BOARD # 368: ER2 & RFE: Experiences of Ethics and Equity in Engineering Practice: A National Survey of Early-Career Engineers as they Transition to the Workforce

Chika Winnifred Agha; Rebecca A Atadero; Amir Hedayati Mehdiabadi

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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: NSF Grantees Poster Session II
Tagged Topics: Diversity and NSF Grantees Poster Session
Page Count: 6
Permanent URL: https://peer.asee.org/55739

Paper Authors

biography

Chika Winnifred Agha Colorado State University orcid.org/0009-0001-1986-4402

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Chika Winnifred Agha is a Ph.D. candidate in the Civil and Environmental Engineering department at Colorado State University. She holds both a bachelor’s and a master’s degree in civil engineering. She employs both qualitative and quantitative research methods to examine how early-career engineers navigate ethics and equity as they transition into professional practice.

Her research interests center on engineering education, with a strong emphasis on ethics, equity, diversity, and inclusion. She studies the experiences of early-career engineers, professional development, and workforce preparation, aiming to foster a more equitable and ethical engineering profession.

She was a fellow at the Colorado Water Center during the Fall 2023 and Spring 2024 semesters. She has also been selected as a Colorado State University Vice President for Research Fellow for the Fall 2024 and Spring 2025 semesters.

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Rebecca A Atadero Colorado State University

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Rebecca Atadero is a professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Colorado State University, specializing in structural engineering. She conducts research on the inspection, management and renewal of existing structures, social equity in civil engineering work, and diversity, equity and inclusion in engineering education settings.

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Amir Hedayati Mehdiabadi University of New Mexico

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Amir Hedayati is an Associate Professor at Organization, Information & Learning Sciences program at College of University Libraries & Learning Sciences at University of New Mexico. His research seeks to answer how we can enhance ethical decision-making among professionals, including engineers and computer scientists, by understanding their ethical judgment processes.

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Abstract

The transition from academic training to professional practice often exposes engineers to real-world ethical dilemmas and equity concerns that may not have been fully addressed during their formal education. As engineering education evolves to address not only technical competencies but also the broader social responsibilities of engineers, the knowledge of how early-career engineers grapple with these issues in real-world settings becomes increasingly important. The primary purpose of this NSF-funded project is to gain insight into the professional experiences of early-career engineers regarding ethics and equity through a national survey. The survey will focus on early-career engineers with five years or less of experience in the field, to obtain approximately 1,000 completed responses. To recruit participants from various engineering disciplines, we will utilize various methods, including outreach through social media platforms like LinkedIn, as well as engagement with professional organizations specific to different engineering fields. Using a quantitative research approach, to examine the data collected from these surveys, we will employ a combination of inferential and descriptive statistical methods. Inferential techniques, such as regression analysis, will be used to identify relationships and draw conclusions beyond the immediate data, while descriptive statistics, including measures such as frequency distributions and percentiles, will provide a detailed summary and overview of the key patterns and trends observed in the dataset. This approach will allow for both an in-depth understanding of the data and the ability to make broader inferences about early career engineers' experiences in the transition phase. This study reports on the experiences of early-career engineers regarding ethics and equity in the workplace and in their professional work. The findings of our research can help engineering educators understand the ethical and equity-related challenges early-career engineers may encounter during the early phases of their professional careers. Also, the study will provide valuable knowledge to engineering employers, highlighting the difficulties younger engineers may experience, and enabling employers to proactively address and support the ethical development of their workforce.

Keywords: survey, engineering ethics, equity, early-career engineers

Citation
Format

Agha, C. W., & Atadero, R. A., & Hedayati Mehdiabadi, A. (2025, June), BOARD # 368: ER2 & RFE: Experiences of Ethics and Equity in Engineering Practice: A National Survey of Early-Career Engineers as they Transition to the Workforce Paper presented at 2025 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition , Montreal, Quebec, Canada . https://peer.asee.org/55739

TY  - CPAPER
AB  - The transition from academic training to professional practice often exposes engineers to real-world ethical dilemmas and equity concerns that may not have been fully addressed during their formal education. As engineering education evolves to address not only technical competencies but also the broader social responsibilities of engineers, the knowledge of how early-career engineers grapple with these issues in real-world settings becomes increasingly important. The primary purpose of this NSF-funded project is to gain insight into the professional experiences of early-career engineers regarding ethics and equity through a national survey. The survey will focus on early-career engineers with five years or less of experience in the field, to obtain approximately 1,000 completed responses. To recruit participants from various engineering disciplines, we will utilize various methods, including outreach through social media platforms like LinkedIn, as well as engagement with professional organizations specific to different engineering fields. Using a quantitative research approach, to examine the data collected from these surveys, we will employ a combination of inferential and descriptive statistical methods. Inferential techniques, such as regression analysis, will be used to identify relationships and draw conclusions beyond the immediate data, while descriptive statistics, including measures such as frequency distributions and percentiles, will provide a detailed summary and overview of the key patterns and trends observed in the dataset. This approach will allow for both an in-depth understanding of the data and the ability to make broader inferences about early career engineers&#39; experiences in the transition phase. This study reports on the experiences of early-career engineers regarding ethics and equity in the workplace and in their professional work. The findings of our research can help engineering educators understand the ethical and equity-related challenges early-career engineers may encounter during the early phases of their professional careers. Also, the study will provide valuable knowledge to engineering employers, highlighting the difficulties younger engineers may experience, and enabling employers to proactively address and support the ethical development of their workforce.

Keywords: survey, engineering ethics, equity, early-career engineers

AU  - Chika Winnifred Agha
AU  - Rebecca A Atadero
AU  - Amir Hedayati Mehdiabadi
CY  - Montreal, Quebec, Canada 
DA  - 2025/06/22
PB  - ASEE Conferences
TI  - BOARD # 368: ER2 & RFE: Experiences of Ethics and Equity in Engineering Practice: A National Survey of Early-Career Engineers as they Transition to the Workforce
UR  - https://peer.asee.org/55739
ER  -