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Exploring First Year Engineering Students' Career Motivations and Expectations

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Conference

ASEE Southeast Section Conference

Location

Arlington, Virginia

Publication Date

March 12, 2023

Start Date

March 12, 2023

End Date

March 14, 2023

Conference Session

First Year and Cross-Disciplinary

Tagged Topic

Professional Engineering Education Papers

Page Count

17

DOI

10.18260/1-2--45011

Permanent URL

https://peer.asee.org/45011

Download Count

40

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Paper Authors

biography

Rahul Sharan Renu Francis Marion University

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Dr. Renu is an associate professor of mechanical engineering at Francis Marion University. He also serves as the program coordinator for mechanical engineering. His research interests are in the fields of digital manufacturing, AI in design, and engineering education.

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biography

Michael V Potter Francis Marion University

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Dr. Michael Potter is an Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Francis Marion University (FMU). He teaches both upper and lower-level courses in FMU’s mechanical engineering program. Dr. Potter received bachelor’s degrees in Mechanical Engineering and Physics from Ohio Northern University. He then went on to attend the University of Michigan, where he received his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Mechanical Engineering with a concentration in Biomechanics. His research uses body-worn sensor networks to better quantify and understand human performance in applications including health and sports.

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Mark Kanaparthi Francis Marion university

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Abstract

This research explores first-year engineering students' perceptions and motivations about the engineering curriculum and profession. Approximately 60 students enrolled in Francis Marion University's (FMU) engineering programs take a University Life 100 (UL100) course each Fall semester. This one-credit hour course serves to help students transition from high school to college and orients them to the FMU Physics and Engineering department programs. Engineering faculty teaching this course in Fall 2022 conduct a survey to understand 1) student motivations to pursue engineering, 2) student perceptions and knowledge of the difference between engineering and engineering technology degrees, 3) student knowledge of differences between a bachelor's degree and an associate’s degree, and 4) student's assumptions of the skillsets required to be a practicing engineer. The survey consists of Likert scale questions as well as questions that solicit free-text responses. This paper reports on the results from statistical and Natural Language Processing analyses of the responses and provides recommendations for content to be included in courses similar to FMU's UL100 course.

Renu, R. S., & Potter, M. V., & Kanaparthi, M. (2023, March), Exploring First Year Engineering Students' Career Motivations and Expectations Paper presented at ASEE Southeast Section Conference, Arlington, Virginia. 10.18260/1-2--45011

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