The United States has vocalized a need for an engineering workforce able to create and adapt to emerging technologies in order to increase the nation’s global competitiveness. Beyond the technical skills and knowledge necessary to generate these desired technological outcomes, there is also a need for engineering leadership capable of driving such a vision in industry. Much work has been done in the realms of management of change and innovation in organizations which discusses the power of vision and related concepts such as self-discipline, outlook, and lifelong learning. In particular, the work of Peter Senge highlights the importance of lifelong learning in his work on personal mastery. According to Senge, a company that supports its employees’ lifelong learning pursuits more than their competition is able to achieve and sustain innovation and, subsequently, a competitive advantage. Developing future engineering leadership who will facilitate an organization’s competitive edge starts from developing engineers with an affinity for lifelong learning. While academia has begun prioritizing the implementation of lifelong learning competences, there has been limited discussion on how one’s affinity for lifelong learning can be developed. We aim to being exploring Senge's concept of personal mastery as a potential framework for developing students’ affinity for lifelong learning. This framework would benefit the nation in terms of competitiveness by creating the necessary means for developing engineering students who will drive a vision of innovation in industry. Identifying a mindset that encourages positive attitudes towards lifelong learning will benefit academia and industry’s desire for more engineers who prioritize adaptivity and continuous learning. This theory paper discusses whether personal mastery is a framework that may be used to develop an affinity for lifelong learning in engineering students through the analysis of literature and creation of causal loop diagrams.
Authors
-
Bailey McOwen is a Ph.D. student in Engineering Education at Virginia Tech with an academic foundation in physics and industrial engineering. Her research focuses on workforce development, professional training for engineering practitioners, and engineering ethics, with an emphasis on how emerging technologies can enhance continued education. Through her research, service, and academic work, she aims to bridge engineering education and industry needs to support ethical, lifelong learning across diverse engineering pathways.
-
Arsalan Ashraf is a Ph.D. student in the Department of Engineering Education at Virginia Tech. His research interests include AI ethics, ethics and social responsibility, and lifelong learning. He has broad experience in academia and industry, which motivates him to do research on these vibrant areas. He is a first-generation student from a small village in Punjab, Pakistan. He completed his B.S. in Aviation Management from Lahore in 2017 and then worked in the aviation industry. After gaining experience, he changed his career path and entered academia as a lecturer at The University of Faisalabad in 2022. He joined Virginia Tech in the fall of 2024.
-
Emad Ali is a Ph.D. student in the Department of Engineering Education at Virginia Tech. His research focuses on the integration of artificial intelligence in engineering education with particular emphasis on its ethical implications. He holds a master’s degree in Electrical Engineering with specialization in Embedded Systems, from the Information Technology University (ITU Lahore), as well as a Bachelor’s degree in Avionics Engineering from the National University of Sciences and Technology (NUST), Islamabad. He has worked as TA of multiple undergraduate and graduate courses during his Masters in ITU and as a Lecturer in the Superior University in Lahore. He aims to contribute to the advancement of educational practices in engineering by addressing both the opportunities and challenges presented by the emerging technologies.
-
Dr. Dayoung Kim is an Assistant Professor of the Department of Engineering Education (College of Engineering) at Virginia Tech and a Director of the LABoratory for Innovative and REsponsible ENgineering workforce (LAB-IREEN). She conducts research in engineering practice and workforce development (e.g., practices and experiences of, and competencies required for, engineers in various employment settings, such as business organizations and government agencies; workforce challenges and opportunities from emerging technologies, such as Artificial Intelligence), engineering ethics (e.g., social responsibility of engineering professionals and its education), and related policy concerns. Dr. Kim's research aims to identify effective strategies to cultivate an innovative and responsible engineering workforce through educational initiatives and science & technology policy. She received her Ph.D. in Engineering Education at Purdue University (2022) and received her B.S. and M.S. in Chemical Engineering at Yonsei University (2017) and Purdue University (2021) respectively. She was the 2022 Christine Mirzayan Science & Technology Policy Graduate Fellow of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine and received the 2022 College of Engineering Outstanding Graduate Student Research Award from Purdue University. She was also a Bilsland Fellow of the College of Engineering at Purdue University when she was a Ph.D. student.
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
