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

在日益全球化的世界中，工程专业毕业生培养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及以后的全球经历如何与全球职业成果联系起来，努力实现这一目标。一些研究已经探索了本科工程项目背景下全球工程能力和相关技能的发展，但我们对全球经验的长期影响以及学生进入工程劳动力后所遵循的职业道路知之甚少。该项目将通过收集工程毕业生在其职业生涯的不同阶段的数据，提供对工程师全球经验的影响和价值的见解，从而促进我们对工程师形成的理解。该项目的研究结果将为工程专业学生的全球项目设计提供建议，并为继续投资开发、实施和改进此类项目的机会提供动力。此外，我们对工程师毕业后如何继续形成的研究可以为实践工程师在其整个职业生涯中继续进行全球学习提供专业发展支持。了解我们如何在本科期间和之后支持工程师的全球学习，可以提高我们培养具有全球竞争力和创新能力的劳动力的能力。该项目的目的是探讨全球本科经历对工程师职业道路和工程工作方法的影响。我们将对三个长期运行的全球工程项目进行多案例研究，以解决三个研究问题：1)作为本科生参加过全球工程项目的工程师和没有参加过全球工程项目的工程师之间的全球职业结果如何比较？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结果的预测因子？3)本科期间和进入职场后的全球经历如何影响工程师对工程工作的态度和职业选择？为了解决RQ1和RQ2的问题，我们将对这三个项目的所有校友进行一项关于大学期间和毕业后的职业轨迹、职业成果和全球经历的调查，这将是本研究的案例。根据调查结果，我们将通过招募来自同一所大学的工程校友，在每个案例中确定一个具有相似学科和行业组成的比较组，并对该组进行调查。为了解决RQ3问题，我们将对来自全球项目和比较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为参与全球工作环境做好准备的经验。最后，我们将通过发展案例总结和整体比较研究结果进行跨案例比较。该项目将对工程领域的全球职业成果、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提供新的见解。我们的研究结果将为学生提供全球工程项目的设计建议，并为实践工程师提供全球专业发展机会。该项目将由学术顾问委员会和工业顾问委员会告知。学术顾问委员会由全球工程项目的研究人员和实践者组成，而工业顾问委员会则由具有80多年综合工程工作经验的个人组成，包括培训和招聘新工程师。通过我们的行业咨询委员会和传播计划，我们计划在行业环境中广泛传播我们的成果，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。

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.