Engineering Professionals’ Expectations of Undergraduate Engineering Students

Cox, Monica Farmer; Çekiç, Osman; Ahn, Benjamin; Zhu, Jiabin

doi:10.1061/(asce)lm.1943-5630.0000173

“…33 For example, systems engineering (CE 201) and engineering risk and uncertainty (CE 202) are compulsory courses for all civil engineering students at the University of Illinois; while neither of the two courses explicitly includes the word -leadership,‖ implicit leadership capabilities are developed by the material covered in the classes. 34 …”

Section: Curricular Componentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Curricular and Non-Curricular Factors Impacting Development of Leadership Competencies in Undergraduate Civil Engineering and Construction Students

Makhmalbaf¹,

Simmons²

2015 ASEE Annual Conference and Exposition Proceedings

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The construction industry is experiencing challenges in developing specific and necessary competencies; leadership is one known deficiency. Other reasons, including rising complexity and the rapidly changing nature of construction projects, have called for improved leadership development in the construction industry. The purpose of this paper is to first identify and synthesize the curricular components (i.e., course experiences) and noncurricular factors (e.g., mentoring networks) that impact the development of leadership competencies for civil engineering and construction undergraduate students. A critical review and qualitative synthesis of the literature was employed to gather known components and factors relating to students' leadership development resulting from undergraduate coursework. Findings indicate that the curricular components and noncurricular factors impacting development of leadership competencies include course assignments and activities, course content (e.g., emphasis on the development of technical competencies versus development of emotional intelligence skills), access to resources (e.g., new technologies, guest speakers), and the ability to enroll in courses outside of required curriculum [e.g., courses that prepare student groups to participate in Associated Schools of Construction (ASC) and National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) annual competitions]. By using information provided in this study, future steps may be taken by faculty members to bridge and, in particular, improve their students' development of leadership competencies.

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“…This need has been recognized in numerous studies and addressed in engineering accreditation standards [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9] . Many universities struggle to find space in a curriculum under constant pressure to cover broadening technical fields.…”

Section: 'Lion Leadership Lessons Video Series' Delivering Engineerinmentioning

confidence: 99%

‘Lion Leadership Lessons Video Series’ - Delivering Engineering Leadership Lessons to a Broad Audience

Lang¹,

Erdman²,

Handley³

2016 ASEE Annual Conference &Amp; Exposition Proceedings

0

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professional experiences and research interests range from mechanical engineering facilities design to research that applied engineering and molecular biology approaches to the study of the skeletal response to mechanical loading. As a Mechanical Engineer, she worked on facility design projects involving mechanical systems that included heating, ventilation, air conditioning, and energy conservation systems, as well as R&D of air conditioning equipment for Navy ships. Additional research interests have included the investigation of relationships among components of the indoor environment, occupants, and energy usage. Specifically, the effects of the indoor environment on occupant health and well-being and in parallel, how socially-mediated energy-saving strategies can increase awareness of energy use and/or increase energy saving behaviors. Dr. Lang's current research interests focus on identifying, assessing, and developing key skills, knowledge, attitudes, and other intrinsic and extrinsic factors required for engineers to effectively lead others, particularly other engineers and across cultures. Meg is a board certified coach with experience in developing students' leadership and professional competencies through teaching and one-on-one coaching. She is most interested in developing student knowledge of leadership to impact their successful transition to the workplace. Mr. Andrew Michael Erdmanc American Society for Engineering Education, 2016 'Lion Leadership Lessons Video Series' Delivering Engineering Leadership Fundamentals to a Broad Audience AbstractLeadership skills are in ever-growing demand among companies who recruit engineering graduates. This need has been recognized in numerous studies and addressed in engineering accreditation standards [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9] . Many universities struggle to find space in a curriculum under constant pressure to cover broadening technical fields. Often these leadership courses are offered as options on top of existing requirements, resulting in students taking additional credits, at significant cost to them.

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“…Establishing this connection aligns with leadership skills related to big picture thinking. Recent engineering leadership studies and frameworks position big picture thinking as a key attribute and learning outcome for engineering leaders 28,[30][31][32][33] . NASA's behavioral study on highly effective technical executives includes understanding the big picture and interrelationships as an important behavior of effective technical executives 29 .…”

Section: Connectingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Identifying Engineering Leadership Potential During the On-Campus Recruiting Process

Handley¹,

Lang²,

Erdman³

2016 ASEE Annual Conference &Amp; Exposition Proceedings

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professional experiences and research interests range from mechanical engineering facilities design to research that applied engineering and molecular biology approaches to the study of the skeletal response to mechanical loading. As a Mechanical Engineer, she worked on facility design projects involving mechanical systems that included heating, ventilation, air conditioning, and energy conservation systems, as well as R&D of air conditioning equipment for Navy ships. Additional research interests have included the investigation of relationships among components of the indoor environment, occupants, and energy usage. Specifically, the effects of the indoor environment on occupant health and well-being and in parallel, how socially-mediated energy-saving strategies can increase awareness of energy use and/or increase energy saving behaviors. Dr. Lang's current research interests focus on identifying, assessing, and developing key skills, knowledge, attitudes, and other intrinsic and extrinsic factors required for engineers to effectively lead others, particularly other engineers and across cultures. Mr Identifying Engineering Leadership Potential During the On-Campus Recruiting Process AbstractRecruiters' perspectives are important in determining how students should best convey their leadership skills during the recruitment process. Recruiters are responsible for evaluating and identifying talent appropriate for today's dynamic global environment. This study aims to understand, from the recruiters' perspective, the important engineering leadership behaviors an engineering student needs to communicate during the on-campus recruiting process. Additionally, the study identifies what undergraduate activities or programs recruiters' value in demonstrating important engineering leadership behaviors. The study uses a qualitative interview approach to generate themes of engineering leadership behaviors that recruiters seek to understand during the on-campus recruiting process as well as strategies recruiters use to identify engineering leadership potential.Recruiters were asked to complete a qualitative interview questionnaire during their participation in the 2015-2016 recruiting activities at a large public institution. Interview questions explored the strategies recruiters use to identify engineering leaders, what engineering leadership behaviors are important for students to communicate, and student experiences that alert a recruiter of engineering leadership potential. A list of themes was generated using the constant comparative method. Triangulation of data was achieved through an independent focus group consisting of experienced engineering recruiters to verify the themes identified in the qualitative questionnaire. Utilizing these steps provides a structure for precise and complete analysis of the data with validation through the triangulation process.Results from this study inform engineering leadership educators on how recruiters perceive students' leadership potential in the early-stages of their careers rel...

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Engineering Professionals’ Expectations of Undergraduate Engineering Students

Cited by 37 publications

References 1 publication

Curricular and Non-Curricular Factors Impacting Development of Leadership Competencies in Undergraduate Civil Engineering and Construction Students

Curricular and Non-Curricular Factors Impacting Development of Leadership Competencies in Undergraduate Civil Engineering and Construction Students

‘Lion Leadership Lessons Video Series’ - Delivering Engineering Leadership Lessons to a Broad Audience

Identifying Engineering Leadership Potential During the On-Campus Recruiting Process

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