Transforming Graduate Education in Transportation Engineering: Applying Cognitive Apprenticeship to Translate Doctoral Student Skills from Research-to-Practice

越来越多的交通博士学生在毕业后选择在工业或政府机构工作。尽管在攻读学位期间接受了深入的培训，但这些学生中的大多数并不具备在职业生涯中期（相当于5年以上的工作经验）开始工作所需的广泛技能。罗文大学获得的国家科学基金会研究生教育创新（IGE）奖将试点一种新的从研究到实践的培训模式，以弥合这一差距。学生将逐步建立他们的技能，并学习如何将其应用到交通运输行业，通过有意识的学习经验，建立在认知学徒模式。在这个项目中，正在进行研究和撰写论文的交通博士和硕士学生将发展技术能力，商业和沟通技巧，领导能力和团队发展方法，并建立他们的网络能力。该培训项目是新颖的，因为很少有项目专注于应用认知学徒模式来帮助学生学习如何在非学术环境中应用他们的研究技能。该培训项目还与行业和政府合作伙伴密切合作，这将有助于确保交通博士学生在毕业后为职业生涯的中期职位做好准备。此外，这种经历将使所有参与的研究生受益，因为它提供了有助于专业发展的实践经验。交通博士课程的修订结构强调工业/政府应用，将吸引有兴趣为当地和更广泛的社区创造价值的不同学生群体。这个试点交通博士培训项目将寻求回答“研究到实践的模式如何帮助学生为学术界以外的交通工程职业做准备？”更具体地说，它将解决三个研究问题：(1)研究到实践的研究生模式对发展交通工程博士生的职业认同有什么影响？(2)认知学徒制框架如何为博士生在交通工程领域的专业实践做准备？(3)研究到实践的研究生模式对博士生完成学位的动机有什么影响？研究设计采用定性和解释性混合方法，包括学生反思、访谈和调查，以解决提出的研究问题。由于专业身份和动机都与研究生学位课程的坚持和保留有关，特别是对于来自该领域代表性不足的群体的学生来说，这项研究将有助于解决为交通工程领域的职业生涯准备多样化的博士生群体的问题。这一努力也有望更好地留住交通博士项目的学生。这个项目的完成将提高对认知学徒模式如何应用于指导博士生的专业发展，为非学术职业生涯做准备的理解。虽然结果将是特定于交通工程博士人群，但使用混合方法的方法将有助于实现可转移到其他工程项目和背景的结果。研究生教育创新（IGE）项目专注于研究生教育的研究。IGE的目标是试点、测试和验证研究生教育的创新方法，并产生将这些方法推广到更广泛的社区所需的知识。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Transportation Ph.D. students increasingly choose jobs within industry or government agencies upon graduation. Despite the in-depth training during their degree programs, most of these students do not have the broad skills needed to start positions at a mid-career level (equivalent to 5+ years of work experience). This NSF Innovations in Graduate Education (IGE) award to Rowan University will pilot a new research-to-practice training model to bridge this gap. Students will progressively build their skills and learn how to apply them to the transportation industry through intentional learning experiences built around a cognitive apprenticeship model. In this program, transportation Ph.D. and Master’s students who are conducting research and writing a thesis will develop technical competencies, business and communication skills, leadership and team development approaches, and build their networking capabilities. The training program is novel as few programs focus on applying a cognitive apprenticeship model to assist students with learning how to apply their research skills in a non-academic setting. The training program also collaborates closely with industry and government partners, which will help ensure that the transportation Ph.D. students are prepared for mid-career level positions upon graduation. Moreover, this experience will benefit all participating graduate students because it provides practical experiences that will assist in professional development. The revised structure of the transportation Ph.D. program with an emphasis on industrial/government applications will attract a diverse student population interested in creating value for the local and broader community.This pilot transportation Ph.D. training program will seek to answer “How can a research-to-practice model assist students in preparing for a transportation engineering career outside of academia?” More specifically, it will address three research questions: (1) What impact does the research-to-practice graduate model have on developing transportation engineering doctoral students’ professional identity? (2) How does the cognitive apprenticeship framework prepare doctoral students for professional practice in transportation engineering? and (3) What influences does the research-to-practice graduate model have on doctoral students’ motivation towards degree completion? The research design uses qualitative and explanatory mixed methods approaches, including student reflections, interviews, and surveys, to address the proposed research questions. As both professional identity and motivation are related to persistence and retention within graduate degree programs, particularly for students from groups that are underrepresented in the field, this research will help address the preparation of a diverse doctoral student population for careers in transportation engineering. This effort is also anticipated to lead to better retention of students in the transportation Ph.D. program. This project’s completion will improve understanding of how a cognitive apprenticeship model can be applied to scaffold doctoral students’ professional development in preparation for non-academic careers. Although the results will be specific to the transportation engineering doctoral population, using a mixed methods approach will help achieve results that could be transferable to other engineering programs and contexts. The Innovations in Graduate Education (IGE) program is focused on research in graduate education. The goals of IGE are to pilot, test and validate innovative approaches to graduate education and to generate the knowledge required to move these approaches into the broader community.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.