AC 2011-1633: THE CHALLENGE OF RETURNING: TRANSITIONINGFROM AN ENGINEERING CAREER TO GRADUATE SCHOOLDiane L Peters, University of Michigan Diane L. Peters is a postdoctoral research fellow in mechanical engineering at the University of Michigan. She received her doctorate from the University of Michigan in 2010. Prior to beginning her doctoral work, she was employed as a design engineer in industry, working with equipment for the assembly automation and printing industries.Shanna R. Daly, University of Michigan Shanna Daly is an Assistant Research Scientist in the College of Engineering and the Design Science Pro- gram. Her research focuses on teaching and learning design and innovation strategies in
for Graduate StudentsAbstractIt is important that graduate students become citizen scholars in our knowledge-based economy.Beyond the development of their technical and research expertise, graduate students must beprepared for diverse career opportunities and be able to respond to the many challenges facingthe world. Graduate schools serve an important role in the professional development of graduatestudents. Recognizing the important role that graduate education serves in preparing students fordiverse careers beyond academia, a professional development course for graduate students wasdesigned, implemented and assessed. Preparing Future Professionals is a doctoral-level coursethat facilitates the transition of doctoral students to careers in
become Future FacultyAbstractAn alliance was developed among three Midwestern universities to increase the number ofunderrepresented minority (URM) students receiving doctoral degrees in the science, technology,engineering, and mathematics (STEM) disciplines. To achieve this goal activities encompass thethree areas that include recruitment, retention, and enrichment. Recruitment initiatives focus onstrategic partnerships, discipline-based events, student collaborations, summer research programsand visitation programs. Retention objectives are directed at scholars, tutoring, summer transitionprograms, and a faculty mentoring network. A primary goal of the Scholars enrichment programis to encourage Scholars to pursue careers as faculty members
included graduate and undergraduatestudents and a small number of faculty from the across the College of Engineering. It could beexpected that students experiencing a structured course on teaching in a discipline will be morelikely to pursue a teaching career, approach teaching in a scholarly way, and be a successfulteacher. However, there is little data available to support this hypothesis. This paper contributesto such data based on an analysis of a combination of course evaluations at the time of offeringand a survey of former students (course alumni). A qualitative analysis of written responses to a question regarding course impact on theirteaching was done for both responses received through end of course evaluations and alumnisurveys
engineering educators. Although the merger with the College ofTechnology is a major change, other factors are also having a strong impact. These include therise of the field of engineering education, changes in the undergraduate experience such asincreased emphasis on research and entrepreneurship, and, in addition, changes in the academicengineering job market and in the importance of post-doctoral positions for those students whoare focused on a research career in academia. At the present time, UC is also revising all itscurricula in preparation for a move from quarters to semesters in Fall 2012. And also, like manylarge state universities, UC is dealing with many budget challenges. Here we describe changesin our PFF program to adapt to the many
and the EEC are poised to make further strides, while the U.S. isslipping when measured by a number of economic and educational indicatorsThe 4 + 1 Program is an accelerated route to the professional MS degree. In many evolvingtechnical areas, four years is not enough time for the formal education of an engineer about toenter a lifelong career of professional practice, even when the individual is committed to lifelong learning. The 4 + 1 program started in the General Engineering program in 1998 and nowallows General Engineering, Aeronautical Engineering, Biomedical Engineering, MechanicalEngineering, Electrical Engineering, Industrial Engineering, Manufacturing Engineering,Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Civil and Environmental
training asteachers.10 Further, the current doctoral student socialization process has been criticized for: (a)being insufficient for the various faculty roles, especially teaching; (b) providing conflictingmessages about the importance of teaching; (c) lacking feedback to students regarding theirpreparation for academic careers; and (d) offering few opportunities for graduate students tolearn about the diversity of academic careers available to them.11 Thus there has been a gap inthe training provided to doctoral students seeking faculty positions, especially those in STEMfields. CIRTL is specifically designed to address these parallel concerns regarding thesocialization of doctoral students and the need to improve undergraduate STEM
studentchapters has increased overall; yet, almost half of the sample attended an institution with nostudent chapter. Even though 20 percent of the participants have never attend an ASEE event, ofthose who had, opportunities to network and learn about academic careers were well-received bythe participants. These findings illustrate the high likelihood that student representation withinASEE will continue to increase for years to come and student-centered events and activities,such as the SCC and student chapters have and could continue to have a positive impact onstudents.IntroductionAs a new and growing field, the future success of engineering education hinges on the interest oftoday’s undergraduate and graduate students. Whether through positions in
AC 2011-355: IMPLEMENTING THE MASTERS FOR ENGINEERINGPROFESSIONALS DEGREE AT NJITStephen J. Tricamo, New Jersey Institute of Technology Page 22.825.1 c American Society for Engineering Education, 2011 Implementing the Master’s for Engineering Professionals Degree at NJITAbstract This paper reports on a plan for implementing a Master’s for Engineering Professionals atNew Jersey Institute of Technology. The Master’s for Engineering Professionals is intended forthe early career development of engineers in industry. It teaches the skill sets and abilitiesrequired of these
interests include smart grid, power and energy system as well as engineer- ing education. Dr. Srivastava is a member of ASEE, Sigma Xi and Eta Kappa Nu and a senior member of IEEE. He is the vice-chair of IEEE PES career promotion subcommittee and secretary of IEEE PES student activities.Soumya K Srivastava, Washington State University Soumya K. Srivastava joined as an Assistant Research Professor in the Gene and Linda Voiland School of Chemical Engineering and Bioengineering at Washington State University in August 2010. She obtained her PhD degree in Chemical Engineering at Mississippi State University in August 2010, M.S from Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago in 2005 and B.S from R.V. College of Engineering
engineering doctoral students for careers in academia and industry and the development of engineering education assessment tools. She is a NSF Faculty Early Career (CAREER) award winner and is a recipient of a Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE).Jeremi S. London, Purdue University, West Lafayette Jeremi was the Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) student working on the NSF EEP Re- search Project during the 2007-2008 academic year. Jeremi interned at the headquarters of Anheuser- Busch Companies, beginning in their Research Pilot Brewery during the summer of 2004, returning as an Analyst to their Corporate Quality Assurance Department in 2005, and working as a Product Sup- ply
began his engineering/education career in 1975. He worked both on site as well as in the office for Bechtel, Foster Wheeler, and the Badger Company. Locations included Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Texas, Kentucky, Michigan, and Massachusetts. Since 1984 Joe has been a professor in the Purdue University Department of Building Construction Management. He also consults with construction contractors. Page 22.1134.1 c American Society for Engineering Education, 2011 Overcoming the Challenges of Distance Education Delivery of a Master of Science Degree in Construction ManagementAbstractThe
Level Coursework Skills Experience (GPA) Experience Student1 JR 3 pt 2 pt 2 pt 2 pt 3 pt Student2 SR 2 pt 1 pt 3 pt 2 pt 2 pt Student3 SR 2 pt 2 pt 3 pt 2 pt 3 pt Student4 JR 2 pt 1 pt 2 pt 3 pt 2 pt Student5 SR 2 pt 3 pt 3 pt 3 pt 3 ptSummarized in Table 6 are short-term career goals for the five undergraduate students, asunderstood before and after
translates her work in these areasas well as that of other Pitt sustainable engineersinto student projects as the assistant director of education outreach in the Mascaro Center for Sustainable Innovation, Pitt’s center for green design.Leidy Klotz, Clemson UniversityAnnie R Pearce, Virginia Tech Dr. Annie Pearce is an Assistant Professor in the Myers-Lawson School of Construction at Virginia Tech specializing in sustainable facilities and infrastructure systems. Throughout her career, Annie has worked with practitioners in both public and private sectors to implement sustainability as part of building plan- ning, design, construction, and operations. As a LEED Accredited Professional, Annie brings the latest in green
investigate the experiences of GTAs in engineering by exploring howGTAs' feelings of autonomy relate to the types of teaching decisions they make. Teachingexperiences in graduate school may influence graduate students' career paths, so exploringmotivation and decision making can allow universities to better support graduate students.This study aimed to answer the following research questions: 1. How autonomous do graduate teaching assistants feel in their teaching duties? 2. How do graduate teaching assistants‟ descriptions of their teaching decisions relate to their perceptions of autonomy?Background and Situation in the LiteratureThe employment of graduate teaching assistants, or GTAs, has been largely motivated by thedesire to allow
being course instructors, the TAs learned moreabout the teaching aspect of academia and indicated that they felt better prepared for anacademic position. For example: “[With the role of course instructor]…certainly there‟s a lot of carryover to academia, you know, if I‟m instructing a course…, like the same way I‟m instructing a course now,…I can‟t even over emphasize how much…it‟s helped prepared me to take on that kind of role, so I mean…if I pursue a career in academia, as far as the teaching aspect goes, you know, it‟s invaluable to have been a TA and to be involved with the courses…” (Hank, Individual Interview, 265
include thin film deposition, interconnect technology, semiconductor manufacturing technology and radiation hardened nanoelectronics. Dr. Ryan joined JSNN after working at the College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering (CNSE) of the University at Albany as Associate Vice President of Technology and Professor of Nanoscience from 2005 to 2008. At CNSE, he managed the cleanrooms and numerous consortia involving CNSE and its industrial partners such as IBM, TEL, AMAT, ASML and others. Dr. Ryan joined CNSE after a 25 year career with IBM. From 2003 to 2005, he was a Distinguished Engineer and Director of Advanced Materials and Process Technology Development and served as the site executive for IBM at Albany Nanotech
developing these skills at the master’s level5-9, the literature does notadequately address the preparation of engineering doctoral students who pursue careers inindustry. This study will thereby assist in determining the knowledge, attributes and skills(KAS) industry desires in Ph.D.s in order to develop Ph.D. programs that include effectivestrategies to align student preparation with industry needs.MethodologyA survey was designed to determine the skills and the level of expertise needed by engineeringPh.D.s in industry. The survey was based upon a list of skills that were determined through areview of advertised job solicitations in industry, as described in Watson et al10. These jobsolicitations were for industry positions requiring a Ph.D. in
slightly staggered startand end dates), identification of a weekly time slot convenient to all campuses, scheduling of atelevideo-enabled classroom with archiving capability and the cost of staffing such a facility,travel schedules of lead and guest instructors with active research careers outside the classroom,and the difference in exposure level to certain background information, such as biologyfundamentals, among some students. The challenges were successfully overcome and the modelpopular enough that a third trans-ERC course, led by a researcher (Dr. Yeoheung Yun) fromNCAT, was successfully offered in the Fall 2010 semester. Assessment results for that course areawaited. As an epilogue, the success of these course added impetus to the
), or to pursue a career in academia, or to become a specialized researcher in agiven field (a doctoral degree). While this is true of many individuals, there is also an emerginggroup of ―adults in America today – and [potentially] even more so in the future – [who] cannotstop learning‖ 4. In many cases these are individuals who have been working professionally formany years before returning for advanced degrees for a variety of reasons – the desire forprofessional advancement, a career change for personal reasons, or a need for retraining causedby a shift in the labor market – yet there is a dearth of research regarding what these returningstudents bring with them to graduate programs. It is probable that professional non-traditionalstudents
in Rancho Santa Margarita, California, and serves more than 250,000 membersin more than 12,500 clubs in 106 countries.Members Have the Opportunity to: Learn and practice techniques of effective public speaking. Prepare and deliver formal speeches on subjects of their own choosing. Give impromptu talks on assigned topics. Gain speaking experience that relates to specific career needs. Sharpen their listening/evaluation skills. Learn proper parliamentary procedure. Preside as a meeting chairman. Gain valuable leadership management experience Gain personal confidence that will help when speaking to one person or one thousand. Enter Toastmasters International‘s Annual Speech Contest, ―The World Championship of Public
variety of reasons, creating a new course is unworkable. In someways a course may not be the ideal solution because it is often removed from the context ofwriting in a working research group. One ideal solution would be a problem-based learninggroup that is facilitated by instructors in Engineering or writing, and embedded in thedepartment’s activities (e.g., researching, presenting, and publishing). Departments can establishthese learning groups, and writing centres (writing across the curriculum programs) on thecampuses of large universities are often eager to support these groups.Ultimately we came away from the workshop with these thoughts: 1. Technical writing skills must be learned continually throughout a career as new writing
. Page 22.459.1 c American Society for Engineering Education, 2011 Developing Leadership Attitudes and Skills in Working Adult Technical Graduate Students Research Interview Results with AlumniAbstract Many individuals educated as engineers find their careers take them into management positions. Despite the EAC of ABET program outcome requirements of Criterion 3 for Student Outcomes, few are prepared by their formal education to lead with confidence, and few have been prepared by their companies to develop the skills and attitudes necessary to be good leaders in their organizations. Leaders are needed at all levels in these organizations, not just in
. Page 22.1714.1 c American Society for Engineering Education, 2011 Writing Challenges for Graduate Students In Engineering and TechnologyAbstractGraduate education for most students is the move to deeper exploration of knowledge throughpersonal involvement, primarily through research and writing. By thesis or directed project,many graduate programs in engineering and technology incorporate substantial written research-based projects into the master’s level curriculum to prepare graduates for professional careers orfor further study at the doctoral level. Students in the engineering and technology fields faceseveral challenges in moving to written projects of
Page 22.248.2(Gardner & Hatch, 1989). 1. Word Smart: Linguistic Intelligence 2. Number Smart: Mathematical Intelligence 3. Picture Smart: Visual Intelligence 4. Body Smart: Kinesthetic Intelligence 5. Music Smart: Musical Intelligence 6. People Smart: Interpersonal Intelligence 7. Self Smart: Intrapersonal Intelligence All schools, colleges and universities appreciate the need, importance and impactof linguistic and mathematical intelligences at almost every stage of a learner’seducational career. Reading, writing and a working knowledge with numbers areconsidered as essential foundation for establishing a strong base of general knowledge.However, the next three, namely, visual, kinesthetic