Graduate Engineering Education, Socialization, and Persistence

NSF 1844878 (PI) CAREER: Characterizing Master’s-Level Departure from the Engineering Doctorate through Multiple Stakeholders’ Perspectives

This project addresses the critical issue of doctoral student attrition in engineering disciplines. While the ten-year completion rates for engineering PhDs are only 65% for men and 56% for women, these numbers are significantly lower for students from underrepresented groups. These statistics represent a significant loss of talent for the field. This CAREER research characterizes and models Master’s-level departure from engineering PhD programs by analyzing the perspectives of departers, graduate students who are considering departure, and faculty who advise these students. This research supports national calls to action such as the 2018 National Academies report on Graduate STEM Education for the 21st Century, which posits that understanding retention in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics graduate programs is critical to maintaining economic and national competitiveness. This CAREER research will develop a comprehensive understanding of Master’s-level departure with a systems-level perspective. In order to develop this model, the research will 1) characterize common narratives of Master’s-level departure and model students’ departure decisions over time, and 2) characterize faculty perspective of departure. Modeling student departure will be accomplished through interviews, a longitudinal survey, and a longitudinal text message survey that utilize role identity theory, expectancy value theory, ideal worker theory, and leader-member exchange theory. The faculty-centric research phase will investigate potentially conflicting narratives about attrition and departure between departed/questioning graduate students and faculty. Understanding these potentially dissonant perspectives between faculty and students are critical to developing interventions for either stakeholder group.

This project is focused on the experiences of people whose intention was to complete a doctorate degree in engineering, but did not complete that process. Their reasons for leaving are often misunderstood. We are collecting their stories to develop a more complete narrative for a better understanding of the factors that lead to graduate level attrition in engineering.

If you or someone you know has left an engineering Ph.D. program before completion within the last five years, please consider participating in this study. We would like to have a casual interview where you can share about your experiences and the factors that led to your departure. Participants will be compensated for their time.

Please click the link below to fill out the interview survey. If you have any questions about the study, feel free to contact us at ecrl@me.psu.edu.

Link to sign up for an interview: https://survey.az1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_805CYhAqO9wOxPn

Media Mentions: Penn State Today

Lead Researchers on the project: Ellen Zerbe, Chris Kirk

Publications:

Berdanier, C.G.P., Whitehair, C., Kirn, A., & Satterfield, D. (2019). Analysis of Social Media Forums to Elicit Narratives of Graduate Engineering Student Attrition. Accepted to Journal of Engineering Education.

Hocker, E.*, Zerbe, E, & Berdanier, C.G.P. (2019). Characterizing Doctoral Engineering Student Socialization: Narratives of Mental Health, Decisions to Persist, and Consideration of Career Trajectories. IEEE Frontiers in Education Conference, Cincinnati OH. (Characterizing Socialization FIE ’19 Pre-Print)

Zerbe, E.* & Berdanier, C.G.P. (2019) A Case Study of Master’s-Level Departure from the Engineering Doctorate: Capturing Experiences Before and After Attrition. IEEE Frontiers in Education Conference, Cincinnati OH. (Attrition Case Studies FIE ’19 Pre-Print

Berdanier, C.G.P.* (2019) Investigating the Formation of Engineers and the Future Professoriate: Linking Writing Approaches and Attitudes to Doctoral Socialization, Persistence, and Attrition (Poster and WIP Paper). 126th ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Tampa, FL.

Whitehair, C. and Berdanier, C.G.P.* (2018). “Capturing Narratives of Graduate Engineering Attrition through Online Forum Mining” 125th ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Salt Lake City, UT.

This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant 1733594 and 1844878. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.

Funding:

NSF 1844878 (PI) “CAREER: Characterizing Master’s-Level Departure from the Engineering Doctorate through Multiple Stakeholders’ Perspectives.” (Period of Performance 8/1/2019-7/31/24)

Abstract: This project addresses the critical issue of doctoral student attrition in engineering disciplines. While the ten-year completion rates for engineering PhDs are only 65% for men and 56% for women, these numbers are significantly lower for students from underrepresented groups. These statistics represent a significant loss of talent for the field. This CAREER research characterizes and models Master’s-level departure from engineering PhD programs by analyzing the perspectives of departers, graduate students who are considering departure, and faculty who advise these students. This research supports national calls to action such as the 2018 National Academies report on Graduate STEM Education for the 21st Century, which posits that understanding retention in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics graduate programs is critical to maintaining economic and national competitiveness. This CAREER research will develop a comprehensive understanding of Master’s-level departure with a systems-level perspective. In order to develop this model, the research will 1) characterize common narratives of Master’s-level departure and model students’ departure decisions over time, and 2) characterize faculty perspective of departure. Modeling student departure will be accomplished through interviews, a longitudinal survey, and a longitudinal text message survey that utilize role identity theory, expectancy value theory, ideal worker theory, and leader-member exchange theory. The faculty-centric research phase will investigate potentially conflicting narratives about attrition and departure between departed/questioning graduate students and faculty. Understanding these potentially dissonant perspectives between faculty and students are critical to developing interventions for either stakeholder group.

Development of Graduate Engineering Student Knowledge, Skills, Attributes, and Competencies

Handley, M. and Berdanier, C.G.P. (2019). Operationalizing interpersonal behaviours of leadership for early-career engineers. International Journal of Engineering Education, 35(3), 719-732.

Berdanier, C.G.P., Tang, X., Cox, M. F. (2018). Ethics and sustainability in global contexts: Studying engineering student perspectives through photoelicitation. Journal of Engineering Education, 107(2), 238-262.

Berdanier, C.G.P., Branch, S., Tally, A., Ahn, B., & Cox, M.F. (2016). Aligning engineering education with disciplinary expectations: A strategic blueprint for doctoral competency assessment. International Journal of Engineering Education 32(4), 1759–1773.

*Whitehair, C. and Berdanier, C.G.P. (2017). The role of trust in collaborative research settings: Opportunities for future research in graduate engineering education. 124th ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, June 25-28, 2017, Columbus OH.

Berdanier, C. G., Zephirin, T., Cox, M. F., & Black, S. M. (2016). Teaching MSE Students to Teach: A Design-Based Research Model for Introducing Professional Skills into the Technical Curriculum. In Professional Development and Workplace Learning: Concepts, Methodologies, Tools, and Applications (pp. 444-470). Hershey, PA: IGI Global, Business Science Reference. doi:10.4018/978-1-4666-8632-8.ch028

Berdanier, C.G.P., Zephirin, T.K., Cox, M.F., & Black, S.M., (2015). Teaching MSE students to teach: A model for introducing professional skills into the engineering curriculum. In H. Lim (Ed.) Recent developments in materials science and corrosion engineering education (pp. 369-396). IGI Global: Hershey PA.

Berdanier, C.G.P. & Cox, M.F. (2015). Research and Assessment of Learning Environments through Photoelicitation: Graduate Student Perceptions of Electronics Manufacturing in India Advances in Engineering Education. Advances in Engineering Education, 4(4), 1-24.

*Berdanier, C.G.P. & Cox, M.F. (2016). Characterization of intellectual merit in NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP) applications. 123^rd ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, June 26-29, New Orleans, LA.

Berdanier, C.G.P., Tanyi, E.K., Cashwell, I., Zephirin, T.K., & Cox, M.F. (2016). Learning to conduct “team science” through interdisciplinary engineering research. 123^rd ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, June 26-29, New Orleans, LA.

*Berdanier, C.G.P. & Cox, M.F. (2015). Understanding missions for engineering outreach and service: How new engineering faculty can learn from past generations of Ph.D.-holding engineers and engineering educators. 122^nd ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, June 14-17, Seattle, WA.

*Berdanier, C.G.P., Wallin, T.J., Murphy, M. … Cox, M.F., (2015). Learning non-technical skills from pedagogical training: Investigating IGERT student perceptions. 121^st ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, June 14-17, Seattle, WA.