2024 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Board 360: Reflections from Graduates on the Impact of Engineers Without Borders USA Experiences on Professional Preparation

Presented at NSF Grantees Poster Session

As engineering education seeks to integrate more experiential learning into the undergraduate portfolio, experiences within and outside of the traditional curriculum are being explored. To this end, community engagement is a particularly promising pedagogy, given its alignment with diversity research and the leveraging of university resources to address needs within our society. One of the largest engineering engagement organizations is Engineers Without Borders USA (EWB-USA), which recently celebrated 20 years of student and community engagement. This poster presents results that are part of a larger sequential mixed-methods study consisting of surveys followed by interviews from program alumni of EWB-USA as well as individuals who have interacted professionally with the EWB-USA alumni. Surveys were designed for both populations and the results show positive impact on alumni transition into a wide range of industry settings. Interviews were conducted with alumni as well as the professional connections who were not part of EWB-USA. This poster will present two individuals as cases that span both categories of alumni who have risen professionally to become mentors of younger EWB alumni. Their perspectives shine light on the impact they have seen personally as well as the benefits they have seen through interacting with other professionals who participated in EWB-USA as students.

Authors

Lazlo Stepback Purdue University, West Lafayette [biography]

Lazlo Stepback is a PhD student in Engineering Education at Purdue University. His current research interests focus on engineering ethics, the connections between personal morals and professional ethics, and how students ethically develop as engineers. He earned a B.S. in Chemical and Biochemical Engineering at the Colorado School of Mines (Golden, CO) in 2020.
Paul A. Leidig P.E. Purdue University, West Lafayette [biography]

Paul A. Leidig works in learning and organizational development within the architecture, engineering, and construction industry. He received his B.S. in Architectural Engineering from the Milwaukee School of Engineering, M.S. in Civil Engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and Ph.D. in Engineering Education from Purdue University. Dr. Leidig is licensed as a Professional Engineer in the state of Colorado and has focused on community-engaged design for over fifteen years.
Dr. William "Bill" C. Oakes http://orcid.org/0000-0002-6183-045X Purdue University, West Lafayette [biography]

William (Bill) Oakes is the Assistant Dean for Experiential Learning, a 150th Anniversary Professor, Director of the EPICS Program, Professor of Engineering Education at Purdue University, and a registered professional engineer. He is one of the founding faculty in the School of Engineering Education having courtesy appointments in Mechanical, Environmental and Ecological Engineering and Curriculum and Instruction. He was the first engineer to receive the U.S. Campus Compact Thomas Ehrlich Faculty Award for Service-Learning and a co-recipient of the U.S. National Academy of Engineering’s Bernard Gordon Prize for Innovation in Engineering and Technology Education. He is a fellow of NSPE and ASEE and elected to the ASEE Hall of Fame.

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