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Session 1661

More than just lab work: A summer intern program teaches undergraduates how to communicate their research Joanne Lax, Amy Van Epps Purdue University

Abstract A number of North American universities offer summer programs which enable undergraduates from their home institutions and others to explore the world of engineering research. The Summer Undergraduate Research Intern program at Purdue University, a two-year-old program funded by NASA and NSF, was established to interest students in pursuing graduate work by simulating the professional activities of a research scientist. What distinguishes the SURI program from its counterparts elsewhere is systematic instruction in technical communication. The SURI developers embraced the complementary and necessary relationship between laboratory research and written and spoken communication skills by offering a weekly seminar in technical communication as part of the program. This professional seminar is conducted by an engineering communication specialist with help from an engineering librarian. This paper discusses the skills in library research, writing, and speaking needed by students to produce a review of the literature and to give a mock conference presentation based on their summer research. The paper also explores the challenges the seminar instructors faced in effectively delivering those skills to a linguistically and academically diverse group of engineering students.

Introduction Over the past couple of decades, research experiences for undergraduates (REUs) have become an increasingly popular and effective way for engineering students to explore the world of research. These programs come in an array of choices of topic, location, program goals, enrollment, and duration.1 Most of the papers published about REUs tend to discuss either research approaches, “how-to” run a program, or assessment.2

Some programs assess their success based on future graduate school matriculation of their former students, or on the number of publications or conference papers for which these students are listed as co-authors.3-6 That a publication record is considered a measure of success of REUs is external validation for the importance of communication skills for engineers. Nearly 50 years ago, the founder of the IEEE Professional Communication Society called clear speech and writing “…prime and necessary characteristics of the successful engineer.”7 More recently, ABET 2000’s Criterion 3 (g) stated that “Engineering programs must demonstrate that their graduates have:…an ability to communicate effectively.”8

Unlike the wide-angle view of many of the papers on REUs, in which communications and library activities often are mentioned in passing, this paper focuses in on how one relatively new REU program reinforces the message that the ability to communicate one’s research orally and in writing goes hand-in-hand with the research itself.

“Proceedings of the 2005 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition Copyright © 2005, American Society for Engineering Education”

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Lax, J., & Van Epps, A. (2005, June), More Than Just Lab Work: A Summer Intern Program Teaches Undergraduates How To Communicate Their Research Paper presented at 2005 Annual Conference, Portland, Oregon. 10.18260/1-2--15312