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The efficacy of leadership training on undergraduate engineering and technology students before and during the COVID-19 pandemic was examined. A leadership development program (LDP) at Southern Illinois University Carbondale (SIUC) emphasized active involvement and inter-personal relationship among participants to build a community of STEM leaders. The LDP recruited academically talented and economically disadvantaged STEM majors from partner community colleges and trained them as leaders. The directors framed the LPD within Social Interdependence Theory to promote and enable students to cooperatively learn to lead themselves, build leadership skills, and participate in leadership teams. The COVID-19 pandemic imposed extra challenges on implementing this model when teaching and learning switched to an online modality. Program organizers followed the program tenets and “Challenged the Process” to find innovative ways to maintain connections among and with students. Working together, students learned to apply their leadership training by organizing and completing service projects. Additionally, students practiced leadership skills within registered student organizations. Through dedication by students and coaches, the program exceeded expectations through the pandemic. The LDP continued with 100% graduation and 100% retention rates. Students in the LDP continued to show large, statistically significant gains in Leadership Self-efficacy, Motivation to Lead, and Grit compared to peers. This model of leadership development conceptually framed within the Social Interdependence Theory was effective. The LDP at SIUC is an exemplary program and could be a model for engineering leadership programs to follow. 

The United States’ global leadership is predicated upon not only a sufficient technical workforce, but more critically, leaders among them who will inspire them to create the technology better and faster than our competitors. Caterpillar, General Electric, Lockheed Martin, and Siemens among others have created their own internal leadership development programs. This not only highlights the need for strong leadership in a work environment, but it also reveals the necessity for leadership education in new engineering employees. Industry is also responding to this shortage by supporting the creation of technical leadership development programs at universities. Leadership development is a relatively new and growing trend in engineering colleges with an estimated 80% of the programs in North America having been created in the past ten years. Through this partnership, a corporate sponsor and university can work together to implement a specialized curriculum that makes program graduates skilled and competent in their field upon graduation. A review of these leadership development programs will evaluate their key components that facilitate accountability, achievement, and excellence. This paper is based upon the results of a national survey of ASEE Engineering Leadership Division (LEAD) members to compare and contrast the innovative components that have been implemented within various engineering leadership development programs. The following components will be examined: cross-cultural education, team-based applied projects, leadership coursework, mentorship, and corporate sponsorship, among other components. The main objective of this paper is to examine these components, identify innovative practices, and promote the importance and growth of engineering leadership education.