Asee peer logo

Board 87: Work in Progress WIP Comparing the most demanded skills for Electrical and Computer Engineers (ECE) Graduates in the United States from the Perspective of ECE Academic Department Heads and ECE Professional Engineers

Download Paper |

Conference

2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Location

Baltimore , Maryland

Publication Date

June 25, 2023

Start Date

June 25, 2023

End Date

June 28, 2023

Conference Session

Electrical and Computer Engineering Division (ECE) Poster Session

Tagged Division

Electrical and Computer Engineering Division (ECE)

Page Count

22

DOI

10.18260/1-2--43240

Permanent URL

https://peer.asee.org/43240

Download Count

199

Paper Authors

biography

Mohammad Al Mestiraihi University of Texas Rio Grande Valley

visit author page

Mohammad Al Mestiraihi got his Ph.D. degree from the Engineering Education Department at Utah State University (USU) in July 2022 under Professor Kurt Becker's supervision. Before getting his Ph.D. from USU, Mohammad was a student at Oklahoma State University where he received a Master of Science (M.Sc.) degree from the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department. Mohammad also received another master’s degree in Computer Engineering from the Jordan University of Science and Technology (JUST) in Jordan. Besides, Mohammad also has a bachelor’s degree in Computer Engineering from Al Yarmouk University in Jordan. Complemented with his educational degrees, Mohammad has more than four years of teaching experience at Najran University, Saudi Arabia. Mohammad was also working as a Graduate Teaching Assistant (GTA) for 2.5 years at Oklahoma State University. Right now, Mohammad is working in the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) as a Lecturer 2. He started this position in the Fall of 2022 right after he got his Ph.D. degree.

visit author page

biography

Kurt Henry Becker Utah State University - Engineering Education

visit author page

Kurt Becker is a Professor in the Department of Engineering Education at Utah State University. His research includes engineering design thinking, systems engineering, engineering education professional development, technical training, and adult learning cognition. He is currently working on a USAID funded project in Egypt, “Center of Excellence in Water”, and Department of Education funded GEARUP projects in the area of STEM education related to engineering education. He has extensive international experience working on technical training and engineering projects funded by the Asian Development Bank, World Bank, and U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). Countries where he has worked include Armenia, Bangladesh, Bulgaria, China, Egypt, Indonesia, Macedonia, Poland, Romania, and Thailand. In addition, he has taught undergraduate and graduate courses in engineering education for the department.

visit author page

Download Paper |

Abstract

When students graduate from an Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) program, there is a discrepancy or imbalance between the job-related competencies that firms require and what academic institutions deliver. As a result, there are more graduates who lack the skills that the market dictates. Due to the skills gap, recently recruited engineers may still need more training to gain necessary competencies, costing companies both time and money. The primary purpose of this study is to compare the skills ECE graduates should have upon graduation from ECE industry perspective and ECE academic department heads’ perspectives. In this context, this paper presents the outcomes of two surveys, one distributed to ECE professional engineers and the other to ECE department heads in the U.S. Both surveys used in this study were obtained from The College and Career Readiness and Success Center at the U.S. Department of Education. The surveys focus on nine major categories: applied academic skills, critical thinking skills, interpersonal skills, personal skills, resource management skills, information use skills, communication skills, system thinking skills, and technology use skills. In addition, ECE professional engineers and ECE department heads were asked to rank several skills on a 1-5 Likert scale, where one is not important and five is vital. Forty-five ECE department heads and 45 ECE professionals completed the surveys regarding the required skills ECE graduates should possess upon graduation and how vital these skills are. The results of the surveys highlight the gap between academic outcomes and industry expectations for ECE graduates. System thinking, communication, and resource management skills are the most important skills for ECE graduates from an ECE professional engineer’s point of view. Furthermore, ECE department heads believed that applied academic skills, critical thinking skills, and technology use skills are the most important, highlighting the difference between academia and industry. Furthermore, independent samples t-test was utilized to compare the data from the two surveys to determine whether statistically significant differences existed between the department head's and professional engineers' assessments of the technical aptitude of Electrical and Computer Engineering graduates.

Al Mestiraihi, M., & Becker, K. H. (2023, June), Board 87: Work in Progress WIP Comparing the most demanded skills for Electrical and Computer Engineers (ECE) Graduates in the United States from the Perspective of ECE Academic Department Heads and ECE Professional Engineers Paper presented at 2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Baltimore , Maryland. 10.18260/1-2--43240

ASEE holds the copyright on this document. It may be read by the public free of charge. Authors may archive their work on personal websites or in institutional repositories with the following citation: © 2023 American Society for Engineering Education. Other scholars may excerpt or quote from these materials with the same citation. When excerpting or quoting from Conference Proceedings, authors should, in addition to noting the ASEE copyright, list all the original authors and their institutions and name the host city of the conference. - Last updated April 1, 2015