2024 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Transition to the Civilian Workforce: Themes and Lessons from Military Service and Culture

Presented at Military and Veterans Division (MVD) Technical Session 2

As part of a collaborative inquiry practice known as engaged scholarship, the Military Veterans Division convened a panel of military and veteran community stakeholders to comment on the challenges, lessons, and gifts that their military and military-adjacent experiences provided in their pursuit of higher education and careers in engineering. Moderated by a Director of Research and engineer who transitioned to engineering after a successful 20-year enlisted career in the U.S. Army, a diverse panel of five men and women to share their experiences. Our panel comprised a Department of Defense civilian and Army veteran, a Dean of Engineering and former Naval Academy professor, an engineering education faculty member and Navy enlisted veteran, an engineering graduate student and Navy enlisted veteran, and an early career civil transportation engineer and current enlisted Army National Guard Soldier.

The panelists’ military experiences were diverse and varied, and each panelist challenged assumptions about the features and trajectory of their service and educational path. Gender and race were discussed, as panelists commented on the ways they felt their personal identities and opportunities for advancement were supported by their military or military-adjacent service. All panelists emphasized that the solution-focused mindset conferred by their service training enabled teams to work more effectively due to shared values and mission in a military context. In contrast, panelists described how civilian-based work and academia often surfaced within-group divisions in terms of shared goals. Panelists noted that their egalitarian posture toward teamwork was also supported by structural hiring changes made by the military in the last twenty years.

Absent or weak pathways to engineering for enlisted military personnel were also discussed. Student veterans and hiring managers emphasized that broadening engagement with national research labs that support DoD priorities is key to building feasible and accessible engineering pathways for student veterans. All panelists noted that, while the military experience is not monolithic, the intangible skillsets of leadership, project management, accountability, and solutions-focused mental posture are a natural fit for the engineering field—a match that student veterans can use to build a sense of ‘belonging’ as they transition.

Authors

Dr. Alyson G. Eggleston Pennsylvania State University [biography]

Alyson Eggleston is an Associate Professor in the Penn State Hershey College of Medicine and Director of Evaluation for the Penn State Clinical and Translational Science Institute. Her research and teaching background focuses on program assessment, STEM technical communication, industry-informed curricula, and educational outcomes veteran and active duty students.
Dr. Angela Minichiello http://orcid.org/0000-0002-4545-9355 Utah State University [biography]

Angela (Angie) Minichiello is a military veteran, licensed mechanical engineer, and associate professor in the Department of Engineering Education at Utah State University. Her research examines issues of access, equity, and identity in the formation of engineers and a diverse, transdisciplinary 21st century engineering workforce. Angie received an NSF CAREER award in 2021 for her work with student veterans and service members in engineering.
Allison Miles Utah State University [biography]

Allison Miles is an undergraduate student in Mechanical Engineering at Utah State University.
Hannah Wilkinson Utah State University [biography]

Hannah Wilkinson is a doctoral student in Engineering Education at Utah State University. She received a B.S. in Chemical Engineering in from the University of Utah and an M.S. in Engineering Education from Utah State University.
Samuel Shaw Utah State University [biography]

Samuel Shaw is an undergraduate student in Mechanical Engineering at Utah State University.
Dr. Robert J. Rabb P.E. Pennsylvania State University [biography]

Robert Rabb is the associate dean for education in the College of Engineering at Penn State. He previously served as a professor and the Mechanical Engineering Department Chair at The Citadel. He previously taught mechanical engineering at the United States Military Academy at West Point. He received his B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the United Military Academy and his M.S. and PhD in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Texas at Austin. His research and teaching interests are in mechatronics, regenerative power, and multidisciplinary engineering.
Dr. Jerry Lynn Dahlberg Jr http://orcid.org/0000-0003-2778-5349 University of Tennessee, Space Institute [biography]

Jerry Dahlberg is the Director of Research at the University of Tennessee Space Institute. Prior to joining UTSI, he was an Assistant Teaching Professor and Senior Design Committee Chair at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. He received a B.S. degree in Mechanical Engineering Science in 2014, M.S. in Mechanical Engineering in 2016 and PhD in Mechanical Engineering in 2018 from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.
Dr. B "Grant" Grant Crawford P.E. Quinnipiac University [biography]

Grant Crawford, PhD, P.E., F.ASEE, Colonel (retired) U.S. Army, is a Professor of Mechanical Engineering for the School of Computing and Engineering at Quinnipiac University. He is a former Director of the Mechanical Engineering Program at the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York. He graduated from West Point in 1985 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering. He earned a M.S. degree in Aerospace Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology in 1994 and a Ph.D. in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Kansas in 2004. He has developed and taught courses in aeronautics, thermal-fluid systems, heat transfer, computer-aided design, circuits, and aerospace and mechanical engineering design. He has served as a Program Evaluator for the EAC and a Commissioner and Team Chair for the ETAC of ABET. He is a licensed Professional Engineer and is a rated pilot in both rotary and fixed wing aircraft.
Dr. Oscar Barton, Jr. P.E. Morgan State University [biography]

Oscar Barton, Jr., Ph.D., P.E. is Dean of the Clarence M. Mitchell, Jr. School of Engineering at Morgan State University. A native of Washington, D.C., he received his B.S in Mechanical Engineering from Tuskegee (Institute) University, his M.S in Mechani
Catherine Kime Utah State University
Dr. Michael Scott Sheppard Jr. http://orcid.org/https://0000-0001-5456-802X Colorado School of Mines [biography]

Having completed a Master of Science in Engineering degree in 2019, Michael is continuing in his pursuit of a Ph.D. in Engineering Education. His drive toward this field of study is to cultivate skills and knowledge that will better prepare him for a career focused on combating human-trafficking. Michael is seeking to find a way to integrate technical engineering principles, scientific research practices, and a broad network of motivated leaders to end human trafficking. Michael believes this integrated team, coupled with a holistic approach, will inhibit future trafficking crimes, while improving the well-being of current survivors.

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