Search

The present study explored LGBTQ+ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and other non heterosexual/cisgender identities) engineering students' navigation of engineering educational contexts and reported the impacts of the engineering educational culture on LGBTQ + students' well-being. Drawing from a sample of ten LGBTQ + university students in the United States, we found that students described cultural norms sustained through minimal tolerance for and the avoidance of identity talk or expression. Systemic homogeneous cultural norms redefine safety expectations for LGBTQ + engineering students while normalizing expectations that LGBTQ + students be silent and tolerate mistreatment. Participants also described the consequences of invisibility and identity conflict that they face for being different within an inequitable field. These findings bring attention to a culture within engineering programs that silences LGBTQ + expression and leaves students feeling isolated. Further research is needed to explore the effect of affirming communities on LGBTQ + engineering students' well-being. We conclude with research and clinical implications for working with LGBTQ + engineering students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Goal: This paper performs a literature review to identify and analyze the main gaps related to crisis management and risk management in the engineering projects context. Design / Methodology / Approach: A literature review research design was carried out merging bibliometrics, network and qualitative and quantitative content analysis. Data were obtained from the scientific database Scopus. Results: Publications per year illustrates that in 2016 as concentrated the major number of papers. Only 1% of the authors published 4 papers about models for software engineering risks analysis and reduction. The paper distribution by country shows that the United States has the highest percentage, about 16% of the total. The network of co-occurrence of all keywords has three well-defined clusters. Limitations of the investigation: The quantity of papers analyzed and the selection of a single database. Practical implications: This research encourages project managers to develop pertinent skills for crisis management and risk management in the engineering projects context. Furthermore, this study can guide decision-makers on how to manage risks during the crisis, and also highlights the importance of creating a lessons learned database. Originality / Value: The current study can contribute to companies catching lessons learned from literature, helping project managers to motivate the team during the crisis scenarios, to perform an effective struggle during the crisis, and to turn to the former position in a short time after the crisis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper offers the first systematic historical evidence on the role of a central actor in modern growth theory: the engineer. We construct a database on the share of engineers in the labor force during the Second Industrial Revolution (1870–1914) at the county level for the United States and the state and national levels for the Americas. These measures are robustly correlated with income today after controlling for literacy, other types of higher-order human capital (college graduates, lawyers, physicians, patenting) and demand-side factors, as well as after instrumenting engineering using the 1862 US Land Grant Colleges program. Differences in engineering density in 1880 accounted for 10% of the higher US county incomes today, while national disparities in engineering density can explain approximately a quarter of the income divergence in the Americas. To document the mechanisms through which engineering density works, we show how it is correlated with higher rates of technology adoption and structural transformation across intermediate time periods and with numerous measures of the knowledge economy today. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Domain-diverse research, that research which involves more than one domain of knowledge, has driven significant advances in science and technology. Recent interest has been shown in the United States for identifying and generalizing techniques for promoting success with such work. In this paper, an exemplar history of domain-diverse research is presented. Next, several forms of domain-diverse research are identified. A spotlight is cast on a particular type, known as "convergence". Convergence is a problem-solving approach that focuses on integrating the life sciences and medicine on the one hand, with the physical sciences and engineering on the other. Next, the design process is proposed as an organizing framework for domain-diverse teamwork. Finally, the need for research and training in the forming and running of such project groups is explored. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Existing literature argues for the urgent need to improve workplace and professional communication in the engineering field across the world. This paper reports on a study examining Chinese/English bilingual engineers' translanguaging practices in their communications in English-speaking high-tech corporations in the United States. Evidence showed that bilingual engineers translanguaged extensively to construct meaning to meet the diverse communication needs at their workplace, which enables them to demonstrate their professional talents and skills. However, when English was the sole language for the interaction, they struggled to sound like English native speakers to convey their ideas and present their work, which disadvantaged them professionally, socially and emotional as professionals. Therefore, this study calls for a creation of a translanguaging space in the workplace to empower bilingual engineers and also a need to modify engineering education programs that recognize multilingual competence of bilinguals and enhance the development of their English professional communication ability (speaking and writing) in higher education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores how professional engineers recognize and make sense of product defects in their everyday work. Such activities form a crucial, if often overlooked, part of professional engineering practice. By detecting, recognizing and repairing defects, engineers contribute to the creation of value and the optimization of production processes. Focusing on early-career engineers in an advanced steel mill in the United States, we demonstrate how learning specific ways of seeing and attending to defects take shape around the increasing automation of certain aspects of engineering work. Practices of sensing defects are embodied, necessitating disciplined eyes, ears, and hands, but they are also distributed across human and non-human actors. We argue that such an approach to technical work provides texture to the stark opposition between human and machine work that has emerged in debates around automation. Our approach to sensing defects suggests that such an opposition, with its focus on job loss or retention, misses the more nuanced ways in which humans and machines are conjoined in perceptual tasks. The effects of automation should be understood through such shifting configurations and the ways that they variously incorporate the perceptual practices of humans and machines. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presents updates on matters related to architecture and engineering as of May 2004. Award received by John F. Donohoe, founding director of Construction Institute; Profile of civil engineer Benjamin Wright; Overview of the book "Parting the Desert: The Creation of the Suez Canal," by Alfred A. Knopf.

Striving to remain a global leader in innovation, the United States continues prioritizing broadening participation in engineering and other STEM fields. For this reason, STEM outreach programs are increasingly popular and vital. However, few programs offer such outreach experiences at a large, national scale and intentionally situate those experiences in locations that enable access for African American youth. In this paper, we present a logic model that showcases the resources and components that can expand the reach of an effective program, outlining the programmatic components involved in executing the National Society of Black Engineers' Summer Engineering Experience for Kids (SEEK) program, which has effectively scaled to cities across the United States. Using SEEK as an instrumental case, we highlight what goes into offering a large-scale community-based STEM outreach program, emphasizing aspects that are most important to preserve during expansion into underserved communities. Key findings illustrate that maximizing the potential of recruiting and engaging youth from underserved populations may hinge on the ability of established programs to scale up their initiatives while establishing appropriate assessment plans to measure effectiveness. Additionally, embracing the ideals of collective impact provides an opportunity for such programs to progress their initiatives by replicating program designs in more communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development Trade Policy working paper titled "Modal Estimates of Services Barriers," by Nora Dihel and Ben Shepherd. It demonstrates improved approaches to measurement of services barriers by using alternative weighting methods and improved econometric specifications, such as data that include barriers affecting each mode of services supply and additional sector-specific regulatory variables. It provides illustration of improvements for banking, insurance, telecom, and distribution services in selected countries in Africa, Asia, and Latin America.

Little research has examined the associations between perceived inclusivity within informal science learning sites, youth program belonging and perceptions of program career preparation. This study explored relations between these factors at three timepoints (T1 = start of program, T2 = 3 months and T3 = 12 months after start). Participants were a diverse sample of 209 adolescents participating in STEM youth programs within informal science learning sites situated in the United States and United Kingdom (70% females: Mage = 15.27, SDage = 1.60), with 53.1% British and 64.1% non-White. Path analysis revealed that only perceptions of inclusivity for own social identity group (i.e., gender, ethnicity) at T1 were associated with T2 STEM youth program belonging. There was a significant indirect effect of T1 perceptions of inclusivity for one's own social identity groups on T3 perceptions of program career preparation via T2 program belonging. This study highlights that, over time, perceptions of inclusivity around youth's own social identity groups (i.e., gender and ethnicity/culture) are related to a sense of youth program belonging, which in turn is later associated with perceptions of program career preparation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Few women major in the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields at the undergraduate level. Given the drive to attract and retain students in general, and women in STEM in particular, educational institutions need to know what resources and services might help support these students in their work. This study seeks to provide a better understanding of how undergraduate women in STEM use the academic library. The study involved focus groups and interviews with women at a research-intensive university in the United States. Grounded theory principles provided a basis for analysis of the collected conversations. The findings from this study indicate that undergraduate women in STEM depend on the academic library as a quiet place to study where there are few distractions and technology is easily available. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Numerous efforts worldwide have been made to increase diversity in engineering and computer science (ECS), fields that pay well and promote upward mobility. However, in the United States (U.S.), females and students from underrepresented racial/ethnic minority groups (URM) still pursue ECS training far less than do their peers. The current study explored sex and racial/ethnic differences in ECS college enrollment as a function of math and verbal SAT score patterns (balanced or imbalanced) using an intersectional approach within a U.S. context. Data represented a census of students who took the SAT, graduated from all Virginia public high schools between 2006 and 2015, and enrolled in a 4-year college (N = 344,803). Results: Our findings show, within each sex, URM students were at least as likely as their non-URM peers to enroll in ECS programs when they scored within similar SAT score ranges. Students were more likely to enroll in ECS programs if their SAT profile favored math, compared to students with similar math and verbal SAT scores (balanced profile). This overall pattern is notably less pronounced for URM female students; their propensity to major in ECS appeared to be largely independent of verbal scores. Conclusions: Our findings inform strategies to diversify ECS enrollment. If programs continue to emphasize SAT scores during admission decisions or if more systemic issues of resource allocation in secondary schools are not addressed, other efforts to broaden participation in ECS programs may fall short of goals. Our findings also highlight the importance of considering the intersection of sex and race/ethnicity for recruitment or other educational promotions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Owing to the increased reliance on software applications and the need to evaluate and conduct projects in a timely manner with required results, the Systems Development Life Cycle (SDLC) has become essential to achieving the right products in the requisite period. The military carries out various projects ranging from hardware military equipment to software applications. The paper focuses on the application of SDLC in the military sector. In order to achieve this, secondary research was carried out to get a view of solutions used in the military sector. The authors aim to highlight the common SDLC models and their applications in the military subdivision. This is followed by a review of literature on the militaries' take on SDLC and the preferred approaches, with a brief look at the Business Capability Lifecycle (BCL). The BCL was noted to be the best SDLC model for military hardware and software applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gender differences in science and engineering (S&E) have been studied in various countries. Most of these studies find that women are underrepresented in the S&E workforce and publish less than their male peers. The factors that contribute to gender differences in experience and performance in S&E careers can vary from one country to another, yet they remain underexplored. This paper is among the first to systematically compare gender differences in the publication productivity of academic scientists and engineers with doctoral degrees in the U.S. and China. Findings from negative binomial regressions show that women publish less than their male counterparts in science but not in engineering in the U.S. In China, women do not differ from men in publication productivity in science but publish more than their male counterparts in engineering. In addition, we find that some background variables affect men's and women's publication productivity differently. The findings are analyzed in the context of the different cultures of the two fields (science vs. engineering) and of the two countries (the U.S. and China). Limitations and policy implications are also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

What is engineering? What do engineers do? How is engineering related to, but distinct from, science? These questions all relate to the nature of engineering (NOE), and as engineering is incorporated into K‐12 education across the United States, the NOE is becoming increasingly important for students and teachers. While many policy documents call for students to learn more about the structure of the engineering discipline, little has been done to define the NOE construct. This paper presents key dimensions of the NOE via a framework synthesized from studies of the engineering discipline from philosophical, historical, and sociological perspectives, as well as perspectives from within the engineering field. The framework identifies and elaborates nine features of engineering, each of which capture an important aspect of the NOE. For teachers, these features serve as points of entry for discussing NOE ideas with students. For researchers, the features provide a set of constructs to guide future inquiries into teachers' and students' NOE knowledge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigated the factors that underlie the relationship between work–family conflict (WFC) and women engineers' intention to leave the occupation. The study draws from three theories: Conservation of Resources (COR) theory, turnover theory, and Rhodes and Doering's (1983) integrated model of career change. We proposed that both work interference with family (WIF) and family interference with work (FIW) influence women's intention to leave an engineering occupation by decreasing their commitment to the occupation. Using insights from the above theories and models, we further examined how perceptions of support from the organization changed the relationship between commitment to the occupation and intention to leave the occupation, as well as how conflict between work and family was related to intention to leave the occupation. We tested our predictions using time‐lagged data from a sample of 245 women engineers. The results revealed that occupational commitment mediated and explained the positive relationship between FIW and occupational turnover intentions but not the relationship between WIF and occupational turnover intentions. In addition, perceptions of organizational support influenced the relationship between occupational commitment and occupational turnover intentions and also the indirect relationship between FIW and occupational turnover intentions. Theoretical and practical implications of the findings as well as future research directions are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The incorporation of Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics (STEAM) into library programming is a continuing trend in the United States. At the Mount Prospect Public Library (MPPL) in Illinois, there are many STEAM programs in-house that focus on science and technology, but we were looking for ways to add it to outreach programming. Our receipt of the Association for Library Service to Children's (ALSC) Building STEAM with Día grant allowed us to build upon an established Día de los Niños, Día de los Libros (Día) program. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Contribution: This study contributes to efforts to diversify the field of engineering by studying the influence of co-curricular activities on African American students’ development of key nontechnical professional skills. Background: The 21st Century workforce requires significant collaboration and communication. For engineering graduates to meet workforce challenges, they must graduate with nontechnical skills. This study operationalized these skills using traits identified in the National Academy of Engineering’s (NAE) “Engineer of 2020” report. The NAE also points to the urgent need for the United States to diversify its workforce; broadening the participation of African American engineers is key to doing so. Co-curricular activities help students develop nontechnical professional skills and are particularly important to African Americans at predominantly White institutions (PWIs). Research Question: How do African American engineering students attending PWIs in the United States develop nontechnical professional skills through participation in ethnic-specific co-curricular activities? Methodology: This qualitative study explored the lived experiences of 16 participants from one of six engineering disciplines. Each participant was a member of at least one of the following organizations: a Black fraternity or sorority (termed Black Greek Letter organizations), their campus student chapter of the National Society of Black Engineers, or an institution-sponsored program for racially underrepresented students such as a minority engineering program. Findings: Data analysis revealed significant evidence that involvement in one or more of the studied ethnic-specific co-curricular activities enhanced African American engineering students’ educational experiences by providing resources and opportunities to help them develop professional skills. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: To meet the growing demand for the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) workforce and remain competitive in the fields of science and technology over the next decade, the United States is expected to need more than 1 million additional STEM professionals. This would require an annual increase of 34% in undergraduate STEM degrees over the next decade to meet the projected need. Purpose: This study examined the relationship between Advanced Placement (AP) STEM course‐taking in high school and selection of college STEM majors and whether the relationship differs by gender and race/ethnicity. Design/Method: For controlling student and school factors, a binary logistic regression model with the clustered standard error was utilized to determine the relationship between AP STEM course‐taking and STEM major selection. Multinomial logistic regression was conducted to further understand how AP STEM course‐taking was associated with engineering major selection. The analysis included a series of interaction effects tests, examining the variation of gender and racial/ethnic differences in STEM and, more specifically, engineering major selection as a function of AP STEM course‐taking. Results: Findings indicate gender and AP STEM course exposure are significant in predicting STEM major selection. Interaction effects test results further show that the relationship between AP STEM course‐taking and STEM major selection varies significantly by gender. A similar pattern is found in the relationship between AP STEM course‐taking and engineering major selection. Conclusion: This study provides much‐needed empirical evidence to understand the relationships between AP STEM courses course‐taking in high school and the selection of college STEM majors and how such relationships vary by race/ethnicity and gender. Additional research is encouraged to inform future educators and policymakers in promoting equity for students in pursuing paths to STEM and, more specifically, engineering‐related careers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Citing their students' low levels of empathy, medical educators have scrambled to implement curricula with the hopes of buffering against the corrosive effects of biomedical and clinical experiences in medical school. The assumption undergirding these studies by social scientists and medical educators alike is that immersion in biomedical education and clinical experience erodes students' empathic capacities, and that exposure to humanities and social sciences content will amend these losses. But we do not know if this assumption is correct. In this project, we empirically assess this assumption by utilizing a unique data set constructed from student applicant and survey data from the American Medical College Application Service (AMCAS) and the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC). We test whether medical school students (N = 8255) from the United States (U.S.) with different academic backgrounds represented by their college major have different levels of empathy, net of demographic control variables. We report two findings. First, we find that students who majored in humanities or interpretive social sciences disciplines have higher empathy scores than their peers who majored in the positivistic social sciences and STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) disciplines. Second, we find that the relationship between empathy and time in medical school is more nuanced than we would expect from the existing literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper seeks to examine how federal financial support of academic scientists shapes their collaborative behavior. More specifically, it investigates two questions: (i) are there threshold sizes of federal grants that have effects on collaboration? and (ii) do the threshold sizes differ by discipline? To test and model these questions, this paper uses data collected in a 2004-2005 survey by the Research Valuing Mapping Project (a project based at Georgia Tech and led by Barry Bozeman) of 2,086 academically based research scientists and engineers. The analysis in this paper reaffirms the positive relationship between federal funding and collaboration seen in previous works, but the findings suggest that there is in fact a threshold effect-as the positive relationship has a diminishing influence. The findings of this paper are more limited with respect to how academic disciplines' threshold levels differ. The results indicate a difference in the threshold levels between disciplines for three of the eight models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to describe specific techniques of "inquiry-based learning" employed by three instructors in Engineering schools, one in Europe and two in the USA. Design/methodology/approach – Theorists such as Bransford et al. argue that twenty-first century educators need to teach students to do more than simply remember and repeat information. Engineering educators Prince and Felder critique traditional methods of teaching in which instructors focus on mathematics and theory, but fail to convey practical applications of that knowledge. They advocate moving students to a higher level of learning – past the stage of memorizing and reciting data – to more sophisticated methods of analysis, synthesis, and application of knowledge. To enact such transformations, Prince and Felder recommend "inductive teaching methods," including "inquiry-based learning," in which students learn through engaging with challenges and a series of questions. The paper provides examples of inquiry-based learning activities from each of the authors. The paper then discusses the cross-pollination of ideas and describes how the authors have shared inquiry-based teaching strategies and collaborated to develop new and relevant assignments and approaches to teaching. Findings – The willingness of learners to discuss a range of pedagogical topics, from specific practices to shared experiences and readings, led to an exchange of ideas, and also to deeper reflections on current practices. The cross-pollination of assignments and techniques resulted in well-structured, stimulating, and relevant research projects that engage engineering students from Texas to Portugal, and from communication to technical classes. Research limitations/implications – The use of inquiry-based learning activities and the sharing of resources across continents aimed at improving learning and teaching requires expanding upon and further development. Originality/value – The paper demonstrates the use of cross-pollination of ideas, development of assignments and improved approaches to teaching. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This 12-month ethnographic study of an early entrant into the U.S. car-sharing industry demonstrates that when an organization shifts its focus from developing radical new technology to incrementally improving this technology, the shift may spark an internal power struggle between the dominant engineering group and a challenger occupational group such as the marketing group. Analyzing 42 projects in two time periods that required collaboration between engineering and marketing during such a shift, we show how cross-occupational collaboration under these conditions can be facilitated by a radical flank threat, through which the bargaining power of moderates is strengthened by the presence of a more-radical group. In the face of a strong threat by radical members of a challenger occupational group, moderate members of the dominant engineering group may change their perceptions of their power to resist challengers’ demands and begin to distinguish between the goals of radical versus more-moderate challengers. To maintain as much power as possible and prevent the more-dramatic change in engineering occupational goals demanded by radical challengers, moderate engineers may build a coalition with moderate challengers and collaborate for incremental technology development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

People with disabilities have been historically marginalised and consistently underrepresented at all levels of education. In the U.S., the Individuals with Disabilities Act (IDEA) in the 1970s changed the landscape for primary and secondary education, increasing access for many students. In 1990, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) was passed, and since that time students with disabilities have entered postsecondary institutions at greater rates. While in 2001, only about 5% of college students identified as having a disability, more recent estimates put the proportion of undergraduate students with disabilities at approximately 11%. Despite this growth, only 5% of post-baccalaureate students report having a disability relative to undergraduate students. This raises the question of how accessible graduate and professional education is for students with disabilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Increased efforts to diversify science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education in the United States have drastically increased the number of studies offering insight into the experiences of women in STEM programs in higher education. This paper presents a thematic review of the literature regarding their status from 2007 to 2017 including journals, trade magazines, theses, and dissertations. It focuses on areas of recruitment, retention, barriers, and faculty issues. Stereotypes, biases, campus culture, classroom experiences, identity, and sense of belonging are also explored. The author additionally identifies gaps and suggests related areas for new research as well as implications for librarians. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In this current era of the fourth industrial revolution, the fifth generation of distance education has held out hopes of unique opportunities for engineering. With the aim of investigating the field of engineering through distance education, this study conducted a systematic review involving text‐mining and social network analysis to examine 120 publications on this topic. The time trend analysis found that there has been a steadily increasing interest in engineering through distance education. Analysis of subject areas revealed that a considerable amount of the publications on engineering through distance education falls under the social sciences subject area, suggesting that there is a need for more interdisciplinary studies. In examining the geographical distribution of the publications, it was observed that most contributions come from the United States, a developed country that has invested heavily in educating students through distance education. The research patterns identified through text‐mining and social network analysis revealed three major themes: (I) technology‐enhanced distance engineering education, (II) e‐learning and m‐learning, and (III) virtual and remote labs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent documents pertaining to K-12 education have fostered a connection between engineering and science education to help better prepare our students and future citizens to better meet the current and future challenges of our modern and technological society. With that connection, there has been a concerted effort to raise the visibility of engineering within K-12 science education, which is reflected in the Framework for K-12 Science Education and the recently released Next Generation Science Standards. As states look towards the adoption and implementation of the Next Generation Science Standards, it is important to take a deeper look at the shift in K-12 science education that is being suggested by these documents and what that means in terms of the potential changes for states that have chosen to adopt these standards. The main research question that has guided the work for this paper is: What is the extent and quality of the engineering that is present in state science standards and the Next Generation Science Standards? This paper will present a detailed analysis of the landscape of engineering in K-12 policy before and after the release of the NGSS through a comparative case study of academic state science standards and Next Generation Science Standards. This comparison provides insight into what the widespread adoption of the NGSS would mean in terms of potential changes in the way we implement science education in the United States. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 52: 296-318, 2015 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article describes a program session that focused on publishers’ experiences launching Open Access (OA) journals and lessons learned. The speakers discussed the current journal marketplace, current journal business models, and the possible shape of the OA landscape and marketplace in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article examines the role of technology in the selection of targets in a merger. Held technology should have a notable impact, especially in contexts in which specific know-how resides with experts as well as within organizational routines that are difficult to reproduce. By acquiring a target, firms obtain novel technologies, along with the knowledge and capabilities necessary to implement them. Such acquisitions become more relevant as the complexity of the technologies increases. With a focus on the US hospital market--in which technology is a relevant factor and complexity has been growing--the hypotheses tests use data from 222 mergers and acquisitions that took place between 1985 and 2000. The results confirm that technology is a fundamental driver of the US hospital consolidation process: hospitals prefer targets that hold a different set of technologies from their own, especially when those technologies are complex and involve some know-how that is difficult to replicate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The prolific (exceptionally high producers of scholarly publications) are strategic to the study of academic science. The highly prolific have been drivers of research activity and impact and are a window into the stratification that exists. For these reasons, we address key characteristics associated with being highly prolific. Doing this, we take a social-organizational approach and use distinctive survey data on both social characteristics of scientists and features of their departments, reported by US faculty in computer science, engineering, and sciences within eight US research universities. The findings point to a telling constellation of hierarchical advantages: rank, collaborative span, and favorable work climate. Notably, once we take rank into account, gender is not associated with being prolific. These findings have implications for understandings of being prolific, systems of stratification, and practices and policies in higher education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract  The use of empirical studies with students in software engineering helps researchers gain insight into new or existing techniques and methods. However, due mainly to concerns of external validity, questions have been raised about the value of these types of studies. The authors of this paper draw on their experiences of conducting a large number of empirical studies in university courses in three countries (Italy, Norway, and the United States) to address this important issue. This paper first identifies the requirements that research and pedagogy place on a valid empirical study with students. This information is then used as the basis for a checklist that provides guidance for researchers and educators when planning and conducting studies in university courses. The goal of this checklist is to help ensure that these studies have as much research and pedagogical value as possible. Finally, an example application of the checklist is provided to illustrate its use. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study focuses on developing a unified approach to define information specificities for key performance indicators (KPIs). Borrowing from the time-system theory, the paper defines different types of KPI and identifies that a KPI has two dimensions—knowledge specificity and time specificity. Different approaches are presented to analyze knowledge and time sensitivities. This paper addresses a key question related to enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems applications in the engineering construction industry: what are the areas of business processes within the engineering construction industry where ERP cannot be used to collect KPIs related to business processes? The writers review empirical and specialized processes within the construction industry to identify business processes not covered by existing ERP systems. A survey focused on qualitative aspects of ERP systems implementation in engineering construction firms was conducted among ERP-enablers in the construction industry and provided a basis for the presented case study. Data collected are from major engineering and construction firms in the United States and therefore the results are relevant for researchers and industry practitioners concerned with application of enterprise management systems in the respective firms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a comparative analysis of three different infrastructure assessment tools currently used by the U.S. Army’s combat engineer small units (squad, platoon, company). The infrastructure assessment tools included one pen and paper checklist and two software-based tools based on specialized handheld hardware for data collection in combat conditions. Evaluation was conducted using macroergonomic and applied cognitive task analysis methods with soldiers of varying levels of infrastructure assessment expertise. Each assessment method was evaluated based on performance (time, errors, and accuracy) and usability (ergonomic and cognitive challenges). We found that soldiers documented more accurate data using handheld digital devices instead of pen-and-paper assessment forms, but there was little difference in time between the methods. Contrary to initial expectation, we also found that most soldiers prefer a slightly more difficult to use handheld assessment device with customized checklists rather than an easier to use, less restrictive device. Critiques developed by this research can be used to improve engineering and construction organizations as well as add to our design guidelines for portable infrastructure assessment tools and methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presents information on architectural and engineering education at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Educational programs in architecture; Information on graduate program in computational design; Educational programs in civil and environmental engineering.

After eminent thinkers in the 1960s submitted critical views on technology, some philosophers of technology extended their macro perspectives. Since then, many historians and sociologists of technology steadily marginalized their general claims through richly empirical, constructivist case studies of concrete engineering processes. Some recent efforts have begun to bridge these two diverging orientations. This paper participates in such efforts with a case study of relationships between macro cultures and engineering processes. It shows that behind the adoption of systems engineering by engineers and managers who led the Apollo programme was a macro current of social values in the USA. Post-war American society saw the rise of highly individualistic social norms that valued mobility, meritocracy and clear-cut contractual working relationships. Such norms triumphed most conspicuously in the federal government during the 1960s. Engineers and managers at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) headquarters, who tended to share such values, refined the formalized, depersonalized methods of systems engineering, which enabled them to perfect space technology. In order to show such a correlation between macro values and micro practices, this paper draws a comparison between engineering communities in different cultural settings in the USA and Japan. This paper thus explores the macro social environment that gave rise to systems engineering, which, in turn, continues to function as a skeletal structure for our technological society today. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pole building construction has gained popularity in the Midwestern United States due to its low cost and rapid construction applications. Farm and agricultural buildings, low-rise commercial units, and some storage facilities have utilized this type of construction technique. This paper reviews some common features of pole buildings and presents a case study for stricter construction supervision by design professionals, contractors, and building officials, alike. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article provides fresh insights into the life of Henry L. Gantt by examining the papers of Duncan C. Lyle (1847-1938), Grant's confidant, friend, and former teacher at the McDonogh's School in Maryland. Lyle's papers at the McDonogh School include previously unrecorded articles and personal letters of Gantt's along with articles about him. These materials reveal new information about Gantt during his collaboration with Frederick W. Taylor and during his later years when he acted independently. Of particular interest are items pertaining to Gantt's involvement with a group called The New Machine and the question of Gantt's sanity in his later years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Managers, research administrators, and policy makers need a greater understanding of the factors that drive employment preferences of foreign science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) doctoral graduates of U.S. universities. To address this need, the authors report the results of a large multischool conjoint survey of return-migration preferences among U.S. STEM doctoral students from China. The survey presents the respondents with potential job offers and yields individual-level estimates of each respondent's indirect utility of a job as a function of location, job status, and salary. The authors use a delayed follow-up choice task to demonstrate stability of the preference estimates both over time and across response modalities. The estimated preferences imply that Chinese doctoral graduates tend to remain in the United States because of a large salary disparity between the two countries rather than because of an inherent preference for locating in the United States. Given these estimated preferences, the authors conduct several policy-relevant, counterfactual simulations of return-migration choice and outline effective targeting and positioning strategy for attracting Chinese STEM talent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]