The purpose of this study was to examine whether students’ perceptions in a first-year university engineering course affected their engineering identification, motivational beliefs, and engineering major and career goals. Based on current motivation models and theories, we hypothesized that students’ perceptions of the components of the MUSIC Model of Motivation (the MUSIC model) in one of their first university engineering courses would predict their engineering identification, which would predict their major and career goals. We conducted exploratory factor analyses on an estimation sample of 110 students and used a two-step structural equation modeling approach with a validation sample of 333 first-year engineering undergraduates. The measurement and structural model fit indices demonstrated that the hypothesized model provided a good fit to the data, indicating that students’ perceptions of four of the five MUSIC model components were statistically related to students’ engineering identification, which then predicted their major and career goals.

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The National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) has been used at universities across the U.S. and Canada to gather information about the quality of engagement of first-year students and graduating students. Institutions use NSSE's five benchmarks of effective educational practice to compare themselves with other schools and to focus in on ways to improve the educational experiences of their students. However, studies indicate that these benchmarks may not be a valid way to convey NSSE information. This study was conducted to investigate whether or not NSSE's five-factor model is the best fit for student engagement data collected at a large, public, research-intensive, land-grant university. The five-factor model did not fit the data for the 2008 sample of senior students at this university. Rather, a revised model using six factors instead of five and 21 of 42 items provided a more valid test blueprint. This new model was then tested and found to fit the 2011 sample of senior students at the same university. Discussion regarding use of a nationally collected data at an individual institution is provided.

To analyze outcomes and complications related to cataract surgery complicated by retained lens fragment (RLF) requiring pars plana vitrectomy (PPV) in a county hospital where procedures are performed by trainees. Methods: Retrospective study of consecutive patients who met inclusion criteria and underwent PPV for RLF in the vitreous cavity at an urban teaching hospital between January 2010 and January 2016 (N=20). Main Outcomes/Measures: Visual acuity was recorded pre-and post-operatively over a follow-up period of 3 to 12 months. Complications and patient factors contributing to outcomes were assessed using paired and unpaired t-tests and multiple linear regression. Results: The average rate of cataract surgery with RLF requiring PPV was 0.75%. Twenty patients met inclusion criteria. Mean pre-operative visual acuity (VA) was logMAR 1.7 (Snellen 20/1000). Nearly half (8/20) had nuclear cataracts grade 3+ or higher. The majority (14/20) had factors predisposing them to cataract surgery complications. Most patients underwent PPV within 1 week (median 6.5 days). At 12-month follow-up, significant (p=0.001) visual acuity (VA) improvement from initial VA was observed, with final mean logMAR 0.6 (± 0.75; Snellen 20/80) and median logMAR 0.35 (Snellen 20/45). Nearly half of the patients had a final Snellen VA ≥20/40. Factors associated with less VA improvement were older age and greater proportion of lens dropped (p<0.01). Complications following PPV included hypotony (5 patients), corneal edema (4), elevated intraocular pressure (IOP) (3), and cystoid macular edema (3). Conclusions/Relevance: Despite patients with advanced pathology and trainee surgeons, rates of cataract surgery-associated RLF requiring PPV at a large tertiary care teaching hospital are similar to reported rates in the literature.

This study had three purposes and four hypotheses were tested. Three purposes: (1) To use hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) to investigate whether students’ perceptions of their engineering career intentions changed over time; (2) To use HLM to test the effects of gender, engineering identification (the degree to which an individual values a domain as an important part of the self), and engineering program expectancy (one’s belief in the possibility of his or her success in engineering) on the growth trajectory of students’ engineering career intentions; and (3) To introduce the uses of longitudinal design and growth curve analysis in engineering education research. Survey data was collected at four time points using measures that produce scores with known validity. Sample sizes at each time point were 470, 239, 129, and 115, respectively. We used SPSS 22.0 to perform descriptive statistics and reliability analyses, and HLM version 7.0 to analyze growth. Between their first and third years, undergraduate students’ perceived engineering career intentions neither grew nor declined significantly, with no significant difference between male and female students. Engineering identification significantly predicted individual differences when controlling for engineering program expectancy, whereas engineering program expectancy did not predict career intentions when controlling for engineering identification. These findings are possibly signs of overall stabilization of the declining trends in career intentions and reversal of women’s perceptions of commitment to engineering careers. The contributions and limitations of this study are also discussed.