2025 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Empowering Professional Skill Training for STEM Graduate Students Through Active Learning and Inductive Teaching

Presented at GSD 8: Industry and Professional Skills

The Graduates Advancing Professional Skills (GAPS) program, funded by the National Science Foundation, supports professional skills development in STEM graduate education. In traditional STEM curricula, technical knowledge is often prioritized, while key competencies such as project management, communication, and teamwork are frequently overlooked. This imbalance in STEM education can impact graduate students’ preparedness for various career paths in both academia and industry. GAPS course design combines active learning and inductive teaching methods, enabling students to apply professional skills directly to their thesis research through community-based experiential learning. In-class discussions, online forums, and peer feedback also facilitate collaborative problem-solving and reflective engagement.
In this study, GAPS was used to evaluate the effectiveness of these pedagogical approaches. The study aimed to understand how these strategies lead to the development of essential professional skills among STEM graduate students by examining the incorporation of active learning and inductive teaching within the GAPS program. The findings reveal the impacts of innovative teaching practices on professional skills development in graduate education. They show that the GAPS program participants are highly satisfied with the course’s practical skill adoption and knowledge integration. Furthermore, the increased class engagement offered an inclusive learning environment. This experience helped the participants to enhance their professional skills, especially in communication, teamwork, and project management. The results help inform best practices for integrating professional skills training into graduate curricula and enhance the preparedness of students for both academic and non-academic career paths.

Authors

Jemimmah Namodi Iowa State University of Science and Technology [biography]

Jemimmah Namodi is a PhD student in Higher Education at the School of Education, Iowa State University. She earned her MBA from Kenyatta University and a Master of Science in Student Affairs from Missouri State University. Her research interests focus on rural populations, emphasizing their educational experiences and pathways in higher education.
Dr. Ann M Gansemer-Topf Iowa State University [biography]

Ann Gansemer-Topf is Professor and Director of the School of Education where she oversees undergraduate and graduate programs in education.
She has expertise in the scholarship of teaching and learning, assessment, student success and student affairs leadership.
Dr. Gül E. Kremer http://orcid.org/0000-0001-8070-825X University of Dayton [biography]

Gül E. Kremer received her PhD from the Department of Engineering Management and Systems Engineering of Missouri University of Science & Technology. Her research interests include multi-criteria decision analysis methods applied to improvement of products and systems. She is a senior member of IIE, a fellow of ASME, a former Fulbright scholar and NRC Faculty Fellow. Her recent research focus includes sustainable product design and enhancing creativity in engineering design settings.
Dr. Qing Li [biography]

Education
Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA
Ph.D., Statistics, 2015
Dissertation: Change-Point Detection in Recurrent-Event Context.
Advisor: Dr. Feng Guo, GPA: 3.9/4.0

University of Rochester, Rochester, NY
M.S., Electrical and Computer Engineering,
Prof. Shan Jiang http://orcid.org/0000-0001-8119-9012 Iowa State University of Science and Technology [biography]

Dr. Shan Jiang is an Associate Professor in the Materials Science and Engineering department at Iowa State University. He earned his Ph.D. from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and completed postdoctoral research at MIT. Prior to his academic career, Dr. Jiang worked as a research scientist at Dow Chemical Company, focusing on coating materials. Drawing from his industry background, he founded the Graduates Advancing Professional Skills (GAPS) program, which is supported by NSF IGE funding to enhance professional skills training for STEM graduate students.

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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