2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Addressing Business Research Needs in the Engineering Curriculum

Presented at Engineering Libraries Division (ELD) Technical Session 4: Outreach & Collaboration

Teaching business competencies in the engineering curriculum frequently happens in support of entrepreneurship and/or management and leadership programs. However, in the College of Engineering at Cornell University, business and engineering intersect in a more ubiquitous manner, including traditional coursework and co-curricular initiatives. Examples of this include projects where there are corporate partners, business and leadership skill development in student project teams, market and consumer aspects of design courses, and training focused on organizational communication. To address these real-world applications of engineering and the external factors impacting theoretical approaches, students need to research companies, industries, business environments, organizational behavior, and sources of financing.
This has prompted the Engineering Library, part of the Cornell University Library system, to think about approaches for supporting business research, in addition to the all-important design, build, and modeling work of engineering and science. Increasing collaboration between business and engineering librarians to provide research assistance and instruction has been one approach; providing cross-training on databases and subject expertise is another. Finally, adopting different pedagogical styles and considering disciplinary contexts and language has been essential.
This paper will describe the use cases where business and engineering intersect in the College of Engineering at Cornell University while also detailing our approaches. In addition, it will discuss the outcomes of our efforts and the successes and challenges encountered as we work to address business research needs in the engineering curriculum.

Authors

Ms. Hyunjung Lee http://orcid.org/0000-0002-9553-240X Cornell University [biography]

Hyunjung Lee is a Research and Instruction Librarian in the Engineering Library at Cornell University. She earned her M.S. in Computational Sciences from Marquette University, an M.S. in Environmental Engineering from the University of Kansas, and a B.S. in Civil Engineering from Minnesota State University, Mankato. At Cornell, Hyunjung is the library liaison to the following departments: civil and environmental engineering, earth and atmospheric sciences, computer science, and information science. As part of the Business, Engineering, and Entrepreneurship team, Hyunjung also provides library services to the Cornell Tech campus in New York City. She currently serves on the Scholarly Communication Committee in the Engineering Library Division of ASEE.
Sarah Lane Cornell University [biography]

Sarah Lane is a Business Librarian at Cornell University’s Management Library, housed within the Johnson Graduate School of Management. Through her work at the library, Sarah supports the research and instruction needs of the College’s business students. She also provides career- and entrepreneurship-related research support to the wider Cornell community. Sarah has an M.S.I.S from the iSchool at the University of Texas at Austin and a B.A. from Emory University.
Christina Sheley Cornell University [biography]

Christina Sheley is the Director of Business, Engineering, and Entrepreneurship at the Cornell University Library, where she leads strategic initiatives for several libraries on campus, entrepreneurship, and Cornell Tech/New York City programs and works with the College of Engineering’s Engineering Communications Program. Prior to Cornell, she was the Head of the Business/SPEA Library at Indiana University Bloomington and supported research and teaching in business, public affairs/administration, and economics. Christina has a B.S. in Communications and Psychology and an M.S. in Library and Information Science, all from Indiana University Bloomington. Her research interests include intersections of business and engineering, teaching and pedagogical approaches, and leadership.
Ms. Jill H. Powell http://orcid.org/0000-0001-6706-5616 Cornell University [biography]

Jill Powell is Engineering Librarian at Cornell University and manages the budget for collections. She has a B.A. from Cornell and an MLS from Syracuse University.

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