Collection

2016 Spring ASEE Middle Atlantic Section Conference

Authors

Benito Mendoza

and the in classroom components reinforce some essential soft skills. Forexample, the fact that the students learn about professional accreditations and the self-directednature of online component promote an ability to engage in self-directed continuing professionaldevelopment. Also, having weekly deadlines with a high grade required as pass grade for theirassignments encourages a commitment to quality, timeliness, and continuous improvement. Onesoft skill that is practiced in the classroom is time management. Students have to submitwhatever they can achieve during the period assigned to the lab. We believe this helps thestudent to work against the clock, as in a certification exam.V. Assessment and resultsWe assess the outcomes of the course

Collection

2010 Northeast Section Meeting

Authors

William Hornfeck; Ismail Jouny; John Nestor

, 2008.[10] Jouny, Ismail and Hornfeck, William, “Teaching Soft Skills to ECE Students,” Conference on Transforming Engineering Education: Creating Interdisciplinary Skills for Complex Global Environments, Dublin, Ireland, 6 – 9 April, 2010.[11] Hornfeck, William and Jouny, Ismail, “The Successful Integration of Study Abroad and the Engineering Curriculum,” Conference on Transforming Engineering Education: Creating Interdisciplinary Skills for Complex Global Environments, Dublin, Ireland, 6 – 9 April, 2010.

Collection

2008 ASEE Zone 1 Conference

Authors

Gad J. Selig

a future leader in business or engineering or technologyor a balance of all for our company? What skills, competencies and attitudes would we look for? Whatmix of soft skills (people, leadership, and team), technology and business process skills would we expect?What about ethics, integrity, communications, diversity and a better understanding and acceptance ofglobal diversity and cultures and being able to tap virtual global brains located anywhere and anytime?What about acceptance of and the proactive sponsorship of innovation, entrepreneurship, intrapreneurshipand managing change? In assessing the market needs for the purpose of re-inventing the contents of thedegree program, we always kept these questions in sight.In general, we also

Collection

2008 ASEE Zone 1 Conference

Authors

Elif Kongar; Paul Kontogiorgis; Nancy L. Russo; Tarek Sobh

, engineering and math (STEM) fields, these changes have led to anincreasing need for building “soft skills” in current and potential employees, essentially bridging the gapbetween technical and business skills. In one area of services, IT Services, there are thousands of jobs inthe market that are left unfulfilled due to the lack of updated qualifications. There is a lack of awarenessof this growing trend for current skills and available job roles, which needs to be addressed, especially byeducational institutions. Of particular concern is the fact that female candidates, who constitute asignificant portion of the potential work force, are not being utilized correctly. It has been argued thatwomen in general possess many characteristics that make them

Collection

2010 ASEE Zone 1 Conference

Authors

Anne E. Mohan; Enrique Sola; James Patrick Abulencia

utilized by universities, since they are both critical to engineering practice.Industrial partnerships can prepare engineering students for real-world projects and problemswhile creating powerful contacts which could lead to job opportunities. This statement issupported by the two case studies presented here: the Learning Factory and the BoeingPartnership. 5 These industrial partnerships also enhance the “soft skills” of budding engineers. Theindustrial partnership experience allows students to learn and perfect skills not formally taught inthe classroom such as oral and written communication, inter-disciplinary group work, andpersonal

Collection

2010 ASEE Zone 1 Conference

Authors

Rathika Rajaravivarma

veryessential that the students acquire the skills to move towards the solution in alogical and systematic way. It will be beneficial if these skills can be adopted atthe very early stage of their course work and should be emphasized and practicedas the subject matter gets heavier. Collaborative learning skills must be broughtinto play. Other soft skills such as good communication, written and oral must be 2gained. Thus this course could potentially seed a number of the above mentionedattributes laying a firmer ground for success in the coursework and career. Figure 1: Retention outcomes with Active learning Methods in TeachingThe Envir onmentThe students who

Collection

2008 Northeast Section Meeting

Authors

Christopher W. Swan; Julia Carroll

Beyond Their Technical Capabilities: Providing Student Exposure to Professional, Communication, and Leadership Skills Christopher W. Swan and Julia Carroll Associate Professor and Graduate Student, respectively, Tufts UniversityAbstract Beyond their technical capabilities, future engineers will require strong leadership,communication, and professional skills to navigate an ever-changing field that is increasinglyinfluenced by issues associated with globalization and environmental sustainability. A newcourse on these “soft” skills has been developed at Tufts University. The course, recently taughtto civil and environmental engineering majors, was designed to introduce

Collection

2008 Northeast Section Meeting

Authors

Elif Kongar; Paul Kontogiorgis; Nancy L. Russo; Tarek Sobh

, engineering and math (STEM) fields, these changes have led to anincreasing need for building “soft skills” in current and potential employees, essentially bridging the gapbetween technical and business skills. In one area of services, IT Services, there are thousands of jobs inthe market that are left unfulfilled due to the lack of updated qualifications. There is a lack of awarenessof this growing trend for current skills and available job roles, which needs to be addressed, especially byeducational institutions. Of particular concern is the fact that female candidates, who constitute asignificant portion of the potential work force, are not being utilized correctly. It has been argued thatwomen in general possess many characteristics that make them

Collection

2012 ASEE Zone 1 Conference

Authors

Jesse E. Jaeger; Jibin T. Chacko; Richard A. Maier; James Patrick Abulencia

second possibility is that the students were simply tired aftercompleting the project last minute and not eager to take on a similar project right away.The last free response question asked “What changes/improvements would you make to thisassignment?” Students requested that the topics should be assigned to them rather than thempicking a topic of their choice. After further investigation on why students suggested this,students had selected topics they were already affluent in, meaning students gained lessknowledge of their topics when compared to a subject they don’t understand[1].ConclusionThe goals of learning by teaching and cooperative learning is to improve on a variety ofeducational foci, such as teamwork skills, soft-skills, learning more

Collection

2007 St.Lawrence Section Meeting

Authors

Doug Reeve P.Eng.; Annie Simpson; Veena Kumar; Emma Master; Dave Colcleugh; Greg Evans P.Eng.

: “Provide opportunities for soft skills development and professional training inareas such as team building, leadership, citizenship, ethics and social awareness in orderto produce graduates fully prepared to embark into leadership roles in corporate,entrepreneurial, or future research careers in a global environment.” The Faculty’srecord in leadership development is strong. We have integrated collaboration, communityoutreach and communication skills into the curriculum through such initiatives as thefirst-year Engineering Strategies and Practice course (McCahan, et al 2004).The University of Toronto's Academic Initiatives Fund, in early 2006, granted $1 millionover five years to implement a Leadership Development Program across the

Conference Session

Professional Papers

Collection

2025 ASEE Southeast Conference

Authors

Eva Singleton, The Citadel Military College

Tagged Topics

Professional Papers

-awareness, social skills, self-regulation, empathy, andmotivation is seen as art and lived out through practice [3], [5], [13]. The ability for aspiringproject engineers to hone EI, project management competencies, and understanding teamdevelopment can better equip them for the workplace and meet technical and interpersonal skillexpectations of employers.References[1] De Campos, D. B., de Resende, L. M., & Fagundes, A. “The importance of soft skills for the engineering,” Creative Education, 11, pp.1504-1520. 2020. https://doi.org.10.4236/ce.2020.118109[2] Kastberg, E., Buchko, A., & Buchko, K. “Developing emotional intelligence: The role of higher education,” Journal of Organizational Psychology 20(3), 2020. pp.64-72. https

Collection

2008 ASEE Zone 1 Conference

Authors

Christopher W. Swan; Julia Carroll

Beyond Their Technical Capabilities: Providing Student Exposure to Professional, Communication, and Leadership Skills Christopher W. Swan and Julia Carroll Associate Professor and Graduate Student, respectively, Tufts UniversityAbstract Beyond their technical capabilities, future engineers will require strong leadership,communication, and professional skills to navigate an ever-changing field that is increasinglyinfluenced by issues associated with globalization and environmental sustainability. A newcourse on these “soft” skills has been developed at Tufts University. The course, recently taughtto civil and environmental engineering majors, was designed to introduce

Collection

2025 Northeast Section Conference

Authors

Samuel Servati; PS. Dhanasekaran

traditional lecture-based courses but struggle withinitiatives and increased efforts to secure external facilitating open-ended, project-driven environments.funding through grants and industry sponsorships [4]. This gap underscores the need for professionalEvaluating student performance in PBL differs development programs focused on active learningsignificantly from traditional assessments that rely on methodologies [8]. At many institutions, the Advancedstandardized testing. Since PBL emphasizes both Machine Design professor may be highlytechnical competencies and soft skills, determining a knowledgeable in engineering principles but lackfair and effective grading system can be challenging practical

Collection

2015 ASEE Zone 3 Conference

Authors

James R. Rowland

: The key to breakthrough changes, How teaming can harness collective knowledge", Hospital Material Management Quarterly, Aug 1999, 21(1), pp. 7-12.[24] U. Rutz. C. Blaney, and G. Stephanie, “Attitude toward teamwork and effective teaming”, Performance Management, 2004, 10(7), pp. 145-151.[25] D. Petkovic, et al., “Work in progress—e-TAT: Online tool for teamwork and “soft skills” assessment in software engineering education”, Proc., 40th FIE Conference, Oct 27-30, 2000, Washington DC, Session S1G.[26] T. Hillburn and W. Humphrey, “Teaching teamwork”, IEEE trans on Software, Sep/Oct 2002, pp. 72-77.[27] P. L. Hirsch and A. F. McKenna, “Using reflection to promote teamwork understanding in engineering design education”, Mudd Design

Collection

2010 ASEE Zone 4 Conference

Authors

Brian Meadows; Charles Judah; Michael Berman; Derrick Jones; Ryan Rawson; David Alvarez; James Flynn; Sharlene Katz

hardware essential to implementing an SDR system. Section III will outline therequirements of the design project given at the beginning of the year. It will go on to discuss theapproach used to complete the project on both the hardware and software sides, as well asintegrating and testing the final design. Section IV will discuss the results of the project anddiscuss some of the interdisciplinary and soft skills that were learned. It will also focus on thepitfalls encountered during the project and further improvements that could be made. Section Vdiscusses our assessment of the educational outcomes listed above. Finally, Section VI willpresent the summary and conclusions.II. BackgroundThis project was based on the concept of software defined

Conference Session

Track 7: Technical Session 1: Agriculture & Nutrition for Girls While Encouraging Leadership & Stem-Enrichment (ANGELS) Program

Collection

2025 Collaborative Network for Engineering & Computing Diversity (CoNECD)

Authors

Sandra C Affare, University of Tennessee at Chattanooga; Marissa McElrone, University of Tennessee at Chattanooga; Rachelle Pedersen, Texas Tech University

Tagged Topics

2025 CoNECD Paper Submissions, Diversity

speaker workshops, STEM activities, and industryfieldtrips. One major goal of the ANGELS program was to promote self-efficacy, interest, and asense of belonging for the young girls. Throughout the summer experience, we encouraged thestudent participants to imagine themselves as engineers or agricultural scientists and had studentsengage in reflective processes (e.g., journaling) to foster their sense of connection to STEM.A secondary focus was on ‘soft’ skills such as teamwork and problem-solving through project-based learning using the Project Management Institute Education Foundation’s PM Skills for Lifecurriculum. The ANGELS Enrichment Program began in the Fall of 2023 providing projectmanagement tools and techniques that encouraged a

Collection

2025 ASEE -GSW Annual Conference

Authors

Mohammad Waqar Mohiuddin, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas; Jonathan Weaver-Rosen, Texas A&M University; Carlos R. Corleto P.E., Texas A&M University; Joanna Tsenn, Texas A&M University; Shadi Balawi, Texas A&M University

Tagged Topics

Diversity

the lecture notesinto videos. This will allow the complete learning modules to be shared with the global engineeringteaching community through the university’s library system. AcknowledgmentThis work was supported by the National Science Foundation Grant EEC-2022275. References1. R. J. Marandi, B. K. Smith, R. F. Burch, and S. C. Vick, “Engineering soft skills vs. engineering entrepreneurial skills,” Int J Eng Educ, vol. 35, no. 4, pp. 988-998, 2019.2. R. Reagans and E. W. Zuckerman, “Networks, diversity, and productivity: The social capital of corporate R&D teams,” Organization Science, vol. 12, no. 4, pp. 502-517, 2001.3. P

Conference Session

Experiential Learning : Global Models and Perspectives

Collection

2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Lisa Romkey, University of Toronto; Daniel Munro, University of Toronto; Virginia Hall; Tracy L. Ross, Actua

Tagged Topics

Diversity

Tagged Divisions

Cooperative and Experiential Education Division (CEED)

broader set of careers. Many of the participants cited multiple examples ofskills developed. A summary of commonly cited skills is as follows: ● Networking: “It has made me realize about the importance of networking and soft skills apart from giving me technical skills” ● Teamwork: “I feel prepared to work in a team where I both need to manage up to my superiors and manage down to the people I am in charge of organizing” ● Creative thinking: “It has improved my communication and creative thinking which will play a vital role in my future as my future career involves research” ● Communication: “This program has allowed me to learn how to communicate effectively with co-workers as well as become confident with my

Conference Session

Equity, Culture & Social Justice in Education Division (EQUITY) Technical Session 13

Collection

2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Janis P. Terpenny, National Science Foundation; Tracee Gilbert, System Innovation

Tagged Topics

Diversity

Tagged Divisions

Culture & Social Justice in Education Division (EQUITY), Equity

-changing digital landscape are needed. Workforce development and shortages are significantwith needs for talent at all levels. For engineers in particular, workers need to be able utilize andadvance technology, excel in the interdisciplinary nature of complex engineering problems,within interconnected digital spaces, make decisions, and be versed in ‘soft skills’ required forcollaboration and communication.Traditionally, undergraduate and graduate engineering education has been siloed according todisciplinary departments. Students navigate their education through a series of courses intendedto prepare them via methods and tools that define the discipline. This approach is based largelyon 20th-century needs. While team-based and project-based

Conference Session

Student Division (STDT) Technical Session 5: Motivation and Support for Success

Collection

2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

D'Andre Jermaine Wilson-Ihejirika, University of Toronto, Canada; Qin Liu, University of Toronto, Canada; Joanna Meihui Li, University of Toronto, Canada; Mustafa Nisar, University of Toronto, Canada; Jiawen Lin, University of Toronto, Canada

Tagged Topics

Diversity

Tagged Divisions

Student Division (STDT)

terms of development of soft skills and technical self-efficacy [50]; and social and academicnetworks for women contribute to student success through providing sources of social capital[51], [52].In addition, the broad institutional environment, such as university type (for example, historicallyblack colleges and universities or HBCUs versus predominantly white universities in the U.S.context), institutional culture, and admission policy all affect student pathways in significantways. Universities with stricter admission policies tend to “weed out” students, thus contributingto differences in persistence [37]. A gender bias can exist in the results of an admission process,which can be traced back to the admission policy[53]. Black students

Conference Session

LEES 7: Experiments in Experiential and Project-Based Learning

Collection

2022 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Joanna Burchfield, University of South Florida; Olukemi Akintewe, University of South Florida; Jamie Chilton, University of South Florida

&cid=70132000001AyziAACBauer-Wolf, Jeremy. (2018, February 23). Overconfident Students, Dubious Employers. InsideHigher Ed. https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2018/02/23/study-students-believe-they-are-prepared-workplace-employers-disagreeBerger, Guy (2016). Data Reveals the Most In-Demand Soft Skills among Candidates. LinkedIn.https://business.linkedin.com/talent-solutions/blog/trends-and-research/2016/most-indemand-soft-skillsChowdhury, T., & Murzi, H. (2019, July). Literature review: Exploring teamwork in engineeringeducation. In Proceedings of the Conference: Research in Engineering Education Symposium,Cape Town, South Africa (pp. 10-12).Dannels, D.P., & Housley Gaffney, A.L. (2009). Communication across the curriculum and

Conference Session

CIT Division Technical Session #6

Collection

2022 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Sharon Ferguson, University of Toronto; James Magarian, Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Alison Olechowski, University of Toronto; Katherine Mao, University of Toronto

), and identifying and formulatingengineering problems [53], [54].Although women are often stereotyped as being stronger in non-technical skills [12], somestudies have shown no difference in confidence levels in professional and interpersonal skillsbetween women and men [55]. These gendered stereotypes have important consequences; studieshave shown that non-technical or “soft” skills are often used as support for promoting womeninto management positions and out of technical roles, furthering the negative stereotypes relatedto women’s technical skills [56]. This same pattern has been reported in engineering studentteams [12]. Due to these stereotypes, and research that has shown women have higherreading/writing scores [51], we hypothesize that

Conference Session

DEED Technical Session 8 - Design Methodologies

Collection

2022 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Michaela Grover, University of Minnesota - Twin Cities; Natasha Wright, University of Minnesota - Twin Cities; Jennifer Hoody, University of Minnesota - Twin Cities; Carlye Lauff, University of Minnesota - Twin Cities

high-stakessubjects. In some instances, it can be helpful for a novice interviewer to be paired with a moreexperienced interviewer to assist in their learning during field work. As the students gain moreinterview exposure, they strengthen their interviewing skills.There are many documented best practices in interviewing. Soft skills such as generating goodrapport during the interview and including more casual conversation to help the intervieweerelax can increase the likelihood of uncovering helpful information [3], [8]. Other soft skills forinterviewing include building trust, showing compassion and care, and using positive facialexpressions and gestures to encourage the interviewee. Technical skills, such as asking openended questions and

Conference Session

Assessment-Driven Practices in ECE

Collection

2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Thomas Garrison, Portland State University; Yuchen Huang, Portland State University; Branimir Pejcinovic, Portland State University

Tagged Divisions

Electrical and Computer Engineering Division (ECE)

industry. Making matters more complicated is the fact that manyprograms focus on teaching engineering fundamentals and leave “soft skills” to otherdepartments. Given this environment, an approach tailored to engineering communication isneeded to meet the unique requirements for engineers in industry.The purpose of this paper is twofold. 1) examine various forms of communication engineersmust possess and their importance, and 2) describe the design, implementation, and assessmentof a new senior-year and first year graduate ECE course which is specifically aimed atdeveloping the critical communication skills for engineers in industry. For the first part we useda survey of managers and executives at Intel Corporation to determine the most important

Conference Session

NSF Grantees Poster Session

Collection

2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Bonnie Kathleen MacKellar, St John's University; Natalie Kiesler, DIPF | Leibniz Institute for Research and Information in Education; Rajendra K. Raj, Rochester Institute of Technology ; Mihaela Sabin, University of New Hampshire; Renee McCauley, College of Charleston; Amruth N. Kumar, Ramapo College of New Jersey

Tagged Topics

NSF Grantees Poster Session

and computing, where students are expected to perform in the workplacefrom day one, without any additional training. Employers are known to value employees andpotential employees who demonstrate what are often referred to as professional or soft skills, suchas persistence, self-direction, and adaptability [1, 2, 3]. As a typical undergraduate program isthree or four years, we have a short time to take young people straight out of high school and turnthem into nascent professionals. This means that we must find the space and time in our programsto develop these “professional skills.”Terms such as “soft skills,” “human skills,” and “noncognitive skills” [4, 5, 6] are frequently usedin the popular press but have varying definitions and

Conference Session

Aerospace Division Technical Session: Student Success

Collection

2022 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

MacKenzie Reber, Grove City College; Yun Dong, Iowa State University of Science and Technology; Subhanwit Roy, Iowa State University of Science and Technology; Benjamin Ahn, Iowa State University of Science and Technology

significant focus on practical training, more exposure to industry-like environments, and agreater emphasis on soft skills such as technical writing. This study aims to minimize the gapbetween academia’s and industry’s expectations for new engineers’ required knowledge andskills, help prepare engineering students for the potential challenges they will face during thesocialization period, and highlight potential areas of improvement within engineeringorganizations and undergraduate engineering education.Keywords: Proactive behavior, engineering education, organizational socialization, challenges,aerospace engineering2. IntroductionThis study’s motivation is to identify and understand the challenges newly-hired aerospaceengineers face during the

Conference Session

Innovative Pedagogies Afforded Through Technology and Remote Learning

Collection

2021 ASEE Virtual Annual Conference Content Access

Authors

Javeed Kittur, Arizona State University, Polytechnic campus; Tahzinul Islam, York University

Tagged Divisions

Educational Research and Methods

entertainment industry. Connolly et al. [14]distinguishes serious games from traditional games in that the former seeks to educate, while thelatter prioritizes entertainment.The positive impacts of Serious Games have been well documented ever since the advent of themodern personal computer, however, a very renowned study by Connolly et al. [14] noted that thepositive impacts, while acknowledged, is still lacking in coherence. Notable positive effects ofSerious Games studied in prominent studies include boosts in creativity , entrepreneurship [18],soft skills [19], communication and interpersonal skills [20], satisfaction in learning [21] andstudent motivation [22]. Digital versions of Serious Games also benefit from variousconveniences. Most notably

Conference Session

Best Paper, Best Diversity Paper

Collection

2021 ASEE Virtual Annual Conference Content Access

Authors

Maija A Benitz, Roger Williams University

Tagged Divisions

Ocean and Marine

experiential learning, which share similar benefits, but are alsochallenged by the current pandemic. Experiential learning often entails group work, interactionwith technical equipment, and collaboration with individuals outside of our campus. These typesof activities have become more difficult as we’ve entered an era of social distancing, remotelearning, and other COVID-19 safety protocols.These teaching and learning strategies are being employed and assessed both inside and outsideof the classroom. One approach from outside the classroom is student participation in inter-university design competitions which provides opportunities for hands-on, team-based workwhich motivates and enhances soft skills development [1], [5]. Service learning, or

Conference Session

Sociotechnical Thinking II: Interpretation, Curricular Practices, and Structural Change

Collection

2021 ASEE Virtual Annual Conference Content Access

Authors

Melissa C Kenny, Wake Forest University; Olga Pierrakos, Wake Forest University ; Monique O'Connell, Wake Forest University

Tagged Topics

Diversity

Tagged Divisions

Liberal Education/Engineering & Society

reports simply called for even more modernengineers.Figure 1: A visual depiction of new competencies needed by engineers upon review of theGrinter Report (1995) and the Vision of the Engineer of 2020 Reports (2004 and 2005).Even from an accreditation perspective, in 1997, ABET released Engineering Criteria 2000which made it clear that engineering education needed to include these global, societal,economic, and environmental mindsets in future engineers [4]. The incorporation of what arecommonly termed “soft skills” in engineering curriculum, including teamwork, communication,ethics, and social consciousness, were soon considered a necessity. Engineering coursework hadalready garnered a reputation as being content-heavy, so innovative and unique

Conference Session

Women in Engineering Division Technical Session 7

Collection

2021 ASEE Virtual Annual Conference Content Access

Authors

Victoria Beth Sellers, University of Florida; Idalis Villanueva, University of Florida

Tagged Topics

Diversity

Tagged Divisions

Women in Engineering

participants (n = 10) developed skills to cope with HC. “Developingskills” means that participants develop academic skills, such as taking courses, learning to solveengineering problems, practicing soft skills, or pursuing interests as a way to negotiate someaspect of their personal and engineering identity. Majority and minoritized women used thisstrategy similarly (6% vs. 5%). For example, a Hispanic/Latina industrial engineering graduatestudent noted that because she was an honors student, a tennis player, and worked, she “learnedto organize and manage my time and your tranquility in a cost-effective way to achieveeverything successfully.” This participant aligned her skills and identity to match normativeengineering skillsets, so she developed