2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

A Pathway to Initiate Engineering Education Research: A First-Year Reflection on Faculty Development

Presented at Faculty Development and Research Programs (NEE)

Many engineering faculty have been involved in some form of engineering education research (EER) during their professional career. This may range from a relatively superficial participation as a collaborator on a small departmental education initiative to a larger role in a leadership position as a principal investigator on a multi-institutional research grant. Regardless of the level of involvement, each engineering educator must evolve and invest substantial time to acquire a level of EER knowledge that is commensurate with their desired degree of participation. For those educators who are motivated to fully immerse themselves into a potentially rewarding EER program with the expectation of perpetuity, their evolution is not without barriers to entry and associated risks.

The objective of this paper is to share the experiences of three established civil engineering faculty and their mentor who are within two years of receiving their first NSF grants to support EER projects at their home institution. Barriers to entry, challenges, and the lessons learned associated with their growth as emerging engineering education researchers are discussed. Strategies and resources are provided to assist new engineering educators to: lobby for institutional support, secure initial extramural funding, initiate collaborations, formulate short- and long-term career plans, build an Individual Development Plan (IDP), and develop an effective mentor-mentee relationship with an established researcher in the social sciences. It is hoped that this work will provide a holistic summary of their pathway, and to also caution and guide faculty who are contemplating either a partial or complete shift in their research paradigm to EER.

Authors

Dr. James W. Giancaspro University of Miami [biography]

James Giancaspro, Ph.D., P.E. is an associate professor of civil engineering with an emphasis on structures and mechanics. He has two years of industry experience and 17 years of teaching and research experience at the University of Miami, where he is also currently a graduate program director. His current engineering education research interests include instructional technology in mechanics, undergraduate student retention, and graduate student support.
Dr. Diana Arboleda http://orcid.org/0000-0003-0175-4536 University of Delaware [biography]

Diana Arboleda, PhD, PE is an assistant professor at the University of Delaware. She received her B.S. in Computer Engineering from the University of Miami in 1988 and PhD in Civil Engineering in 2014
Dr. Aaron Heller University of Miami [biography]

Aaron Heller is a clinical psychologist and an Associate Professor of Psychology at the University of Miami having received a B.A. in Psychology from UC Berkeley and a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from the University of Wisconsin – Madison. His work focuses on understanding the relevance of real-world, naturalistic mood dynamics to psychiatric disease and psychological wellbeing.
Ali Ghahremaninezhad University of Miami [biography]

Dr. Ali Ghahremaninezhad is an Associate Professor in CAE and director of the Advanced Materials Research Lab at the University of Miami. He has 17 years of experience in teaching and research both at the University of Miami and the University of Texas at Austin. His expertise is in the area of sustainable and green infrastructure materials, advanced and smart cementitious materials, and bio-inspired self-healing infrastructure materials. He has been the recipient of the prestigious 2019 National Science Foundation CAREER award.

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