2024 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Assessing a Seminar Series Designed to Help Prepare Doctoral Engineering Graduates for the Academic Job Market

Presented at Graduate Studies Division (GSD) Technical Session 5: Skill Development in Graduate Education

The goal of this work-in-progress was to obtain a preliminary assessment of the effectiveness of a seminar series developed to assist Ph.D. students and postdoctoral scholars with applying and interviewing for academic positions. The seminar series, Seminar on Entering Academia (SEA), was offered within the College of Engineering at a large R1 mid-Atlantic university to provide students with an opportunity for professional development to assist in their pursuit of faculty positions. Anecdotally, many Ph.D. students at this institution begin their careers with academia in mind. However, while the individual graduate programs in the college provide students with excellent technical training, Ph.D. students and postdocs receive little to no formal training on how to prepare for an academic position or how to approach the academic job market. This lack of preparation decreases the likelihood that graduates will obtain these competitive positions. Providing more focused preparation can also reduce barriers to entering academia, increasing both the number and diversity of qualified candidates.
To provide students with such preparation, a seminar series was offered in Spring 2022 and Spring 2023 and was organized and co-taught by two or three tenure-line faculty members as a service activity and not part of their teaching load. SEA consisted of three topic areas: (1) information about academic careers and pathways, (2) application process and materials, and (3) interview process and expectations. For the first two topic areas, most of the seminars were led by the co-instructors, while for the final topic area of the series, most of the seminars were led by invited speakers who serve in leadership roles within the college.
The seminar was piloted with a select group in Spring 2022 and offered more broadly in Spring 2023. To assess the impact of the seminar series, both qualitative and quantitative data were collected. For the former, a handful of participants were interviewed using a semi-structured format. For the quantitative data collection, pre- and post-seminar surveys were conducted for both offerings. The survey results showed a statistically significant increase in perceived preparedness to apply for, interview for, and succeed in an academic position. The data also showed an increase in the likelihood that attendees would apply for academic positions. The interviews highlighted the positive aspects of the seminar, including insights into the application process, guidance on crafting application materials, and opportunities for peer review. Suggestions for improvement included incorporating follow-up sessions, accountability groups, and more emphasis on networking and relationship-building. Overall, the participants found value in the seminar, and their feedback reinforces the importance of providing comprehensive training and fostering a supportive community in the academic job preparation process.

Authors

Dr. Michelle C. Vigeant http://orcid.org/0000-0001-9055-6173 Pennsylvania State University [biography]

Dr. Michelle Vigeant is an associate professor of acoustics and architectural engineering (AE) at the Pennsylvania State University. She primarily teaches two undergraduate courses in architectural acoustics and noise control in AE within the Department of AE, but also teaches some graduate level courses in the Graduate Program in Acoustics. Dr. Vigeant is passionate about implementing different pedagogical approaches in her courses, in particular those that promote active engagement and active learning during lectures. She also enjoys mentoring undergraduate and graduate research assistants on topics that link quantitative measures of room acoustics and noise to human perception of and physiological response to sound. Prior to joining Penn State, Dr. Vigeant was an assistant professor of mechanical engineering at University of Hartford where she taught undergraduate courses in acoustics and provided research experiences for undergraduate students.
Dr. Vikash Gayah Pennsylvania State University [biography]

Dr. Vikash V. Gayah is an associate professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at The Pennsylvania State University (joined 2012). He received his B.S. and M.S. degrees from the University of Central Florida (2005 and 2006, respectively) and his Ph.D. degree from the University of California, Berkeley (2012). Dr. Gayah’s research focuses on urban mobility, traffic operations, traffic flow theory, traffic safety and public transportation. His research approach includes a combination of analytical models, micro-simulations and empirical analysis of transportation data. He has authored over 50 peer-reviewed journal articles, over 50 refereed conference proceedings, and numerous research reports to sponsors. He has worked on research contracts valued at more than $5 million, sponsored by the Pennsylvania, Washington State, Montana and South Dakota Departments of Transportation, US Department of Transportation (via the Mineta National Transit Research Consortium and the Mid-Atlantic Universities Transportation Center), Federal Highway Administration, National Cooperative Highway Research Program and National Science Foundation.

Dr. Gayah currently serves as an editorial advisory board member of Transportation Research Part C: Emerging Technologies, an editorial board editor of Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, an associate editor for the IEEE Intelligent Transportation Systems Magazine (an international peer-reviewed journal), a handling editor for the Transportation Research Record and is a member of the Transportation Research Board’s Committee on Traffic Flow Theory and Characteristics (AHB 45), where he serves as a paper review coordinator. He has been recognized with multiple awards for his research and teaching activities, including the Dwight D. Eisenhower Transportation Fellowship, Gordon F. Newell Award for Excellence in Transportation Science, University of California Transportation Center Student of the Year Award, New Faculty Award by the Council of University Transportation Centers, the Cunard, Fred Burggraf and D. Grant Mickle outstanding paper awards by the Transportation Research Board, Harry West Teaching Award by the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Penn State, Outstanding Teaching Award by the Penn State Engineering Alumni Society, and Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Award by the National Science Foundation.
Prof. Andrea Paola Arguelles http://orcid.org/0000-0002-8089-4926 Pennsylvania State University [biography]

Dr. Andrea P. ArgÃ¼elles is an Assistant Professor in Engineering Science and Mechanics at the Pennsylvania State University. She was born and raised in Venezuela, where she lived until 2007 when she moved to south Texas to pursue higher education. She ob

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