He has served as assistant chair for undergraduate affairs since 2010. His teaching mainly involves hydrology, hydraulics, and environmental fluid mechanics, and his research focuses on mixing in lakes, rivers, and oceans. He has served as an associate editor of Limnology and Oceanography and the Journal of Hydraulic Engineering since 2005.

Special thanks … So many people deserve recognition for their support during my completion of this dissertation. No individual could possibly achieve this milestone without support. I dedicate this dissertation to Kimberly for her support, encouragement, understanding, patience, and motivation; all of which have made this journey possible. I also dedicate this dissertation to my sons, Bradley and Collin, who have always been supportive with words of encouragement during this process. They have been my motivation. iii

An NSF Scholarships in STEM (S-STEM) program has provided scholarships for cohorts of undergraduate engineering students since 2009, giving specific attention to the National Academy of Engineering's vision for the engineer of 2020 (E2020). Four E2020 outcomes are emphasized in Iowa State's program: leadership, global awareness and understanding, systems thinking, and innovation and entrepreneurship. These outcomes, or pillars, are being integrated into curricular and co-curricular activities. The four pillar areas are introduced in a one-semester first-year seminar and reinforced in a two-semester second-year seminar. These seminars supplement the regular program of study for engineering students. In this paper, we describe the curriculum and its planned integration beyond the scholarship program. We present student feedback about their experience in the program. We also introduce relevant core competencies associated with the outcomes as judged by faculty and industry representatives.

This study explored how workplace competency assessment data collected by College of Engineering programs from internship students and their supervisors between fall 2001 through fall 2011, are applied toward continuous improvement practices. The continuous improvement process is integral to the accreditation and evaluation of the engineering curriculum. This mixed methods study examined three separate practices using internship workplace competency assessment ratings in the continuous improvement process. The study examined how assessment rankings of the internship students' workplace competency strengths and weakness have changed from the 2001-05 assessment terms in the past accreditation cycle, to the 2006-11 assessment terms of the most recent accreditation cycle. It examined competency achievement percentages related to the ABET Criterion 3 (a-k) outcomes across the same timeline, and investigated how workplace competency assessment data are used to support continuous improvement for program curricula in the College of Engineering. The intent of the study was to gain better understanding of how the workplace competency assessment data has benefited the continuous improvement process that enhances student learning. The results can also provide suggestions to programs in the early stages of developing new program evaluation techniques.