Understanding the Educational and Career Pathways of Engineers (2018) / Chapter Skim
Currently Skimming:
Executive Summary
Executive Summary
Pages 1-10
The Chapter Skim interface presents what we've algorithmically identified as the most significant single chunk of text within every page in the chapter.
Select key terms on the right to highlight them within pages of the chapter.
From page 1... ...
This report defines the nation's engineering labor force as comprising three overlapping segments: (1) those who work in engineering occupations narrowly defined1 (1.72 million in 2015)
|
From page 2... ...
. The occupational definition of an engineer captures some engineering degree holders as well as workers without an engineering degree who perform certain job duties that define an engineering occupation, while excluding holders of engineering degrees working in "engineering-proximate" occupations, which the committee defines as those that draw heavily on the specialized technical and professional knowledge and skills of engineering graduates (e.g., computing occupations, engineering management3)
|
From page 3... ...
ENGINEERING HAS A PERSISTENT DIVERSITY CHALLENGE White and Asian males constitute the vast majority of employed degreed engineers and those who work in engineering occupations. Although women represent over half of the nation's college-educated workforce, in 2013 they accounted for only 15 percent of both those working in engineering occupations and those with BS engineering degrees in the workforce.
|
From page 4... ...
than in all other fields. Finding: The low numbers of women and underrepresented minorities in engineering education and the engineering workforce dictate that the pathways and motivations of every group be considered fully and that the entire engineering community -- educators, employers, research funders, policymakers, and engineering professionals -- work collaboratively to improve diversity.
|
From page 5... ...
Recognition of bias, support for work-life balance, and equal opportunity for training and advancement will help create a supportive environment for all employees. Recommendation 1: Engineering deans, department chairs, and faculty, K–12 teachers and administrators, and engineering professionals in industry and government who work with educators at any level should strive to foster an inclusive, welcoming climate/culture for all students interested in engineering and STEM more broadly, including concerted efforts to recognize and address implicit and explicit bias in their employees and to build more welcoming and inclusive engineering cultures.
|
From page 6... ...
ENGINEERING EDUCATION MUST CONTINUOUSLY ADAPT The US engineering education enterprise has been largely successful in educating engineers capable of working in many occupations and capacities that have advanced the country's innovative and economic strength and benefited all segments of society. In keeping with rapid advances in many fields of science and technology, the field of engineering has evolved in recent decades to incorporate computing and, to a lesser extent, the life, social, and behavioral sciences as well as the humanities into its core curriculum, augmenting the well-established foundations of math, physics, and chemistry.
|
From page 7... ...
These educational elements help develop students' professional and technical skills while providing a window on the active application of engineering knowledge and skills in the private, public, and nonprofit sectors. Recommendation 10: Engineering deans, department chairs, and faculty should adapt teaching and career guidance to better reflect the broad spectrum of engineering, engineering-proximate, and non-engineering occupations available to engineering graduates.
|
From page 8... ...
The tuition paid by these students and the technical skills and multicultural perspectives they bring to engineering classrooms and research laboratories are valued by engineering faculty and administrators. Less information has been collected and analyzed at the undergraduate level than at the graduate level on the drivers and composition of rising enrollment in engineering of foreign-born students with temporary visas and its impacts on host institutions and on the educational and career pathways and choices as well as the engineering education experiences of both domestic and foreign-born temporary resident students.
|
From page 9... ...
Specifically, administrative data combined with survey data could shed light on engineering education patterns and student retention; engineering, engineering-proximate, and non-engineering employment choices; engineering employment dynamics; and economic impacts of the engineering workforce. Although the innovative use of administrative datasets offers a uniquely comprehensive approach to examining educational and career pathways, there are several challenges to their use.
|
From page 10... ...
In addition, the substantial share of those working as engineers who do not have engineering degrees contribute in important ways to the US economy, and benefit financially and in other ways. This portrait of engineering suggests a field that has impact far beyond traditional measures.
|
Key Terms
This material may be derived from roughly machine-read images, and so is provided only to facilitate research.
More
information on Chapter Skim is available.