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Addressing Future Engineering Educators Through ASEE

Jennifer Maynard, David Garza, Cynthia Finley, Michael Tsurikov, Fernando Ulloa, and Dr. Ronald Barr University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX

ABSTRACT ASEE promotes excellence in engineering teaching by targeting established professors for participation in teaching workshops, and by creating a forum for the exchange of ideas and successful classroom strategies. ASEE is widely recognized for its contributions in this area, and is a valuable resource. However, ASEE has largely overlooked a second population, which has great impact on the quality of engineering teaching: the future professors. To address this issue, several academic institutions have founded ASEE student chapters (1) with the goal of creating a forum for education issues among graduate students.

Here we will highlight the activities of the University of Texas at Austin ASEE Student Chapter (2) which build upon the national ASEE Mission (3, 4)to develop the nation’s future engineering professors: (1) to inform undergraduate students about the options and potential benefits of attending graduate school; (2) to raise the quality of graduate student teaching; (3) to enhance the teaching and presentation skills of prospective educators; (4) to encourage graduate student communication between different engineering departments; (5) to assist graduate students with the academic hiring process; and (6) to develop the skills needed to establish and lead a research program.

INTRODUCTION As the mean age of ASEE engineering professors is over 50 years, there is the potential for ASEE to fulfill several points of its mission statement, “to encourage youth to pursue studies and careers in engineering and engineering technology; and influence the recruitment and retention of young faculty and underrepresented groups.” (3) by working with ASEE Student Chapters to prepare future faculty. ASEE can sponsor events for graduate students, facilitate contact between graduate students and professors, and take an active role in preparing teaching assistants.

To these ends, the University of Texas at Austin Student Chapter seeks to fulfill the goals of the ASEE National Chapter Mission Statement. We have done this on three levels: (1) educating engineering undergraduate students about continuing their studies on the graduate level; (2) to increase the interest of engineering graduate students in careers in engineering education by holding workshops and presentations addressing teaching and teaching techniques; (3) informing graduate students about the faculty recruitment process, and educating them about faculty life via experiences of local faculty.

ADDRESSING UNDERGRADUATES Undergraduate students in engineering who enjoy and perform well in their studies face a difficult decision as graduation draws near: apply for jobs (often with dazzling salaries), or apply for graduate school (is this just four more years of undergraduate life?). How can students make informed decisions about which is best for them? Students may know a few graduate students through classes as teaching assistants, or by working as an undergraduate research assistant, but many may not know any graduate students well enough to ask about graduate life.

To give these students an opportunity to learn from an unbiased group of graduate students (pursuing masters and Ph.D. degrees in four different engineering fields) we have hosted an annual panel discussion, to provide undergraduates with candid answers to questions like: how many hours do you spend in lab each week? How do you choose an advising professor and what is your relationship like? What were your criteria in choosing a graduate program? This is a program unlike any other at UT, and fills an important role in preparing the next generation of graduate students and professors.

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Philip, Z., & Tsurikov, M., & Maynard, J. A., & Ulloa, F., & Garza, D., & Barr, R., & Finley, C. (2000, June), Addressing Future Engineering Educators Through Asee Paper presented at 2000 Annual Conference, St. Louis, Missouri. 10.18260/1-2--8158