Graduate Student Qualifying Exam Approach: Course To Guide Students Through Writing A Research Proposal

Abstract

He worked for the US Army Corp of Engineers Engineering Research and Development Center on the development, design, and implementation of groundwater treatment technologies. His research interests are the development of technologies for the remediation of contaminated media and the development of non-traditional feedstocks for producing biofuels. Dr. Hernandez has over 80 technical presentations at state and national conferences and over 15 peer reviewed publications. He is the principal investigator on projects funded by the Department of Energy, the Environmental Protection Agency, and private industries.

Linking current and prospective engineering graduate students' writing attitudes with rhetorical writing patterns

“…Most technical communication literature targets undergraduate competencies (e.g., Andrews, 2003; Olds, 1998; Zemliansky & Berry, 2017) or the special needs of English as a Foreign Language learners (e.g., Allison et al, 1998; Batson, 2018; Ferenz, 2005). That which addresses writing for graduate students within engineering contexts typically focuses prescriptively on what students struggle with or which activities should be embedded into a curriculum (e.g., Colwell et al, 2011; Craig, 2005; Minerick & Hernandez, 2010) rather than exploring how engineering students write for disciplinary audiences. At the graduate level, “bootcamp” interventions for dissertation writing can be highly valuable for students who are struggling to make progress on their dissertations with the aim of increasing persistence rates for graduate students from women and underrepresented groups in engineering and STEM (Cruz et al, 2019; Hasbún et al, 2016; Simpson et al, 2015).…”