2025 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

In this work-in-progress paper, we present an investigation of students' mentoring expectations and perceptions as members of an engineering research center. The goals of this study are to understand students' mentorship experiences with their mentors at the engineering research center and to identify opportunities for improvement in mentoring practices. Mentoring relationships can play an important role in the development of engineering students’ professional identities. While there is a plethora of studies on mentor-mentee relationships in engineering disciplines, these relationships have not been extensively examined in the context of a National Science Foundation (NSF) Engineering Research Center (ERC). In 1985, the NSF launched the ERC program to foster research, education, and technology and make a positive societal impact in the US; since that time it has successfully sponsored a growing number of ERCs. Students in these ERCs are major contributors to the power engine that drives the momentum of ERCs’ directions. Yet, because ERCs are multi-institutional, interdisciplinary, and project-based organizations, students’ may not gain easy access to mentorship, and their experiences may not be optimal or may be misaligned with their expectations.
To lay the groundwork for improving students’ access to mentorship and their experiences in this unique setting, we have formulated the following research questions: (1) How do students at an engineering research center describe their ideal mentoring relationships? and (2) What are the key factors that shape students' perceptions of effective mentoring in this context? To address these questions, we utilized an inductive qualitative research approach to gain a deeper understanding of students’ mentoring perceptions and experiences. A total of 14 students at the ERC participated in the full study. The full study included conducting pre-interview surveys and semi-structured interviews facilitated by participant-drawn sociograms. The survey responses and sociograms were used to supplement the qualitative analysis of the interview data. The full analysis and presentation of these data will be used in the future work.
The preliminary findings reveal that ideal mentorship includes providing (1) guidance for research activities, (2) career development opportunities, and (3) empathy towards students. These findings provide practical implications for ERC mentors because they can use this information to improve their mentoring guidelines and educate students about social capital resources within the center. For example, this study found that students most commonly valued research guidance from their principal investigators (PIs), while some also expressed a desire for more holistic mentoring that supports their professional and personal growth. A few participants appreciated their PIs' thoughtfulness and efforts in ensuring their well-being and sense of inclusivity. However, students also expressed a desire for more opportunities to efficiently and effectively interact with others at the center, beyond their immediate research group. This study offers an in-depth understanding of the students' mentoring needs and perceptions at an ERC, which can inform the design of more effective mentoring programs and training for faculty or mentors. Future studies may examine the perspectives of other members at the center, such as faculty members and staff members, to gain a more comprehensive understanding of mentorship dynamics and opportunities to leverage for improvement.