research and teaching within university settings. However, the workforce needs of aglobalized economy and students empowered by their agency to venture outside the traditionalacademic sphere into industry, entrepreneurship, consulting, and pre-college leadership, forexample, have led to the emergence of varied and non-traditional career paths. These pathschallenge the conventional norms and expectations of what it means to be an engineeringeducator.Despite the gradual recognition and tokenized celebration of these diverse career paths, asignificant gap exists in understanding the experiences of those pursuing them. The narratives ofPh.D. graduates in Engineering Education who choose non-academic careers are oftenovershadowed by the predominant
), aims to enhance the freshman experience forincoming students by developing key academic success skills. The program is developing self-transformation skills in freshman mechanical engineering students to help them overcomeacademic and professional challenges exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. FYIE participantsare taking two courses simultaneously: Introduction to Engineering (Course A) and LearningFrameworks (Course B). In Course A, students will complete a 6-week engineering design project,and in Course B, they are completing a 6-week academic career path project. During these parallelprojects, timed interventions demonstrate the analogies between the engineering design processand the academic career pathways project. The objective is for
questions Please tell me about your Do you feel like your family How prepared did you feel major. or your peers view you as a when choosing your major? future [insert major occupation]? Did you ever change your Is there anything about your Did you attend any major? friend group or upbringing orientations or that you think influenced sessions to explore career your major choice? options? Would you say you feel Did finances or job security Did you look into
engineer, and the thought of pursuing anengineering career was very intimidating. As I continued into graduate school and intoengineering education research, I found myself fascinated by student career pathways andprofessional formation. I conduct this work to gain a better understanding of this process andhow to help facilitate it in others so they can enter the engineering workforce as confidentengineers.Theoretical FrameworkThis study is grounded in social identity theory (SIT), which implies that membership in a group– in this context, in engineering – is constructed through comparisons of values and behaviorsthat members make between themselves and members of other groups [6], [7], [8]. Groupmembers use these comparisons to partially define
success, retention, transfer, graduation,and academic/career pathways of low-income and high-achieving students. This project alsoseeks to advance understanding about the effect of evidence-based, context-specific interventionsto ensure success for STEM program students in open-admissions universities. The frameworkof this project is to study and address several institutionally identified attrition points including:(i) high attrition of first- and second-year students, (ii) slow pace of students to matriculation intothe Civil and Mechanical Engineering programs, and (iii) low participation and completion ratesof women, underrepresented minorities, and first-generation students. In addition to thescholarship award, several approaches have been
perceivedsupport from family members and friends, level of motivation to pursue a STEM career, andstudent experiences at the university. Variables of interest focused on sex, ethnicity, and STEMmajor status. Results and implications are discussed in the following manuscript.Introduction The significance of underrepresented women entering STEM (science, technology,engineering, and mathematics) fields and careers is critical for extinguishing the long-lastingnegative stereotypes around women and minorities in the field [1]. Both women and racialminorities have historically been the lowest group to be involved within the STEM fields andhave been so for several years [2]. Prior work suggests that women are less likely to seek andobtain STEM degrees
society Epsilon Pi Tau (EPT), the 2018 CT Women of Innovation Award in the Postsecondary Academic Innovation & Leadership Category, the 2012 New England Board of Higher Education Excellence Award for the State of CT and most recently, the 2020 HI TEC Innovative Program of the Year Award and 2021 ITEEA Special Recognition Award. In 2014, she was invited to the White House College Opportunity Summit recognizing leaders like Karen for their commitment to STEM education. She also serves on numerous local and national boards including the Epsilon Pi Tau Honor Society, Hartford High’s Pathway for Engineering and Green Technology, and the Connecticut Technical Education and Career System.Wendy Robicheau
minority student development program that specificallytargets students for careers in assistive technology by leveraging institutional commitment toengage underrepresented and underserved minority students in STEM fields. The project usesstudent-centered principles and focuses on the significance of a learning environment byapplying an integrated STEM approach.IntroductionCDC reports that 61 million adults in the United States live with a disability, constituting 26% ofthe population. The number of older people is also surging. This age structure change inpopulation has caused an increasing number of older adults with a disability. Studies consistentlyfind that disability rates rise with age. The 2018 Health and Retirement Study sponsored by
learning and engagement concerningthree key areas: (1) Career Goals, (2) Entrepreneurial Competencies, and (3)Research SkillDevelopment.The purpose of this poster is to provide lessons learned over the past three years of programdelivery including: 1. Year 1 (2021-2022 academic year): virtual and part-time 2. Year 2 (2022 Summer): traditional in-person and full-time 3. Year 3 (2023 Summer): traditional in-person and full-timeThe guiding research question is as follows: How do perceived learning gains compare across atraditional REU (in-person, 10 weeks over summer, full-time) versus an REU delivered virtually,part-time, and over 10 months?2. Methods2.1 Study Design and ParticipantsThe study was based on an REU program at a Midwestern
years.Program goals include: (1) Use the scholarships and programs to improve scholars’ academicperformance in engineering foundational courses; (2) Develop a resiliency program to increaseCollege of Engineering (CoE) student retention by building upon a sense of community createdthrough existing peer-based programs (Geisinger & Raman, 2013; Ikuma et al., 2019); and (3)Increase employers’ recognition of low SES students’ strengths and valuations of their employablecompetencies through a paid internship program.The general objectives were established including; (1) New pathway to success. Scholars areprovided a pathway to complete an engineering degree including direct education and interventionapproaches for their engineering academic career
response to noted gapsin early career engineers’ skillsets, documented for over two decades. At the same time, asadvisory boards saw improved representation from local industry leaders, individual institutionsaligned engineering program learning outcomes and curricula to address early career skill gaps inteam-based projects, improve multicultural fluency, and produce technical writing that isappropriate for supervisors, clients, subject matter experts, and community members.Historical changes to engineering communicationIn the last twenty years, expectations for improved Engineering Communication (EC) have risenas a consequence of the need for increased technological literacy, as reported by the NationalAcademy of Engineers and the National
: This paper presents an example of the progress made in a five-year NSF IUSE-funded project on repairing the reputation of the teaching profession to address teacher shortagesin STEM disciplines. This paper focuses on an undergraduate student-facing presentationdeveloped by Get the Facts Out (GFO) used for teacher recruitment with the goal of examiningthe effectiveness of the presentation at impacting students’ perceptions of teaching. Thepresentation was designed to address common misconceptions about the teaching profession thatwere preventing many students from exploring teaching as a career path.Methods/Assessment: In 2021 and 2022, GFO conducted effectiveness studies on thepresentation in a first-year chemistry course at Colorado School of
improveretention, researchers have applied asset-based perspectives to studying retention of marginalizedstudents. This approach often emphasizes the role of social capital [1], [11] and socializers [12]–[14] as primary drivers of motivation to pursue STEM education and careers. This present paperbegins to unpack the unique relationship between socializers and the decision students atminority serving institutions (MSIs) make to pursue STEM. We report on the experiences ofstudents gathered using qualitative methods and examined through the lens of expectancy valuetheoretical framework.Theoretical Framework: Expectancy-ValueMotivation to pursue a career in STEM can be modeled through Eccles et al.'s Expectancy-Valuetheory (EV) [15]. EV establishes a direct
ProgramsAbstractBackground: This research paper extends previously reported results in which we demonstratedthat students in project-based engineering programs report less self-reported stress anddepression, stronger personal vision of an engineering career, more positive perceptions ofdepartment caring and diversity, and greater pride in their department than those the studentpopulation in Jensen and Cross’s study of engineering stress culture. No statistically differentdifferences were found for reported anxiety or engineering identity.Purpose: We examine how these reported measures of engineering stress culture change over timeas students participate in entirely project-based engineering and computer science programs. Weseek to establish a baseline of measured
through a qualitative case study on onemid-size North American engineering consulting firm. Preliminary findings from a subset of ourinterviews with engineering consultants across various career stages are presented. This workaligns with ASEE LEAD division’s strategic initiative “Explore” as it contributes tounderstanding how engineering leadership is understood in professional practice. This work isalso particularly relevant to knowledge-intensive, high-autonomy work environments.Introduction:In recent decades, leadership skills are increasingly recognized as an important aspect of theengineering profession. Accreditation boards across North America have included leadershipcapabilities, such as effective collaboration and teamwork skills and
explicate thedevelopment of a professional skills certification framework for undergraduate students in amicroelectronics engineering workforce development program and creation of the mechanism(s)to assess professional skill development. The framework facilitates students’ acquisition ofprofessional skills through experiential learning as viewed through the overarching theoreticallens of both social cognitive career theory and self-determination theory. The certificationframework, rubric, and assessment development are described, and the implications arediscussed.Tags: professional skills definitions, implementation, portfolio, professional skills,microelectronics, reflections, rubricIntroductionEmployers and educators alike have recognized a lack
Teacher Education Program (MCCE), and the Collaborative Research Experience for Undergraduates (CREU - CRA-WP). Dr. Dillon currently serves as a Co-PI for the STARS Computing Corps, which recently has been renewed for funding by NSF. He has also conducted a Faculty in Residency at Google during the summer of 2018 to learn more about this company’s culture, practices, and to understand the expectations for candidates (e.g. aspiring CS majors) who pursue career opportunities at this company and related prominent companies in tech.Zubayer Ahmed Sadid, Florida International University ©American Society for Engineering Education, 2024 Educational Expertise: Faculty Insights on Preparing Computing
. ©American Society for Engineering Education, 2024Understanding the Influence of a Week-Long Electrical and ComputerEngineering Summer Camp on Middle School Students’ Interests in STEM(RTP)AbstractStudent interest in engineering at the K-12 level has been shown to predict whether students ofall backgrounds pursue engineering as a college major and career [1],[2]. Middle school is acritical time when student interest, identity, and career choices begin to solidify. Scientists havedeveloped a framework based on social cognitive theory for understanding three factors that arecritical in career pathway development in late adolescence and early adulthood, namely, "(1)Formation and elaboration of career-relevant interests, (2) Selection of academic and
technologies inengineering, and design for extreme (and extraterrestrial) habitats. Innovative activities includeusing drones for aerial photography and mapping, identifying tension and compression loads bybuilding a 3D bridge model, tours to Purdue’s innovative research facilities, reviewing theinfrastructure around them and proposing novel improvements, and participating in activities inthe classroom like debates about autonomous vehicle and jigsaw activities. The authorsanticipate similar programs could be instituted at universities and not-for-profits across thecountry to expose diverse students to civil engineering as a career and to the complex, multi-dimensional problems civil engineers get to solve every day. In addition to the means
project manager in the aerospace field, talked about was theimpact of EWB-USA on careers. For him personally, he found that he benefited from theexperiences provided by EWB-USA and thought it accelerated his own career. He also foundthat he was able to appreciate the experiences more as time went on. While observing otheralums, he saw skills that helped them especially in their early careers. He has noticed EWB-USA alums advancing faster within his organization due to the experiences and skills they bring. I've seen some folks who are EWB alumni get promoted more quickly than their peers, which is kind of exciting to see. And I can speak from firsthand experience that my EWB skills that I gained, which I kind of just outlined
handling large volumes of data but also about translating these data into actionable knowledge that can drive environmental change. Throughout his career, Hang has consistently demonstrated a commitment to leveraging technology for environmental research. His innovative approaches to data handling and interpretation have made significant contributions to the understanding of environmental behaviors and interventions. As a forward-thinking researcher, Hang continues to explore the intersection of technology, data science, and environmental studies, aiming to contribute further to this dynamic and increasingly crucial field.Dr. Lauren E. Beckingham, Auburn UniversityKaren McNeal, Auburn University Dr. McNeal conducts
several large-scale interdisciplinary research projects focused on institutional environments and STEM identity development are sponsored by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the Kapor Center. In recent years, she was selected as an Early Career Awardee and Faculty Fellow with the American Association of Hispanics in Higher Education (AAHHE) and a NASPA Emerging Faculty Leader. She also received the Barbara Townsend Early Career Scholar Award by the Council for the Study of Community Colleges (CSCC) and gave the distinguished ASHE-CAHEP Barbara Townsend Lecture. To learn more about her current projects, visit http://sarahlrodriguez.com/Taylor Johnson, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
Education and Honors College Faculty Fellow at Harding University. He conducts transdisciplinary research on identity that lies at the nexus of applied psychology and engineering education. A recipient of the NSF CAREER grant (No. 2045392) and the director of the Beyond Professional Identity (BPI) lab, Dr. Huff has mentored numerous undergraduate students, doctoral students, and academic professionals from more than 10 academic disciplines in using interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) as a qualitative research method to examine identity and shame in a variety of contexts. Dr. Huff serves as Associate Editor for Studies in Engineering Education, Journal of Engineering Education, and is on the Editorial Board of
includingunsupervised (i.e., Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA)), semi-supervised (i.e., Correlation Expla-nation (CorEx)), and pre-trained (i.e., Bidirectional Encoder Representations from Transformers(BERTopic)) models are used to identify critical issues regarding students’ transfer decision. Re-sponses are first cleaned, aggregated, and visualized into word clouds; separate word clouds aregenerated for each question to reveal critical factors. With the aggregated analysis of word cloudsand topic-modeling results, it becomes evident that cost, career opportunities, financial aid, dis-tance from home, and guidance from family are the key factors influencing the decision between2-year and 4-year institutions. The biggest challenges in the participants
Paper ID #42367Board 350: Preliminary Results from Community Colleges Collaborating inSTEMDr. Melanie B Butler, Mount St. Mary’s University Dr. Melanie Butler is the Principal Investigator for C3STEM: Community Colleges Collaborating in STEM, which is an S-STEM Track 2 National Science Foundation grant that has established pre- and post-transfer support, co-curricular, and career development activities for supporting recruitment, retention, and student success in STEM. She is a professor of mathematics in the Department of Mathematics and Computer Science at Mount St. Mary’s University.Rosina BolenDINA YAGODICH
funding and participation in an academic cohortdesigned to provide experiential learning in career-relevant spaces. Students in our sample werecompleting their STEM degrees during the recent “COVID years”, a time when they were not onlyat risk due to financial hardship, but also separated physically from teachers, peers, mentors, andopportunities. Although COVID had a negative effect on the types of experiences available tothese students, participation in this program has helped them to thrive, persist and succeed.Through group meetings, guest speakers, career development participation and trips to engineeringindustry sites, the group developed professional relationships with peers and faculty, andbelongingness within the university community
-sponsored collaborative research projects focused on broadening participation in STEM academia. Dr. Mendez’s research centers on the creation of optimal higher education policies and practices that advance faculty careers and student success, as well as the schooling experiences of Mexican-descent youth in the mid-20th century.Dr. Comas Lamar Haynes, Georgia Tech Research Institute Comas Lamar Haynes is a Principal Research Engineer / faculty member of the Georgia Tech Research Institute and Joint Faculty Appointee at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory. His research includes modeling steady state and transient behavior of advanced enDr. Billyde BrownRay Phillips, American Society for Engineering EducationJennifer TygretTaelor
, lesbian, bisexual,transgender, and non-binary identities. In our study, we have chosen to use thisterm in its broadest sense. However, when discussing this community within theframework of specific research, we will adopt the terminology used by theresearchers of those studies. The existing literature on Queer experiences in STEMfields provides unique insights into the distinct challenges and opportunitiesencountered by people of various gender and sexual orientations. Studies haveexplored the experiences of LGBTQ+ students in male-dominated fields, such asengineering, shedding light on the challenges they face [1]. Huff et al. [2] offers acomprehensive examination of the development of professional identities amongearly-career engineers in the
Paper ID #44486Board 259: Engineering Faculty Members’ Experience of Professional Shame:Summary of Insights from Year ThreeDr. James L. Huff, Harding University Dr. James Huff is an Associate Professor of Engineering Education and Honors College Faculty Fellow at Harding University. He conducts transdisciplinary research on identity that lies at the nexus of applied psychology and engineering education. A recipient of the NSF CAREER grant (No. 2045392) and the director of the Beyond Professional Identity (BPI) lab, Dr. Huff has mentored numerous undergraduate students, doctoral students, and academic professionals from
Paper ID #42502WIP: Piloting a Comprehensive Needs Assessment to Enhance EngineeringFaculty DevelopmentDr. Megan Patberg Morin, North Carolina State University Dr. Megan Morin (she/her) is the Associate Director for Engineering Faculty Advancement within the College of Engineering at North Carolina State University. Megan’s career path includes previous roles as a Senior Project Specialist at ASHLIN Management Group, a KEEN Program Coordinator at UNC-Chapel Hill, an Education Coordinator/Graduate Assistant for the FREEDM System Center and PowerAmerica Institute at NC State University, and a middle school teacher within