2026 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

This empirical research brief extends the insights introduced by the ASEE Blueprint for Inclusive Engineering Mindset and further advances understanding of a framework for engineering mindset. As engineering education confronts increasingly complex socio-technical challenges, cultivating a robust engineering mindset is essential to support adaptability and innovation among students, educators, and practitioners. While ASEE’s Blueprint provides recommendations for institutional transformation but methods for assessment or a framework are limited. Despite widespread promotion of psychological constructs like “growth mindset” and the development of entrepreneurial mindset frameworks, the field still lacks a comprehensive, empirically grounded understanding of what constitutes the engineering mindset across diverse roles and contexts.

To address this gap, we designed a qualitative survey to explore cognitive dispositions, affective orientations, epistemic beliefs, and behavioral tendencies that underpin engineering engagement and problem-solving. The survey was administered to engineering students, educators, and practitioners. In this paper, we present baseline findings obtained from the survey to establish our positionality on how engineering mindset is currently perceived, while emphasizing the importance of developing a robust framework for this construct. These findings serve as the foundation of a larger study aimed at systematically mapping the landscape of perceived engineering mindset attributes and gaps. Overall, this work lays the empirical groundwork for the future development of role-spanning frameworks and instruments, with broader implications include informing curriculum design, faculty development, and policy for a more inclusive and human-centered engineering profession.