• General Description

  • • Every semester, Kansas Gamma hosts an Engineering Futures session which all students at the Carl R. Ice College of Engineering can attend for free. We host a facilitator chosen by HQ and they provide training in the non-technical skills that are essential to the success of a professional engineer. We typically request three modules to be covered from the categories, and this time we requested First Contact, It’s Complicated, & Teaming Up. This semester our facilitator was J.P. Blackford (DC G ’95), who President Nick Divilbiss connected with during the 2023 National Convention in Atlanta. Our of our advisors, Paul Snider, is currently becoming certified as a Cyberambassador, so he assisted as a co-facilitator, which was an exciting experience for him, and many students are already familiar with Paul. We receive a strong regular attendance through the assistance of a Kansas Gamma alumnus and former chapter president, Dr. Kevin Wanklyn, who teaches thermodynamics and offers his students extra credit for attending our semesterly EF sessions. For this semester’s session, DIvilbiss also convinced Dr. Kyle Larson, who Divilbiss is a teaching assistant for, to provide extra credit to attendees in Larson’s statics course. One major hit at this session were the K’Nex towers that J.P. brought.

• Purpose and Relationship to Objectives of Tau Beta Pi

  • • This event helps foster a spirit of liberal culture by providing professional development opportunities to engineering students, thus preparing them to be more successful engineers. The event also accomplishes Kansas Gamma’s own mission as stated: “The mission of the Kansas Gamma Chapter is to continuously improve the Carl R. Ice College of Engineering and the Manhattan community.”

• Organization and Administration

  • • Event planning was initiated by Events Director Dalton Rizzo, who made the request for a facilitator to be scheduled on one of two given dates. Once the facilitator was selected and he established contact with Director Rizzo over email, the event was delegated to Events Coordinator Cory Johnson, who then handled correspondence between all involved parties and set arrangements for the day of the EF session. The facilitator was asked what room size and amenities were required, from which Johnson chose the Burns & McDonnell Collaborative Learning Laboratory, also known as the Scholars Assisting Scholars (SAS) Room, and made a reservation for it, which required coordination with the Assistant Director of SAS, Shana Bender. Johnson also requested funding from the Dean’s Office for the lunch provided to attendees, which was granted and required us to give an invoice to the Dean’s Office. A sanitation plan also was written, which described the process of food service, then submitted to the campus sanitarian, Ronald Bridges, as per University policy. Once the room was reserved and food approved, Johnson created a registration form for those that wished to attend, which included questions about which sandwich is preferred, reasons for attending, and membership with TBP. This form was distributed to both Dr. Wanklyn and Dr. Larson, who presented the opportunity to their students in their lectures. Media Director Grace McLeod was asked to create a promotional poster, which included details and the registration form, and it was distributed onto the TVs throughout the common spaces in the college. An announcement was also created and published in the weekly engineering college newsletter. Johnson ordered the food a couple days in advance, then picked it up on the day of the event. He also arrived early to unlock the doors and setup the room.

• Total Cost

  • • $14.65

• Cost Breakdown

  • • The cost for the McAlister’s Boxed Lunches was $387.73, which was absorbed by the College of Engineering. The expense for bottled water was $14.65, which was covered by the chapter. Facilitator Time Requirements: 4 hours day of, travel time, prep time. Events Coordinator Requirements: 4 hours planning, 4 hours day of. Media Director: 1 hour to create and distribute flyers and to write and submit newsletter announcements.

• Special Problems Encountered

  • • One major issue was a result of our sole reliance on Dr. Wanklyn to entice students to attend EF sessions. His extra credit offerings usually allow us to fill up a room with ease, so we don’t put much effort into promoting the sessions. However, Wanklyn told us just one week before this project that he had also offered extra credit for attending our dance, so many students did that instead and we scrambled for attendance. We emailed all TBP faculty and found another extra credit opportunity.

• Overall Evaluation

  • • SUCCESS: The event was successful in providing an extracurricular professional development opportunity to 28 students, many of whom are not Tau Bates. Those students were entertained by the module with K’Nex towers, and we found that to be an excellent exercise in nonverbal communications enabled by heightened planning and preparation. Attendees were fed a premium boxed deli lunch on the College’s dime, which they greatly appreciated, and they now have a positive association between Tau Beta Pi and extra credit in their respective course, so our image and name recognition was increased by the session. Most importantly, the session was successful in that it kept participants involved and engaged through the end and that they walked away with a sense of value having learned things they weren’t aware of and improved their soft skills over the course of the session. Unfortunately, some of the participants had other commitments, so we were not able to take a group photo with all 28 students this time. 

• General Description

  • • A Tau Beta Pi nationally sponsored program that brings facilitators from other parts of the country to lead an interactive professional development seminar and workshop that is open to all students at Kansas State University. Our chapter hosts this event on a semester basis.

• Purpose and Relationship to Objectives of Tau Beta Pi

  • • The purpose was to give students a chance for professional development and soft-skill building. This was also a chance for members to build relationships with non-members as well as build chapter presence.

• Organization and Administration

  • • Events Director maintained contact with facilitator, who was Mr. Luis Torrens Sotomayor of Puerto Rico University. Events Director Dalton Rizzo ordered catering, arranged for the room, created forms and flyers for promotion and registration. President Nick Divilbiss talked with the professor that teaches introductory thermodynamics (ME 513), Dr. Kevin Wanklyn. He is an alumnus and one of the former presidents of KS-Gamma, during a time which we were an active and renowned organization at K-State, so he feels personally connected to our chapter. Thus, Wanklyn often supports this event by offering his thermodynamics students extra credit in the course for attending. The activities and presentation were guided by Luis. Events Director Rizzo led everyone in a group photo.

• In Conjunction With

  • • K-State College of Engineering

• Total Cost

  • • $0.00

• Cost Breakdown

  • • The chapter already had bottled water in stock for the attendees. The College of Engineering covered the food expenses, providing all attendees with boxed lunches from McAlister’s Deli. There were no material costs for a practical exercise. An officer drove the facilitator into and out of town from the regional airport.

• Special Problems Encountered

  • • Some push-back from the college financial office due to extra food, which was ordered for but not claimed by those who registered but didn’t attend. We were supported by our chief advisor, as he reiterated that we can’t control who attends, and we have to order food based on the RSVP list. Luis went through his material rather quickly and had to improvise towards the end, but we don’t think the attendees noticed.

• Overall Evaluation

  • • The activities that Luis guided us through were entertaining and a nice break from the presentation. It helped all attendees get to know each other and interact. The presentations were thought provoking and engaging. There was time allocated for group discussion in the presentations, which then led to those groups sharing what they discussed with the whole audience. After the session, most attendees stayed to enjoy their lunch together. This gave Tau Beta Pi members a chance to interact with the general students in an enjoyable way, thus improving our perception within the college of engineerin 

• General Description

  • • Engineering Futures has been an event absent for the past three years due to the global pandemic. Even though many people aren’t too informed about this event, it was still a great success as we had Abe Atte, a 3rd year PhD student at Georgia Tech, fly in and give us an excellent presentation on public speaking and leadership. The event was composed of two 2-hour interactive information sessions and one 30-minute lunch break. 

• Purpose and Relationship to Objectives of Tau Beta Pi

  • • In order to excel in the field of engineering, professional development is always important as it teaches us skills and techniques that will benefit us greatly in the work place. The Engineering future event does exactly that. It provides helpful information that student across all grades and professions can learn from, not to mention all the interactive contents that allow you to bond with different people throughout the event. 

• Organization and Administration

  • • This event was mainly organized by the President as he was in charge of sending out emails and advertisements. He also contacted McAlister’s for their food catering service. This event was also ran in conjunction with K-State SAS, where their advisor was in charge of setting up the physical environment.

• In Conjunction With

  • • K-State Engineering Scholars Assist Scholars (SAS)

• Total Cost

  • • $70.00

• Cost Breakdown

  • • The entirety of the cost was from lunch catering from McAlister’s. Because not everyone who signed up showed up, participants were able to have more food than originally planned, which some people were very happy about. 

• Special Problems Encountered

  • • N/A 

• Overall Evaluation

  • • For an event that was absent for the past three years, this event was extremely successful. Our guest speaker, Abe, had a great sense of humor, and his presentation was on point and entertaining. All participants were able to take away many useful advices from the talk that are going to help them in a professional setting. 

• General Description:

  • • Workshop on analytical problem solving as arranged through the Tau Beta Pi National Association. (01/26/2008)

• Purpose & Relationship to Objectives of TBP:

  • • To develop professionalism, intrapersonal skills and ethical thinking for engineering students.

• Organization & Administration:

  • • (in conjunction with another group? __Yes X No)

• Cost & Personnel Requirements:

  • • Local organization, room reservation, supplying snacks & advertising through the college.

• Special Problems:

  • • None.

• Over-all Evaluation/Results (Be Specific):

  • • Very good turnout, excellent program and facilitator, generally well-received by participants.

Participating Members:

• Ian Hartsig 

• Lisa Beck 

• Emily Voigt 

• Erin Johnson 

• Christopher Frampton 

• Chris O'Bryan

• General Description:

  • • We held Meeting Management and Team Chartering Futures Sessions. We held one session in the morning and one in the afternoon on a Saturday (02/04/2006).

• Purpose & Relationship to Objectives of TBP:

  • • Promoted success in the business world. Taught members and other engineering students the values of working with people.

• Organization & Administration:

  • • (in conjunction with another group? __Yes X No)

• Cost & Personnel Requirements:

  • • None

• Special Problems:

  • • Afternoon session had less attendance than the morning session.

• Over-all Evaluation/Results (Be Specific):

  • • We had a large number of non-members. It was good to do something for the entire college.

Organizing Member:

• Sam Bruner

Participating Advisor:

• Dr. Larry Erickson

Participating Members:

• Peter Clark 

• Jared Winn 

• Nik Martin 

• Sam Bruner 

• Megan Smith 

• Meagan Miller 

• Maggie Lock

Kansas Gamma planned on hosting an Engineering Futures session on February 07, 2004, with Shelby Fuerst presenting. However, due to an immense amount of snow received here and in Nebraska the few days before our scheduled Futures session, Shelby was unable to make it down to K-State to present. We had 14 engineering students sign up for the session. We planned on covering People Skills 1 and 2, and Team Chartering. We were unable to reschedule the Engineering Futures session due to many schedule conflicts.

Kansas Gamma hosted an Engineering Futures session on February 8, 2003, with Mike Peterson presenting. Dr. Larry Erickson helped the officers set that up, and a total of about 4 hours was spent organizing the event. Three active members attended (Ben Sommers, Derrick Brouhard, and Nathan Parker), but we also had a large turnout of 22 other engineering students. This activity is obviously a fundamental project of Tau Beta Pi, and we were happy to be able to host a session. We have hosted sessions in the past, but we felt this year’s went a little better than some of the past ones.

We had the modules on Team Chartering and Analytical Problem Solving, and the feedback we got from those who attended was very positive. Kansas State also has a program, developed by Dr. Erickson, where students who attend the Futures session can receive an hour of credit by writing some papers and attending some other small events. Although no one took advantage of that opportunity this year, we have had a lot of success with that in the past. This is a great way to get people interested, and further their knowledge. We feel that lessons learned from the sessions will be extremely valuable in the future as people seek employment. You can always learn to be more effective at your job, particularly when relating to other people.