NOTE: The first page of text has been automatically extracted and included below in lieu of an abstract Session #3242 Teaching Creativity, Innovation, and Change in the Leaderless Classroom Donald H. Horner, Jr., Jack V. Matson, The Pennsylvania State University Introduction Creativity: having the power to create; marked by originality; imaginative. Innovation: the act of innovating or producing something new or unusual. Change: to make different; to alter; to transform.1 Different concepts? Yes. Related concepts? Definitely. Teachable concepts of particular relevance to engineers? Without question. Definitional differences notwithstanding, there exists a shared essence which binds notions of creativity, innovation, and change. The essences of these concepts, whether taken singly or in combination, is one of enthusiasm, enlightenment, and engagement that accompanies doing something in a unique, unusual, and different way. Given the positive energy and predisposition to action that these concepts connote, they do not necessarily fit well into established, traditional models of classroom instruction and interaction. The challenge for educators is to develop and employ a method for teaching these concepts in a manner that is consistent with the essence that the concepts share. This paper proposes that the process of teaching creativity, innovation, and change to engineering students in a university setting must itself be creative and innovative while concomitantly promoting change. The method promoted here is a “leaderless classroom” approach, which requires students to become entirely and radically responsible for their own learning. In contrast to traditional modes and styles of teaching, which encourage unenlightened students to remain passive recipients of knowledge imparted by all- knowing professors during the learning process, the “leaderless classroom” casts typical professorial and student roles asunder. The latter assume complete responsibility for the creative, innovative, and change process, to include goal setting and direction, in and out- of-class activities, topics and content studied, learning processes, and student assessment. The result is a classroom culture which recasts typical student-professor interaction and behavioral patterns, engages students, makes students personally responsible for their own learning, and stimulates creativity, innovation, and change. The paper begins with a description of typical classroom processes and how the leaderless classroom approach differs from this norm. An account of the culture created by the leaderless classroom follows. The paper then highlights observations and results Proceedings of the 2001 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition Copyright C 2001, American Society for Engineering Education

NOTE: The first page of text has been automatically extracted and included below in lieu of an abstract Main Menu Session 2793 Launching an Undergraduate Engineering Entrepreneurship Program Elizabeth C. Kisenwether, Jack V. Matson College of Engineering Pennsylvania State University University Park, PA 16802 Abstract Historically, entrepreneurship education has been based in business schools, particularly at the MBA and graduate school level. However, with advances in technology driving new products and companies, engineers are becoming key players in new ventures. Thus, there is need for training students at the undergraduate level to manage, lead, and innovate our technological future. With the support of a grant from the GE Learning Excellence Fund, the College of Engineering through the Problem-Based Learning in Entrepreneurship (PBLE) Program is developing engineering undergraduate courses that incorporate product conceptualization, design, feasibility (technical and market) in a collaborative, interdisciplinary setting. The PBLE Program targets students from three academic areas: Engineering, Business and IST (Information Sciences and Technology). This paper explains the processes used to define the new entrepreneurship curriculum, core courses, assessment approach, institutionalization of engineering entrepreneurship, and lessons learned. Introduction Over the past three years, five factors combined to demonstrate a need and interest in a problem- based, collaborative learning program (and Minor) in entrepreneurship for Penn State undergraduate engineering students. · Research data is confirming that active, collaborative learning methods produce statistically significant gains in student learning than those associated with more traditional instruction methods. 1 · Design courses provided continuously throughout the undergraduate education process is a goal outlined in the ABET2000 Engineering Criteria. 2 · Most recent feedback from the Industrial and Professional Advisory Committee (IPAC) for Penn State’s suggests continued focus on written and oral communications, ability to work on multi-disciplinary teams, project planning and management skills. · Alumni interest and financial support via endowments for engineering entrepreneurship education is growing. · Participation in REEE2000 and REEE2001 Conferences – Roundtable for Engineering Entrepreneurship Education, at Stanford University - confirmed that good engineering design in inherently a creative process, and gaining business acumen is key for engineering entrepreneurship education. Proceedings of the 2002 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference and Exposition Copyright © 2002, American Society for Engineering Education Main Menu

In this paper, we examine the diversity of creative prototyping responses and perceptions in a global online learning environment through our investigation of a simple building task (i.e., 'the Shoe Tower') in the context of a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) focused on creativity, innovation, and change. This simple creative task, which used common household objects (shoes), was designed and presented to a global community of online learners using the Coursera MOOC platform. Performance data gathered from the task outcomes (Shoe Tower metrics and number of build attempts) and student reflections (self-assessed beauty and creativity ratings) were analyzed with respect to gender, country of origin, and occupation. Our results show that gender and country of origin were associated with creative prototyping performance in statistically significant ways, while occupation was not. In addition, the self-assessment of individual creativity was independent of gender, country of origin, and occupation, while self-assessed beauty ratings were related to country of origin and occupation, but not gender.

This chapter focuses on reactor configuration and conditions for the anaerobic conversion of solubilized lignite feedstock into methane. Reactor costs are likely to influence process economics significantly; thus an evaluation of reactor design for the lignite conversion process is warranted. The most common methane-producing anaerobic process, the digester, processes concentrated solids from primary and secondary waste treatment clarifiers, usually raw suspended matter and excess cell mass, respectively. Essentially a large, open reactor, the digester's simple design makes it a candidate for solubilized lignite conversion in the salt dome location. Despite its simplicity, the digester has shortcomings that make questionable its suitability for solubilized lignite conversion. Conventional digesters lack provision for retaining microorganisms in the system longer than the hydraulic residence time. While lignite hydrolysis can produce high chemical oxygen demand (COD) concentration (consistent with digester treatment), filtration and ultrafiltration tests indicate that the biodegradable COD represents mostly soluble materials.

The Engineering Leadership Development program at Penn State University is concluding its 20 th year. This paper is a retrospective analysis of this history. The microcosmic Tuckman model of group development fits the macrocosmic evolution of the program and is used as a framework within which to place the experiences, observations, and perspectives of the individuals associated with its conception and direction. Examples are provided of processes, failures, successes, and lessons learned, and references are provided to quantitative works describing the results of Program assessment over time.

This paper reports on the design, development, and delivery of a multidisciplinary MOOC (Massive Open Online Course) on creativity, innovation, and change. Our aim was to provide students with concepts and tools to help them realize their creative potential, support innovative behavior, and promote positive change in the world. Details of the course structure and its operations are discussed in relation to essentials of problem-based learning, patterns of student engagement, extent of experiential learning, and the use of social media. We also review the demographics of our 124,000+ MOOC students, who represented nearly 200 countries and over 35 academic disciplines, as well as statistics related to their enrollment, retention, and course completion. Finally, we discuss the implications of MOOCs for engineering education in both face-to-face and online formats, our recommendations for the development of MOOCs, the challenges and limitations of our work here, and our plans for future research in this domain.

Manganese (II) oxide (MnO) and titanium (II) oxide (TiO) solid catalysts were found to be robust catalysts for both the transesterification of triglycerides and esterification of free fatty acids. These metal oxides were shown to exhibit long life with little loss of activity. The ability to esterify free fatty acids (FFA) and handle high levels of water illustrates the potential of these catalysts to produce biodiesel from low quality feedstocks without the pretreatment operations required with the traditional process. Some soaps were produced in the presence of free fatty acids, but soaps were within tolerable levels and formed at concentrations that were orders of magnitude lower than the traditional process. This results in significant reductions in product washing. By utilizing a 2-stage process, high quality fuel (meeting ASTM specifications) and glycerol were produced. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

th at 3:30 PM in a business meeting with Senate President Dave Larimore presiding. The meeting was held in the President's Conference Room of Derryberry Hall. The meeting was originally to be with the President, however, Dr. Bell had a conflict. The decision was made to reverse the business meeting of April 4, 2007 with today's scheduled meeting with the President.

An endowed Center to stimulate innovations in engineering education was established in 1992. Similar centers have been set up at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Georgia Tech, and the Polytechnic University of New York, with others under consideration. The purpose of this paper is to provide insights into how the Penn State Center started, its problems, failures and successes, and future directions, so that similar centers can build on the knowledge gained.