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At the graduate level, most milestones are based on the ability to write for an academic audience, whether that be for dissertation proposals, publications, or funding opportunities. Writing scholars often discuss the process by which graduate students learn to join their academic “discourse communities” through academic literacies theory. Graduate attrition researchers relate the feeling of belonging with persistence in doctoral programs; however, there has not to date been any research that directly studies engineering writing attitudes and perceptions with student career trajectories, persistence, or attrition. To meet this need, this paper presents research from a larger study analyzing graduate level engineering writing and attrition. The explicit objective of this paper is to present quantitative data relating current graduate engineering students' attitudes, processes, and concepts of academic writing with the certainty of their career trajectory. Five scales measuring aspects of writing were deployed to engineering programs at ten research intensive universities across the United States, with a final total of n=621 graduate student respondents that represent early-career, mid-career, and late-career stages of the graduate timeline. Results indicate that graduate student processes and conceptions of engineering writing correlate with the likelihood of pursuing careers in various engineering sectors after completing their graduate degree programs.
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The Evolving Career Aspirations of Socially Minded Engineering and Construction Students
Humanitarian engineering (HE) programs are growing exponentially to meet the rising demand of engineering and construction students wanting to address equitable infrastructure service provision. This field is attracting students traditionally underrepresented in engineering and construction, including those of diverse backgrounds, identities, and passions. However, there is a dearth of research tracking students’ evolving career aspirations through the influences of graduate school. This study conducts longitudinal interviews with seven students enrolled in seven graduate HE programs over two years. Through these interviews, students’ career aspirations were collected and qualitatively coded, including desires around impact, daily tasks, work environment, location, and compensation. The study identified three expectation patterns of shifts in career interests over a graduate education. This ongoing analysis will address the shortage of research on the career pathways of socially minded engineering and construction students. Results will be valuable for programs to support and meet the changing needs and aspirations in these fields.
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- Award ID(s):
- 2140601
- PAR ID:
- 10502888
- Publisher / Repository:
- American Society of Civil Engineers
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Construction Research Congress 2024
- ISBN:
- 9780784485293
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 232 to 242
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Location:
- Des Moines, Iowa
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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- Free Publicly Accessible Full Text
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Accepted Manuscript1.0
- Conference Paper:
- https://doi.org/10.1061/9780784485293.024
