BOARD # 32: Work in Progress: Testing the Effects of Quality Engineering Coursework on Biomedical Engineering Students’ Career Expectations and Goals.

Deepthi Suresh; Paul Jensen; Jan P. Stegemann

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Conference: 2025 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition
Location: Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Publication Date: June 22, 2025
Start Date: June 22, 2025
End Date: August 15, 2025
Conference Session: Biomedical Engineering Division (BED) Poster Session
Tagged Division: Biomedical Engineering Division (BED)
Page Count: 5
Permanent URL: https://peer.asee.org/55686

Paper Authors

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Deepthi Suresh University of Michigan

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Deepthi Suresh is a Biomedical Engineering Ph.D. candidate at the University of Michigan. Her research focuses on BME students' career preparedness and on Quality Engineering as a BME career path. Her work aims to introduce BME students to and educate them in the field of Quality Engineering in order to broaden their career options and help align their interests, goals, and career attainments.

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Paul Jensen University of Michigan orcid.org/0000-0002-1257-9836

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Paul Jensen is an Assistant Professor of Biomedical Engineering at the University of Michigan. Paul is a Certified Quality Engineer by the American Society for Quality.

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Jan P. Stegemann University of Michigan

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Jan Stegemann is Professor of Biomedical Engineering and Director of the Advanced Medical Product Engineering and Development (AMPED) Master's program at the University of Michigan. As an educator, Dr. Stegemann has developed undergraduate and graduate courses in cell-matrix interactions, tissue engineering, and the fundamentals of medical product development.

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Abstract

Biomedical Quality Engineers (QEs) ensure that medical devices are safe, reliable, and consistent. Over 40% of entry-level biomedical engineering (BME) jobs are QE positions, and 70% require QE-related skills. However, most BME undergraduates are unaware of careers in QE, and many current QEs learned about the field after they entered the job market. BME students have low outcome expectations for QE careers and higher outcome expectations for research and development (R&D) positions. This study tests whether increasing awareness of QE and R&D careers improves outcome expectations for either type of engineering career. Accurate career expectations are necessary in order for students to make informed decisions about QE or R&D career pathways.

This project builds on our qualitative study of the experiences of current Quality Engineers, which found that they were unaware of Quality Engineering as a career for BMEs when they were undergraduates. Similar to our previous work, we use qualitative methods based on Social Cognitive Career Theory (SCCT) to discover pivotal points in the participants’ learning experiences. Specifically, we will identify areas where BME curricula did not provide undergraduates with QE-related learning experiences and how exposure to QE concepts changes student perceptions of QE careers. Our project partners with a master’s degree in medical product development. This program provides coursework on quality systems, regulatory management, and other QE principles and it enrolls recently graduated BME students. We collected focus group data from students as they started in this program and are in the process of interviewing them now that they’ve completed the program. In both the focus groups and interviews, we inquire about their prior and current views on QE as a career path. We will use SCCT-based a priori codes as well as open coding of the transcripts to test the intervention suggested by our previous research — that introducing students to Quality Engineering through coursework will increase their interests and outcome expectations regarding the career path.

This qualitative research project will inform the design of BME curricula to create a balanced awareness of both QE and R&D career pathways so students can pursue careers that match their interests, goals, and outcome expectations.

Citation
Format

Suresh, D., & Jensen, P., & Stegemann, J. P. (2025, June), BOARD # 32: Work in Progress: Testing the Effects of Quality Engineering Coursework on Biomedical Engineering Students’ Career Expectations and Goals. Paper presented at 2025 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition , Montreal, Quebec, Canada . https://peer.asee.org/55686

TY - CPAPER
AB - Biomedical Quality Engineers (QEs) ensure that medical devices are safe, reliable, and consistent. Over 40% of entry-level biomedical engineering (BME) jobs are QE positions, and 70% require QE-related skills. However, most BME undergraduates are unaware of careers in QE, and many current QEs learned about the field after they entered the job market. BME students have low outcome expectations for QE careers and higher outcome expectations for research and development (R&amp;amp;D) positions. This study tests whether increasing awareness of QE and R&amp;amp;D careers improves outcome expectations for either type of engineering career. Accurate career expectations are necessary in order for students to make informed decisions about QE or R&amp;amp;D career pathways.

This project builds on our qualitative study of the experiences of current Quality Engineers, which found that they were unaware of Quality Engineering as a career for BMEs when they were undergraduates. Similar to our previous work, we use qualitative methods based on Social Cognitive Career Theory (SCCT) to discover pivotal points in the participants’ learning experiences. Specifically, we will identify areas where BME curricula did not provide undergraduates with QE-related learning experiences and how exposure to QE concepts changes student perceptions of QE careers. Our project partners with a master’s degree in medical product development. This program provides coursework on quality systems, regulatory management, and other QE principles and it enrolls recently graduated BME students. We collected focus group data from students as they started in this program and are in the process of interviewing them now that they’ve completed the program. In both the focus groups and interviews, we inquire about their prior and current views on QE as a career path. We will use SCCT-based a priori codes as well as open coding of the transcripts to test the intervention suggested by our previous research — that introducing students to Quality Engineering through coursework will increase their interests and outcome expectations regarding the career path.

This qualitative research project will inform the design of BME curricula to create a balanced awareness of both QE and R&amp;amp;D career pathways so students can pursue careers that match their interests, goals, and outcome expectations.
AU - Deepthi Suresh
AU - Paul Jensen
AU - Jan P. Stegemann
CY - Montreal, Quebec, Canada
DA - 2025/06/22
PB - ASEE Conferences
TI - BOARD # 32: Work in Progress: Testing the Effects of Quality Engineering Coursework on Biomedical Engineering Students’ Career Expectations and Goals.
UR - https://peer.asee.org/55686
ER -