2026 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Bridging Engineering Coursework and Professional Practice through Industry and Alumni Collaboration for Hands-On Curriculum Development

Presented at DELOS Technical Session 3: Student Experience, Curriculum & Engagement

This paper discusses the design and pilot of a multistakeholder hands-on curriculum. We partnered with alumni, industry, faculty, and undergraduate students to embed authentic professional narratives, engineering tools, and engineering practice into required undergraduate coursework. Supported by an institutional grant, we designed and piloted three curricular experiences in test and validation engineering: vibration testing, data acquisition, and material testing. To help students develop workforce-relevant skills, the new curriculum has two key goals. First, the experiences offer students opportunities to strengthen their sense of being engineers, or “engineering identity,” while also helping them see coursework as relevant to their future professional roles, or “identity-based motivation.” Second, the experiences support students in building “adaptive expertise,” or the ability to transfer existing skills to new contexts. We framed our work in a scholarship of teaching and learning approach to examine implementation and to guide iterative refinement of the curriculum model. To evaluate the impact, we collected quantitative and qualitative data via surveys, interviews, and reflections from student participants and curriculum co-developers. Results suggest that the pilot created value across stakeholder groups: students described the modules as relevant and confidence-building, student co-developers reported meaningful technical and affective learning, and alumni and industry collaborators valued the opportunity to help prepare future engineers. We will continue to iterate our approach and analysis as we examine the viability and sustainability of implementing an alumni- and industry-informed curriculum model, with interest toward scaling the model more broadly in our college.

Authors

Rachel Sharpe University of Colorado Boulder [biography]

Rachel Sharpe is an Engineering Manager in the Integrated Teaching and Learning Program in the College of Engineering and Applied Science at the University of Colorado Boulder. She is also a PhD student in Engineering Education at CU Boulder. Her work focuses on designing, implementing, and evaluating hands-on engineering learning experiences that connect coursework with professional practice. She supports student-led instruction in prototyping, electronics, and manufacturing and collaborates with faculty to integrate hands-on labs and workshops into undergraduate engineering courses. Her research interests include workforce development, engineering identity development, equity and inclusion in hands-on engineering learning, and learning environments that support persistence and professional preparation.
Dr. Heidi G. Loshbaugh http://orcid.org/0000-0001-8163-0140 University of Colorado Boulder [biography]

Heidi G. Loshbaugh, Ph.D., is passionate about higher education’s role in the public good. She has taught, conducted research, and served as a college administrator with a keen focus on improving barriers to institutional success. She believes that a campus should be both a great place to learn and a great place to work. As a community college dean, she was PI for a $3.5M US Dept. of Ed. award to transform STEM education in support of transfer among first-generation, Hispanic students. Her implementation at scale of math corequisite instruction led the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to fund an ROI study that revealed the time and cost savings for students, the cost effectiveness for the college to implement the reform, and the dramatic improvement in completing college-level math for community-college students. She consults with states and institutions to improve student success in college, particularly with Complete College America (CCA). At University of Colorado Boulder, Heidi is a Senior Research Associate with focus on STEM education. She has been the project lead in transforming teaching evaluation practices in the College of Arts and Sciences and introducing research-based practices into the College of Engineering's Integrated Teaching and Learning Program. She is a co-principal investigator for a systemic change initiative in the Graduate School to improve climate and culture in STEM doctoral programs through better mentoring practices. A fourth-generation Coloradoan and educator, she lives in Denver with her husband and spoiled rescue dog.
Dr. Nick A. Stites University of Colorado Boulder [biography]

Dr. Nick Stites is the Director of the Integrated Teaching and Learning Program at the University of Colorado Boulder and serves as an instructor in the Integrated Design Engineering program. He earned a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Colorado State University, an M.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Purdue University, and a Ph.D. in Engineering Education from Purdue University. His research interests include developing novel pedagogical methods for core engineering courses, leveraging technology to enhance learning experiences, and exploring community college students’ transitions to and through engineering. Dr. Stites has experience as a practicing engineer and has taught at both the university and community-college levels.

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