Research > Faculty Projects

Applying the Core: Creating Relevance Contextualizing Professional Development for STEM Careers

Principal Investigator
Denise Wilson

Sponsor(s)
National Science Foundation (NSF)

Award Period
01/01/2007 - 06/30/2008

Abstract
The proposed project pilots a course designed to (a) contextualize professional and personal development skills into the technical curriculum and (b) create a bridge between core classes and the capstone design experience. The course organization is structured to (a) create a learning environment that is compatible with the dominant learning preferences of women; (b) reduce isolation of other minorities by enabling integrated and informed participation in the engineering curriculum; and (c) be readily transformed into other STEM fields. The pilot offering of the course (Fall 2007) will be in electrical engineering; a follow-up pilot course (Fall of 2008) will map the course onto mechanical engineering. Assessment and evaluation results from both pilot courses will be used to generate a course development guide that can be readily ported to other engineering and STEM fields.

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