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Create a new note with the plus button below and tell us about yourself and your Mechatronics and Robotics Engineering (MRE) instruction

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I teach and research at the University of Michigan-Dearborn. I teach a 4th year undergraduate mechatronics class in the mechanical engineering department. My email is: pannier@umich.edu

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We write about several of them in the paper at the K-12 and undergraduate level.  FIRST is the most well-known, but the costs to get involved can be prohibitive.

What other ones are out there that we missed in the paper?

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Do we have weblinks to the paper or video/slideshow?

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We find limited research on this topic, so what resources can you share or would you feel would be helpful?

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The Pipeline from K to 12 to university in STEM

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The Pipeline from K to 12 to university in STEM

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We find that diverse populations participate in K to 12 activities, but that same percentage is not reflected in most college-level mechatronics and robotics programs.

Why is this the case?
What can be done to fix it?

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Overall, instructors were uncertain regarding the effectiveness of both their individual and institutional efforts to increase the number of underrepresented students.

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What constituted a measure of success varied among respondents.

What is your measure?

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Instructors consider things such as

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Tell us about things that really worked for you.

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What did you try that may not have worked so well.

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What did you try that you are uncertain about. Perhaps you can get feedback from others!

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I am with the Department of Engineering and Technology at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University.  I have created and taught a variety of robotics and mechatronics courses and workshops for over a decade.

You may contact me at morrim44@erau.edu

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Equity wasn't specifically targeted in our paper, but it is an important issue.  The high cost of popular student robotics competitions is one problem for equity.  There are solutions (including non-competition activities) that also have other benefits.  Other ideas?

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Social Context to Mechatronics and Robotics Engineering

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Social Context to Mechatronics and Robotics Engineering

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In the paper, survey respondents suggest D&I can be improved by increasing the social context in the curriculum and activities as well as marketing of degree programs. Examples included bio-applications such as robotic surgery and prosthetics/orthotics.

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One recommendation from the survey data in the paper was starting this outreach earlier (late elementary and middle school), using a variety of outreach programs (not just FIRST Robotics-type competitions [which are expensive]), supporting K-12 educators with faculty/research lab outreach to K-12.

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How can we as a division host or collaborate with other divisions to host workshops/seminars/sessions to support DEI? What is happening at our individual schools around these topics? And CDEI summer workshop series https://diversity.asee.org/deicommittee/2020/05/04/summer-workshop-series/