Stander Symposium Projects

Follow

• 

  Mentoring Essentials: Assisting Junior Faculty with Career Development

  Michael B. Kondritz

  As junior faculty progress within their careers an opportunity presents itself to provide this group with assistance in order to master the necessary components of teaching, research, and service expected within the profession. A key stakeholder within this support system may be senior faculty and the role they can play in fostering the career development of junior faculty.Junior faculty who are successfully mentored experience a wide variety of benefits that may provide a springboard to reaching both personal and professional goals and objectives. “Among these outcomes are an individual’s job satisfaction, research productivity, teaching effectiveness, socialization to the profession, salary level, and career advancement” (Bland, Taylor, Shollen, Weber-Main, and Mulcahy, 2009, p. 13). This project will examine mentoring and faculty literature in order to define the concept of mentoring, benefits, challenges, and various models to assist senior and junior faculty in working together in a collaborative effort to benefit both parties.From this literature, the presenter will provide a recommended plan to assist departments and/or institutions in implementing a formalized mentoring program to help junior faculty. This formalized mentoring program will also help in lowering the level of frustration for junior faculty and create a stronger learning community.

• 

  Modeling the relationship between non durable consumer expenditures and stock market prices: An empirical analysis for the period 2004-2014

  Alexander Ian Middleton, Dylan Louis Schack

  BEA consumer expenditure data is divided into three components:(1) durable, (2) non durable, and (3)service expenditures. In this study we examine the relationship between non durable consumer expenditures and consumer discretionary and consumer staples sector price movements. Rational expectations theory suggests that increasing demand for non durable goods increases the sales and earnings of the firms operating in both of the above sectors. In turn, this results in rising sector prices. Using linear and log linear regression we test the hypothesis that the regression coefficients are positive and statistically significant. Quarterly data is used in the study with the time period under analysis, 2004-2014.

• 

  Morphometric Skull Analysis Using Jointed Chains of Rigid Bodies

  Bingjue Li

  Morphometrics seeks to quantify shapes for the purposes of comparison. This work investigates two morphometric problems by applying the theory of shape-changing rigid-body mechanisms. The first problem is the analysis of a head growth in children. The second problem is the spatiotemporal evolution of the longitudinal human skull shape. These problems are specified with a set of curves that represent the cranium shapes as they change over time, in the child’s head as it grows and in the skull as it evolves. Using the rigid-body shape-changing mechanism design methodology, a chain of rigid links connected by revolute and prismatic joints is generated to approximate the set of curves. The advantage of approaching morphometrics in this way is that a modest number of physical parameters describes the changes between the curves.

• 

  Mostly True: An Exploration of My Family History

  Jessica Lindsey Urban

  Family histories are tricky things, especially when the people in the stories don't necessarily want to talk about their pasts. My family immigrated to the US in the early 1800's, many to escape the anti-Semitism that was rampant in their countries. Through a series of personal interviews, family stories passed down from generation to generation, and my own imagination to fill in the gaps, I have compiled a series of short stories about my family and their lives in America from their arrival here in the 1800's to the present day. Although each family has a different story to tell, the stories of love, loss, and faith unite all of us, no matter our backgrounds.

• 

  Multi-segment foot biomechanics with varying foot orthotic postings

  Hilary F. Feskanin

  Foot orthotic devices are often used to treat overuse injuries, over- or under- pronation of the foot, knee pain, and other foot disorders. Clinical documentation shows the effectiveness of foot orthoses but there is little understanding of the mechanisms behind these outcomes. Existing studies of foot orthoses focus on rearfoot biomechanics, yet these devices are aimed at changing whole-foot mechanics. Additional research on the mechanical effects of orthoses is often suggested.The main goal of this study was to evaluate the effects of different foot orthotic devices on foot mechanics. In order to assess the effects foot orthoses have on the midfoot, we placed reflective markers on the participant’s lower limbs and right foot and recorded the leg mechanics as the participant walked across a 75 ft walkway.We expected directional movement patterns based on the location and type of orthotic posting or lift. It is possible that a better understanding of the effects of orthotic devices can lead to more effective treatments for patients with foot disorders.

• 

  Multistage Flash Desalination with an Integrated Solar System

  Mishal Barki Alsehli

  Desalination is considered to be a promising solution to overcome the problems of water shortage especially for countries that have dry weather conditions with less rainfall around the year. Thermal processes have the highest capacity among all other desalination processes but it consumes significant amount of fossil fuel which severely affects the environment in diverse aspects. On that end, the importance of using renewable energy source such as solar desalination has increased in the present time. In solar desalination, the energy can be transferred in the form of either thermal energy as used in thermal storage technologies or electrical energy used in photovoltaics (PV) technologies. This research presents a novel design scheme of the solar multistage flash-thermal storage tank (MSF-TST) system. In the designed Solar MSF-TST, the brine heater is eliminated and stages are connected to thermal storage tanks. Storage tanks system is capable of running a desalination plant for all day at full load. The system is consisted of two tanks where the sea water is heated and stored. On one day, one tank is filled up with sea water and heated by solar collectors (i.e. charging/storage mode) while the other tank provides the desalination stages with hot brine water stored from the previous day (i.e. discharging/feeding mode). On the following days, alternative processes continues. In this research, a mathematical model is developed to predict the Top Brine Temperature (TBT) of MSF-TST under variation of operating parameters in different transient conditions. The MSF-TST system with 20 stages is modeled to produce 250 ton per hour of purified water with expected TBT 90-110 ͦ C. The expected saving of fuel consumption is estimated to be eighty percent when compared with the conventional Multistage Flash Desalination.

• 

  Muscle Activity With the Use of a Compact Elliptical Trainer

  Mary Alexandra Willard

  Neurological disorders such as stroke, Parkinson’s disease, and multiple sclerosis are a leading cause of long-term disability. As a result, individuals with neurological disorders often have low activity levels and have difficulty participating in regular exercise to maintain health and fitness. Some of these barriers include safety, transportation and cost. As a result, finding a safe and effective means of exercise is difficult. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of an affordable home exercise device for promoting muscle activity in the lower extremities. Ten individuals without neurological disorders were tested in this pilot investigation. Subjects used the elliptical trainer under eight different conditions in a randomized order. During each condition, muscle activity of the lower extremity was measured using surface electromyography (EMG) to determine which condition elicited the greatest muscle activity. Data from this investigation will be useful in future trials involving individuals with neurological disorders.

• 

  Muslim Saudi Female Student Development, Successes, and Learning Experience at a Catholic Institution

  Bayan K. Almrowis

  The number of Muslim Saudi female students is increasing at American institutions. This qualitative research explored the Muslim Saudi female student’s development, successes, and learning experiences at a Catholic institution. The main purpose of the research is to assist Privet Catholic institution in the United States to support the essential needs of Muslim Saudi female students. This research is going to provide valuable information which will help administrators, professors and students to understand the Muslim Saudi female student. Themes included: respect of other religions, meaning in catholic universities engaging Muslim Saudi female students, and the influence of the Intensive English program in helping Muslim Saudi female students. Challenges included: The language barrier; adjusting to the life style and the environment surrounding, developing and engaging at the university campus. Findings can be utilized to better support this growing group of students to ensure their assimilation into campus life while achieving their articulated academic goals.

• 

  Nano-scale patterns of molybdenum on glass substrate for use in super-resolution imaging with metamaterials.

  Han Li

  Photolithography is widely used to transfer a geometric pattern from a mask to a photoresist film, but the minimum feature sizes are limited by diffraction through the mask. Focused ion beam and electron beam lithography can be used when higher resolution is desired, but the write times are long and costly. Deep ultraviolet interference lithography, which is a maskless technique, can be used as an alternative to produce high resolution patterns with feature sizes as small as 100 nm. Since double negative metamaterial superlenses can be used for super-resolving and imaging sub-wavelength objects, there is a need for fabricating such objects to characterize the performance of these metamaterials. In this paper, simulations using standard finite element methods are first used to verify super-resolution and near-field imaging at 405 nm for such objects using a metamaterial superlens previously fabricated from silver and silicon carbide nanoparticles. Thereafter, results of fabrication and characterization of sub-wavelength objects using molybdenum of typical thickness 50 nm initially sputtered on a glass substrate is presented. A deep ultraviolet laser source at 266 nm is used. An anti-reflection layer followed by a high resolution negative tone photoresist is coated on the top of the molybdenum film. The cross-linked photoresist created after the development and bake processes is used as a mask for etching. Fabrication of the sub-wavelength object is completed using reactive ion etching in fluorinated plasma. Both 1D and 2D patterns are fabricated. The quality of the sub-wavelength objects during fabrication is checked using scanning electron microscopy, and the 1D object is characterized using TE and TM polarized illumination.

• 

  Nonlinear MIMO Adaptive Control for Longitudinal Aerodynamics Forces and Moments of Hypersonic Aircraft Vehicle Model

  Turki Mohammed Alsuwian

  Aircraft vehicle has complex nonlinear functions which affected in design the control issues. In this paper, introduce and design accurate control of longitudinal dynamic and pitch moment. Longitudinal dynamics equations have complex parameters and this paper maintains control methods as using feedback linearization method. This method is separating longitudinal dynamics equations which causes directly to the flight path angle and aircraft speed with certain approximations of drag, lift and moment functions. Therefore, MIMO adaptive control approach is used instead of feedback linearization with first approximations of drag, lift and moments functions to achieve reasonable results of aircraft dynamics control. MIMO adaptive control technique is presented combined direct and indirect adaptive control methods because the uncertainties variables of longitudinal equations. This paper displays control design for thrust and elevator deflection as inputs of aircraft dynamic with flight path angle and aircraft speed as outputs of the system. The simulations results of feedback linearization and MIMO adaptive control is illustrated in this paper and achieved the tracking of aircraft speed and flight path angles to desired aircraft speed and desired flight path angle.

• 

  Onboarding Career College Faculty: Helping Student Success

  Elizabeth M. Fogle-Young

  Students attending career colleges are typically at higher risk of dropping out or stopping out of school given many external factors such as working full-time or raising families. For these at-risk students, relationships with faculty and staff members on campus help create an environment that is more likely to help them succeed. In addition, Tinto (1993) described how important the instructor and classroom experience specifically are to student success and retention. As such, it is important that faculty members are prepared from the first day they enter the classroom to provide the necessary balance of support and challenge to these students. Lounder, et al. (2011) discussed recent studies suggesting that adjunct faculty in general may be less effective in the classroom. At a time when many colleges are using more adjunct faculty, finding ways to help these instructors be more prepared and effective should be of importance to all colleges and career colleges in particular. One way that career colleges can help instructors be prepared from day one is to institute more rigorous and impactful orientation or onboarding programs. The purpose of this presentation is to combine current research in faculty life with research in human resources and onboarding to suggest best practices for onboarding career college faculty.

• 

  OPS 495 Senior Capstone Consulting Projects Session 2 of 2

  Roberto Federico Acevedo, Ryan C. Brown, Amy Callahan, Elizabeth C. Fitzgerald, Francis T. Flannelly, Elizabeth K. Gallaway, Nicholas A. Hanson, Jacqualyn A. Hearns, Amanda L. Kremer, Patrick McGuire, Matt J. Nowicki, Katherine E. Penny, Molly E. Remenowsky, Nathan H. Resing, Shelby L. Schaffner, Jillian M. Schneider, Olivia C. Thobe, Anna T. Vitale, Ming Wei

  Senior OPS majors provide presentations of their capstone consulting projects.

• 

  Optimization of Photovoltaics Recycling Network: Case Study of California

  Qi Guo

  In the United States, there is no systematic movement to set up a photovoltaics (PV) recycling infrastructure as of now. Like any other end-of-life planning, it is vital to develop and institute economically feasible and environmentally viable recycling infrastructure for the emerging PV industry in parallel with the rapid commercialization of these new technologies. PV recycling planning includes various challenging issues in temporal, spatial, and technical dimension. Various stakeholders will be involved in the recycling network and the issue of management covers diverse aspects such as the collection, distribution, inventory, and reclaiming of materials. Within such a complex recycling network, a systematic approach has to be adopted to adequately capture the dynamic interactions between stakeholders. The main objective of this study is to develop a rigorous mathematical framework, with which to analyze the economic feasibility of PV recycling systems in the United States. California is selected as the geographical location of this study because of the prevalence of PV installation as well as the strict environmental regulation in the region. There are four main steps of research performed: 1) Information about the location of all the PV installation sites in the state of California along with the location of stakeholders involved in the proposed recycling framework are gathered, 2) Geographic Information Systems (GIS) tool boxes are utilize to locate the feasible location of PV recycling centers for various scenarios, 3) total system costs and environmental emissions generated from diverse PV recycling scenarios are compared, 4) economic and environmental trade-off analysis are performed to assist optimized decision making processes. The outcome of this research will facilitate systems analyses for planning of state and national recycling programs for various kinds of PV modules. The general framework developed by the proposed research will allow an efficient decision making on the conservation of natural resources and the mitigation of environmental emission.

• 

  “Optimization of the hydro thermal liquefaction process for increased yields, and for both energy and cost efficient production of a cleaner bio-crude suitable for refineries”

  Anirban Mandal

  Increased use and limited reserves of fossil fuels have increased interest in renewable fuels. Algae biomass has been identified as a viable renewable fuel feedstock for biofuel (green diesel / jet fuel) generation. Hydrothermal liquefaction (HTL) is a promising energy efficient technology for converting wet-algae biomass into energy dense “bio-crude” suitable for use in refineries and recycling nutrients for growing algae. The composition of the bio-crude affects the quality and the process economics involved in converting the bio-crude to commercial fuel. Both the process operating conditions and the algal HTL feedstock composition affect the bio-crude composition. Thus, the proposed effort will focus on determining the ideal HTL conditions with various algal biomass compositions.

• 

  Perfectionism, Religious Orientation, and Self-Forgiveness: Mediating and Moderating Factors

  Nicole Marie Miller, Sarah A. Wilhoit

  The relationships between interpersonal forgiveness, perfectionism, and religious orientation have been previously studied (e.g., Ashby & Huffman, 1999; Dixon, Earl, Lutz-Zois, Goodnight, & Peatee, 2014; Meek, Albright, & McMinn, 1995; Steffen, 2013). However, the present study examines how different types of forgiveness, self-forgiveness and perceived forgiveness from God, are related to perfectionism and religious orientation. Previous research indicates that self-evaluative perfectionism, the more maladaptive type of perfectionism (Hill et al., 2004), is negatively associated with intrinsic religious orientation (Ashby & Huffman, 1999). Those with an intrinsic orientation, who profess faith as central to their identity (Allport & Ross, 1967), are more likely to self-forgive (Gordon et al., 2008). Conversely, self-evaluative perfectionism is positively associated with extrinsic orientation (Ashby & Huffman, 1999; Steffen, 2013), in which religion is practiced for social benefits. The present study used a subset of pre-collected data from a larger pool. We first hypothesized that the relationship between self-evaluative perfectionism and self-forgiveness would be mediated by religious orientation. Second, we hypothesized that the relationship between religious orientation and self-forgiveness would be moderated by perceived forgiveness from God, such that people higher in intrinsic religiosity would self-forgive to the extent that they felt forgiven by God. This was not predicted for people higher in extrinsic religiosity. Results indicated that religious orientation did not mediate the relationship between self-evaluative perfectionism and self-forgiveness. Further, perceived forgiveness from God did not moderate the relationship between religious orientation and self-forgiveness in those who were higher in intrinsic religiosity, but it did moderate a positive relationship in those who were higher in extrinsic religiosity. The findings of this study were unexpected, warranting additional research looking into factors that may make extrinsically religious people more likely to self-forgive if they are forgiven by God.

• 

  Postsecondary Transition for Young Adults with Traumatic Brain Injuries

  Michaela M. Kramer

  Many students with traumatic brain injuries (TBIs) face difficulty transitioning from high school to postsecondary settings. This presentation will share results of a study that examined the transition experience of young adults with TBIs, from the perspective of the students and their parents. Participants will learn about the transition experiences of students who sustained TBIs and discuss services that can be provided to high school students with TBIs to promote a successful transition to a postsecondary setting.

• 

  Power Efficient Circuits for Intrusion Detection using Memristor Crossbars

  Venkataramesh Bontupalli

  Intrusion Detection System (IDS) is an intelligent specialized system designed to interpret the intrusion attempts in incoming network traffic. IDS aims at minimizing the risk of accessing the unauthorized data and potential vulnerabilities of critical systems by the examining the every packet entering into the system. Deep Packet inspection and Pattern matching are computationally intensive processes and most power hungry functionalities in network intrusion detection systems. In particular, every incoming packet is well screened by string matching with previously known malicious signatures/contents essentially known as attacks or intrusions. In particular, nearly 70 % of the execution time and power is utilized against matching the malicious contents against all the incoming packets. Indeed, the heart of every IDS is the detection process itself hence our key focus and efforts are towards developing a memristor crossbar based low power intrusion detection system that would reduce the execution time and power consumption due to its high density grid and massive parallelism. We propose a brute force string matching algorithm implementation on a low power memristor based cross bar array giving rise to detection accuracy of 100% and 0% false positive consuming 0.013mW/signature. As it turns out, memristor cross bar designed, trigger only if there is an exact match between the stored and incoming pattern extending its applications towards text processing, speech processing, computational biology, etc. besides intrusion detection.

• 

  Producer Price Indexes as Determinants of Stock Market Prices: A Time Series Analysis for the Period 2004-2014

  Bryan E. Thomas

  The purpose of this study is to determine the impact of macroeconomic pricing activity in the form of producer price indexes on stock market prices. Linear and log linear regressions are run on 18 different firms from six different 3-digit sic industries. The time period of analysis is 2004-2014 and monthly pricing data is used in the regressions. In order to see how the regression coefficients vary with time, separate regressions are run from 2004 through the 2nd quarter in 2008 and the third quarter in 2008 through 2014. A regression is run for the complete period 2004-2014 with a dummy variable used to identify the 2008 recession. The hypothesis to be tested is b>0, T stat>2 and R^2>0.

• 

  Public Service Motivation: Exploring Motives of the Public Sector and Identifying the Pursuit of Vocation

  Morgan Elizabeth Draves

  As a University Political Science student and Honors Program Chaminade Scholar, the themes of public service and vocation have largely influenced my academic curriculum while at the University. Public service motivation has been a thoroughly studied topic within the discipline of public administration and acts as a form of measurement in determining the motives of public servants, including but not limited to organizational structures and a variety of socialization factors. The aim of this project is to find the correlation between public service and the different levels of vocation that are perceived among individuals working in the public sector. Through a series of interviews with and surveys of public servants, a realistic perspective of public service motivation will be obtained. The key objective of this project is to study public service motivation and its components in order to characterize the various levels of vocation that exist within the public sector.

• 

  Quantifying the Impact of Adding Renewable Energy on the Grid from Economic Point of View

  Seyed Ataollah Raziei

  Growth in renewable energy, particularly of wind power and solar photovoltaics (PV) has been rapid over the past decade, averaging 25-30% a year. There are several reasons for this growth, including recognition that mitigation of anthropogenic climate change, mainly due to emissions of carbon dioxide from fossil-fuel combustion will require a dramatic transformation in our energy system over the course of the next few decades. Renewable energy generation has several benefits not only for our generation, but for our children as well.However, the problems of adding more renewable energy, specifically from the point of view of the stability and reliability of the grids have gradually come to light. Nowadays rather than uncertainty behind the demand behavior, electricity entities have to deal with uncertainty behind the renewable energy generation. Because of this, stabilizing the electrical grids has become more complicated.Substantial research is going on in order to remedy the problems of stabilizing the grids having a notable percentage of renewable energy on the grid. One of the best offered solution is adding storage systems on the grids. However the main problem is a lack of consideration of the problem from the economic point of view.The primary aim of the proposed research is to pair the offered solutions of stabilizing the grid to the economic assessment of the grid. The main focus will be on the macro scale of the grid when distributed storage and renewable energy generation exist. Both short term and long term feedback of deploying each scenario will be considered.

• 

  Race or Culture? African American Student Experiences at a Predominantly White Institution

  Kelley McClain

  This qualitative study explores the experiences of African American students who attend predominantly White institutions. Several factors could benefit, hinder and/or frustrate African American students who have decided to pursue and complete higher education at a predominantly White institution. However, the responsibility of administrators to assist African Americans with this transition continues to be of major importance as they must take into consideration student experiences and cultures. The social, cultural, and academic adjustment process for African Americans varies based on the students’ culture, personal backgrounds and individual experiences not just race. For this research study African American students attending a predominantly White Midwestern institution participated in individual interviews and focus groups to share their experiences. Findings are presented to provide an overview of how best practices and policies regarding engagement, cultural integrity, academic support, awareness, and inclusion can assist in improving the climate and culture of the institution for African American students.

• 

  Rapidly Locating and Accurately Tracking the Center of Mass Using Statically Equivalent Serial Chains

  Ali Almandeel

  Identifying the center of mass location (CoM) provides a significant aid in controlling the balance of humanoid robots. For human beings, the stability of motion is highly influenced by their ability to control their CoM and center of pressure (CoP). Additionally, computing the CoM can prove critical to assessing rehabilitation and in elite sports training. Human body segment parameters can be obtained from anthropometric tables. Their accuracy for a given individual is questioned due to differences in age, race, and fitness level from the sample population. This research presents an estimation technique that uses the statically equivalent serial chain (SESC). A SESC is a representation of any multilink branched chain, like a human or humanoid, whose end-effector locates the CoM. The SESC's construction during an experimental phase depends on the node positions from a motion capture system (like the Microsoft Kinect), and the total mass and CoP from a force plate (like the Wii Balance Board). Additionally, the presence of a static body in the workspace (a walker or chair, for example) to create stability in test subjects is presented. The utility of the presented method as compared to other common methods for CoM estimation is that the force plate is not needed to track the CoM after the SESC is constructed.

• 

  Reading Interventions in Relation to the Ohio Third Grade Reading Guarantee

  Kathryn C. Auletto

  Reading is one of the most critical skills that students learn in their first few years of education. A strong foundation in reading at the early childhood level can promote success in the rest of schooling and beyond. This is especially true for children of poverty; reading abilities and the strong education that follows provide students with opportunities to break the poverty cycle. The importance of reading achievement has a political dimension, as demonstrated by Ohio’s Third Grade Reading Guarantee. This legislation, which has many implications in education, requires that all third grade students who do not pass the Reading section of the Ohio Achievement Assessment must be retained until they are on reading level. In order to prevent this retention, teachers may choose to implement a reading intervention program with students who are at-risk of retention in third grade. The Ohio Department of Education provides districts with research-based reading instructional programs that may be implemented with these students. The list includes Reading Recovery and Orton Gillingham, two reading programs that use different approaches to literacy instruction. The research conducted in this study looks into the factors affecting a low-income school’s decision to select one of these two programs. The research follows a dual case study format, in which interviews were conducted with principals and teachers in the selected high poverty schools. The interviews, along with collected data about these schools and the two programs, provide an illustration of how the Third Grade Reading Guarantee is affecting curriculum, as well as how schools are choosing these reading programs in accordance with the new legislation. The research provides valuable information for low-income schools in this selection process for choosing the appropriate intervention for their struggling readers.

• 

  Reducing Structural Error in Function Generating Mechanisms via the Addition of Large Numbers of Double-Crank Linkages

  Hessein Ashour

  This research presents a methodology for synthesizing planar linkages to approximate any prescribed periodic function. The mechanisms selected for this task are the slider-crank and the geared five-bar with connecting rod and sliding output (GFBS), where any number of drag-link (or double crank) four-bars are used as drivers. A slider-crank mechanism, when comparing the input crank rotation to the output slider displacement, produces a sinusoid-like function. Instead of directly driving the input crank, a drag-link four-bar may be added that drives the crank from its output via a rigid connection between the two. Driving the input of the added four-bar results in a function that is less sinusoid-like. This process can be continued through the addition of more drag-link mechanisms to the device, slowly altering the curve toward any periodic function with a single maximum. For periodic functions with multiple maxima, a GFBS is used as the terminal linkage added to the chain of drag-link mechanisms. The synthesis process starts by analyzing one period of the function to design either the terminal slider-crank or terminal GFBS. A randomized local search is then conducted as the four-bars are added to minimize the structural error between the desired function and the input-output function of the mechanism. Mechanisms have been “grown” in this fashion to dozens of links that are capable of closely producing functions with a variety of intriguing features.

• 

  Relative Performance Evaluation Incentives in CEO Compensation Contracts

  Angela M. Lechermann

  Executive compensation is frequently discussed and criticized by the media, lawmakers, regulators, experts, and the public. The primary issue that companies face when compensating executives is how to align the goals of executives with the goals of various stakeholders in order to motivate executive decisions that increase the value of the company to shareholders, employees, the public, regulators, and others. Academics find that executives’ interests are often best aligned by making compensation contingent on company performance. One method of compensating executives that is frequently discussed is comparing a company’s performance to that of a peer group of companies. This type of incentive is referred to as relative performance evaluation (RPE).The use of RPE in executive compensation is appealing for both executives and shareholders. The appeal for executives is that an incentive can be earned even when performance is weak, as long as it exceeds peers’ performance. Also, when companies offer RPE incentives, shareholders are less likely to pay executives for luck. Finally, many consider RPE incentives to be fairer and more justifiable than other types of incentives.This research examines the use of RPE incentives in CEOs’ compensation contracts among large publicly-traded companies. Our sample includes more than 100 companies across several years. We use hand-collected data from proxy statements filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission to determine the extent of use of RPE incentives in CEO contracts and whether the use of RPE is increasing over time, particularly in years when company performance is depressed. We also compare the characteristics of companies using RPE incentives to those of companies not using RPE, and we collect data on the performance measures, peer groups, time horizons, and payment methods for RPE incentives provided.