Studying Engineering: A Road Map to a Rewarding Career (5th Edition) PDF

Studying Engineering A Road Map to a Rewarding Career Fifth Edition by Raymond B. Landis, Dean Emeritus College of Engineering, Computer Science, and Technology California State University, Los Angeles Jennifer Mott, Ph.D. College of Engineering California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo Steffen Peuker, Ph.D. College of Engineering California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo Published by: Discovery Press Atascadero, CA www.discovery-press-books.com Permissions and Copyrights Cover design by Dave McNutt Chapter title illustrations by Brian Jefcoat Graphic illustrations by Kerry Lampkin Case study of University of Maryland Gamera human-powered helicopter project by permis- sion of Inderjit Chopra, Director of the Alfred Gessow Rotorcraft Center Franklin Chang-Diaz photo in Chapter 1 courtesy of National Aeronautics and Space Admin- istration Images were purchased from Shutterstock.com Studying Engineering: A Road Map to a Rewarding Career, Fifth Edition Discovery Press/2018 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 All rights reserved. Copyright c 2018 by Discovery Press No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—graphic, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise— without prior permission in writing from the authors. ISBN 978-0-9793487-2-3 Inquiries and comments should be addressed to: Steffen Peuker, Ph.D. Mechanical Engineering California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo San Luis Obispo, California 93407 E-mail: [email protected] Distributed by: Legal Books Distributing 2740 E Regal Park Dr. Anaheim, CA 92806 Website: www.legalbooksdistributing.com Telephone: (323) 526-7110 (800) 200-7110 E-mail: [email protected] Books may be ordered by e-mail, by telephone, or online I N M EMORY OF R AY F OREWORD When I was a sophomore in high school, I decided that I wanted to be a chemical engineer when I grew up. I could invent all sorts of reasons for this decision that would make me sound like an unusually wise and thoughtful 15-year-old, but they would all be lies. The truth is at the time there was a great job market for engineers, and stories of red carpets and multiple job offers and outlandishly high starting salaries were laid on us regularly by teachers and counselors—and in my case, by my parents. Just about every boy who could get a “B” or better in math and science courses decided that he was born to be an engineer, and I saw no reason to buck the trend. Why chemical engineering? Because—sadly, this is also the truth—I had gotten a chemistry set for my birthday, and I thought pouring one liquid into another and having it turn green was seriously cool. Like most of my engineering-bound classmates, I knew nothing about what engineers ac- tually did for a living, and when I enrolled in chemical engineering at the City College of New York two years later, I still knew nothing. There was a freshman orientation course, but it was just the old “Sleep 101” parade of unenthusiastic professors delivering dreary 40-minute sermons about civil engineering, mechanical engineering, and so forth. It’s a wonder that this course didn’t drive more students away from engineering than it motivated. Perhaps it did. My ignorance persisted for pretty much the next three years as I worked through the math and physics and chemistry and thermo and transport and circuits you have to know to graduate in engineering but constitute only a small fraction of what engineers actually do. It wasn’t until I got into the unit operations lab in my fourth year and then spent a summer in industry that I started to get a clue about what engineering is really about—figuring out why things aren’t working the way they’re supposed to and fixing them, and designing and building other things that work better or work just as well but cost less. And what engineers did for a living was only the tip of the iceberg of what I didn’t know as a freshman. In high school I rarely cracked a textbook and still came out with nearly straight “A’s”, but it only took one college physics exam to let me know that the game had changed. I also left high school thinking I was a great writer, but the “D+” on my first English paper set me straight about that too. Plus, I didn’t know how to take effective notes, summarize long reading assignments, prepare for and take tests, or strike a good balance between school and the rest of my life. I could go on but you get the idea. I eventually figured it out, of course. If I hadn’t, I wouldn’t have graduated and gone on to become an engineering professor and the author of this foreword. Unfortunately, many of my classmates never did get it, and most of them were gone by the end of the second year. And I know they had the ability to succeed. I don’t think engineering school should be an academic obstacle course designed to weed out students who have the ability to succeed but lack basic study skills. If something is impor- tant for students to know, there’s nothing wrong with giving them some guidance in figuring it out. We do that routinely with math and science and control and design. Why not do it with studying and learning? 6 That’s where Studying Engineering come in. The book is a compendium of everything I wish someone had told me during my freshman year of college. If I could have read it then, even if I had only absorbed a fraction of the wisdom it contains, I would have been spared the major headache of having to learn it the hard way. And if the book had been used in a first-year engineering course taught by a knowledgeable and supportive instructor, the next four years of my life would have been far less stressful, and many of my talented classmates who dropped out as freshmen and sophomores would instead have graduated with me. Virtually everything students need to know to succeed in engineering school is detailed in Studying Engineering. Using a conversational tone and numerous real-world examples and anecdotes, Professor Landis paints a vivid picture of the vast range of things engineers do, the world-changing things they have done in the past, and the challenges to problem-solving ability and creativity that engineers routinely face. He also introduces students to the learning process – how it works, when and why it goes wrong, and how to avoid the pitfalls that have ensnared generations of engineering students (including those unfortunate classmates of mine). Moreover, Studying Engineering introduces its readers to themselves and to one another, providing insights into different ways people approach learning tasks and respond to instruc- tion. Students who take this material to heart will gain a better understanding of their own strengths and weaknesses, learning ways to capitalize on the former while overcoming the lat- ter. Their new knowledge will also improve their ability to communicate with their classmates, teammates, and professors. These insights and skills will serve them well throughout college and their subsequent professional careers, whether or not they remain in engineering. If you are an engineering educator who teaches first-year students, I invite you to think about the things you wish someone had told you when you were a freshman and then use Studying Engineering to help convey those messages. If you are a student, I encourage you to pay close attention to the book because it will teach you how to get the most out of your engineering education. If you’re going to succeed and excel in engineering school and down the road as an engineering professional, you’ll need to learn these things sooner or later. My advice is to do it sooner. Richard M. Felder Hoechst Celanese Professor Emeritus of Chemical Engineering North Carolina State University Raleigh, North Carolina Contents Preface x Prologue: What This Book Has to Offer and How to Get It 1 Potential for Making a Difference........................ 1 How to Realize Your Maximum Potential from this Book............ 2 Additional Ways to Get the Most from this Book................ 3 Student Testimonial................................ 4 Chapter 1. Keys to Success in Engineering 7 Introduction....................................... 7 1.1 You Can Do It!.................................. 8 Poorly Prepared Students Have Succeeded.................... 9 Highly Qualified Students Have Failed...................... 9 What Makes the Difference?........................... 10 1.2 What is “Success”?................................ 11 Goal Setting.................................... 12 Strengthening Your Commitment......................... 14 1.3 Keys to Success in Engineering Study...................... 18 Effort—Work Hard................................ 19 Approach—Work efficiently........................... 21 Attitude—Think positively............................ 22 Summary of the Success Process......................... 23 1.4 Models for Viewing Your Education....................... 24 Attributes Model................................. 25 Employment Model................................ 26 Student Involvement Model............................ 27 1.5 Structure Your Life Situation........................... 28 Living Arrangements............................... 29 Part-Time Work.................................. 30 Influence of Family and Friends......................... 31 Summary........................................ 32 References........................................ 32 Problems........................................ 33 Chapter 2. The Engineering Profession 37 Introduction....................................... 37 2.1 What is Engineering?............................... 38 ii Table of Contents Learning More about Engineering........................ 39 2.2 The Engineering Design Process......................... 40 Your Smart Phone as an Example......................... 40 Steps in the Engineering Design Process..................... 40 How Things Work................................. 42 2.3 Case Study: Human-Powered Helicopter..................... 43 Step 1—Customer Need or Business Opportunity................ 43 Step 2—Problem Definition/Specifications and Constraints........... 44 Step 3—Data and Information Collection.................... 45 Step 4—Development of Alternative Designs.................. 46 Step 5—Evaluation of Designs/Selection of Optimal Design.......... 47 Step 6—Implementation of Optimal Design................... 48 Step 7—Test and Evaluation of Gamera I.................... 49 Step 8—Redesign................................. 49 The Needs for Engineering Design are Boundless................ 50 2.4 Rewards and Opportunities of and Engineering Career............. 51 Job Satisfaction—An Overreaching Issue.................... 52 Varied Opportunities and Job Flexibility..................... 53 Challenging Work................................. 55 Intellectual Development and Lifelong Learning................. 56 Social Impact—Make a Difference and Change the World............ 57 Financial Security................................. 57 Prestige...................................... 58 Professional Work Environment......................... 60 Understand How Things Work.......................... 61 Creative Thinking................................. 61 Self-Esteem.................................... 62 2.5 Engineering Past—Greatest Engineering Achievements of the 20th Century.. 63 2.6 Engineering Disciplines.............................. 64 2.7 Engineering Job Functions............................ 67 Analysis...................................... 67 Design....................................... 67 Test........................................ 67 Development................................... 67 Studying Engineering iii Sales........................................ 68 Research...................................... 68 Management................................... 69 Consulting..................................... 69 Teaching...................................... 70 Entrepreneur................................... 70 2.8 Employment Opportunities............................ 71 Organization of Industry in the United States.................. 72 Manufacturing Subsectors............................ 73 Service Subsectors................................ 74 2.9 Important Fields for the Future.......................... 76 Future Directions—Grand Challenges for Engineering............. 77 2.10 Sustainability................................... 78 2.11 Engineering as a Profession............................ 79 Professional Registration............................. 80 Professional Societies............................... 82 Summary........................................ 83 References........................................ 86 Problems........................................ 86 Chapter 3. Understanding the Teaching/Learning Process 91 Introduction....................................... 91 3.1 What is Learning?................................. 92 Cognitive Learning................................ 92 Psychomotor Learning.............................. 93 Affective Learning................................ 94 3.2 How Do We Learn?................................ 94 Receiving New Knowledge............................ 94 Processing New Knowledge........................... 95 Index of Learning Styles Questionnaire..................... 96 3.3 Metacognition: Key to Improve Your Learning Process............. 97 3.4 Learning is a Reinforcement Process....................... 99 3.5 Understanding the Teaching Part of the Teaching/Learning Process....... 102 Teaching Styles.................................. 103 3.6 Pitfalls to Avoid.................................. 107 3.7 Don’t Be Hung Up on the Idea of Seeking Help................. 108 iv Table of Contents 3.8 Academic Success Skills Survey......................... 110 Summary........................................ 110 References........................................ 111 Problems........................................ 111 Chapter 4. Making the Most Out of How You Are Taught 118 Introduction....................................... 118 4.1 Early Course Preparation?............................ 119 Acquiring Textbooks and Other Materials.................... 120 Using the Course Syllabus............................ 121 4.2 Preparing for Lectures.............................. 121 4.3 During Your Lectures............................... 123 Sit Near the Front................................. 123 “Be Here Now”.................................. 123 Listening Skills.................................. 123 Note-Taking.................................... 124 Asking Questions in Class............................ 128 4.4 Making Effective Use of Your Professors.................... 130 Important Roles for Your Professors....................... 130 Take Responsibility for Winning Over Your Professors............. 131 Understanding What Your Professors Do..................... 134 Communicating With Professors By Email and Text Messaging......... 135 4.5 Utilizing Tutors and Other Academic Services.................. 136 Tutoring...................................... 137 Recitations/Problem-Solving Sessions...................... 137 Other Important Academic Resources...................... 137 Summary........................................ 138 References........................................ 139 Problems........................................ 139 Chapter 5. Making the Learning Process Work For You 142 Introduction....................................... 142 5.1 Skills for Learning................................ 143 Reading for Comprehension........................... 143 Problem Solving................................. 146 Applying Learning Techniques.......................... 149 5.2 Organizing Your Learning Process........................ 150 Studying Engineering v Master Each Level................................ 150 Procrastination.................................. 151 Mastering the Material.............................. 153 Learn to Manage Your Time........................... 155 Priority Management............................... 159 5.3 Preparing and Taking Tests............................ 161 Preparing for Tests................................ 161 Test-Taking Strategies............................... 162 5.4 Making Effective Use of Your Peers....................... 164 Overview of Collaborative Learning....................... 164 Benefits of Group Study............................. 166 Frequently Asked Questions about Collaborative Learning........... 167 New Paradigm................................... 169 Summary........................................ 170 References........................................ 171 Problems........................................ 171 Weekly Planning Form................................. 173 Chapter 6. Personal Growth and Student Development 174 Introduction....................................... 174 6.1 Personal Development—Receptiveness to Change................ 175 Total Quality Management............................ 175 “Personal” Total Quality Management...................... 176 Student Development............................... 176 Value Judgments Apply to Our Action, Thoughts and Feelings......... 177 Therapy and Counseling as Change Agents................... 180 Behavior Modification as a Process for Change................. 181 6.2 Making Behavior Modification Work for You: Three Steps to Achieve Change. 183 Step 1 Knowledge—“You know what to do.”.................. 183 Step 2 Commitment—“You want to do it.”.................... 184 Step 3 Implementation—“You do it.”....................... 186 Barriers to Implementing Productive Actions.................. 187 6.3 Understanding Yourself.............................. 188 Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs........................... 189 Satisfying Your Need for Self-Esteem...................... 191 Satisfying Your Need for Self-Esteem...................... 194 vi Table of Contents Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI)...................... 194 6.4 Understanding Others and Respecting Differences................ 196 Differences in Learning Styles and Personality Types.............. 196 Ethic and Gender Differences........................... 196 Stereotyping is Unnecessary and Unfair..................... 198 Explicit and Implicit Bias............................. 199 Your Effectiveness in Cross-Cultural Communication.............. 200 6.5 Assessment of Your Strengths and Areas for Improvement........... 201 Assessment Based on Attributes Model..................... 201 Assessment Based on Employment Model.................... 201 Assessment Based on Astin Student Involvement Model............ 202 How to do Personal Assessment......................... 202 Personal Development Plan............................ 202 6.6 Developing Your Communication Skills..................... 203 The Importance of Communication Skills in Engineering............ 203 The Engineering “Discourse”........................... 205 Employers Want More.............................. 206 The Engineering Student as a Communicator: A Profile............. 207 Developing a Positive Attitude.......................... 207 Planning to Improve Your Communication Skills................ 208 6.7 Leadership and Teamwork............................ 210 Principles of Teamwork.............................. 211 Attributes of an Effective Team Leader...................... 212 Characteristics of an Effective Team Member.................. 213 Stages of Team Development........................... 213 How to Avoid Free Riders in Teams....................... 215 6.8 Mental and Physical Wellness.......................... 215 Tips for Good Health............................... 216 Balancing Work and Play............................. 217 Rethinking Stress................................. 217 Managing Stress.................................. 219 6.9 Motivating Yourself................................ 220 “No Deposit, No Return”............................. 221 Jesse Jackson’s Excel Message.......................... 221 Inspirational and Motivational Quotations.................... 221 Studying Engineering vii Power of Positive Thinking............................ 223 Summary........................................ 224 References........................................ 226 Problems........................................ 227 Chapter 7. Broadening Your Education 232 Introduction....................................... 232 7.1 Participation in Student Organization....................... 233 Engineering Student Organizations........................ 234 Benefits of Participation in Student Organizations................ 236 Participation in Other Extracurricular Activities................. 238 7.2 Participation in Engineering Projects....................... 239 Student Design Competitions........................... 239 Technical Paper/Poster Contests......................... 243 Design Clinics................................... 244 Undergraduate Research............................. 244 7.3 Pre-Professional Employment.......................... 246 Benefits of Pre-Professional Employment.................... 247 Types of Pre-Professional Employment..................... 247 How Do You Measure Up?............................ 249 Preparing for a Job Search............................ 250 Identifying Employment Opportunities...................... 254 Applying for Positions.............................. 257 Following Up on Interview............................ 259 7.4 Study Abroad................................... 260 Benefits of Study Abroad............................. 260 Can You Do it?.................................. 261 Finding a Study Abroad Program......................... 262 7.5 Giving Something Back.............................. 263 Providing Feedback................................ 264 Serve as ambassador............................... 266 Helping Other Students.............................. 266 Summary........................................ 267 References........................................ 268 Problems........................................ 268 viii Table of Contents Chapter 8. Orientation to the Engineering Education System 272 Introduction....................................... 272 8.1 Organization of Engineering Education..................... 273 Overview of Engineering Education in the U.S.................. 273 Organization of the Engineering Unit....................... 274 Position of the Engineering Unit within the University............. 274 8.2 The Role of Community Colleges in Engineering Education.......... 275 Engineering Technology............................. 275 Articulation and Course Selection........................ 276 Advantages of Starting at a Community College................. 277 Applicability of this Book to Community College Students........... 277 8.3 The Engineering Education System........................ 278 8.4 Academic Advising................................ 280 Quality of Advising Can Be a Problem...................... 281 Take Personal Responsibility for Getting Proper Advising............ 281 8.5 Academic Regulations.............................. 282 Academic Performance.............................. 283 Consequences for Poor Academic Performance................. 285 Recognition for Good Academic Performance.................. 285 Enrollment Policies................................ 286 Student Rights................................... 289 8.6 Engineering Ethics................................ 290 8.7 Student Conduct.................................. 292 Engineering Student Ethics............................ 293 Academic Dishonesty............................... 294 8.8 Graduate Study in Engineering.......................... 296 Benefits of Graduate Study in Engineering.................... 296 M.S. Degree in Engineering........................... 297 Ph.D. Degree in Engineering........................... 297 Full-Time or Part-Time?............................. 298 How will you support yourself?.......................... 298 8.9 Engineering Study as Preparation for Other Careers............... 298 Master of Business Administration (MBA).................... 299 Law........................................ 300 Medicine..................................... 301 Studying Engineering ix Summary........................................ 302 References........................................ 304 Problems........................................ 304 Appendix A. Design Project 307 Appendix B. Twenty-One Definitions of Engineering 309 Appendix C. Engineers Among the World’s 200 Wealthiest Individuals 311 Appendix D. Greatest Engineering Achievements of the 20th Century 313 Appendix E. Description of Engineering Disciplines 316 E.1 Mechanical Engineering............................. 316 E.2 Electrical Engineering.............................. 319 E.3 Civil Engineering................................. 321 E.4 Computer Engineering.............................. 323 E.5 Chemical Engineering.............................. 328 E.6 Bioengineering/Biomedical Engineering..................... 329 E.7 Industrial Engineering.............................. 329 E.8 Aerospace Engineering.............................. 331 E.9 Overview of Other Engineering Disciplines................... 331 References........................................ 337 Index 338 P REFACE Studying Engineering has been updated and expanded. Dated material has been updated and relevant Internet sites have been added. New is the use of dynamic QR codes which prevent outdated links, and allow students to easily access resources online. New sections have been added on subjects such as developing grit and perseverance, active learning strategies, effec- tive use of technology, effective learning techniques, desirable difficulty, test taking strategies and test anxiety, collaborative learning, rethinking stress, use of professional networking sites, job/internship interview strategies, and engineering ethics. The two new authors also share their advice, experience and personal stories while preserving Ray’s wisdom. The Prologue, “What This Book Has to Offer and How to Get It”, discusses the potential of this book to make a difference in students’ lives, and provides guidance on how to realize that potential. Chapter 1 lays the foundation for the book by introducing and giving an overview of the process of achieving success in engineering study. Key elements of the success process—goal identification, goal clarification, grit, effort, mindset, and behavioral and attitudinal change— are presented. Three models that will help students understand what is meant by a quality education and how to go about getting that education are also introduced. The chapter closes with the important topic of “Structuring Your Life Situation.” Chapter 2 addresses the subject of the engineering profession. A primary purpose of the chapter is to motivate students through an increased understanding of engineering and the en- gineering profession as well as an awareness of the rewards and opportunities that will come to them if they are successful in their engineering studies. The University of Maryland’s “Gam- era” human-powered helicopter project is used to bring the engineering design process to life. A view of the past is presented through the Greatest Engineering Achievements of the 20th Century. The present state of engineering is presented through the various academic disci- plines, job functions, and employment opportunities for engineers. The National Academy of Engineering’s Grand Challenges for Engineering is used to show some of the many exciting problems engineers will need to tackle in the future. Chapter 3 provides an overview of the teaching/learning process. Various types of learn- ing modes—cognitive, psychomotor, and affective—are described. Students are given general guidelines to strengthen their learning process using metacognition and reinforcement. Teach- ing styles are also discussed. A summary of the most common pitfalls students make is pre- sented, along with strategies to avoid these pitfalls. Chapter 4 provides guidance on how to get the most out of the teaching process. The chapter emphasizes the importance of getting off to a good start and discusses strategies for taking full advantage of lectures—preparing for lectures, listening skills, note-taking skills, and questioning skills. Approaches for making effective use of professors are described in detail. Chapter 5 guides students in designing their learning process. Reading for comprehen- sion, analytical problem solving and effective learning techniques are covered. Approaches Studying Engineering xi for organizing the learning process, such as time management skills, are also discussed. Study skills relevant to math/science/engineering coursework are emphasized. Finally, ways to make effective use of peers through collaborative learning and group study are also described. Chapter 6 focuses on the important subject of personal growth and development. A Stu- dent Success Model is presented to help students understand the process of making behavioral and attitudinal changes essential to success in engineering study. Important personal develop- ment topics—self-understanding, appreciating differences, personal assessment, communica- tion skills, and health and wellness—are included as well. The important topic of leadership and teamwork is presented and new a section on rethinking stress has been added. Chapter 7 addresses extracurricular activities that can greatly enhance the quality of a stu- dent’s education: student organizations, engineering projects, research experience for under- graduates, pre-professional employment, study abroad, and service to the university as well as helping other students. Chapter 8 provides an orientation to the engineering education system: faculty, curricu- lum, students, facilities, administration, and institutional commitment. Academic regulations, engineering ethics, student conduct, and opportunities for graduate education in engineering are also covered in this chapter. We close with a discussion of engineering as a means of preparation for further education in business, law, and medicine. Appendices are devoted to five important topics: 1) Design Project; 2) Definitions of En- gineering; 3) Greatest Engineering Achievements of the 20th Century; 4) Engineers among the World’s 200 Wealthiest Individuals; and 5) Description of Engineering Disciplines. The target audience for the book is first-year engineering students; therefore, it is ideally suited for use in an Introduction to Engineering course that has a “student development/student success” objective. Much of what is in the book has direct application to the community college experience, and the topics that are specific to the four-year university experience can provide community college students with a preview of what they will encounter when they transfer to a four-year institution. High school students considering engineering as their college major will find the book useful as well. Engineering faculty can turn to it as a resource for ideas they can convey to students in formal and informal advising sessions or in the classroom. Deans of engineering have indicated that the book contains material that is helpful in preparing talks they give to high school students and first-year engineering students. The origin of the book was the outgrowth of more than 30 years of teaching Introduction to Engineering courses. Much of the material was originally developed through brainstorming exercises with students and now has been supplemented based on education research findings relevant to engineering student success. Our greatest thanks go to the many students who contributed to the evolution of the ideas in this book. Thanks also go to the many engineering professors, instructors and student success professionals who have used the book since the First Edition was published in 1995. Many people contributed directly or indirectly to the creation of the book—both its orig- inal and its revised form. Credit goes to Martin Roden for his constant help and support. xii Preface Great thanks to Dave McNutt for putting his extraordinary artistic talent into creating the cover design. Our appreciation also goes to graphic artist Kerry Lampkin who did the many line drawings that have been included to improve the visual presentation of the book. We also want to express our appreciation to Legal Books Distributing, and to the outstanding staff—Mike O’Mahony and Matt Russell—for handling the distribution of the book so capably and with so much care and concern. We could not have completed the fifth edition without the help of Lisa Kawamura, and Solina Lindahl, who generously spent time proofreading the entire text. Our greatest thanks are to Ray Landis. His vision and persistence to bring engineering student development topics to students through this book started a success story: over 150,000 students at more than 300 institutions across the United States have used his book. Steffen came to know Ray during Ray’s three-day Chautauqua short course “Enhancing Student Success through a Model Introduction to Engineering Course” in May 2012. What followed was not only a professional collaboration but also a deep personal friendship, for example, Ray and his wife Kathy took in Steffen and Jennifer’s cat when they spent a year in Germany on a faculty exchange program. Steffen and Jennifer worked with Ray to update and expand the 5th edition of Studying Engineering. Unfortunately, Ray passed away in July of 2018. We truly miss Ray’s wisdom, advice, experience and company but we are determined to continue his legacy with this 5th edition of Studying Engineering. Jennifer Mott Steffen Peuker San Luis Obispo, CA November, 2018 P ROLOGUE What This Book Has to Offer and How to Get It It isn’t what the book costs. It’s what it will cost you if you don’t read it. — Jim Rohn The purpose of the prologue has two objectives: Convince you of the potential of this book (and a course that uses it) to make a difference in your life Guide you on how to realize that potential P OTENTIAL FOR M AKING A D IFFERENCE You may be reading this book on your own or as a course requirement. Regardless of the context, it promises to make a significant difference in your life, as an engineering student and an engineering pro- fessional. Most likely, you have never read a book like this or taken a course like this, and you proba- bly won’t again. Most of the courses you take will be about content and the application of that content to solving problems. Studying Engineering and a course that uses it are about you. We contend that the maximum potential of this book and a course that uses it to make a difference in your life is far greater than that of any single content- based course you will take. The graph to the right illustrates this contention. As the graph shows, in most content-based courses you will realize something close to the maximum available potential. If you get an “A” grade you probably got 90 percent or more of what was there for you. If you get a “B” grade, you probably got 80–90 percent of what was there, and so on. Unless you are proactive, despite the best efforts of your course instructor, you are likely to realize far less than the maximum potential available from this book and much less even than you will get from a single content-based course. Getting that maximum potential is, to a great extent, up to you, and the payoff will be enormous. Not only will you develop academic skills that will enhance your success in engineering study, but those skills will also correlate closely with the skills you will need to be a successful engineering professional. Studying Engineering will help you reflect and work on characteristics of your deepest self: What kind of person are you? What values do you hold? What you want out of life, and are you on track to get it? Are you getting the most out of your education? What is your learning 2 Prologue process, and how well is it working for you? Based on the insights you derive from the book, you will be prompted to make changes to move closer to the standards you set for yourself. We hope that you have already committed to a personal goal of receiving your Bachelor of Science degree in engineering. You may not have thought about this explicitly, but achieving a challenging goal like getting your degree in engineering requires students to change. Change what? The way you think about things (your attitudes, values, mindsets, world views) The way you go about doing things (your actions, behaviors) Indeed, this book and a course that uses it have no value except that they bring about significant changes in you – changes you are aware of and can articulate. There is some possibility that you are not ready for what this book offers you. How could that be? How could you pass up the opportunity to become a more effective learner and a more successful student? Here’s how: You may not pay attention to much of anything, so why would you pay attention to what this book (or class) teaches you? You may not believe that you can change, or you may not want to change, assuming the way you approached your studies in high school will work in university-level engineering study. Or you may not know what or how to change. If you aren’t open to what this book has to offer, we hope you will keep it in mind should you run into academic difficulty down the line. Rather than give up, thinking you can’t be an engineer or you can’t get a college education, come back to the principles in this book. They work! If you put what’s in this book into practice you will not fail. H OW TO R EALIZE YOUR M AXIMUM P OTENTIAL FROM THIS B OOK If you want to get the most out of the book, we suggest you adopt the following approach. Read a portion of Studying Engineering (sentence, paragraph, section, or chapter); then close the book and develop an- swers to the following four questions: 1. What are the key ideas contained in what you read? (i.e., prepare a sum- mary of what you read either in written form or by saying it out loud). 2. What does the passage mean to you? Does it make sense? Does it fit with your way of thinking? Does it fit with your past academic experiences? Are you persuaded of its efficacy? Are you likely to make changes based on it? 3. What questions would you like to ask the authors or your instructor? What This Book Has to Offer and How to Get It 3 4. What can or will you change (in either your attitudes or your behaviors) as a result of what you read? You may need to go back and reread sections to make sure you’ve gotten everything that’s there. The following exercise will give you an opportunity to try out the approach to learning from this book. Stop and complete this exercise before continuing. If you apply the four-step methodology described above to reading Studying Engineering, we guarantee that you will come very close to realizing the maximum potential. E XERCISE We often receive testimonials from students who have taken a course using Studying En- gineering. An example of such a testimonial is the last section of this Prologue. Read this testimonial (Pages 4–6) with three purposes in mind: 1. To hear from another first-year engineering student. 2. To answer the question: “Could you write such an articulate and insightful statement about your learning process?” If you can, do so. If you can’t, set a personal goal to reach the point where you could. This book can help immensely with that. 3. To apply the four suggested steps for reading this text: (a) Describe what you read. (b) Describe what you read means to you. (c) Formulate several questions you would like to ask this student. (d) Commit to one or more changes you are willing to make in your learning pro- cess as a result of reading this testimonial A DDITIONAL WAYS TO G ET THE M OST FROM THIS B OOK There are three additional resources that can aid you in getting the most out of this book: 1. The problems at the end of each chapter 2. The reflections throughout each chapter 3. Term Design Project—“Design Your Process of Becoming a ‘World-Class’ First-Year Engineering Student” (See Appendix A) If you are taking a course that uses this book, your instructor may assign you the task of developing written responses to some or all of the reflections, to complete some of the end-of- chapter problems, and to do the “Design Your Process” term project. If you are not required to do this work or you are reading the book on your own, we encourage you to do as many of these tasks as possible. T HE E ND - OF -C HAPTER P ROBLEMS There is a set of problems at the end of each of the eight chapters of this book. Some of these problems are short and will only take a few minutes, while others will require significant time (e.g., read a biography of a famous engineer and write 4 Prologue a critique of the book). We hope you will complete as many of these problems as possible. Doing so will provide a significant learning experience. If you are taking a course using this book, we expect your instructor will assign you to do a representative number of the problems. If he or she doesn’t or you are reading this book on your own, we hope you will step up to the plate and do as many of the problems as possible. Several years ago, a professor told us as an extra credit assignment he had a student do all the problems in the book. We’re sure that student learned a great deal from that exercise, including why it is not necessary to seek an extra credit assignment to pass a course. T HE R EFLECTIONS Reflections are interspersed throughout each chapter. The idea is that you read a section and then stop to engage in a guided re- flection about what you just read. Thinking about the reflections is good, but writing a response to them is even better. Hopefully your instructor will require you to complete and submit reflections as part of your course. But if he or she doesn’t, you would still benefit from doing them. You will find forms that you can use to complete written responses to each reflection in the text at www.discovery-press-books.com/studentresources D ESIGN P ROJECT—“D ESIGN YOUR P ROCESS.” In Appendix A (Pages 307–308), you will find an innovative project—“Design Your Process for Becoming a World-Class Engi- neering Student.” This project could be assigned by your Introduction to Engineering course instructor or, if not, you could do it on your own. Through the project, you will have the oppor- tunity to compare where you are to where you would need to be in order to be a “world-class” engineering student and to develop a plan for getting there. Areas covered include strengthen- ing your commitment, utilizing important resources, building relationships, becoming effective at managing time and tasks, adopting appropriate behaviors and attitudes, getting involved in co-curricular activities and growing through self-assessment. We wish you the very best in engaging with Studying Engineering. We always enjoy hear- ing from students by email ([email protected]) and make every effort to respond to student comments and questions. S TUDENT T ESTIMONIAL by Nathan Tyson, Messiah College There are many strategies that help one achieve academic success. Many of these strategies I have been applying for much of my life, while there are some I have more recently employed, What This Book Has to Offer and How to Get It 5 and still others I have yet to put into action. Intro to Engineering has made me aware of many flaws in my study practices and has helped me practice a great deal of metacognition. (Note: Metacognition is discussed on Pages 97–99 in Chapter 3) Of the many success strategies: getting enough sleep, studying in a non-distractive place, making to-do lists, and asking for help have been weapons in my arsenal for much of my school career. For all my life, I have been very good about getting enough sleep. If I don’t get the proper amount of sleep, I have great difficulty concentrating on my schoolwork and think- ing clearly, especially in areas like math and science. During high school, I spent a lot more time studying than most people. Many of my high school friends would brag about not studying for a single test. I, on the other hand, cannot say the same. In fact, I don’t know if I can recall a test that I didn’t study for in some way during my high school career. I learned early on about the importance of studying in a non-distractive place. My mind tends to wander quite easily and is quickly distracted by the most trivial of matters. I cannot study in a room where music is playing, a television is on, or people are talking. In order to study to my full potential, I have found that I need a completely noise-free environment like the library. When I need to study in my room, I have found that earplugs can help immensely by cutting out the distracting background noise. I have stayed organized by writing to-do lists since my middle school years; however, due to the much heavier college workloads, I have found that simple lists are not adequate enough when it comes to managing my time. In the last few months, my time has become more valuable than ever before; every minute must be spent wisely if I want to succeed in engineering study. This course has taught me the importance of my time and keeping a schedule, reminding me that time lost can never be retrieved. In mid-October of this year, I started scheduling my week as Dr. Gray [my professor] taught us. Not only have I scheduled every class, but have also scheduled time to complete homework, eat, and sleep. Nearly every hour of every day is planned in order to minimize time wasted and maximize productivity. Since I started using my weekly schedule, I have found that my time seems to have increased exponentially. I feel less overwhelmed by large amounts of work because I know, if I follow my schedule, I will get it done. My schedule has also helped me prepare for tests better than ever before. Back in high school, I would usually save my studying for the night before a test. College, however, is a very different story. I have found that I must start studying at least a week before a major test. When I started this, towards the end of September, I was blown away by how much easier and 6 Prologue less stressful it was. I can study just an hour a night for a week before a test, and by the time test day rolls around, I have over seven hours of studying and a full night’s sleep under my belt. This is much less stressful than staying up all night cramming for a test until I am so stressed out and so tired that I can no longer focus. Another academic success strategy I have learned from this course is group study. I was always a loner when it came to my studies. Throughout high school, I would do all my work and all my studying by myself. During my first two weeks of college, however, I felt like everyone I talked to was encouraging me to study in groups. I heard it so many times from Dr. Gray, from the Studying Engineering book, and from older engi- neering majors, that I knew I had to try it. My friends and I now study together on a reg- ular basis. We often work together on calculus as- signments, working out problems alone first and then bouncing ideas off each other if we are hav- ing difficulty. When one of us understands a dif- ficult problem, he teaches the rest of the group, walking us through it until we all understand. Three of us reviewed together for the first Intro to Engineering test and found it quite benefi- cial. In fact, I believe everyone from our study group got an “A” or high “B” on the exam. It’s amazing what can happen when people get together and teach each other. Some of my proudest academic moments this semester came as a result of metacognition. Acing every test with little effort is nice, but there is something special about working hard in a tough class and improving. One of my favorite stories of the semester is about my recent improvement in calculus. Earlier in the course, I would do all the homework and pay attention in class, but was always disappointed by my test scores. When I got a 76 percent on the second test, I knew something had to change. The problem was not that I could not do the math, but that I could not do it fast enough. In every test, I would take my time on problems, checking and rechecking my answers, not moving on until I had found the answer. By the time the test was over, I would be left with several incomplete problems and a poor grade. As I began to work on my test taking and study methods, my grade jumped from a 76 to an 88 on the third test. On the fourth and final test of the semester, after much hard work, I received not only my long-awaited “A,” but a 100 percent! R EFERENCES Dennis McCarthy Bernice McCarthy. Teaching Around the 4MAT Cycle: Designing In- struction for Diverse Learners with Diverse Learning Styles, Adapted by Anthony Don- aldson, Dean of Engineering, California Baptist University. Corwin Press, Thousand Oaks, CA, 2005. C HAPTER 1 Keys to Success in Engineering Success is getting what you want; happiness is wanting what you get. — Dale Carnegie I NTRODUCTION This chapter introduces you to engineering study – both the process that will ensure you will succeed and the benefits you will get from doing so. First, we make our best effort to convince you that you can do it; that success in engineering study, like success in anything you attempt, is a process that you can learn and master just like the many other successful students who came before you did. We point out, however, a mindset that keeps some high-ability, well-prepared students from mastering that process – overconfidence. Students who naively assume that their ability will carry them through engineering study as it did in high school can have a rude awakening. Next, we discuss two concepts fundamental to success: “goal identification” and “goal clarification.” We also emphasize the importance of strongly committing to your goals once you have identified and clarified them. Then, we present three important keys to success in engineering study: Effort—Work hard Approach—Work smart Attitude—Think positively As these keys to success suggest, achieving any challenging goal depends largely on your attitudes and behaviors – and for many students, that means changing them. Next, we offer two models to help you understand the skills and knowledge you will get from a quality engineering education, plus a third model to guide you toward obtaining that quality education. We close the chapter by discussing the need for you to structure your life in ways that will 8 Chapter 1 minimize distractions and interferences. Only by doing so will you be able to devote adequate time and energy to your studies and take advantage of the many resources available to you. The material introduced in this chapter will provide a foundation for you to build on as you study the other chapters of this text. E XERCISE Study the 21 definitions of engineering in Appendix B. Then compose your own definition. Write it down and commit it to memory. This may seem like an unnecessary exercise, but we assure you it isn’t. Aside from impressing others with a quick informed answer to the question “What is engineering?” this exercise will help clarify your personal understanding of the field. 1.1 YOU C AN D O I T ! From time to time, we meet practicing engineers who tell us about the time when they were first-year engineering students and the dean told the students in their Introduction to Engineering class: Look to your right; look to your left. Two of the three of you won’t be here at graduation. It doesn’t surprise us that engineering deans (and professors) may say such upsetting things to students. They think that by scaring students about engineering study, the students will be more motivated to succeed. What does strike us, however, is how angry these practicing en- gineers are at the dean for having given them such a negative mes- sage, and, in some cases, the event happened some 30 years before! These former students are still upset that the dean tried to frighten them at a time when they were unsure of themselves and easily intimidated. When we meet with first-year engineering students, we convey a very different message. Our mes- sage to them and to you is: Each and every one of you can be successful in graduating with your Bachelor of Science degree in engineering. How can we make such a bold statement without any specific information about your back- ground or your ability? We’ll tell you how. Keys to Success in Engineering 9 P OORLY P REPARED S TUDENTS H AVE S UCCEEDED A Personal Story from Ray Landis For ten years I directed a program designed to enhance the academic success of engineer- ing students. During that period I worked closely with more than 1,000 students. We had students with very poor preparation and limited ability: students who had to take college algebra three times before making a passing grade; students who failed trigonometry and had to repeat it, and then took Calculus I, received a “D” and had to repeat it. Some of those students took more than nine years of full-time study to complete their engineering degree. I ran into one of those students many years later. He was a successful professional engineer and a respected member of his community. When I saw him, he was on the way to drop his daughter off at a relative’s home so he could fly to Washington, D.C. for an important meeting. H IGHLY Q UALIFIED S TUDENTS H AVE FAILED We worked with students who had all the preparation in the world – students who had gone to the best high schools and had excelled in their advanced mathematics and science courses. Yet they did not succeed in engineering study. Some flunked out. Some just dropped out. The common denominator for such stu- dents was that they were overconfident. They had been able to excel in high school without a great deal of effort or a need to adopt effec- tive learning strategies. And they made the mistake of assuming that engineering study would be like high school. They naively believed that their ability would carry them through as it had before. They failed to ac- count for the fact that the faster pace and higher expectations for learning would re- quire substantially more effort and improved learning skills. They didn’t recognize that they had moved from the minor leagues to the major leagues, where the students they were competing against had much more ability. Many students regret not sticking it out and finishing their engineering degree. They’re working unrewarding jobs for minimum salaries and would like to come back to school, but now the circumstances of their lives prevent them from having a second chance. We hope you are not such a student. One early indication of this is how receptive you are to the material presented in this book. Thinking there is nothing of value here for you is a sign that 10 Chapter 1 you are overconfident. If you are, we hope you will consider this section as a wake-up call. You can ignore this warning with the intent of shifting gears later. The problem with that approach is your early courses, particularly in mathematics and science, provide the founda- tion on which your entire engineering education will be built. If you start out with a weak foundation, you will find it difficult, if not impossible, to build a sound structure on top of it. Steffen’s Advice Don’t ignore the warning. Switching from high school to college is a tremendous change in your life and, as with a building, a strong foundation is essential. You will build this foundation in your first years of engineering study and this book will help you in achieving and maintaining your success. All you need is an open mind and putting any prejudice you might have aside and figure out what changes you need to do to adjust to studying engineering at the college level. Another piece of advice: Although it might feel uncomfortable at first, doing the re- flections provided in this book will help you tremendously and once you got the hang of it, you might actually enjoy them! R EFLECTION In the previous two sections, we noted that “poorly prepared students have succeeded” while “highly qualified students have failed.” Do you see something of yourself in either category? Do you lack confidence? If so, are you beginning to believe you can do it? Or are you overconfident? If so, are you beginning to become receptive to learning new strategies and approaches for your engineering studies? W HAT M AKES THE D IFFERENCE ? One student with seemingly limited ability and poor prepa- ration succeeds. Another student with outstanding ability and excellent preparation fails. How can that happen? What are the keys to success in engineering study? What are those things you can do that will virtually ensure your success – those things that, if not done, will at best result in you working below potential and even lead to failure? Success in engineering study is not unlike success in any- thing you have attempted or will attempt. Achieving success is a process, and each step in the process can be learned. We would encourage you to make a commitment to become an “expert” on success. It’s something you can do, and the payoff will be enor- mous. Lots of resources are available to help you. We will help you by summarizing the best and most effective strategies for you in Keys to Success in Engineering 11 this book, but we also encourage you to explore other resources. For example, reading books such as Stephen Covey’s The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People , listening to audio books, podcasts, tapping into the wealth of information available on the Internet, and attending short courses and workshops. The Internet is an easy, reliable guide for identifying the resources that best speak to you. For online reading material, Google “success.” If the results are overwhelming, try narrowing your search to “student success strategies” or even “engineering student success strategies.” Play around with keywords until you hit on the most promising results. For books, www.amazon.com is golden. Under “books” enter the keyword “success.” Many books are available as eBooks and even audiobooks. You’ll find videos and lectures about success on www.YouTube.com and www.ted.com. Go to one of these websites and conduct a search on the keyword “success.” Make use of the many resources listed at the end of each chapter of this book. Make learning about success one of your life goals. If you work at it, your capacity to be successful will expand and grow. You might even surprise yourself at what you can achieve. And who knows? Maybe someday you’ll write a book on success for others. 1.2 W HAT IS “S UCCESS ”? We assume you want to be successful. We hope that’s why you are reading this book. But just wanting to be successful is not enough. Everyone wants to be successful. Often when speaking to an Introduction to Engineering class, we’ll ask the question, “How many of you want to be successful?” All of the students raise their hands. But what do the students mean when they indicate they want to be successful? Are they all thinking about the same thing? Probably not. 12 Chapter 1 When we ask the same students, “What is success?” we get a variety of answers: ⇒ Success is being happy. ⇒ Success is making money. ⇒ Success is having control over your life. ⇒ Success is getting an “A”. But almost always one or more students will give the correct answer: ⇒ Success is the achievement of goals. The American Heritage Dictionary says essentially the same thing: Success is the achievement of something desired, planned, or attempted. The point is, unless you have something “desired, planned, or attempted,” there can be no success. Unfortunately, many students lack a clear goal and the commitment to the goal necessary for success. According to Vincent Tinto, author of an excellent book on student success , the top two reasons that students do not succeed in college are: 1. Lack of Intention—Students do not have a clear educational and/or career goal. 2. Lack of Commitment—Students do not have the motivation and drive to work toward attaining their educational/career goals. Identifying a clear goal and developing a strong commitment to that goal are the essential first two steps in the process of achieving success. R EFLECTION Reflect on the relationship between success and happiness. What does each of these words mean to you? Does success bring happiness? Can people be happy if they are not suc- cessful? Think about Dale Carnegie’s quotation at the beginning of this chapter: Success is getting what you want; happiness is wanting what you get. Do you usually get what you want? Do you usually want what you get? What insights can you derive by contemplating the relationship between success and happiness? G OAL S ETTING If success requires a goal, let’s discuss goal setting. Obvious though it may sound, the basic idea behind goal setting is: How can you ever expect to get somewhere if you don’t know where you want to go? That is, setting goals—having specific ideas of what you want to accomplish in the short and long term—is a key requirement to becoming an effective student and professional. Only when you set goals will you have something to strive for and something against which to measure your progress. Keys to Success in Engineering 13 G OALS G IVE YOU S OMETHING TO M EASURE YOURSELF AGAINST Consider, for ex- ample, two engineering students in a calculus class who score a “B” on their first exam. One student is extremely unhappy and resolves to study much harder for the next exam. She has set a goal of earning an “A” in the course and by falling short on the first exam, she knows that she must work more. The other student, however, is content with the “B” grade and so decides he can increase his outside work hours since even less study is necessary than he thought. These different responses results from the dif- ferent expectations these two students have, based on their goals. This illustrates how success or failure can only be measured according to self- imposed goals. A grade does not define who you are. G OALS G IVE YOUR L IFE D IRECTION For sure you were asked many times during your childhood, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” If you didn’t know, you probably felt a bit frustrated and even irritated at people who asked you that question. We hope you realize by now that they were trying to help you. They were trying to alert you to the importance of setting directions for your life. They probably even realized intuitively that the more reluctant you were to grapple with this question, the more important it was that you, of all people, do so. Setting goals may not be easy, but the payoff is definitely worth the effort, as the stories of many successful people indicate. Following is but one such story. Astronaut Franklin Chang-Diaz Dr. Franklin Chang-Diaz is one of the most accomplished as- tronauts at NASA. A veteran of six space missions, he has logged nearly 1,300 hours in space. But when you hear the story of his life, you wouldn’t think he’d end up in such a prestigious position. Chang-Diaz was born and raised in Costa Rica. As a child he was enamored by U.S. space program. He and his friends used to build spacecrafts out of cardboard boxes, equipping them with broken radios, furniture, and other discarded material. They would then go through a countdown and lift-off and pretend to travel to distant planets. Franklin Chang-Diaz Because of his interest, Chang-Diaz set a personal goal of becoming a U.S. astronaut. Imagine a young Costa Rican citizen 14 Chapter 1 who didn’t speak a word of English aspiring to be a U.S. astronaut! When Chang-Diaz finished high school, he worked for a year and saved enough money to buy a one-way airplane ticket to Hartford, Connecticut, where he had some distant relatives. In Hartford he repeated his senior year of high school, learned English, and was admitted to the University of Connecticut, where he majored in engineering. After graduating with honors, he began graduate study at MIT, eventually receiving his Ph.D. in plasma physics. He then applied for the astronaut program, was accepted, and became the U.S.’s first Hispanic astronaut. To learn more about Dr. Chang-Diaz and his career as a U.S. astronaut, visit his NASA website at: www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/htmlbios/chang.html The point that the story of Dr. Chang-Diaz drives home so convincingly is the need to have goals. W RITE D OWN YOUR G OALS. Right now your primary goal should be to graduate with your degree in engineering. But what else would you like to accomplish? Become president of your own company? Become a multimillionaire? Become a college professor? And what about your more immediate goals? Maybe you want to make a 3.0 GPA next term, improve your writing skills, or become president of one of the engineering student organizations. A good exercise would be for you to write down your short-term, intermediate-term, and long-term goals. Consider what you want to accomplish in the next week, in the next month, in the next year, in the next five years. Review and update these lists regularly. Start by making graduation in engineering one of your primary life goals. R EFLECTION Think about how goals, dreams, and fantasies differ. What distinguishes each? Do you have goals? Dreams? Fantasies? What does it take to convert a dream into a goal? S TRENGTHENING YOUR C OMMITMENT Why did you choose engineering as your major? Perhaps because you were good in math and science, one of your high school teachers or counselors recommended that you study it. Or maybe you are doing it to please your parents, or you don’t know what else to study. It is likely that you don’t know a great deal about engineering. Few students do. Regardless of your reasons for electing engineering, it is critically important that you de- velop a strong motivation to succeed. Engineering is a demanding field of study. Even a student with excellent preparation and strong ability will not succeed without a high level of commitment. Keys to Success in Engineering 15 There are at least four practical strate- gies you can use to strengthen your com- mitment to success in engineering study: 1. Clarify your goals 2. Learn as much as you can about engineering 3. Create a “road map” to your goal 4. Develop grit and perseverance C LARIFY YOUR G OALS What does it mean to clarify your goals? Very simply, it means answering such questions as, “Why do I want to achieve the goal?” “What will the payoff be?” “What will it mean to the quality of my life if I am successful in achieving the goal?” Clarifying your goals helps you understand their value to you. And by better understanding their value, you will become more committed to achieving them. As noted earlier, many students know very little about engineering and what engineers do. In particular, they tend not to know about the tremendous rewards and opportunities that an engineering degree offers. Learning about these rewards and opportunities, as we will do in Chapter 2, will figure significantly into clarifying your personal goals. L EARN AS M UCH AS YOU C AN ABOUT E NGINEERING As you have grown up, you have been exposed to teachers, doctors, dentists, and numerous other professionals. You have a feel for what accountants do if you have had to manage your personal finances. You have seen lawyers at work on TV shows such as Law and Order. Through your coursework, you have developed some feel for what mathematicians, chemists, and physicists do. It is doubtful, however, that you have had much exposure to engineering. The exposure you have had has probably been indirect, through contact with the products that engineers design. Learning about engineering is a lifelong process, but it should begin now. Take advantage of every opportunity that presents itself. You can start by studying Chapter 2 of this text thor- oughly. Explore some of the many Internet websites referred to there, particularly those whose purpose is to help students learn about engineering. Attend seminars on career opportunities, go on field trips to industry, and talk with company representatives at career day programs. Browse the resource library in your career center. Become active in the student chapter of the professional engineering society for your major. Talk to your professors. Read biographies of successful engineers [3, 4, 5, 6, 7]. If you land a summer job in industry, be curious and inquisitive. Look around. Talk to the engineers there and find out what they do. Over time, these efforts will pay off and your understanding of engineering will increase. Increased knowledge brings increased motivation. We tend to like things we know a lot about. P REPARE A ROAD M AP TO YOUR G OAL Remember when you were in elementary school and heard the term “algebra” and thought, “I’ll never be able to learn that!” And later you 16 Chapter 1 were overwhelmed with the thought of mastering trigonometry or calculus. You assumed you wouldn’t be able to handle such advanced subjects, but you were wrong. Each time you reached the next higher level, you were able to handle it, even excel at it. How did you do it? By taking a lot of little steps, each one building on previous steps. Often students ask us, “What does it take to succeed in engineering study?” Our an- swer is: “You must be able to pass Calculus I at the university level.” Our reason for this is very simple. If you can pass Calculus I, you can pass Calculus II. And if you can pass Calculus II, you can pass Calculus III. If you can pass Calculus III, you can then pass Cal- culus IV. And if you can pass these calculus requirements, you can pass the junior level engineering courses. If you can pass the junior level engineering courses, you can pass the senior level engineering courses. So you see, succeeding in your engineering program is a process of taking one little step after another. Progressing through the engineering curriculum is just an extension of what you have already demonstrated you can do. We suggest you develop a “road map” that will lead you to graduation in engineering. Lay out a plan of what you will need to take each semester or quarter. Having a step-by-step road map to follow will increase your confidence and strengthen your commitment to achieve your ultimate goal: that B.S. degree in engineering. D EVELOP G RIT AND P ERSEVERANCE Grit consists of perseverance and passion. It is im- portant to align your passion with your goals, but don’t confuse passion with an intense emo- tional reaction or an obsession. Passion in the context of grit means a consistent passion; something that guides you to achieve your goals. Perseverance is another important aspect; it is your attitude when you will be giving up something (or not). People with grit have de- veloped their interest, practice, purpose and hope and aligned them with their goals. Prac- tice and hope will strengthen your perseverance and interest, and purpose will form your passion. To learn more about grit, check out Angela Duckworth’s webpage and book. https://angeladuckworth.com/ R EFLECTION What are you passionate about and how does this relate to you studying engineering? How would you describe your level of perseverance when it comes to studying engineering? Perseverance is related to practice and hope. How can you strengthen your perseverance? D ON ’ T L ET A DVERSITY S TOP YOU Highly successful football coach, ESPN sports ana- lyst, and motivational speaker Lou Holtz notes a primary difference between people who suc- ceed and people who fail. Keys to Success in Engineering 17 People who succeed are people who, when they get knocked down by some adversity, get up; whereas, people who fail are people who, when they get knocked down, stay down. The most likely reason you will fail to graduate in engineering is that you will encounter adversity and give up. You will have difficulty with a course or a professor. You might have a personal problem. Whatever adversity you are bound to experience, you will be tempted to use it as an excuse or justification for quitting. DON’T! By strengthening your commitment following the steps outlined in the previous four sec- tions, you will develop determination. The dictionary defines determination as “a firmness of purpose...[and] having one’s mind made up.” Determination means having an unwavering commitment to your goal: the goal of graduating in engineering. You must be determined to persist, particularly in the face of adversity. A Personal Story from Ray I dropped out of college early in my sophomore year. When I attempted to register for my second year, I learned I had lost my full tuition scholarship because of poor grades. Faced with having to take out a massive student loan and having broken my leg playing intramural football, I dropped out. I had always wanted to be a jet pilot, so as soon as my leg healed I went directly to the local Air Force Recruiting Office. To my chagrin I was told a college degree was required for acceptance into flight training. Soon I was back in school with new found determination. That experience was a significant lesson to me that doors would be shut without a college education. Adopt the view that you are going to achieve your goal and that nothing is going to stop you. And how do you keep adversity from stopping you? How can you keep failures from discouraging you? We find this age-old saying to be very helpful as a philosophical basis for overcoming adversity: We learn more from our failures than we do from our successes. It’s true! Think about it. Another Personal Story from Ray When I was in the 7th grade, I took a gymnastics class. I was the best in the class on the pommel horse. So when we had a competition at the end of the term, everyone expected I would win that event. But when I began performing, I was so nervous I felt as if needles were pricking my skin all over. I came in last place. I was terribly embarrassed and ashamed. It took me a long time to get over that failure. But that experience showed me that if I take myself too seriously and want to win too much, I can actually perform much worse than I am capable of. That experience has helped me deal effectively with high-pressure situations ever since. 18 Chapter 1 Learning to overcome adversity as a student will also benefit you during your professional career. Joseph J. Jacobs, founder and former CEO of Jacobs Engineering and one of the na- tion’s most successful engineers, gives his “Nine Commandments for the Entrepreneur.” The first four are: 1. You must be willing to risk failure. 2. You must passionately hate failure. 3. Persistence is a necessity, as is the willingness to acknowledge defeat and to move on. 4. A measure of your potential to succeed is how you handle adversity. (We encourage you to read Mr. Jacobs’ highly motivational autobiography, The Anatomy of an Entrepreneur.) If you are determined to graduate in engineering, persist even in the face of adversity, and take the view that you will not allow anything to stop you, the chances are very good that you will succeed. Believe in yourself. You can do it! R EFLECTION What do you think about the claim that “You learn more from your failures than you do from your successes”? Have you ever experienced a significant failure? What was it? What did you learn from that experience? 1.3 K EYS TO S UCCESS IN E NGINEERING S TUDY Setting a goal and making it important to you are only the first steps. The real challenge remains – achieving the goal. Once your goal is identified and you have done everything you can to develop a strong commitment to that goal, achieving it requires that you adjust both your attitudes and your behaviors. This means that you base your day-to-day decisions and choices on whether a particular action supports your goal (i.e., moves you closer to it) or conflicts with your goal (i.e., moves you farther away from it). The same applies to attitudes you hold. Keys to Success in Engineering 19 There are three keys to success in engineering study: Effort—Work hard Approach—Work efficiently Attitude—Think positively Let’s examine each of these. E FFORT—W ORK H ARD Do you believe that people succeed because of their ability – that some people “have it” while others don’t? Or do you believe that people succeed because of their effort? An excellent book that contrasts these two ways of looking at the world is Mindset: The New Psychology of Success by Carol S. Dweck. The first belief—that some people have it and some don’t—is self-defeating. Thinking you don’t have as much ability as others provides a rationale for you to accept personal failures: you may as well give up. After all, if success is related to some natural quality that you have no control over, then it doesn’t matter what you do or how hard you work. Believing you’re the smartest kid on the block has pitfalls as well. If you do, you’re likely to feel the need to prove yourself over and over, trying to look smart and talented at all costs. Research has shown that people with this fixed mindset are more likely to stick with approaches that clearly don’t work, while ignoring suggestions from others. The second belief—that people succeed because of their effort—is empowering because the amount of effort you put in is in your direct control. You can choose to put in more effort and in doing so significantly affect your success. The following table compares how people with fixed mindsets view challenges, obstacles, effort, criticism, and the success of others with how people with a growth mindset view the same items. FIXED MINDSET GROWTH MINDSET Embrace challenges; Avoid challenges; stick to what Challenges overcoming challenges makes you know well you stronger, smarter Give up easily when you Persist in the face of setbacks; Obstacles encounter obstacles failure is an opportunity to learn See effort as unpleasant and See effort as the path to growth Effort fruitless; the need for effort is a and mastery sign of low ability Ignore useful criticism; see Seek feedback and learn from Criticism negative feedback as an insult criticism Feel threatened by the success Find lessons and inspiration in Success of Others of others the success of others 20 Chapter 1 R EFLECTION Would you say you tend to have a fixed mindset or growth mindset? Think about the way you deal with challenges and obstacles. What is your view about effort? How do you deal with criticism? How do you view other peoples’ success? Which mindset do you think would bring a person more success and more happiness in life? If you see some of the fixed mindset traits in yourself, what could you do to change your mindset? A BILITY, TALENT, S KILL AND E FFORT Ability is your capacity to do something. You can view it also as a measure of your skill or talent. Here is something important: nobody has a natural talent for engineering. Think about it. People who have engineering skills have learned those skills, e.g. nobody can solve math or physics problems by birth; they learned them in school. It is also important to distinguish between talent and skill. Talent is something natural in a person, probably learned subconsciously, like when you learned how to walk. Skill is something you acquire over time by using your talent and putting in effort to hone your skill. In our daily life we might say or hear a person is talented. Sports commentators often say “This is a talented young athlete”. What we don’t see is how much effort this athlete has put into increasing a particular skill. As the German philosopher Nietzsche said: “No one can see in the work of the artist how it has become.” We focus on the now, not on the process how someone became “talented”. But it is exactly this process which will be important to you to increase your skills to become a successful engineering student. To graduate with an engineering degree, a great achievement, you need to use your skills. To develop your engineering skills you need to put in effort. Let’s write that down as simple equations: Talent x Effort = Skill (1) Skill x Effort = Achievement (2) Here is the important part: we can substitute Skill from equation (1) into equation (2) and get: Talent x (Effort)2 = Achievement (3) The implications from equation (3) are important. Assume Student A is twice as much talented as Student B but Student A is only half as hardworking, i.e. only puts in half the effort. Note that based on equation (1), both Student A and B can reach the same skill level, but, considering equation (3), we see that Student B will achieve more than Student A. It is also clear that without effort there will be no achievement, no matter how talented or skilled someone is. Without effort, skill and talent are useless. The good news from equation (3) is that even if you lack talent or skill you can always reach your goals by putting in the effort. Keys to Success in Engineering 21 E FFORT IS B OTH T IME AND E NERGY As can be seen from equation (3), poor academic performance can usually be traced to insufficient effort. But what do we mean by “effort”? It is using energy, particularly mental power, to get something done. The effort you devote to your studies has two components: time and energy. An analogy can be made using the well-known physics formula: Distance = Rate × Time Completing a specific task (distance) requires that you devote energy or mental power (rate) and spend time on the task (time). In later sections, we will consider how much time is suf- ficient, what is the best use of that time, and when to put in that time if you want to be an effective and efficient student. The important point here is that your success in studying engineering is largely in your control. How well you perform will depend, in large measure, on how much effort you put into it. Accomplishing an academic task, like completing a homework assignment, will require you to devote adequate time and to focus your mental energy. These are things that you can choose to do or choose not do. A PPROACH —W ORK EFFICIENTLY “Approach” refers to how you go about your engineering studies. It means that you work not only hard but efficiently. In large measure, your approach to your engineering studies de- pends on the ideas we have already discussed. It assumes that: You know why you want to be an engineer and appreciate the value of a technical education. You have clarified your goals and developed a road map to lead you to them. You have a strong commitment to achieving your goals, even in the face of adversity. You have gotten your life situation in order so that you are not overburdened with problems and distractions. Above all, however, your approach to your engineering stud- ies – working efficiently – means that you learn to become a master engineering student. B ECOMING A M ASTER S TUDENT To understand what we mean by becoming a master stu- dent, consider the following analogy. If you were to take up chess, what would you do? Learn the basic objectives, rules, and moves and then begin to play? Probably. But you’d soon dis- cover that mastering a game of skill like chess requires much more. So you might read a book, take a lesson, or watch experts play. You would realize that to become a chess master, you need to spend time both playing the game and learning how to play it. Your approach to the study of engineering can be likened to a game. To become a master 22 Chapter 1 student, you must not only play the game (i.e., be a student); you must also devote time and energy to learning how to play it (i.e., learn to excel as a student). The first step in playing the game of becoming a master engineering student is to get a clear picture of what is re- quired to earn your B.S. degree. Earlier, when discussing what it means to pre- pare a road map for yourself, we gave a brief synopsis of what you need to do to graduate in engineering. Let us give you a related description here: You become an engineer when you pass a set of courses required for an en- gineering degree. What is required to pass each course in the set? Primarily, passing a series of tests and exams. To pass the series of tests, you must pass each test one at a time. So by breaking down the education process this way, you can see that to become an engineer, you must become a master at preparing for and taking tests. Of course, this is easier said than done, because many other factors are involved. But by approaching your engineering studies in this light, the “game” of becoming a master student and ultimately earning your engineering degree becomes less daunting. As you read the subsequent chapters in this book, you will discover different ideas and perspectives on how best to approach your studies. Learning to be a master engineering student will be a tremendously rewarding and ben- eficial experience. It will enhance your immediate success as a student, while developing important skills you will later need as a practicing professional engineer. Indeed, many of the approaches you learn in this book will work for you in whatever you do in your life. ATTITUDE —T HINK POSITIVELY Are you a positive or negative person? Are you aware of the role attitude plays in your success? What do you think of the following statement? Positive attitudes produce positive results. Negative attitudes produce negative results. Among those negative attitudes that could produce negative results in engineering study are: Weak commitment to the goal of graduating in engineering Low self-confidence Unrealistic view of what’s expected to succeed in engineering studies (overconfidence, naiveté) Keys to Success in Engineering 23 Lack of self-worth (leading to tendency to sabotage your success) “Impostor Syndrome”—believing that you don’t belong in engineering or aren’t good enough External “locus-of-control” (i.e., adopting a “victim” role) Unwillingness to seek help (thinking that seeking help is a sign of weakness) Resistance to change your behaviors and attitudes Tendency to procrastinate (having a negative view about the idea of managing your time) Avoidance of areas of weakness or perceived unpleasantness (e.g., writing, oral presen- tations, difficult courses) Reluctance to study with other students Negative views towards authority figures (parents, professors, engineering professionals) R EFLECTION Think about each of the negative attitudes in the list above. Do any of the items describe you? If so, in what ways could you see that particular attitude interfering with your success in engineering study? Do you know why you hold this attitude? Are you willing to try to change the attitude? What would be a more positive attitude that you could adopt? One of the primary purposes of this book is to help you become conscious of and change any negative attitudes you may hold that will impede your success in engineering study. You will learn the process for this change when you study Chapter 6: Personal Growth and Student Development. S UMMARY OF THE S UCCESS P ROCESS In the previous sections we have discussed the “success process.” Below is a summary of this four-step process as it applies to the goal of becoming an engineer. Step 1: Setting goals Why do I want to be an engineer? Step 2: Strengthening How important is it to me to be- commitment to goals come an engineer? Step 3: Changing neg- What attitudes will interfere with ative attitudes my goal of becoming an engineer? What do I need to do differently Step 4: Changing non- to achieve my goal of becoming an productive behaviors engineer? This book will help you navigate this process. ⇒ Chapter 2 will help you firm up your goal of becoming an engineer and deciding which discipline to specialize in. 24 Chapter 1 ⇒ Chapter 2 will help you strengthen your commitment to becoming an engineer by pro- viding knowledge about the field of engineering, while exposing you to the rewards and opportunities of an engineering career. ⇒ Chapter 6 will aid you in the process of changing any negative attitudes to positive ones appropriate to success in math/ science/engineering coursework. ⇒ Chapters 4, 5, and 6 will help you adopt the behaviors that will ensure you are studying efficiently. You can choose to devote time and en- ergy to each step in the success process. For example, you might schedule Saturdays from noon to 2:00 p.m. to work on strengthening your commitment to success in engineering study. Or you could devote another block of time to figuring out what behaviors you need to change to be a more effective student. 1.4 M ODELS FOR V IEWING YOUR E DUCATION One of the most positive and unique as-

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