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1. PAtENT: a student-centered entrepreneurial pathway to the engineering doctorate

   https://doi.org/10.1080/2331186X.2024.2324484  

   Pugalee, David K; Rorrer, Audrey; Ramaprabhu, Praveen; Uddin, Mesbah; Cherukuri, Harish P; Xu, Terry (December 2024, Cogent Education)

   Current structures of STEM graduate programs raise questions about addressing graduates’ interest in multiple career paths, and how programs prepare graduates for positions increasingly available in varied occupations. This problem is addressed through an innovative doctoral program in engineering, Pathways to Entrepreneurship (PAtENT), which works to develop a scalable alternative student-centered framework. This research explores how this program responds to calls for graduate STEM education to address changes in science and engineering, the nature of the workforce, career goals, and how program components build an entrepreneurial mindset. A mixed-methods design includes a curriculum analysis showing alignment of program components to recommendations for Ph.D. STEM programs from the National Academy of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. Direct measures include surveys and interviews developed for current doctoral students and faculty to describe students’ and faculty perspectives about program components, particularly entrepreneurship and the patent process. The curriculum analysis shows strong alignment of the PAtENT program components and activities to the ten elements of the National Academies’ recommendations. A survey of graduate students in engineering, computing, and business show strong measures in engineering and entrepreneurial self-efficacy. Interviews of program participants and faculty demonstrate strong interest in patents and developing entrepreneurship. This innovative program in engineering focusing on obtaining a patent as a capstone shows potential to reform doctoral studies, so candidates are prepared not only for academic careers but a range of industry and government work environments. This work will lead to development of a model for other graduate STEM programs. 

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2. Lessons Learned in Adopting a New, Patent-Based Doctoral Pathway Model

   Rorrer, A; Pugalee, D; Ramaprabhu, P; Uddin, M; Xu, T; Cherukuri, HP (June 2023, ASEE 23rd Annual Conference and Exposition)

   This Work in Progress paper describes the lessons learned from a new pathway for doctoral candidates in STEM programs allowing capstone degree requirements to be fulfilled by research culminating in a patent application. The Pathways to Entrepreneurship (PAtENT) model aims to bring greater alignment between doctoral degrees and the rapidly changing employment landscape. Given that seventy percent of PhDs exit academic careers within three years [1], creating doctoral pathways that align with multiple career options is an imperative. We describe the PAtENT model, rationale and goals. Components of the pilot program will be explained through a curriculum alignment describing key activities that respond to recommendation for STEM graduate programs identified by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine [2]: developing scientific and technological literacy and conducting original research; and developing leadership, communication, and professional competencies. After two years of development and implementation, we are also able to discuss lessons learned and strategies for scaling the model. We present findings from students in the program and a reflective interview of the project leadership team. In order to adopt this innovative education model, students, faculty, and universities need understanding of career pathways and opportunities beyond traditional academic pursuits. 

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3. LSAMP Bridges to the Doctorate: Preparing Future Minority Ph.D. Researchers through a Holistic Graduate Student Development Model

   Gloster, C.; McCullough, M.; Gowdy, G.; Bigsby, S.; Whittington, D.; Johnson-Taylor, J. (June 2023, ASEE annual conference proceedings)

   The importance of diversifying the national STEM workforce is well-established in the literature (Marrongelle, 2018). This need extends to graduate education in the STEM fields, leading N.C. A&T to invest considerably in graduate education and wraparound support initiatives that help graduate students build science identity and competencies for careers both within and beyond academia. The NSF-funded Bridges to the Doctorate project will integrate culturally reflective mentoring and professional development specifically designed for Black, Latinx, and Native American Ph.D. students. This holistic, graduate student development model includes academic and professional skill-building for STEM careers alongside targeted support for pursuing fellowship opportunities. This paper discusses the planned mentoring approach for the aforementioned program and previous approaches to mentoring graduate students used at N.C. A&T. The BD Fellows program will support formal and informal mentoring relationships, as mentoring contributes towards retention in STEM graduate programs (Ragins, 2007). BD Fellows will participate in monthly one-hour seminars on how to identify, establish, and maintain informal mentoring relationships (Schwartz et al., 2018; Parnes et al., 2020), while STEM faculty will attend seminars on leveraging their social networks as vital sources of mentorship for the BD Fellows. Using a multi-pronged collaborative approach, this model integrates the evidence-based domains of self-efficacy (Laurencelle & Scanlan, 2018; Lent et al., 1994; Lent et al., 2008), science/research identity (Lent et al., 2015; Zimmerman, 2000), and social cognitive career theory (Lent et al., 2005; Lent and Brown, 2006) to recruit, enroll, and graduate LSAMP Fellows with STEM doctoral degrees. Guided by the theories, the following questions will be addressed: (1) To what extent is culturally reflective mentoring identified as a critical driver of B2D Fellows’ success? (2) To what extent are the program’s training components fostering increases in B2D Fellow’s self-efficacy, competency, and science identity? (3) What is the strength of the correlation between participation in the program training components, mentoring activities, and persistence in graduate school? (4) To what extent does the perceived importance of self-efficacy, competency, and science identity differ by race/ethnicity and gender? These data will be analyzed using both formative and summative assessments of program outcomes. Quantitative data will include pre-, post-, and exit surveys. Qualitative data will assess the impact of mentoring and program support. This study will be guided by established protocols that have been approved by the N.C. A&T IRB. It is anticipated that our BD Fellows program will significantly impact the retention and graduation rates of underrepresented minority STEM graduate students in our doctoral programs, thus producing a diverse workforce of STEM professionals. Materials from the program recruiting cycle, mentoring workshops, and the structured fellowship application process will be disseminated freely to other LSAMP and minority-serving institutions across the country. Strategies and outcomes of this project will be published in peer-reviewed journals and shared in conference proceedings. 

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4. Board 362: Reimagining Civil Engineering Graduate Programs: A Research-to-Practice Approach for Shaping Future Transportation Engineers

   Butler-Morton, Brittany L; Riley, Darby R; Rodriguez_Mejia, Eduardo; Bodnar, Cheryl A; Mehta, Yusuf; Mallouk, Kaitlin (June 2024, ASEE Conferences)

   The existing curriculum and models for civil engineering graduate programs assume that graduating Ph.D. students will primarily pursue career opportunities in research or academia. However, the number of civil engineering Ph.D. graduate students continues to increase, while the number of opportunities in academia for civil engineers remains stagnant. As a result, it is becoming increasingly apparent that the civil engineering graduate programs must be reevaluated to assist students entering industry after graduation. As part of a larger research study funded through the NSF Innovations in Graduate Education (IGE), we aim to answer the following research questions: 1) How can a research-to-practice model assist students in preparing for a transportation engineering career outside of academia?, 2) What impacts does the research-to-practice graduate model have on the development of transportation engineering doctoral students’ professional identity?, 3) How does the cognitive apprenticeship framework prepare doctoral students for professional practice in transportation engineering?, and 4) What influences does the research-to-practice model have on doctoral students’ motivation toward degree completion? As part of the first phase for the project, two surveys were developed: a graduate engineering student motivation survey based on Expectancy-Value-Theory, and an instrument based on the Cognitive Apprenticeship framework. The motivation survey was based on an instrument designed and validated by Brown & Matusovich (2013) which aimed to measure undergraduate engineering students' motivation towards obtaining an engineering degree. The survey prompts were reviewed and rewritten to reflect the change in context from undergraduate to graduate school. Revised survey prompts were reviewed with a group of graduate engineering students through a think aloud protocol and changes to the instrument were made to ensure consistency in interpretation of the prompts (Rodriguez-Mejia and Bodnar, 2023). The cognitive apprenticeship instrument was derived from the Maastricht Clinical Teaching Questionnaire (MCTQ), originally designed to offer clinical educators feedback on their teaching abilities, as provided by medical students during their clerkship rotations (Stalmeijer et al., 2010). To tailor it to the context of engineering graduate students, the MCTQ's 24 items were carefully examined and rephrased. A think aloud was conducted with three civil engineering graduate students to determine the effectiveness and clarity of the cognitive apprenticeship instrument. Preliminary results show that minimal clarification is needed for some items, and suggestions to include items which address support from their mentors. The other part of the project assessment involves students completing monthly reflections to obtain their opinions on specific events such as seminars or classes, and identify their perceptions of their identity as professionals, scientists, or researchers. Preliminary results suggest that the students involved place an emphasis on developing critical thinking and planning skills to become an engineering professional, but de-emphasize passion and enjoyment. This paper will report on initial findings obtained through this first phase of the IGE project. 

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5. The Rising Doctoral Institute: Preparing Minority Students for the Transitioninto the Engineering Ph.D. Proceedings

   Artiles, M.S.; Cruz-Bohorquez, J.; Matusovich, H.M.; Adams, S.G.; & Lee-Thomas, G. (January 2021, ASEE Annual Conferences and Exposition)

   Studies on graduate education have shown that underrepresented minorities finish PhDs in engineering at lesser rates and longer timeframes than their majority counterparts. While multiple interventions have been designed for students considering their decision to apply for graduate school or students completing their doctoral journey, few focus on the transition into those doctoral programs. To prepare minoritized doctoral students for this transition to the Ph.D., we developed and researched the Rising Doctoral Institute (RDI). The RDI is a four-day summer workshop for incoming doctoral students who identify as underrepresented in engineering and intend to begin graduate school in the Fall semester. This paper aims to discuss the process through which we developed the RDI and our initial research findings. We conclude with our plan to disseminate these workshops across multiple US institutions using a change-theory informed dissemination model. 

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