Studying the Career Pathways of Engineers

Sheppard, Sheri; Antonio, Anthony Lising; Brunhaver, Samantha Ruth; Gilmartin, Shannon Katherine

doi:10.1017/cbo9781139013451.020

Cited by 65 publications

(32 citation statements)

References 6 publications

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“…Institutional type was operationalized as attending a research institution versus attending all other institutions, where institutional classifications were based on the 2010 Carnegie Classification scheme (Carnegie Foundation, 2011). We included this measure as an exploratory variable, given that institutional type was salient in previous work on engineering students' career plans (e.g., Sheppard, Antonio, Brunhaver, & Gilmartin, 2014). A research institution (relative to all others) might have more extensive facilities for students to explore technology-based innovation and entrepreneurship ideas.…”

Section: Other Personal Characteristic Measuresmentioning

confidence: 99%

Entrepreneurial intent of engineering and business undergraduate students

Gilmartin

Thompson

Morton

et al. 2019

J of Engineering Edu

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Background In recent years, technological innovation and entrepreneurship have been emphasized in engineering education. There is a need to better understand which individual‐ and contextual‐level factors are related to engineering students' entrepreneurial intentions. Purpose/Hypothesis This study explores individual and contextual predictors of entrepreneurial intent among undergraduate women and men in engineering and business majors. Entrepreneurial intent is defined as the personal importance that students ascribe to starting a new business or organization. Design/Method The participants included 518 engineering and 471 business undergraduates from 51 U.S. colleges and universities. We examined relationships first by discipline and then by gender in each discipline using regression models with interaction terms. Results Innovation orientation and participation in entrepreneurship activities tied to intent more strongly for engineering students than for business students; in contrast, being at a research institution and selection of novel goals tied to intent more strongly for business students than for their engineering peers. Among engineering students only, being able to switch gears and apply alternative means for reaching one's goal in the face of setbacks was positively related with women's entrepreneurial intent but not with men's. Conclusions Entrepreneurial intent is a function of individual‐level characteristics and academic and social contexts, with some degree of discipline‐specific effects. Diversifying the community of aspiring engineering entrepreneurs is a critical issue that merits attention by the engineering education community.

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Section: Other Personal Characteristic Measuresmentioning

confidence: 99%

Entrepreneurial intent of engineering and business undergraduate students

Gilmartin

Thompson

Morton

et al. 2019

J of Engineering Edu

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“…The majority of student respondents indicated that they would remain in the engineering field, i.e.,70 percent intended to go into engineering after graduation, which is consistent with the literature on engineers' destinations two years after graduation (but is higher than is the percentage of engineering students who are exclusively planning on engineering options when they graduate) 2 . However, others knew that they definitely did not want to be an engineer, and some were not sure if they wanted to use their engineering education.…”

Section: Engineering Involved In Planssupporting

confidence: 82%

“…Sheppard et al 2 also analyzed nationally representative employment data for engineering graduates approximately two years after earning their undergraduate degree. These data, which source from the National Survey of Recent College Graduates (NSRCG), indicated that 60 percent of new engineers were employed in engineering jobs, 18 percent were employed in a related field, 14 percent were employed in a field unrelated to engineering and science, and the balance were students or unemployed.…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

What Do You Want to Do with Your Life? Insights into how Engineering Students Think about their Future Career Plans

Grau

Sheppard

Gilmartin

et al.

2016 ASEE Annual Conference &Amp; Exposition Proceedings

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This research paper describes findings from a qualitative analysis of engineering students' selfreported future career plans on the 2015 Engineering Majors Survey (EMS). The EMS was designed to examine current engineering students' career goals, especially surrounding innovative work, and is based in the theoretical framework of Social Cognitive Career Theory (SCCT). With the open-ended responses on the EMS, we can develop a deeper understanding of students' plans in their own words, providing insights into how they think about their careers and why they want to go down a particular career path. The primary research questions for the present study are:1. What are the different ways students think about their future plans? 2. What are the motivations that drive students to choose a particular path? 3. Are there significant differences between how men and women think about their futures?The EMS survey was sent to engineering juniors and seniors at 27 schools in the spring of 2015; a total of 7,197 students participated. Included on the questionnaire was the open-ended question, "We have asked a number of questions about your future plans. If you would like to elaborate on what you are planning to do, in the next five years or beyond, please do so here", which elicited 1,848 responses. Responses were varied, and were coded by emergent themes. Ten main emergent themes were identified; examples include whether or not they intended to stay in engineering after graduation, mention of the industry they intended or would like to go into, and explanation of their motivations.Findings point to three main ways that students think about their career plans: by identifying a specific company they want to work for, by identifying a specific industry they want to work for, and by seeking a job with a certain trait. Students' motivations included wanting to help people, a desire to combine engineering with another field, an inherent love of doing engineering, and doing engineering as a means to a secure future. Some motivations varied by gender: men were more likely to discuss a desire to travel, while women more often considered childbearing and family factors in their career plans.These findings have several implications for educational research and practice in engineering. Understanding more about students' motivations helps researchers and practitioners to think more comprehensively about the persistence of different students in engineering post-graduation. Our findings suggest that some students might plan to leave engineering because of wanting to go to medical school, start a family, work for a non-profit, or become a teacher -not because they do not enjoy engineering. These insights can help engineering educators at all levels as they strive to make content relevant and meaningful to their students, ideally helping students connect what they are learning to their future goals. This information also can lead to recommendations for future survey questions that more fully capture the range of students' actual percept...

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“…10,11,12 The same can be said for each of the other areas, as there is much to learn from studies of other or broader change initiatives in higher education. Hill et al 11 Jin et al 3 Scutt et al 12 Sheppard et al 19 Examining Contexts Besterfield-Sacre, Özaltin et al 20 Besterfield-Sacre, Shartrand, and Zappe 21 Bodnar et al 22 Duval-Couetil, Shartrand, and Reed-Rhoads 23 Gilmartin et al 2 Graham 24 Özaltin et al 25 Shartrand et al 26 Zappe et al 27 The Need for Collaboration…”

Section: Research Findings To Build Onmentioning

confidence: 99%