2025 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Role of industry-university partnership in STEM graduate training: industry mentors' perspective

Presented at GSD 8: Industry and Professional Skills

Driven by the fact that a great majority of STEM PhD graduates will be employed in non-academic jobs, primarily in industry (defined broadly to include private corporations, national labs, defense organizations, etc.), there is a growing recognition that the present format of doctoral training does not prepare them sufficiently for a career outside academia [1, 2]. In response to this need, recently a new student-centered model of STEM doctorate, Pasteur Partners PhD (P3), was developed based on use-inspired research [3]. Industry-university partnership is a requirement of this model, which calls for concerted participation of industry experts in the training of students through identification of industry-relevant research problems, co-advising about how to approach their practical solutions, and training for other non-technical skills that are crucial for success in industry.

An assessment of student demand and their experience with P3’s non-traditional features, support of university administration, and the challenges felt by interested faculty advisers during its implementation at Lehigh University were presented previously [3, 4]. This paper completes P3 program’s assessment by analyzing the feedback provided by industry scientists who have served as co-advisers to students. The specific objective of the present study is to establish not only the benefits to students but also the advantages these collaborations offer to the industry researchers themselves as well as their organizations. Accordingly, we solicited feedback about the experience of the industry co-advisers from serving as mentors of P3 fellows.

Briefly, the mentors were generally positive about their engagement with students as research advisers and hosts for experiments in their labs. The mentors from national labs were especially appreciative of the opportunity to expand the scope of their own research program as a result of these interactions. They also highlighted the effectiveness of pre-program internships in fostering long-term research productivity, as well as the training provided in the corresponding courses such as project management. With regard to improving the program, the industry mentors expressed a desire for clearer expectations regarding their role in mentoring students, particularly when students return to university. A detailed analysis of the feedback provided by industry mentors and its implications for further improving the P3 model, indeed the state of STEM doctoral training, are presented.

The conclusions of this study are expected to have broad impact beyond the P3 model as they provide valuable insight into the mutual benefits of industry-university partnership for doctoral education.

Authors

Zilong Pan Lehigh University [biography]

Zilong Pan is an assistant professor of teaching, learning and technology, his research focuses on emerging educational technologies and innovative methodological approaches in educational practices and studies in STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics) disciplines.
Volkmar Dierolf Lehigh University [biography]

Volkmar Dierolf is a Professor of Physics a Distinguished University Professor of Physics and Materials Science & Engineering at Lehigh University, where he has been a faculty member since 2000. He received his Ph.D. in Physics from the University of Utah in 1992 and a Habilitation in Experimental Physics from University of Paderborn, Germany in 2000. Dr. Dierolf's research focuses on the study of novel electronic and optical materials, with a particular emphasis on rare earth dopants in semiconductors and laser produced single crystals in glass. He has authored or co-authored over 200 publications in peer-reviewed journals, and has been awarded several patents for his work.
Dr. Anand Jagota Lehigh University [biography]

Anand Jagota is Vice Provost for Research and the Robert W. Wieseman Professor of Bioengineering and of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at Lehigh University. His training is in Mechanical Engineering, from IIT Delhi for undergraduate studies and Cornell University for graduate work. He worked for nearly 15 years as a materials scientist at the DuPont company and moved in 2004 to Lehigh University. His research interests are in interfacial mechanical properties.
Prof. Himanshu Jain http://orcid.org/0000-0003-4382-9460 Lehigh University [biography]

Himanshu Jain is currently the T.L. Diamond Distinguished Chair Professor of Engineering and Applied Science at Lehigh University. He established and directed NSF’s International Materials Institute for New Functionality in Glass, which pioneered globalization of glass research and education, and led to multiple international glass research centers in different countries. Over the past three decades he has been introducing new functionality and novel processing of glass, and making glass education available worldwide freely. In recent years, he has advocated for use-inspired research, and led the development of a new STEM doctoral workforce training model: Pasteur Partners PhD (P3) based on Industry-University partnerships. During 2024-2025 he served as an Intermittent Expert within the Division of Graduate Education at the National Science Foundation. He is an author/editor of 12 patents, 10 books and over 420 research publications on glass science, technology and education.

Note

The full paper will be available to logged in and registered conference attendees once the conference starts on June 22, 2025, and to all visitors after the conference ends on June 25, 2025

« View session

For those interested in:

Academia-Industry Connections
engineering
Faculty
Graduate