Technical Standards in Engineering Education: A Survey Across Professional Sectors

Amy Kurr; Jimmy A. Landmesser

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Conference: 2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition
Location: Baltimore , Maryland
Publication Date: June 25, 2023
Start Date: June 25, 2023
End Date: June 28, 2023
Conference Session: Engineering Libraries Division (ELD) Technical Session 2: Understanding Our Users
Tagged Division: Engineering Libraries Division (ELD)
Page Count: 29
DOI: 10.18260/1-2--44038
Permanent URL: https://peer.asee.org/44038
Download Count: 301

Paper Authors

biography

Amy Kurr University of Tennessee - Knoxville

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Ms. Amy Kurr is a polymer engineer with three years of experience as an electromechanical design engineer for Schneider Electric where she served as a technical product owner for electrical protective devices (e.g., shunt trips, miniature circuit breakers, panel boards, electrical cables). She holds a bachelor’s degree in Materials Science and Engineering from Iowa State University and a master’s degree in Macromolecular Science and Engineering from Case Western Reserve University. Ms. Kurr completed her Spanish Business Certificate from the University of Wisconsin – Madison. She is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Energy Science and Engineering from the University of Tennessee’s Bredesen Center. In her free time, Ms. Kurr sits on the Standard Technical Panel for Underwriters Laboratories UL-746 (polymer materials) and serves as a professional development facilitator for Tau Beta Pi’s – The Engineering Honor Society – Engineering Futures Program and the National Science Foundation-funded CyberAmbassadors Program.

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biography

Jimmy A. Landmesser Jr. UT-Battelle

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Mr. Landmesser has 14 years of experience as a fire protection, nuclear and systems engineer at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL). Upon receiving his degree in fire protection engineering from the University of Maryland in 2009, he joined the Nonreactor Nuclear Division (NNFD) at ORNL as a fire protection system engineer and designer. In this role, he developed his skills as a system engineer overseeing the design, installation and modification of unique FP systems protecting special nuclear materials. To better his understanding of the additional hazards and specialized operations of NNFD, Mr. Landmesser earned a master’s degree in nuclear engineering. For the past five years, he has served as a design engineer and project manager for the Laboratory Modernization Division (LMD) supporting new construction and modernization of existing infrastructure. In this role, Mr. Landmesser has honed his technical acumen and improved his management and communication skills while building strong organizational and leadership qualities.

Mr. Landmesser is currently pursuing a PhD in electrical engineering from the University of Tennessee, focusing on modeling soil- moisture impacts to wildland-urban interface.

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Abstract

The global emphasis on technical standards education in undergraduate engineering curriculums continues to capture the attention of academia, government, and industry. However, many engineering educators engaged in undergraduate engineering instruction lack either the resources to create technical standards educational material for insertion into their courses or access to such pre-developed material which they could customize for their courses. As a result, students’ first, primary, and only exposure to technical standards often comes through opportunities external to universities. Examples include internships, volunteer opportunities, conferences, and part- or full-time employment. While industry and government are instrumental in the educational refinement of engineers’ technical standards knowledge, the introduction of technical standards content late in undergraduate students’ educational journey hinders their performance in complementary technical engineering courses and puts them at a disadvantage when entering the workforce. Furthermore, employers do not have time to bring engineering students’ and new hires’ technical standards knowledge up to a capable level, but rather, they aim to expand upon students’ solid foundation of technical standards knowledge. With the hypothesis that a pre-developed technical standards course would be of benefit to engineering educators, a survey was conducted (1) to gauge the current relationship between technical standards education and the engineering profession and (2) to gather feedback on what characteristics of an undergraduate engineering technical standard training program are most desired across professional sectors in the United States nationwide. The survey was distributed across the engineering field to students, academics, industry employees, and government employees through multiple professional organizations and societies. Two hundred and one individuals participated in the survey. The results show that the engineering field agrees that (1) technical standards should be taught in the undergraduate engineering curriculum, (2) professors teaching undergraduate engineering courses have an acceptable knowledge of technical standards, and (3) four-year academic engineering programs do not put sufficient emphasis on teaching technical standards. Additionally, there is concensus that a technical standards course would be beneficial to students, new hires, and new professional engineers, but also to engineers at more experienced levels. Course content was the primary (81.9%) course feature of interest to survey participants with the most desirable topics including technical standards basics (84.1%), practical applications of standards (70.1%), and how to read standards (69.7%).

Citation
Format

Kurr, A., & Landmesser, J. A. (2023, June), Technical Standards in Engineering Education: A Survey Across Professional Sectors Paper presented at 2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Baltimore , Maryland. 10.18260/1-2--44038

TY  - CPAPER
AB  - The global emphasis on technical standards education in undergraduate engineering curriculums continues to capture the attention of academia, government, and industry. However, many engineering educators engaged in undergraduate engineering instruction lack either the resources to create technical standards educational material for insertion into their courses or access to such pre-developed material which they could customize for their courses. As a result, students’ first, primary, and only exposure to technical standards often comes through opportunities external to universities. Examples include internships, volunteer opportunities, conferences, and part- or full-time employment. While industry and government are instrumental in the educational refinement of engineers’ technical standards knowledge, the introduction of technical standards content late in undergraduate students’ educational journey hinders their performance in complementary technical engineering courses and puts them at a disadvantage when entering the workforce. Furthermore, employers do not have time to bring engineering students’ and new hires’ technical standards knowledge up to a capable level, but rather, they aim to expand upon students’ solid foundation of technical standards knowledge. With the hypothesis that a pre-developed technical standards course would be of benefit to engineering educators, a survey was conducted (1) to gauge the current relationship between technical standards education and the engineering profession and (2) to gather feedback on what characteristics of an undergraduate engineering technical standard training program are most desired across professional sectors in the United States nationwide. The survey was distributed across the engineering field to students, academics, industry employees, and government employees through multiple professional organizations and societies. Two hundred and one individuals participated in the survey. The results show that the engineering field agrees that (1) technical standards should be taught in the undergraduate engineering curriculum, (2) professors teaching undergraduate engineering courses have an acceptable knowledge of technical standards, and (3) four-year academic engineering programs do not put sufficient emphasis on teaching technical standards. Additionally, there is concensus that a technical standards course would be beneficial to students, new hires, and new professional engineers, but also to engineers at more experienced levels. Course content was the primary (81.9%) course feature of interest to survey participants with the most desirable topics including technical standards basics (84.1%), practical applications of standards (70.1%), and how to read standards (69.7%).
AU  - Amy Kurr
AU  - Jimmy A. Landmesser Jr.
CY  - Baltimore , Maryland
DA  - 2023/06/25
PB  - ASEE Conferences
TI  - Technical Standards in Engineering Education: A Survey Across Professional Sectors
UR  - https://peer.asee.org/44038
DO  - 10.18260/1-2--44038
ER  -