Conference Session

Wellness, Readiness, and Thriving

Collection

2024 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Harly Ramsey, University of Southern California; Stephanie Nicole Bartholomew, University of Southern California

Tagged Topics

Diversity

Tagged Divisions

Liberal Education/Engineering & Society Division (LEES)

clips on topics related to life after graduation andnavigating early career issues; the videos range from slightly over one minute to six and a halfminutes. The total time of the videos is under forty-two minutes.The videos present a variety of alumni speakers and deliver content on a range of areas ofstudent curiosity. The video topics include: 1) trying out different things; 2) making use ofresources; 3) what to look for in a job; 4) internships and growth opportunities; 5) networking; 6)does a dream job exist?; 7) tackling problems at work; 8) beyond the technical: soft skills; 9)work-life balance; 10) career pivots; 11) women in engineering; and 12) diversity in theworkplace (see Figure 1). Most videos feature more than one speaker. The

Conference Session

Interdisciplinary Integration and Sociotechnical Thinking: The Big Picture

Collection

2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Kathryn A. Neeley, University of Virginia

Tagged Divisions

Liberal Education/Engineering & Society Division (LEES)

confirmed these results,including “Hard Evidence on Soft Skills” (Heckman and Kautz, 2012), which uses rigorouseconomic analysis to conclusively demonstrate that “personality traits, goals, motivations, andpreferences. . . .predict success in life [and] causally produce that success” (p. i). A studyconducted at Harvard in 2016 yielded similar results: 85% of job success was attributed topersonality traits with only 15% of success depending on technical capability [Torun, 2018, p.6299]. Mann acknowledges that “personal traits like integrity, initiative, and common sensecannot be taught didactically like the rule of three [but argues that] it is no less obvious that thegrowth of these essential characteristics in students may be either fostered and

Conference Session

Minoritization Processes and Equity in Engineering Education

Collection

2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Lara K. Schubert, UCLA; Cal State Los Angeles; Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo

Tagged Topics

Diversity

Tagged Divisions

Liberal Education/Engineering & Society Division (LEES)

WorkIntroductionAs articulated in the call for papers on the minoritization processes in engineering education,minoritization can stem from the “discriminatory disciplinary chauvinism such as thecategorization of ‘rigor’ or ‘soft skills.’” This sort of chauvinism, marked by what counts asknowledge and what types of work and expertise count for advancement, is also made visiblethrough study of an effort to make engineering fields more diverse and socially responsible. Ihave observed how the hierarchy of knowledges within structural engineering affects the effortsof an initiative within structural engineering called SE3, Structural Engineering, Engagement andEquity. This paper shows through spotlighting SE3 specifically how the hierarchy of types ofknowledge

Conference Session

AI and Tools for Transdisciplinary Work

Collection

2024 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Elana Goldenkoff, University of Michigan; Erin A. Cech, University of Michigan

Tagged Topics

Diversity

Tagged Divisions

Liberal Education/Engineering & Society Division (LEES)

accompany its advancementand deployment. While some students feel equipped to handle these challenges, the majority feelunprepared to manage these complex situations in their professional work. Additionally, studentsreported that the ethical concerns involved in the development and application of technologieslike AI is often not included in curricula or is viewed as “soft skills” that are not as important as“technical” knowledge. Although some students we interviewed shared the sense of apathytoward these topics that they see from their engineering program, most were eager to receivemore training in AI ethics. These results underscore the pressing need for engineering educationprograms, including graduate programs, to integrate comprehensive ethics

Conference Session

Interdisciplinary Integration at the Program Level

Collection

2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

James T. McLeskey Jr., Randolph-Macon College; Deonna Woolard

Tagged Divisions

Liberal Education/Engineering & Society Division (LEES)

complete the same General Education sequence.The articulation of engineering with the liberal arts was considered from two perspectives. Thefirst is the obvious benefit of a liberal arts education to the engineering student [15]. Whileadvances in knowledge and technology are creating excitement in science and engineeringeducation, tomorrow’s engineer must also be able to write and communicate well; considerethics and social responsibilities; understand business; and live and work in teams as a globalcitizen. They must be able to think critically and problem-solve. The faculty of RMC pridesitself on producing graduates with all of these so-called “soft skills” as well as the breadth ofknowledge obtained by completing a large General Education

Conference Session

Stories, Communication, and Convergence in Engineering Education

Collection

2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Jennifer C. Mallette, Boise State University; Harold Ackler P.E., Boise State University

Tagged Divisions

Liberal Education/Engineering & Society Division (LEES)

every engineer needs,” Harvard Business School Online’sBusiness Insights Blog, January 5, 2023. [Online]. Available:https://online.hbs.edu/blog/post/business-skills-for-engineers. [Accessed February 10, 2023].[4] M. Hirudayaraj, R. Baker, F. Baker and M. Eastman, “Soft skills for entry-level engineers:What employers want,” Education Sciences, vol. 11, no. 10, pp. 641-375, 2021.[5] L. Reave, “Technical communication instruction in engineering schools: A survey of top-ranked U.S. and Canadian Programs,” Journal of Business and Technical Communication, vol.18, no. 4, pp. 452-490, 2004.[6] S. Conrad, “A comparison of practitioner and student writing in civil engineering,” Journal ofEngineering Education, vol. 106, no. 2, pp. 191-217, 2017.[7] J.D

Conference Session

Sociotechnical Integration and Programmatic Reform

Collection

2024 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Xueni Fan, Texas Tech University; Joshua M. Cruz, Texas Tech University; John Carrell, Texas Tech University; Michael Scott Laver, Rochester Institute of Technology

Tagged Divisions

Liberal Education/Engineering & Society Division (LEES)

individual perspective, more soft skills are needed for STEM professionals. Inreality, STEM professionals usually work in a team to solve complex problems together. Withoutmore human-centered skills, like communication, teamwork mindsets, and empathy, it would bedemanding to accomplish tasks efficiently and effectively as a team. Unfortunately, the emphasison technical knowledge in STEM education has often overshadowed the importance of personaland interpersonal skills (Crawley et al., 2014). Regrettably, STEM professionals are sometimesstereotyped as having poor social skills (Cheryan et al., 2013; Ehrlinger et al., 2018; Starr, 2018).We argue that the neglect of humanities in current STEM education contributes to thisstereotype. One

Conference Session

Interdisciplinary Integration and Sociotechnical Thinking: The Big Picture

Collection

2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Kari Zacharias, University of Manitoba; Jillian Seniuk Cicek, University of Manitoba; Lydia Wilkinson, University of Toronto; Chantal Rodier; Laura M. Patterson, University of British Columbia, Okanagan campus; Renato B. Rodrigues, University of Manitoba; Ken Tallman, University of Toronto

Tagged Divisions

Liberal Education/Engineering & Society Division (LEES)

design as a “values-based proposition” as a way ofillustrating the relationship between the social and the technical. Participants broadly agreed thatin engineering the social and the technical are intermingled; however, many noted that academicinstitutions and industry pervasively privilege the technical, relegating the social to a minor role,as a “soft” skill. Most agreed that the intermingling of the social and the technical is essential ifwe are to solve the more difficult problems faced by our global societies.The value of interdisciplinarity as a way of understanding sociotechnical as a concept tookcentral focus for all four groups, suggesting that collaboration and connectedness are key tosociotechnical activity. Ethics also emerged as a

Conference Session

Interdisciplinary Integration at the Course Level

Collection

2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Mary K. Pilotte, Purdue University, West Lafayette; Rich Dionne, Purdue University, West Lafayette

Tagged Topics

Diversity

Tagged Divisions

Liberal Education/Engineering & Society Division (LEES)