Engineering Graduate Students Research Articles

Exploration of the Mechanical Engineering Graduate Training Program: A Synergistic Approach Incorporating Three-in-one and Four-Dimensional Linkage Training Mechanism

In the context of the new engineering disciplines, the talent requirements for mechanical engineering have evolved, and there is an urgent need for improvement in the training path for high-level professional master's degree students with a focus on future practical applications. In current training programs, many universities have already recognized the importance of incorporating industry practices and interdisciplinary approaches. However, there are diverse ways in which different universities approach industry practices and implement interdisciplinary paths. Therefore, it is crucial to develop training programs that meet the requirements of talent in the new era. By analyzing the policies of outstanding universities and combining them with the characteristics of our own institution, we propose a "trinity" and "four-dimensional" approach to the training of graduate students in mechanical engineering. This framework aims to provide reference and guidance for the instructional design and practical implementation of related disciplines.

Exploration and Practice of Teaching “Engineering Ethic” for Professional Degree Graduate Students Under the Background of “New Engineering”

Under the background of new engineering and curriculum ideological and political construction, the ethics education of engineering ethics courses for engineering graduate students must be constantly explored and tried. Based on the actual situation of the training of professional degree graduate students in our university, this paper starts from various aspects such as teaching content, teaching methods, textbook cases and comprehensive assessment. This paper probes into the course construction and teaching reform of engineering ethics for engineering graduate students, and explores the mode of engineering ethics education which adapts to the needs of our country’s own development.

Observing Architectural Engineering Graduate Students’ Design Optimization Behaviors Using Eye-Tracking Methods

Observing Architectural Engineering Graduate Students’ Design Optimization Behaviors Using Eye-Tracking Methods

A대학 이공계열 대학원생의 학습경험에 대한 인식과 실태 분석

Objectives In this study, we aimed to identify graduate students' learning experiences in graduate school, including their academic and social experiences, both quantitatively and qualitatively, and to draw implications for improving the quality of graduate education.
 Methods In order to comprehensively understand the learning experience of graduate students in science and engineering, sequential exploratory design method was conducted. First, after interviewing 11 graduate students at A University and the constant comparative method was applied. Second, based on the results, we conducted a survey of 153 students.
 Results First, the results of the interview analysis show that 'a. Deciding to go to graduate school and actively seeking information about graduate school, b. Graduate education emphasizing student-centered, problem-solving classes and research, c. Relationships for research-oriented advisors, peer learners, and professionals, and thirst, d. Growth moments’ were identified. Second, the analysis of the learning experiences revealed aboveaverage levels of higher-order learning experiences, but somewhat lower levels of collaborative learning experiences. More than 60% of students participated in 1-2 research projects as co-researchers or research assistants during the semester, and about 40% of students had written 1-2 papers. The perception of peer-to-peer interaction is above average, and relationships with advisors are relatively positive.
 Conclusions The graduate students are generally satisfied with their graduate school enrollment, major education, and relationships with advisors and fellow students. However, they felt somewhat lacking in-depth discussions with peers about the theories and techniques learned in classes, as well as collaborative learning experiences with individuals from other fields during class time. In order to provide education that aligns with the purpose of fostering advanced talents, it will be necessary to enhance the quality of education through a horizontal research lab culture and expanding experiences in interdisciplinary collaboration.

ARTICLE REVIEW

This review presents the article “The Importance of the Environmental Management System: for Small Businesses”, written by the authors Bruno de Sousa Carvalho Tavares, who holds a master’s degree in Bioengineering, and Érica dos Santos Guedes, a graduate student in Environmental Engineering at Anhanguera College, published by the Brazilian Journal of Teaching and Learning. The article presented by the author seeks to demonstrate the importance of caring for the environment in small businesses. From the notes revealed in the article, I understand that the environmental management system is important for social life and to avoid shortages of raw materials.

Engineering Graduate Students’ Attitudes Towards Social Justice

In post-secondary education engineers are not formally introduced to socially just engineering. This education focuses on technical expertise, often overlooking the social impacts of engineering outputs. Using essay prompts graduate school applicants’ views were assessed on social justice. Odds ratios and Chi-Square analyses were used to associate views on social justice and self-perceived programmatic competencies. While applicants were aware of social justice issues, their main reason for applying was to further career goals. Nearly forty percent of essays suggested that engineers are responsible for optimizing systems and mentioned the department’s inclusive design competencies 33 times. Even though most applicants reported interest in management systems, roughly 31.1% of applications advocated for systems thinking to be the primary social justice mechanism. When prompted, 96.2% of respondents reported that engineers should have a professional and ethical responsibility. Increasing exposure to socially just engineering is critical in producing holistically minded engineers.

Impact of Mentoring Relationships on Perceived Quality Of Life among Engineering Graduate Students

Graduate students’ experiences bring on unprecedented challenges, influenced by physical, psychological, social, and environmental factors. Through a productive and authentic mentor-mentee relationship, it was hypothesized graduate students would be more satisfied with their graduate experience. An instrument was developed using the 26-item World Health Organization Quality of Life questionnaire consisting of four health domains (physical, psychological, social relationships, environmental) and additional questions on psychosocial help and the graduate student’s satisfaction with their advisors and overall graduate school experience. Overall, graduate students who were satisfied with their mentoring experience had a higher quality of life (QoL). Graduate students’ QoL was lower in social relationships (p=0.009) and psychological domains (p=0.000), similar to medical school students. Second- and third-year graduate students had lower QoL than those in the first or fourth+ year. Graduate students were satisfied with their overall mentoring experience, and better mentoring experience tended to have better QoL.

Determinants of consumers’ purchase intention on digital business model platform: evidence from Ethiopia using partial least square structural equation model (PLS-SEM) technique

Online digital market platform business model designers, marketers, and retailers can further expand their marketing strategies to draw in and keep customers to gain a competitive edge globally if they are aware of the elements influencing consumers' purchasing intentions. The purpose of this research is to identify the crucial variables impacting Addis Ababa University, Graduating Engineering Students’ desire to purchase on online digital market platforms, and narrow the research gap on determinants of online purchase intention of Ethiopian consumers. This study adopted a descriptive and inferential survey design, epistemology assumption, and employed the positivism research philosophy approach to test the research hypotheses. The primary study technique used to collect relevant data was a closed-ended 5-point Likert scale questionnaire. The information was gathered from 100 Ethiopian, Addis Ababa University, graduating engineering students. With the use of SPSS version 23 and SmartPLS version 3.0 software, the data were examined using descriptive statistics and the inferential partial least square structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) technique. The results of this study highlighted five useful decision-making elements that have an impact on the selected consumers' intention to buy on online digital market platforms including Website Design, Perceived Usefulness, Perceived Ease of Use, Trust, and Subjective Norms. The Practical Implication of this research is that with a clear understanding of the key determinants of consumers’ purchase intention on online digital market platforms; manufacturers, online marketers, and retailers can create effective market strategies, enhance technology, and make smart marketing choices that will help them gain global competitive advantage. This study is unique in that it uses a new conceptual research framework and the partial least square structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) technique to analyze relationships between determinant variables and consumers’ intention to purchase on online digital market platforms. The major finding of this research provides empirical evidence towards the key determinant variables of consumers’ purchase intention on online digital market platforms. The small sample size is one of the limitations to generalize the finding of this research. Future studies should focus on enlarging the sample size and assessing more determinant variables to get a generalizable result.

EFFECTS OF BIOPHILIC RESTORATIVE EXPERIENCES ON DESIGNERS' BODIES, BRAINS, AND MINDS

AbstractThe research presented in this paper explores a novel method for assessing the effects of biophilic restorative experiences on designers’ cognition by combining the use of physiological, neurocognitive and semantic measures. A total of 12 engineering graduate students participated in a three-step pilot experiment that consisted of (1) a stressor (the Trier Social Stress Test), (2) a destressing intervention (biophilic sound experience), and (3) a design task. Heart rate variability (HRV) was used to track subjects’ autonomic nervous system (ANS) activity. Functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) was used to track patterns of brain activation in subjects’ prefrontal cortex (PFC). Changes in design quality were assessed by the semantic space they explored, measured through a natural language processing (NLP) technique. Preliminary findings suggest that an auditory biophilic restorative experience can change designers’ bodies, brains, and minds. Results from this pilot study encourage further exploration of the use of exposure to nature-based stimuli as a method to help enhance engineering design cognition.

Transdisciplinarity as a Learning Challenge: Student Experiences and Outcomes in an Innovative Course on Wearable and Collaborative Robotics

<italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">Contribution:</i> This study provides evidence for the benefit of short online courses for the transdisciplinary competence development of graduate students. It shows the significant challenges students face while learning, and provides instructional recommendations to improve students’ learning quality and professionalism. <italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">Background:</i> Developing wearable and collaborative robots require industry collaboration and transdisciplinary competence. Industry’s involvement in long-term programs is becoming infeasible, and the nature of transdisciplinary learning has not been explored to inform instructional practices. <italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">Intended Outcomes:</i> This study aimed to provide instructional recommendations based on an in-depth examination of a diverse group of graduate students’ learning and teamwork experiences as well as outcomes in a 5-day online transdisciplinary course. <italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">Application Design:</i> Thirty-one graduate students of engineering, industrial design, and health fields from four countries participated in online mixed-discipline instructional sessions and teams to address a real industry challenge. A mixed-methods approach was used to examine students’ experiences and learning outcomes based on a competence measure, session participation data, student journal entries, team progress reports, team elaboration visuals, and final team presentations. <italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">Findings:</i> Students’ knowledge of industrial design, medical considerations, ethics and standards, effective teamwork, and self-regulated learning were increased. Students’ high motivation helped them deal with the challenges involved. Daily student journals, team reports, and visual elaboration tools were found to be beneficial for determining the challenges and learning quality. The observed student progress within five days is promising, making it worthwhile to further explore the benefits of short online courses for increasing graduates’ readiness and establishing university-industry collaborations in <p xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">education.

Persistence at what cost? How graduate engineering students consider the costs of persistence within attrition considerations

AbstractBackgroundWhile previous work in higher education documents the impact of high tuition costs of attending graduate school as a key motivator in attrition decisions, in engineering, most graduate students are fully funded on research fellowships, indicating there are different issues causing individuals to consider departure. There has been little work characterizing nonfinancial costs for students in engineering graduate programs and the impact these costs may have on persistence or attrition.Purpose/HypothesisFramed through the lens of cost as a component of the expectancy–value theory framework and the graduate attrition decisions (GrAD) model conceptual framework specific to engineering attrition, the purpose of this article is to characterize the costs engineering graduate students associate with attending graduate school and document how costs affect students' decisions to persist or depart.Design/MethodData were collected through semistructured interviews with 42 engineering graduate students from R1 engineering doctoral programs across the United States who have considered, are currently considering, or have chosen to depart from their engineering PhD programs with a master's degree.ResultsIn addition to time and money, which are costs previously captured in research, participants identified costs to life balance, costs to well‐being, and identify‐informed opportunity costs framed in terms of what “could have been” if they had chosen to not go to graduate school. As these costs relate to persistence, students primarily identified their expended effort and already‐incurred costs as the primary motivator for persistence, rather than any expected benefits of a graduate degree.ConclusionThe findings of this work expand the cost component of the GrAD model conceptual framework, providing a deeper understanding of the costs that graduate students relate to their persistence in engineering graduate programs. It evidences that motivation to persist may not be due to particularly strong goals but may result from costs already incurred. Through this research, the scholarly community, students, advisors, and university policymakers can better understand the needs of engineering graduate students as they navigate graduate study.

International Research Experiences and Global Competency Development for Graduate Students in Engineering and Science

Challenges from globalization, population growth, and climate change require science, technology, and engineering (STEM) professionals to have global competency. However, the impact of international experiences on STEM students’ development of these abilities has not been well studied. We assessed the effects of international research experiences in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) and Europe on the development of global competency for STEM graduate students from the United States. Research placements in LAC were generally field-based, involving interactions with community members, while placements in Europe were mostly lab-based. Surveys and interviews with participants before and after their trips revealed increases in intercultural abilities for students from all groups. Students who traveled to LAC had higher intercultural abilities before the trip but experienced smaller gains than their counterparts who traveled to Europe. Despite the value in community-based activities for students outside of university settings, more effort is needed to eliminate students’ barriers to understanding communication styles in their host communities.

“The lab isn't life”: Black engineering graduate students reprioritize values at the intersection of two pandemics

AbstractBackgroundBlack engineering graduate students represent a critical and understudied population in engineering education. Gaining an understanding of the lived experiences of Black engineering graduate students while they are simultaneously weathering two pandemics, COVID‐19 and systemic racism, is of paramount importance.Purpose/HypothesisBlack engineering graduate students hold a unique duality, as both Black people in the United States and Black graduate students in US engineering programs that espouse white supremacist ideals. Their real‐world experiences necessitate understanding, and this paper highlights the related impact on the students themselves, their adaptations to the pandemics, and how those adaptations relate to and affect their support needs and navigation of their engineering academic environments.Design/MethodAn interpretive phenomenological analysis (IPA) approach was combined with community‐based participatory action research and was situated in Boykin's Triple Quandary. A family check‐in was conducted with 10 Black engineering graduate students enrolled in doctoral programs across the country to delve deep into their lived experience as a cultural community.ResultsFindings include an emergent framework of Black engineering graduate student values in response to the pandemics. These values aligned with the Black Cultural Ethos, demonstrating an adoption of collectivistic cultural values in times of crises. Further, COVID‐19 and systemic racism differentially impacted Black engineering graduate students and, thus, the manifestations of their values.ConclusionFor institutions to be able to effectively support their Black engineering graduate students, they must gain awareness of the students' experiences, values, and needs, in general, and amid crises specifically. The findings presented here provide a critical window into this information.

Cultivating well-being in engineering graduate students through mindfulness training.

The mental health crisis in graduate education combined with low treatment rates among engineering graduate students underscores the need for engineering graduate programs to provide effective methods to promote well-being. There is an extensive body of neuroscience research showing that contemplative practices, such as mindfulness, produce measurable effects on brain function and overall well-being. We hypothesized that a mindfulness-based training program designed for engineering graduate students would improve emotional well-being and, secondarily, enhance research capacity. An initial pilot study was conducted at a single institution (Phase 1), followed by a larger study conducted at both the original and a second institution (Phase 2) to gather additional data and show the program's transferability. The program comprised eight weekly mindfulness training sessions. Individuals in the study were randomly assigned to either an intervention group or wait-list control group. We administered pre- and post-test surveys with quantitative measures designed to assess emotional and physical well-being, as well as creativity, research satisfaction, and desire to contribute to the betterment of society. Participants also completed a summative survey to evaluate the impact of the program on their well-being and research. Analysis revealed statistically significant findings: improved emotional health, decreased neuroticism, increased positive affect, decreased negative affect, and increased mindfulness in the intervention groups compared to the control groups. Intervention groups in Phase 2 also reported statistically significant improvement in satisfaction with their research. Our findings suggest that mindfulness training has the potential to play a vital professional and personal development role in graduate engineering education.

How teaching experience and physics and mathematics content knowledge impact professional noticing skills of STEM graduate students

AbstractThe framework of professional noticing describes three components (attending, interpreting, and deciding) that allow teachers to better understand the thinking of their students. Via this method, teachers attend to their classroom by observing relevant cues from students, interpret these cues based on their knowledge of student development, and decide how best to proceed in their lesson. This study utilized an open‐response survey to collect data regarding the professional noticing skills, physics and mathematics content knowledge, and teaching experience of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics graduate students. Participants were given a physics and calculus problem to solve to assess their level of content knowledge and then watched a video‐based scenario of a teacher and student discussing the same problems. After, participants were prompted to answer questions corresponding with the attending, interpreting, and deciding components of professional noticing. We found significant results that suggest teaching experience alone is not enough to employ professional noticing skills when attending physics scenarios, and that possessing content knowledge has a positive impact on professional noticing ability, both overall and within the components.

Overview of the current situation relating to chemical engineering degree courses

In 2020, the Conference of Chemical Engineering Directors and Deans (CODDIQ) proposed the creation of an observatory to monitor chemical engineering degrees in Spain. This representative radiography of Chemical Engineering studies offers an initial point to observe the future changes when Royal Decree 822/2021 and proposed challenges in the last Ministerial Conference on the European Higher Education Area (EHEA) will be implanted. The survey data from CODDIQ partners allow us to know important data such as (i) the 24 international quality accreditations at Spanish universities, (ii) the high demand and the required marks, an average of 7.25, for the Chemical Engineering Bachelor’s degree, (iii) 9560 undergraduate students in this degree in Spain and their gender profile which is around 43% of women, similar than women lectures, (iv) the difficulty of this Bachelor’s degree through some indicators like duration of studies (5.25 years), graduation rate (41%) and drop-out rate (26%), (v) the employability after obtaining the Bachelor's degree is very high (>70%). In addition, Chemical engineering undergraduate and graduate students indicate their expectations are covered. In this paper, some consequences of the pandemic on students' performance (lower than before COVID-19) are analyzed, despite lectures tried to innovate in their classes and the university provided adequate tools for online teaching.

The Research on the Influencing Factors of Foreign Master’s and Doctoral Students’ Study Performance in China

The main purpose of this study is to find the influencing factors that affect the study performance of foreign students. Previous studies mainly focused on medical undergraduate students in China, while the research objects of this study are engineering graduate students and doctoral students. Researchers constructed a questionnaire with good validity through the literature survey method and the Delphi method. A total of 150 questionnaires were distributed, 123 questionnaires were collected, 11 questionnaires with problems were excluded, and 112 questionnaires were valid. Researchers analyzed the factors affecting the performance of foreign students through SPSS. The results show that the scores of Chinese skill, “psychology–ability–behavior” three-dimensional evaluation framework, and the level of teaching presence are positively correlated with the study performance of foreign students. Among them, the correlation between the scores of the three-dimensional evaluation framework and performance is the strongest, and the correlation between Chinese skill and performance is the weakest. In the three-dimensional evaluation framework, psychological factors have the greatest influence on students’ study performance. Based on the above analysis results, the researchers put forward a series of policy recommendations, such as improving teachers’ teaching level, strengthening Chinese language education for foreign students, and enhancing foreign students’ learning motivation and learning satisfaction.

Mitigating Ceiling Effects in a Longitudinal Study of Doctoral Engineering Student Stress and Persistence

Aim/Purpose: The research reported here aims to demonstrate a method by which novel applications of qualitative data in quantitative research can resolve ceiling effect tensions for educational and psychological research. Background: Self-report surveys and scales are essential to graduate education and social science research. Ceiling effects reflect the clustering of responses at the highest response categories resulting in non-linearity, a lack of variability which inhibits and distorts statistical analyses. Ceiling effects in stress reported by students can negatively impact the accuracy and utility of the resulting data. Methodology: A longitudinal sample example from graduate engineering students’ stress, open-ended critical events, and their early departure from doctoral study considerations demonstrate the utility and improved accuracy of adjusted stress measures to include open-ended critical event responses. Descriptive statistics are used to describe the ceiling effects in stress data and adjusted stress data. The longitudinal stress ratings were used to predict departure considerations in multilevel modeling ANCOVA analyses and demonstrate improved model predictiveness. Contribution: Combining qualitative data from open-ended responses with quantitative survey responses provides an opportunity to reduce ceiling effects and improve model performance in predicting graduate student persistence. Here, we present a method for adjusting stress scale responses by incorporating coded critical events based on the Taxonomy of Life Events, the application of this method in the analysis of stress responses in a longitudinal data set, and potential applications. Findings: The resulting process more effectively represents the doctoral student experience within statistical analyses. Stress and major life events significantly impact engineering doctoral students’ departure considerations. Recommendations for Practitioners: Graduate educators should be aware of students’ life events and assist students in managing graduate school expectations while maintaining progress toward their degree. Recommendation for Researchers: Integrating coded open-ended qualitative data into statistical models can increase the accuracy and representation of the lived student experience. The new approach improves the accuracy and presentation of students’ lived experiences by incorporating qualitative data into longitudinal analyses. The improvement assists researchers in correcting data with ceiling effects for use in longitudinal analyses. Impact on Society: The method described here provides a framework to systematically include open-ended qualitative data in which ceiling effects are present. Future Research: Future research should validate the coding process in similar samples and in samples of doctoral students in different fields and master’s students.

THE ROLE OF GIVING BACK IN THE PERSISTENCE OF WOMEN OF COLOR GRADUATE STUDENTS IN ENGINEERING AND COMPUTER SCIENCE

This article examines the role of giving back in the persistence of women of color (WOC) students in engineering and computer science graduate education. Using the theoretical frame of community cultural wealth (CCW), which facilitated exploring our topic from a strengths-based perspective, we analyzed 16 interviews and four extant texts from two recent projects. This study's research question is: How does engaging in giving-back activities support the persistence of women of color in engineering and computing graduate education? We identified three giving-back activities that motivated WOC to persist: serving as a role model, mentoring others, and creating counterspaces. Activities connect to multiple types of CCW. We also recommend that institutions of higher education interested in retaining WOC in their engineering and computer science graduate programs should integrate giving-back activities into their curriculum offerings.

Exploration of Innovative Education Reform for Graduate Students in Electrical Engineering

Exploration of Innovative Education Reform for Graduate Students in Electrical Engineering