CAREER: Becoming Boundary Spanners: Investigating, Enhancing, and Assessing the Experiences of Early Career Engineers

Purdue University, West Lafayette IN

Investigators

Abstract

This engineering education research project supported by the CAREER program will enable an early career researcher to investigate how engineering degree programs can develop students to act as boundary spanners who can communicate, collaborate, and coordinate across organizational, disciplinary, geographic, demographic, stakeholder, and other boundaries. Such skills are increasing necessary for engineers to function effectively in a globalized workforce. The project will investigate the nature of boundary-spanning competencies both in degree programs and the workforce, as well as explore how degree programs can enhance these competencies. The study uses a sequential mixed-methods design and will develop a measure to assess key dimensions of boundary spanning competence in engineering practice. The broader significance and importance of this project arises from the project's attempt to integrate a range of 21st Century skills into one measurable competency, then develop ways to assess and teach this competency. Such attempts can have systemic impact by informing degree programs about ways to reduce time to degree while maintaining the ability to graduate engineers with skills needed by today's workforce. This project overlaps with NSF's strategic goals of transforming the frontiers through preparation of an engineering workforce with new capabilities and expertise. Additionally NSF's goal of innovating for society is enabled by supporting the development of innovative learning systems.