Exploring the Impact of Global Undergraduate Experiences on Engineers' Career Pathways and Approaches to Engineering Work

探索全球本科经历对工程师职业道路和工程工作方法的影响

• 批准号: 2308607
• 负责人: Kirsten Davis
• 金额: $ 38.86万
• 依托单位: Purdue University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2023-08-15 至 2026-07-31
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2308607&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Exploring; Impact; Global; Undergraduate; Experiences

In the increasingly globalized world, it is essential that engineering graduates develop the knowledge and skills to be successful in this environment. This project will work towards achieving that goal by exploring how global experiences during the undergraduate years and beyond may connect to global career outcomes. Several studies have explored the development of global engineering competency and related skills within the context of undergraduate engineering programs, but we have little information about the long-term impact of global experiences and the career pathways that students follow after they enter the engineering workforce. This project will advance our understanding of the formation of engineers by providing insights on the impact and value of global experiences for engineers by gathering data from engineering graduates at various stages of their careers. Findings from this project will lead to recommendations for the design of global programs for engineering students and can provide motivation for continued investment in development, implementation, and improvement of access to such programs. In addition, our research on how the formation of engineers continues after graduation can inform professional development support for practicing engineers to continue global learning throughout their careers. Understanding how we can support global learning for engineers both during and after the undergraduate years improves our ability to develop a globally competitive and innovative workforce.The purpose of this project is to explore the impact of global undergraduate experiences on engineers’ career pathways and approaches to engineering work. We will conduct a multiple-case study of three long-running global engineering programs to address three research questions: 1) How do global career outcomes compare between engineers who participated in global programs as undergraduate students and those who did not? 2) What global experience, global self-concept, and career choice variables are predictors of global career outcomes? 3) How do global experiences during the undergraduate years and after entering the workforce influence engineers’ approaches to engineering work and career choices? To address RQ1 and RQ2, we will administer a survey about career trajectories, career outcomes, and global experiences during and after college to all the alumni of the three programs which will be the cases for this study. Based on the survey response, we will identify a comparison group within each case with similar composition of disciplines and industry sectors by recruiting engineering alumni from the same university and administer the survey to this group. To address RQ3, we will conduct interviews with participants from the global programs and comparison groups to understand participants’ approaches to engineering work, global career outcomes, and experiences they believe prepared them to engage in a global work environment. Finally, we will make a cross-case comparison by developing case summaries and holistically comparing the findings. This project will contribute new insights about global career outcomes in engineering, the nature of global engineering work, and the ways in which engineers engage in lifelong global learning. Our results will lead to recommendations for the design of global engineering programs for students and global professional development opportunities for practicing engineers. The project will be informed by both an academic advisory board and industrial advisory board. The academic advisory board is comprised of researchers and practitioners of global engineering programs, while the industrial advisory board is comprised of individuals with 80+ years of combined engineering work experience, including training and recruiting new engineers. Through our industrial advisory board and dissemination plan, we plan to communicate our results broadly in the industry setting to increase industry and university collaborations related to the formation of global engineers.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.

在日益全球化的世界中，工程毕业生必须在这种环境中取得成功的知识和技能至关重要。该项目将通过探索本科生及以后的全球经验如何与全球职业成果联系在一起，以实现这一目标。几项研究探索了本科工程计划中全球工程能力和相关技能的发展，但是我们几乎没有关于全球经验的长期影响以及学生进入工程劳动力后遵循的职业途径的信息。该项目将通过在其职业生涯的各个阶段收集来自工程毕业生的数据来提供有关工程师对工程师的影响和价值的见解，从而提高我们对工程师形成的理解。该项目的调查结果将为工程学生设计全球计划的设计提供建议，并可以为继续投资，实施和改善此类计划的访问提供动力。此外，我们对工程师在毕业后如何继续形成的研究可以为实践工程师在整个职业生涯中继续全球学习提供指导。了解我们如何在本科生期间和之后为工程师提供支持的全球学习，以提高我们发展全球竞争和创新的劳动力的能力。该项目的目的是探索全球本科体验对工程师职业途径的影响以及工程工作的方法。我们将对三个长期运行的全球工程计划进行多案例研究，以解决三个研究问题：1）全球职业成果如何比较参加全球课程作为本科生的工程师与那些不参加的工程师？ 2）哪些全球经验，全球自我概念和职业选择变量是全球职业成果的预测指标？ 3）在本科生中以及进入劳动力后，全球经验如何影响工程师的工程工作和职业选择？为了解决RQ1和RQ2，我们将对大学期间和之后的职业发展轨迹，职业成果和全球经验进行调查，以对这三个计划的所有校友进行，这将是本研究的案例。根据调查的回应，我们将通过招募同一大学的工程校友，并向该组管理调查，从而确定每个案例中的一个比较组，并通过纪律和行业类似。为了解决RQ3，我们将对来自全球计划和比较小组的参与者进行访谈，以了解参与者的工程工作方法，全球职业成果以及他们认为他们准备参与全球工作环境的经验。最后，我们将通过发展案例摘要并整体比较发现来进行跨案例比较。该项目将对工程学的全球职业成果，全球工程工作的性质以及工程师参与终身全球学习的方式做出新的见解。我们的结果将为学生设计全球工程计划的建议，并为实践工程师设计全球专业发展机会。该项目将由学术顾问委员会和工业顾问委员会告知。学术咨询委员会由全球工程计划的研究人员和从业人员组成，而工业顾问委员会则由拥有80多年合并工程工作经验的个人组成，包括培训和招募新工程师。通过我们的工业咨询委员会和传播计划，我们计划在行业环境中广泛传达我们的结果，以增加与全球工程师形成相关的行业和大学合作。该奖项反映了NSF的法定任务，并被认为是通过基金会的知识分子优点和更广泛的影响来评估来获得的支持。