Creating and sustaining productive research groups in graduate engineering departments: Results from a faculty and future facultyworkshop

Abstract

In July 2011, 45 engineering graduate students, postdoctoral researchers, faculty members and administrators from 33 universities across the country met to discuss how to foster successful engineering graduate research groups. This paper summarizes the recommendations and conclusions from this meeting. Analysis of workshop discussions yielded four major themes: clarity of expectations, attending to community, organization for group and peer learning, and structuring student development towards independence. In this paper, we provide an overview of the workshop organization and expand on the findings from the workshop, presenting detailed examples and recommendations across a wide range of disciplines, types of universities, and levels of faculty experiences. Specific findings centered on the idea that expectations should be made clear to students as early as possible. We conclude with the implications for the graduate engineering community and offer recommendations for faculty members interested in continuing this discussion at their institution. © 2012 American Society for Engineering Education.