2025 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Civil engineering graduate programs continue to focus on preparing students for careers in research and academia, even though academic opportunities remain limited. Consequently, a growing number of graduates are pursuing careers in industry, highlighting the need for enhanced support during this transition. Research-to-practice models provide a bridge between academic learning and real-world application, equipping students for careers beyond academia without compromising the technical rigor of their program. In our NSF-funded Innovation in Graduate Education (IGE) grant, we have created a research-to-practice graduate education model within the Civil and Environmental Engineering graduate program through the incorporation of a non-academic mentor into the thesis / dissertation committee structure. While the traditional academic advisor ensures students are well-prepared to meet academic and research requirements, the non-academic mentor brings valuable practical insights, helping students address engineering challenges that are relevant to their projects and allowing them to understand the broader implications of their work outside of academia. This dynamic mentorship ensures students gain both theoretical expertise and practical experience, positioning them for success in diverse professional environments.The research-to-practice model is grounded in the cognitive apprenticeship framework, which emphasizes how novices learn expert problem-solving techniques. Non-academic mentors’ participation supports graduate students in this learning process.
In this paper we seek to address the research question: How are graduate students perceiving support from their academic and non-academic mentors? To assess graduate students' perceptions of their non-academic mentors, a modified version of the Maastricht Clinical Teaching Questionnaire (MCTQ) was administered. Originally developed to provide clinical educators with feedback from medical students during clerkship rotations, the MCTQ’s 24 items were carefully revised and rephrased to fit the context of engineering graduate students working with non-academic mentors. This adapted version of the MCTQ was tested with transportation engineering students in a think-aloud protocol to identify areas needing further clarification. The finalized survey was administered for the first time at the end of the Spring 2024 semester. Additionally, students were asked to complete the Engineering Identity Inventory, which examines their identities as scientists, engineers, and researchers. This instrument also gathers data on advisor relationships. The Engineering Doctoral Student Identity Instrument was administered during both the Fall 2023 and Fall 2024 semesters.

This paper presents initial findings from the MCTQ and Engineering Identity Inventory to determine the perceptions graduate students have about their non-academic mentor and academic advisor. Results from these surveys will provide initial insight about the impact of the two mentor-advisee relationship model and identify potential areas of program improvement.