need the expertise of faculty members both to complete projects, and to work on student professional chapter competitions and conferences.  
 

Our lower division undergraduate students are not as fortunate. Given the geographical proximity of the Engineering Center to the University Park campus ( ½ mile away), compounded by the extensive pre-requisite course load for engineering courses; it is not unusual for freshman and sophomore students not to encounter more than one or two engineering professors before they enter their junior year. They are also disconnected from upper division undergraduate engineering students and graduate students because the majority of upper division classes are given at the Engineering Center location. 
 

Although the university is a first class, Research I institution it remains an urban commuter school. Residential housing at FIU has grown exponentially however, it still houses at a maximum 2700 students. The overall population of admitted students is 37,000 as of last fall, 2300 at the College of Engineering and Computing. The largest percent of students are commuters. As commuters they are often employed outside of the university.  Often work competes with the students academic pursuits. 
 

A culture of mentorship spanning the lower division undergraduate students, upper division undergraduate students, faculty and staff can only strengthen retention, and academic excellence for the college. 
 

It is our intent to apply a project based team model in the execution of the mentorship program. The model to be employed by this proposal is a tried and true method of engagement that also includes important requirements for *ABET accreditation. ABET recognizes and encourages benefits such as team-building, cross disciplines and the leadership aspects of project based learning. It also enhances communication skills and develops bonding and esprit de corps within the project.