Research: Workplace Preparation in the Aerospace Engineering Profession

每年都有新毕业的工程师进入劳动力市场，开始开始他们的工程生涯。虽然他们可能在技术问题上受过良好的培训，但为了有效地参与劳动力，他们仍然需要学习很多东西，例如了解自己的角色和责任，确定公司的文化和规范，以及与同事建立关系。他们必须适应工作场所，这是一项至关重要的发展任务。如果不能适应，可能会导致与工作环境的斗争，离开劳动力，甚至离开职业。本研究旨在探讨新聘工程专业毕业生如何进入和适应他们的工程专业。特别是，这项研究重点关注航空航天领域的新工程师，有四个关键原因：（1）航空航天工程师的传统培训方法与现代工程工作场所的需求不匹配，（2）该行业需要增加妇女和代表性不足的少数民族成员的保留，（3）需要修改目前的航空航天高等教育计划和公司培训，以便更充分地向不同的工程师群体开放这一职业，以及（4）随着婴儿潮一代从航空航天领域退休的到来，将需要大量不同的新工程师来填补越来越多的空缺。这些使得航空航天工程项目迫切需要为进入工作场所的挑战做好准备的毕业工程师。本项目的目的是（1）确定最近毕业的航空航天工程师如何完成任务，这些任务决定了他们在工程公司工作的适应性，（2）确定他们在社会化过程中的经验，挑战和支持机制，（3）确定工程专业的学生如何在大学期间准备工作，以成功完成工作任务，以及（4）确定工程教育计划和工程公司如何培训不同的工程师群体来完成这些任务。本研究的理论框架涉及四个社会化任务领域，由社会化文献定义：任务掌握，角色澄清，文化适应和社会融合。使用多案例研究设计，本研究将采访一组不同的最近雇用的新工程毕业生（N = 30）谁是全职工作在卓越的美国-航空航天公司。研究结果预计将扩大工程教育工作者的知识，如何准备工程师的劳动力，揭示关键的社会化因素，为人口统计学上不同的群体的工程师。通过网站，在线学习模块和同行评审的出版物传播研究结果将有助于最近的工程毕业生改善他们进入工作场所的机会，并使大学能够更好地为学生做好准备。此外，研究结果将为公司提供信息，帮助不同的新工程师快速跟上步伐，并将自己推向成功的职业道路。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Every year newly graduated engineers enter the workforce to begin their engineering careers. Although they may be well trained in technical matters, they still have significant learning to do in order to participate effectively in the workforce, such as understanding their roles and responsibilities, determining their companies' culture and norms, and developing relationships with coworkers. They must adjust to the workplace, which is a critically important developmental task. Failure to adjust may lead to struggles with the work environment, leaving workforce, and even to leaving the profession. This study aims to examine how recently hired engineering graduates enter and adjust to their engineering profession. In particular, this study focuses on new engineers in aerospace field for four key reasons: (1) there is a mismatch between traditional methods for training aerospace engineers and the needs of the modern engineering workplace, (2) the profession needs to increase retention of women and members of underrepresented minorities, (3) current higher education programs and company training in aerospace need to be modified to more fully open the profession to diverse groups of engineers, and (4) a large supply of diverse new engineers will be needed to fill the positions that will open in ever-increasing numbers with the coming retirement of baby boomers from the aerospace field. These make it urgent for aerospace engineering programs to graduate engineers who are prepared for the challenges of entering the workplace. The purpose of this project is to (1) identify how recently graduated aerospace engineers accomplish tasks that govern their adjustment to working at engineering companies, (2) determine their experiences, challenges, and supportive mechanisms during socialization, (3) determine how engineering students can prepare during their college years to succeed at workplace tasks, and (4) identify how engineering education programs and engineering companies can train diverse groups of engineers to accomplish those tasks. The theoretical framework for this study involves the four socialization task domains, defined by the socialization literature: task mastery, role clarification, acculturation, and social integration. Using a multiple-case research design, this study will interview a diverse group of recently hired new engineering graduates (N = 30) who are working full-time in preeminent U.S.-based aerospace companies. The findings are expected to expand engineering educators' knowledge about how to prepare engineers for the workforce by uncovering key socialization factors for demographically diverse groups of engineers. Dissemination of the study findings via websites, online learning modules, and peer-reviewed publications will help recent engineering graduates to improve their entry into their workplaces and enable universities to better prepare students for the workforce. Additionally, study findings will inform companies to help diverse new engineers get up to speed quickly and launch themselves into successful career paths.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.