2025 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

An Analysis of Career Motivations and Aspirations of Canadian Undergraduate Engineering Students by Engineering Major

Presented at ERM Technical Session: Examining Undergraduate Recruitment & Retention

This Empirical Research Full Paper presents survey results and analyses on the types of organizations that a sizable sample of Canadian undergraduate engineering students reported wanting to work in, as well as the nature of the work activities that they wished to pursue.

Engineering students, broadly speaking, have varied vocational motivations and career aspirations. A clear picture of how these motivations and aspirations may be similar between institutions but may differ by engineering program (i.e. major), can potentially assist in enhancing retention in and diversification of the profession. In the United States, a team at Stanford pursued this general line of research starting in the mid-2000s. In Canada, an initial effort took place in 2015 using student surveys at one engineering school in Western Canada, and a more comprehensive second effort involving six engineering schools across Canada was initiated in 2023, resulting in some promising findings from preliminary analyses.

The purpose of this paper is to report on the Canadian 2023 data set, concentrating on the relationship between engineering majors and career preferences, as well as self-identity as an engineer-in-training, and motivations for pursuing studies in engineering. We have three core research questions: 1) do preferences for employment in different types of organizations and in doing different types of work vary by major, 2) do motivations for going into engineering studies and self-identity as an engineer-in-training vary by major, and 3) do career motivations and preferences vary between topical clusters of engineering majors? We have hypothesized that the answer to each of these questions is “yes” and that the results of this study will help to illustrate how they differ. This work is based in constructivism, on the assumption that students build a conception of their career path and an understanding of where and why they are on it. Preferences change with time and experience, as shown in our preliminary findings.

This study’s survey questions addressed demographics, motivations for choosing engineering, engineering identity, self-assessed personality characteristics, career aspirations, and influencing factors. Approximately 2500 students started the survey (response rate ≈10%; ranging 4–16% across institutions) and most questions had about 2000 usable responses. Responses are characterized using descriptive statistics and response pattern comparisons, with significance testing and analyses of variance.

For this paper, to ensure adequate category sizes and to produce findings of broader relevance, the types of majors in the participating engineering schools were grouped into nine categories which include: 1) Biological/Biochemical/Biomedical, 2) Mechanical/ Manufacturing/Materials, 3) Chemical / Engineering Chemistry, 4) Applied Math / Engineering Science / Engineering Physics, 5) Architectural/Civil/Geological/Mining, 6) Electrical/ Computer/Software, 7) Environmental/ Sustainability, 8) Integrated/Systems/Management, and 9) Mechatronics/Robotics.

Studies of this general nature have been conducted in the US and France with respect to specific disciplines, but we are not aware of any broader studies in the literature that have looked at such characteristics across several engineering majors, especially in Canada. Our previous work identified differences in employment preferences by gender, year of study, and institution. The anticipated contributions of this work include a revelation of similarities and differences between majors, and the provision of a more empirically-informed basis for retaining students in our profession longer. As well, a survey tool is available that can allow other institutions to conduct similar studies in Canada and elsewhere.

Authors

Dr. Sean Maw University of Saskatchewan [biography]

Dr. Maw currently holds the Huff Chair in Innovative Teaching in the College of Engineering at the University of Saskatchewan. In this capacity, his work mainly focuses on First Year engineering, engineering design, and engineering education. He earned his BASc and MASc in Systems Design Engineering at the University of Waterloo, and a PhD in Neuroscience at the University of Alberta.
Dr. Peter M Ostafichuk P.Eng. University of British Columbia, Vancouver [biography]

Dr. Peter M. Ostafichuk is a professor of teaching in Mechanical Engineering at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada. He teaches design and other topics in mechanical engineering, and is the Chair of First Year Engineering.
Prof. Brian M Frank P.Eng. http://orcid.org/0000-0003-2092-1918 Queen's University [biography]

Brian Frank is the DuPont Canada Chair in Engineering Education Research and Development, and Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering in Smith Engineering at Queen's University.
Lawrence R Chen http://orcid.org/https://0000-0002-3760-4719 McGill University [biography]

Lawrence R. Chen received a BEng in electrical engineering and mathematics from McGill University and an MASc and PhD in electrical and computer engineering from the University of Toronto. He is a professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at McGill University and is the Academic Lead and Faculty Scholar of the Enhancing Learning and Teaching in Engineering (ELATE) initiative in the Faculty of Engineering. His research interests include faculty development and the intersections between the teaching and learning environments, identity, and equity, diversity, inclusivity, and accessibility.
Paul Neufeld P.Eng., MBA, PMP University of Saskatchewan [biography]

Paul Neufeld is a Professional Engineer (P. Eng.) with 20 years of industry experience, holding a B.Sc. in Civil Engineering from the University of Saskatchewan, MBA from Aspen University, and is a certified Project Management Professional (PMP). Paul is currently completing a M.Sc. in Engineering Education at the University of Saskatchewan, studying the career pathways of engineering graduates.
Dr. Jason Grove P.E. University of Waterloo [biography]

Jason Grove is the Graduate Attributes Lecturer in the Department of Chemical Engineering at the University of Waterloo. He is responsible for leading the continuous program assessment improvement process for the chemical and nanotechnology engineering pr
Dr. Carolyn G. MacGregor P.Eng. http://orcid.org/0000-0002-2315-1536 University of Waterloo [biography]

Carolyn MacGregor is the Associate Dean, Teaching for the Faculty of Engineering and an Associate Professor in the Department of Systems Design Engineering at the University of Waterloo.

Prof. MacGregor has been actively involved in human factors research and consulting activities since 1980. She applies her engineering and psychology degrees to the study of human factors, product design, and virtual environments. Her primary research interests are in the navigation and manipulation of virtual environments and 3D simulations, usability testing and human-computer interactions, and pedestrian and driver safety. Past projects include the development of virtual trailblazing techniques for human navigation, as well as the development of the "veball”, a 3D input device with haptic feedback for manipulating virtual objects in 3D applications.

Professor MacGregor's main areas of teaching focus on human factors engineering, user-centred design, user research methods, and cognitive ergonomics. As a discipline, human factors engineering is a combination of engineering, psychology, kinesiology and anthropology. The field of cognitive ergonomics strives to understand how humans process and manipulate information so that their limitations and capabilities can be taken into account when designing effective tasks, interfaces, and systems.
Kimia Moozeh University of Toronto [biography]

Kimia Moozeh (PhD) is the Program and Student Experience, Senior Officer at University of Toronto, Division of Engineering Science.
Prof. Grant McSorley University of Prince Edward Island [biography]

Grant McSorley is an assistant professor in the Faculty of Sustainable Design Engineering at the University of Prince Edward Island, where he teaches courses related to sustainable design and systems engineering.
Ms. Rubaina Khan Queens University [biography]

Rubaina is a research associate at Queen's University and a doctoral candidate within the Department of Curriculum, Teaching, and Learning at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto, with a collaborative specialization in Engineering 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

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