Despite growing awareness of the emotional challenges faced by engineering students and their impact on academic performance and retention, the field lacks validated tools to systematically assess affective states in theoretically grounded ways. First-year students are particularly vulnerable during the transition to university-level engineering education, experiencing stress, anxiety, and disengagement that contribute to attrition. This study aimed to develop and validate a psychometrically sound scale based on Russell’s Circumplex Model of Affect to assess first-year engineering students’ emotional experiences and provide educators with a theoretically grounded assessment instrument. A 12-item circumplex-based affective-state scale was administered to 176 first-year engineering students. Validation combined exploratory factor analysis on raw and ipsatized data, Procrustes alignment to check how closely the items formed a circle, and structural summary modeling to test circumplex geometry. Internal consistency was assessed using Cronbach’s α and McDonald’s ω. Exploratory factor analysis confirmed a robust two-dimensional Valence × Arousal structure explaining 51% of total variance. Procrustes rotation yielded excellent item-level congruence coefficients (0.929–1.000), while Structural Summary Modeling revealed strong sinusoidal patterns (R² = 0.94), indicating a near-circular configuration consistent with circumplex theory. Internal consistency was high across both dimensions (Cronbach’s α ≥ 0.76; McDonald’s ω ≥ 0.84). The validated scale provides a reliable, theoretically coherent instrument for assessing engineering student emotions along pleasant–unpleasant and activation–deactivation dimensions, enabling systematic emotional assessment and targeted interventions while addressing critical gaps in affective assessment tools.

Sheet metal forming processes are extremely important in the production of many different items. However, the issue of plastic instability, which frequently results in damaged goods, still exists in this industry. To solve this problem during production, it is crucial to take into account a number of factors, limiting diagram of forming. Present case, the Aluminum Alloy (AA2014) has been used to examine its formability at various temperatures (423,523 and 623K) and at strain rates (0.1 mm/s). Stretch forming was used to acquire the study’s findings, and the Nakajima test was used. The findings were evaluated using fractography investigations carried out with SEM. The outcomes demonstrated that as the temperature rose, the material’s limiting stresses became more favorable. Utilizing LS-dyna software, the simulations were carried out. The experimental findings are within the acceptability limit according to this study.

The global nature of the engineering marketplace requires students to have the ability to work across teams of different cultures. Study abroad programs associated with experiential learning have traditionally been used to offer students opportunities that enhance their abilities to contribute to the global workforce. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, there were several changes in course delivery creating an opportunity for virtual experiences as an alternative to study abroad programs. Such opportunities are being considered as formal courses involving international projects, or as informal opportunities for students to interact with students at other foreign universities. This research paper considers a Virtual International Collaborative Experiential Program (VICEP) involving engineering students from a US Midwestern research R1 institution and engineering students from a similar institution in Ethiopia and Ghana. The paper aims to explore the transformative potential of VICEP using Mezirow's transformative learning framework. The Learning Activities Survey data showed that students underwent various stages of transformative learning and reported changes in their habits of mind.