Conference Session

Continuous Improvement in Engineering Leadership Development Programs

Collection

2019 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Seth Claberon Sullivan, Texas A&M University; Beth Koufteros, Texas A&M University

Tagged Topics

Diversity

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Leadership Development

, collaborative in theirdecision-making, and humbly self-confident in their behaviors.The five-semester leadership program, commencing spring of sophomore year, is designed toprovide a cohort of students with a broader perspective of the world in which they will live andwork. Personal growth and self-improvement, rooted in reflection and dialogue, are thefoundation of the program. Engagement with industry professionals and development of self-awareness helps them discover a sense for how they will fit into this world, a deeper insight intotheir individual potential, and a specific view of how they want to begin their professionalcareers. Students earn a certificate in Holistic Leadership upon completion of the program.Students in the Zachry Leadership

Conference Session

Continuous Improvement in Engineering Leadership Development Programs

Collection

2019 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Marnie V. Jamieson, University of Alberta; John M. Shaw

Tagged Topics

Diversity

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Leadership Development

design courses and are evaluated as graduate attributeoutcomes integral to the Canadian Engineering Accreditation Board (CEAB) evaluationprocesses. Continual course improvement processes require reflection on the success oflearning activities, the tools used for teaching, and alignment of learning outcomes,activities, and assessment. Peer evaluation and feedback tools can encourage studentlearning and leadership development. The method of data collection, the type of feedbackand the contextual validity of the feedback may impact students’ development of useful teambehaviours and personal strategies for working in team environments. Mixed methodsuccessive case study analysis provides insights enabling targeted improvements to learningactivities

Conference Session

Creating Impactful Learning Experiences for Engineering Leaders

Collection

2019 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Meg Handley, Pennsylvania State University, University Park; Dena Lang, Pennsylvania State University, University Park; Andrew Michael Erdman, Pennsylvania State University, University Park; John Jongho Park, Pennsylvania State University, University Park

Tagged Topics

Diversity

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Leadership Development

ClassroomLiterature reporting the implementation of coaching in engineering classrooms demonstratescurricular designs and learning outcomes with positive student outcomes. Stettina, Zhao, Back,and Katzy [26] implemented coaching practices in short stand-up meetings that focused onasking powerful questions to reflect and assess progress on project deliverables. Using a quasi-experimental approach, the researchers found that adding coaching into small stand-up meetingsprovided for successful information exchange and increased student satisfaction in courselearning. Knight, Poppin, Seat, Parsons, and Klukken [29] looked at the impact on teamorientation and team task performance of senior design course teams with graduate levelcoaches. The teams with graduate

Conference Session

Creating Impactful Learning Experiences for Engineering Leaders

Collection

2019 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

B. Michael Aucoin, Leading Edge Management, LLC; Dennis Arthur Conners

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Leadership Development

theirjobs, and 3) reflection on the tools through journaling. Student evaluations and feedback havedemonstrated the power of these tools for significant improvements and even transformation inorganizational behavior. Future work is needed to potentially isolate effects of such skilldevelopment for engineers as compared with other populations, and to gather data on the relativebenefits of this approach as compared with others. Given the extensive systems skills that engineers have, such systems thinking tools canprovide a powerful way for them to exercise leadership through improvement and optimizationof organizational behavior. Such an approach can complement and augment the prevalentinitiatives for communication, social, and business skill

Conference Session

Advancing Research on Engineering Leaders’ Confidence, Careers, and Styles

Collection

2019 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Michele Fromel, Pennsylvania State University; Matthew Bennett; Lei Wei, ELIM program, Pennsylvania State University; Meg Handley, Pennsylvania State University, University Park; Dena Lang, Pennsylvania State University, University Park; Andrew Michael Erdman, Pennsylvania State University, University Park

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Leadership Development

and qualities of engineers include creativity, leadership, teamwork, andinnovative thought [29-30]. Further, the nature of engineering work requires that engineers beaware of the social and cultural states of the world and the ways in which their work affectsothers [30]. Therefore, exploring leadership behaviors of engineers would lend insight into thenature of leadership within the engineering context. The primary research question in this studyis as follows: Which leadership styles are experienced by current engineers? This exploratorystudy reflects an effort to describe the lived experiences of current engineers and theirobservations of leaders with whom they have worked.Methodology The purpose and research question associated with

Conference Session

Continuous Improvement in Engineering Leadership Development Programs

Collection

2019 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Katy Luchini-Colbry, Michigan State University; Christopher McComb, Pennsylvania State University, University Park; Julie Rojewski, Michigan State University; Astri Briliyanti, Michigan State University; Dirk Joel-Luchini Colbry, Michigan State University

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Leadership Development

Objective Core Activities 1. Learn about other members in the group and begin 1. Introductions building a learning community 2. Reflect on group dynamics and ways to make the group 2. Examining constructive and functional destructive group behaviors 3. Establish ground rules for participation 3. Generate ground rulesSection 2: Equity and Inclusion: Diversity, in many dimensions, offers both challenges andopportunities to any relationship. Learning to identify, reflect upon, learn from, and engage withdiverse perspectives is essential to fostering effective relationships and vibrant intellectualenvironments

Conference Session

Advancing Research on Engineering Leaders’ Confidence, Careers, and Styles

Collection

2019 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Cindy Rottmann, University of Toronto; Doug Reeve P.Eng., University of Toronto; Serhiy Kovalchuk, University of Toronto; Mike Klassen, University of Toronto; Milan Maljkovic; Emily L. Moore, University of Toronto

Tagged Topics

Diversity

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Leadership Development

groups with noviceengineers. Career history interviews of experienced engineering leaders, interspersed with guidedreflection, provided us with an interesting way to access implicit leadership learning over thecourse of participants’ three-to-four decade career histories [9, 54, 55]. It allowed us to askquestions about career transitions—something most engineers have a relatively easy timerecalling—with follow up reflection questions about the leadership insights they gained along theway—something many of us struggle to define, particularly busy, task-oriented professionalsfacing pressure to complete projects in time and on budget.When we asked direct questions about how participants learned to lead, most of them said one oftwo things; either

Conference Session

Creating Impactful Learning Experiences for Engineering Leaders

Collection

2019 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Elizabeth Michelle Melvin, Louisiana State University; Boz Bowles, Louisiana State University; Adrienne Steele, Louisiana State University

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Leadership Development

majors. In the beginning, the program’s seminar-basedworkshop curriculum primarily enlisted the help of faculty from the College ofBusiness, and students received a $1,000 stipend upon completion of thesemester. Student participants attended lectures, discussed leadership topics withmentors from a variety of industries, and composed either a reflection essay orposter to conclude their participation.Chevron Leadership Academy redesignedSettling on specific goals and methods for creating a new leadership program isoften an iterative process, with a good deal of trial-and-error in the beginning [5].Voice-of-the-customer techniques determined in fall of 2017 that the program wasnot meeting corporate sponsor goals, nor was it effective in assessing

Conference Session

Advancing Research on Engineering Leaders’ Confidence, Careers, and Styles

Collection

2019 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

William J. Schell IV P.E., Montana State University; Bryce E. Hughes, Montana State University; Brett Tallman P.E., Montana State University; Emma Annand, Montana State University; Romy M. Beigel, Montana State University; Monika B Kwapisz, Montana State University

Tagged Topics

Diversity

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Leadership Development

leadership identity that could be further tested using structural equationmodeling.Significant results were also observed among engineering fields and institutional characteristics.Students in computer engineering and electrical/electronics engineering scored significantly loweron the leadership construct than mechanical engineering students. Students who attendedinstitutions where women comprise a higher percentage of engineering students scored higher onthe leadership construct. It does make sense that some differences among engineering fields mightbe observed, reflecting cultural differences among engineering fields. In terms of the latter finding,it’s encouraging that attending a program with higher gender diversity might indirectly

Conference Session

Continuous Improvement in Engineering Leadership Development Programs

Collection

2019 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

C. Fred Higgs III, Rice University; Kaz Karwowski, Rice University; David Allen Van Kleeck, Rice University ; Thomas Edward Phalen Jr., Rice University; Gayle Moran; Cesare Wright, Rice University; James Philip Hennessy, Rice University

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Leadership Development

experientiallearning opportunities, including coaching other students and participating in an internship.Finally, they will learn the basic tools of project management. The following steps describe thedetermined flow of the curriculum:  Building self-awareness through assessments and personal reflection  Developing self-mastery through improved personal behavior modification to prioritize activities and set personal goals as well as building supportive communication skills  Growing followership and teamwork skills by working in small teams  Growing larger team leadership, innovation and organizational skills  Developing a sound understanding of the principles and practices of project

Conference Session

Creating Impactful Learning Experiences for Engineering Leaders

Collection

2019 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

David Bayless, Ohio University

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Leadership Development

, an alumnus who had beenCEO of several companies, for the purpose of helping them improve their team dynamics andoverall pitch quality. It is important to note that this alumnus also participated in earlier coachingdirected by the faculty and local mentors. Individual Leadership DevelopmentThe program was established to help engineering undergraduate students develop leadershipcapabilities in an experiential framework of a capstone effort. The engineering students wereassessed and graded on numerous activities showing the progress of their project and inindividual leadership reflections and essays. This placed an additional level of accountability forthe engineering students not entirely matched by the business students and scholars from

Conference Session

Advancing Research on Engineering Leaders’ Confidence, Careers, and Styles

Collection

2019 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Serhiy Kovalchuk, University of Toronto; Qin Liu, University of Toronto; Cindy Rottmann, University of Toronto; Mike Klassen, University of Toronto; Jamie Ricci, Indspire; Doug Reeve P.Eng., University of Toronto; Emily Moore P.Eng., University of Toronto

Tagged Topics

Diversity

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Leadership Development

engineering students acrossdemographic and academic variables, we do not know the extent to which our data and therebyfindings are representative of the total population. Second, the findings should also be taken withcaution because of the potential social desirability issue. Some respondents may have rated theimportance of the 11 skills and their confidence in them in ways that do not reflect their truevalues and ability beliefs about these skills. We did not have any means to triangulate thecollected data. Lastly, given that the leadership ability item was loosely defined in the survey, itis not immediately clear what the survey respondents thought of leadership when completing thesurvey, which may have influenced their importance and confidence