Board 15: Understanding the Educational and Career Pathways of Engineers

Abstract

is a Program Officer at the National Academy of Engineering (NAE), where she facilitates the deployment of innovative policies, practices, and tools designed to enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of systems for the formal, informal, and lifelong education of engineers. She currently helps lead a project that will develop a toolkit to guide teachers, administrators, and other stakeholders in the effective implementation of engineering education in K-12 and works on projects that examine and recommend action for the engineering educational system from precollege to higher ed. She staffs the Frontiers of Engineering Education symposium and also co-edited a collection of resources that translated research on women in science and engineering into short documents containing practical tips for faculty members to incorporate into their classrooms and other interactions with students. She is a co-author of several peer-reviewed conference presentations on engineering education topics such as building skills in project management and change leadership, diversity, and developing communities of practice within engineering education and engineering education research. Dr. Cady earned M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Cognitive and Human Factors Psychology from Kansas State University and a B.A. in psychobiology and political science from Wheaton College in Massachusetts.

Work in Progress: Survey Development of the Influence of Engineering Students’ Extracurricular Involvement on Career Aspirations and Professional Development

“…In the following section, students will be asked about their career plans post-graduation [28]- [30]. They will then respond to a series of items related to the four constructs described in conceptual framework (personal skill development, peer/employer networks, socialization, and career planning) leading to their career choice certainty and confidence in job preparation.…”