Paper ID #37304What Engineering Leaders Lead: The Career Outcomes of an EngineeringLeadership Program’s Alumni CommunityDr. James N. Magarian, Massachusetts Institute of Technology James Magarian, PhD, is a Sr. Lecturer and Associate Academic Director with the Gordon-MIT En- gineering Leadership (GEL) Program. He joined MIT and GEL after nearly a decade in industry as a mechanical engineer and engineering manager in aerospace/defense. His research focuses on engineering workforce formation and the education-careers transition.Dr. Reza S. Rahaman, Massachusetts Institute of Technology Dr. Rahaman returned to MIT in 2018 after
Paper ID #41595AI’s Visual Representation Gap: Redefining Civil Engineering Workspacesfor Early-Career WomenMiss Elizabeth Volpe, University of Florida Elizabeth Volpe, EIT, LEED-GA, is a Ph.D. candidate in the Simmons Research Lab located in the Department of Civil and Coastal Engineering in the Herbert Wertheim College of Engineering at the University of Florida. Her research interests include inclusive engineering, leadership, the experiences of early-career women in engineering, and improving sustainability, diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice within engineering education and the engineering workforce. Elizabeth
Paper ID #43424Exploration of Career and Ethical Challenges of Analytics and GenerativeArtificial Intelligence in an Engineering Leadership CourseDr. B. Michael Aucoin P.E., Texas A&M University B. Michael Aucoin is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Engineering Technology & Industrial Distribution at Texas A&M University, an Adjunct Instructor in the School of Leadership Studies at Gonzaga University, and President of Electrical Expert, Inc.Zhendi Zhang, Texas A&M UniversityMiles O. Dodd, Texas A&M University Miles Dodd is currently pursuing a Master’s degree in Engineering Technology at Texas A&
Paper ID #46521Which undergraduate student activities develop specific career and leadershipskills for Black vs non-Black engineering graduatesD’Andre Jermaine Wilson-Ihejirika, University of Toronto D’Andre Wilson-Ihejirika is currently a PhD candidate at the University of Toronto within the Institute for Studies in Transdisciplinary Engineering Education & Practice (ISTEP). Prior to that she worked for many years as an engineer and project manager in the Oil & Gas industry. She is originally from Nassau, Bahamas, and completed her B.Eng in Chemical Engineering at McGill University and her MASc. from the Centre
engineering leadership (EL) developmentexplicit, and thus teachable, by pairing memorable career events with leadership learningprocesses. More specifically, we use Lave and Wenger’s situated learning theory to investigatehow career-embedded proud moments contribute to engineers’ leadership development. Ourteam identified four types of proud moments along with corresponding leadership lessons in thecareer history narratives of 29 senior engineers. This four-part proud moment typology—honingprofessional dexterity, mobilizing teams, realizing values, and driving excellence—illustratesfour distinct ways that engineers can and do institutionalize leadership in their respectiveworkplaces. This finding suggests that proud moments are not only personally
participants well exceeds their representation in targeted majorswhen compared with the general population in the college and with national metrics.IntroductionThis work-in-progress paper reports on a leadership and innovation skills development programsupported by an ongoing 3-year grant from the US Office of Naval Research (ONR). The papershares both practice and research. The program aims to have a significant impact on the successand careers of 60-70 students at a non-military urban engineering college, especially women andunderrepresented students. The college, the Purdue School of Engineering & Technology inIndianapolis, has historically had a substantial number of recent engineering graduates employedby a nearby DoD base, the Naval Surface
Intern for the Journal of En- gineering Education. Her research interests include broadening participation in engineering, engineering leadership, and marginalized student experiences in engineering. Her dissertation explored the experi- ences of early-career Black engineers in leadership. She received her B.S. in Industrial Engineering from the University of Pittsburgh and her M.S. in Human Systems Engineering from Arizona State University. Before starting her graduate studies, she worked in the tech industry in the operations field. Katreena is committed to justice, equity, diversity, and inclusivity and hopes that her work will impact the culture and environment of the engineering education ecosystem.Dr. Brooke
professionals who will enter management and leadership roles. Nonetheless, research andanecdotal experience have indicated that both students and practicing professionals shy away fromstrategic networking, a stance that can hinder their careers. This paper reports on work-in-progress ofdesign and evaluation of course interventions to promote strategic networking among undergraduateengineering students. These experiences are part of a course in Engineering Leadership at Texas A&MUniversity. This paper offers first a literature review and then detail on our course content, networkingactivities, and a reflection connected with effective strategic networking for this class. Mixed-methodsanalysis of the results of student surveys provide insights of
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
traction. Initiatives to developleadership in engineering students has been gaining popularity in national communities includingASEE Leadership Division, and NICKEL (National Initiative on Capacity Building andKnowledge Creation for Engineering Leadership [1]) in Canada. However, the focus on studentdevelopment often overlooks how educators are developing professionally and as educationalleaders.One common avenue for leadership and professional development is mentorship. Effectivementorship integrates both career and psychosocial aspects to develop professional identity andpersonal competencies [2]. Mentorship plays a role in shaping the cognitive and technical skillsof future engineers as well as enhancing the transferable skills essential for
Paper ID #36707Building a Leadership Toolkit: Underrepresented Students’ Development ofLeadership-Enabling Competencies through a Summer Research Experiencefor Undergraduates (REU) in Engineering EducationMs. Elizabeth Volpe, University of Florida Elizabeth is a doctoral student at the University of Florida. She is pursuing a Masters and Ph.D. in Civil Engineering as well as a certificate in engineering leadership. Her research interests involve leadership, the experiences of early career women in engineering and improving diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice within engineering education and the engineering workforce. She
-national missions through infrastructure planning, posture development, and contingency operations across North America. He holds a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the Virginia Military Institute, along with master’s degrees in Engineering Management from the Air Force Institute of Technology and Fire Protection Engineering from the University of Maryland, College Park. Throughout his career, he has led engineering, operations, and emergency services teams across assignments in the United States, Qatar, Honduras, and the Republic of Korea. Lt Col Pickenpaugh is a licensed professional engineer in Colorado and a lifetime member of the Society of American Military Engineers. His assignments have included joint
Paper ID #48883FACE to FACE with Leadership: A Work in ProgressStephanie Becerra, Arizona State UniversityJennifer Chen Wen Wong, Arizona State UniversityMs. Tami Coronella, Arizona State University Tami Coronella is the Director of Academic Services for the Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering. She has worked in advising and advising administration since 2000. Her academic career has been focused at Arizona State University, where she earned a B.S ©American Society for Engineering Education, 2025 FACE to FACE with Leadership: A Work in ProgressIntroductionAccording to the Bureau of Labor
Paper ID #45681Advancing a Multi-year Longitudinal Assessment Approach for an EngineeringLeadership Program: A Work in ProgressDr. James N Magarian, Massachusetts Institute of Technology James Magarian is a Sr. Lecturer with the Gordon-MIT Engineering Leadership (GEL) Program and serves as Academic Director for the MIT School of Engineering Programs in Technical Leadership and Communication. He joined MIT and GEL after nearly a decade in industry as a mechanical engineer and engineering manager in aerospace/defense. His research focuses on engineering workforce formation and the education-careers transition.Alexander Rokosz
Council of Engineering Companies (ACEC), 73% ofengineering firms say the biggest concern is continued upward pressure on wages for new hires[1]. With this upward pressure, firms expect new graduates to immediately contribute to remaincompetitive. We interviewed CE leaders in the transportation infrastructure field about the currentstate of readiness of new graduate hires. They explained their expectations to be effective in theprofession and build a career that propels solutions to infrastructure challenges. The needs oftoday may not be the same needs of the past as the civil engineering consultant industry may bechanging more rapidly than academia. It is conceivable that the core elements have not changedbut there may have been a change
. Increasing happiness at work, and measuring its impact, has been the subject of numerousstudies across different cultures and industries. Research shows that it correlates with positiveoccupational outcomes. Specifically, happier employees exhibit higher levels of engagement,improved productivity, greater levels of career satisfaction, and a greater sense of well-being intheir lives [1] – [4]. Singh, Saxenda, and Mahendru find that there is no widely-agreed upon definition ofhappiness in the literature, but they describe it as “a harmonious state where the individual’sphysiological and psychological needs are satisfied in the past, present, and future, leading themto live a meaningful and contented life” [5]. To experience happiness at work
how utilizing coursework during the firstyear and during the final year to introduce engineering leadership competencies supportsstudents’ understanding of the value of those competencies. Drawing on data from a survey andfocus groups, we consider the following questions: ● Upon completion of either course, are students better able to identify and communicate the value of specific leadership competencies necessary for success in an engineering career? ● Upon completion of both courses, are students able to identify and make meaning of the connection between the courses? ● What barriers do students perceive in developing professional competencies?Competency Development & Alignment with Leadership DevelopmentIn 2019, the
community created.1 Introduction“I'm mid-career, I'm seen as someone who knows things, who should be doing, officialmentoring, that type of thing. And I [think to myself], "Oh, please don't make me do this”… I'mpositioned as somebody who knows things or somebody who could be supportive or somebodywho can... I want to be those things. But if it's seen as more of a professional capacity, [I feel],‘My life is a lesson of what not to do’.”We see in this quote, someone who struggles with the complexities of navigating a mid-careerprofessional academic journey; a journey that can be fraught with dead ends, wrong turns, andhard-earned lessons. Irrespective of the challenges, formal mentoring for academics at this stageof their career can be sparse
introductoryengineering courses. Similarly, Samsuri et al. [6] utilized the How People Learn framework todesign an effective introduction to engineering courses. In addition, Nguyen et al. [7] investigatedproject-based learning strategies to improve the learning outcomes of diverse students enrolled inintroductory engineering courses. As such, introductory engineering courses have played a crucialrole in engineering education to motivate, prepare, and support the career decision-making of first-year students at a college level.Impact of Peer MentoringSeveral studies have shown that peer mentoring positively impacts university students' academicperformance and social integration. Eddy and Hogan [8] highlighted the impact of peer mentoringon improved academic
. Zhu is a member of the Board of Directors for the Association for Practical and Professional Ethics (APPE). His research explores how culture influences the cultivation of globally competent and socially responsible engineers, as well as the ethical development and deployment of AI and robotics. ©American Society for Engineering Education, 2025 Shattering the Bamboo Ceiling: Asian American Student Perceptions of Engineering LeadershipIntroductionWhile engineering is often perceived as a highly technical field, “non-technical” professionalskills, such as leadership, have become central to preparing undergraduate engineering studentsfor careers in industry [1]. As more engineers
the leadership,communication, and cultural competencies increasingly required of today's high-tech workforce.The John Lof Leadership Academy (JLLA) is an innovative leadership program for engineeringgraduate students that was founded at the University of Connecticut in 2018 to create culturallycompetent visionaries in the field of engineering. John Lof Scholars develop their leadershipabilities through focused training, specialized workshops and seminars, and active learning. Runby graduate students from various departments based on a “for us, by us” program philosophy, theJLLA empowers its members to develop as leaders in their fields by aiming leadership trainingthrough the lens of each individual’s career and personal goals. Academy
Results - Themes Identified So far, the findings reveal that “street smarts” was a meaningful term to all of the alumni, and they consistently recognize its importance in their Explore Alumni Perspectives: careers—often valuing these skills over other kinds of smarts, including purely technical expertise. Below are the five most prominent themes Explore the potential value of researching alumni perspectives by discovering identified, but the rest are
came from various majors, includingConstruction Management (47%), Civil Engineering (34%), Environmental Engineering (16%),and other disciplines (3%).The survey revealed that students rated the importance of equity in their future careers at anaverage of 3.81 out of 5, indicating moderate to high awareness of its significance. In contrast,the industry’s performance in implementing equity was perceived as only moderate, with anaverage rating of 3.27 out of 5. This highlights a gap between the perceived importance of equityand its practical integration within the industry.Students showed the greatest interest in learning about the relationship between equity andsustainability (52%) and equity in sustainability rating systems (51%). Other topics
face in thearray of organizations they will be a part of, the diversity of teams they will be part of, and thediverse roles they will play in work environments. “Leadership, creativity, communication,management, professionalism, ethics, agility, resilience and flexibility are some examples ofskills that go beyond the technical competence and which give professionals more ability to takeownership of their own career and deal with the current market’s demands” (de Campos et al.,2020).Educating the Whole Engineer implicates learning and competencies that go beyond the deeptechnical engineering knowledge that fill-up most engineering curricula. Whole engineereducation involves competencies like communication skills, ethics, leadership
the biotech and pharmaceutical industries for eight years. Jessica’s experience leading multidisciplinary teams strengthened her perspective that the ability to empathize, communicate and collaborate is integral to success in engineering.Dr. Andrea Chan, University of Toronto, Canada Andrea Chan is a Research Associate at the Troost Institute for Leadership Education in Engineering | University of TorontoCatherine MacKenzie Campbell MacKenzie Campbell is a MASc student in Chemical Engineering specializing in Engineering Education. Her thesis is exploring how the quality of work-integrated learning experiences shape women engineers’ career intentions, with a focus on intersectionality and diverse engineering fields
complexity of problems solved, and the development of specificskills (e.g., prototyping, data analysis, experimental design) can be tracked. Additionally, studentself-assessments and faculty evaluations can provide qualitative insights into the development ofpractical and academic skills.Academic and professional impact are supported by defining clear roles and responsibilities forstudents at different academic levels, ensuring each student works on tasks aligned with theirexpertise. This approach helps students focus on developing career-specific competencies andcontributes to their progression toward graduation. Metrics for evaluating this outcome couldinclude the successful completion of assignments aligned with their academic level, the numberof
service-learningparticipation, students reported increased awareness and understanding of others, strongerconnections with peers and community members, and the ability to apply academic knowledge inreal-world settings. Additionally, students gained practical experience in their fields of study andexplored potential career paths. Many participants also expressed significant personal growth asleaders.Rose-Hulman Institute of TechnologyAt Rose-Hulman, leadership principles from The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People areincorporated into a freshman civil engineering design course [6]. Students work in teams,interact with clients, and produce a final report in the form of a feasibility study and preliminarydesign. This experience enhances their
of Virginia.Dr. Meg Handley, Pennsylvania State University Meg Handley is an Associate Teaching professor and Director Undergraduate Programs for Engineering Leadership. Meg completed her PhD in Workforce Education at Penn State, where she focused on inter- personal behaviors and leadership for early-career engineers. She teaches engineering leadership and an engineering leader coaching course. Her research focuses on coaching skills, inclusive leadership, and career development.Dr. Meagan R. Kendall, University of Texas, El Paso An Associate Professor at The University of Texas at El Paso, Dr. Meagan R. Kendall is a founding member of the Department of Engineering Education and Leadership. With a background in
institutions have attempted to track student success from their engineering leadershipprograms post-graduation, primarily through surveys. Researchers at U of T evaluated the impactof their curricular and co-curricular program through a survey of over 800 alumni with 25 followup interviews [8]. The ILead program at U of T program is relatively diffuse; students could takeacademic leadership courses or participate in various duration co-curricular programs, from 2-hour workshops to 30-hour cohort-based programs. There was no attempt to assess alumnileadership using any validated instrument; alumni were instead asked to reflect on how theirinvolvement in ILead programming had impacted their career. Alumni reported an impact ofleadership courses on their
Paper ID #42120Navigating the Mystery: An Approach for Integrating Experiential Learningin Ethics into an Engineering Leadership ProgramDr. James N. Magarian, Massachusetts Institute of Technology James Magarian is a Sr. Lecturer with the Gordon-MIT Engineering Leadership (GEL) Program. He joined MIT and GEL after nearly a decade in industry as a mechanical engineer and engineering manager in aerospace/defense. His research focuses on engineering workforce formation and the education-careers transition.John M. Feiler, Massachusetts Institute of TechnologyLeo McGonagle, Massachusetts Institute of Technology Leo McGonagle