top four career competencies most valued by employers,as reported by the National Academy of Colleges and Employers (NACE). In a 2019 job outlooksurvey, oral and written communication was rated consistently high in the past three years. Also,proficient communication is essential for engineers in the 21st Century to create an inclusiveenvironment and engage multiple stakeholders, as indicated by the National Academy ofEngineering. In particular, the ability to communicate effectively to various audiences across theSTEM disciplines and the public is a great need. The engineering program at the University ofSouth Florida (USF) aims to fulfill the NACE’s professional competencies for career readiness bydevising new methodologies for communication
Quarterly Insights, Fall 2021.34. D. Laughlin and B. Laughlin, “Virtual and Augmented Realities – Continuing EngineeringEducation,” in C. Baukal (ed.), Continuing Engineering Education Handbook, Nova Science,New York, 2022, 129-154.35. C. Baukal, B. Olson, and R. Ernst, “Virtual Reality for Continuing ProfessionalDevelopment,” paper 26721 presented at American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE)Annual Conference & Exhibition, Tampa, FL, June 2019.36. L. Ausburn, F. Ausburn, J. Martens, C. Baukal, I. Agnew, and R. Dionne, UserCharacteristics, Trait vs. State Immersion, and Presence in a First-Person Virtual World, Journalfor Virtual Worlds Research, Vol. 12, No. 3, December 2019.