Engineering Education Lab

Development of engineering students' technical and professional competencies

Research Streams

Engineering Workforce Development

We study the onboarding process of new engineers into their new workplaces and important professional skills needed in 21st century engineers.

- Workplace socialization/onboarding process
- Professional skill development

Every year newly graduated engineers enter the workforce to begin their careers. New engineers are expected to go through a socialization process, a significant learning process, in order to effectively participate in their new workplace.

Our research team studies the socialization process of recently hired aerospace engineers using a convergent parallel mixed method design. Specifically, we examine socialization actions initiated by both new engineers (i.e., proactive behaviors) and their companies (i.e., organizational tactics) as a way for the new engineers to socialize into their companies. We also investigate the associations between socialization actions and new engineers’ socialization outcomes. Our findings show that new engineers frequently rely on social interactions (e.g., networking and relationship building with managers) to adjust to their job position and organization, and often socialize through engaging in organizational tactics more than by practicing proactive behaviors.

We also conduct research on important professional skills for engineering students. As engineers are expected to work with teams of collaborators, who will have different backgrounds, experiences, and training, there is a great need for engineering students to develop professional skills needed for successful collaboration, such as leadership, teamwork, and cross-cultural competencies.

Relevant publications:

Actions recent engineering graduates undertake to integrate into the workplace - A case study from the aerospace industry, by B. Ahn, Y. Dong, and S. Akinci-Ceylan, International Journal of Engineering Education, vol 39, no. 2, pp 464-475, 2023
Classroom to workplace: Knowledge and skills learned by recently hired aerospace engineers, by S. Roy, Y. Dong, L. Baber, and B. Ahn, Journal of Aerospace Information Systems, vol 19, no. 4, pp 317-329, 2022
Exploring engineering managers' perspectives on the actions of engineering managers and newly hired engineers during the new engineers' socialization period, by Y. Dong, B. Ahn, and U. Tobey, Engineering Management Journal, 2021
A snapshot of the socialization process: Socialization tactics, behaviors, and outcomes in the U.S. aerospace and defense industry, by J. Wingerter and B. Ahn, International Journal of Engineering Education, vol 36, no. 3, pp 1-19, 2020
Leadership development through design based wilderness education, by C. R. Saulnier, B. Ahn, A. Bagiati, and J. G. Brisson, International Journal of Engineering and Pedagogy, vol. 5, no. 1, pp. 47-56, 2015.
Creating an instrument to measure leadership, change, and synthesis in engineering undergraduate, by B. Ahn, M. F. Cox, J. London, O. Cekic, and J. Zhu, Journal of Engineering Education, vol. 103, no. 1, pp. 115-136, 2014.

Newly-hired engineers’ proactive actions to integrate into the workplace

Newly-hired engineers actively initiate interactions with members of the organizations, such as coworkers, mentors, team leaders or managers, and other coworkers in the organizations who previously held their same or similar positions.

Newly-hired engineers keenly shadow or observe other organization members.

Newly-hired engineers attend meetings held by their workgroups or organizations, such as customer, “all-hands-on-deck,” regularly scheduled workgroups, and annual organization-level meetings

Newly-hired engineers attend organization-led courses to acquire specific engineering knowledge (e.g., lean manufacturing and supply chain quality).

Newly-hired engineers proactively seek and utilize technical and non-technical resources.

Newly-hired engineers create or update existing organization resources when they find the current resources inadequate or outdated. Engineers need to constantly acquire or update their skills.

Newly-hired engineers master their tasks and understand their responsibilities by completing practical tasks in the field.

Newly-hired engineers offer to help coworkers with their tasks.

Newly-hired engineers remind themselves that they are valuable members of their team/organization and that their opinions matter, acknowledging the importance of expressing their views.

Newly-hired engineers understand their roles and responsibilities by completing tasks independently.

Summary of managers' supportive actions and new engineers' proactive actions