Enrichment activities in support of a student integrated intern research experience

Abstract

A national need exists for increasing the number of United States citizens who complete engineering degrees. The Student Integrated Intern Research Experience (SIIRE) program at the University of Arkansas, now in its second year, provides financial support to students from all engineering departments within the College of Engineering. Through scholarships and integrated industry supported work experiences with on-campus research activities, SIIRE provides a pathway to a graduate engineering degree. Progress made in the first year of the SIIRE program will be discussed including the process used for the selection of the inaugural cohort of students. A set of activities designed to mentor and enrich the professional development of the SIIRE students will be described including summer work experience, research experience, professional development, faculty mentoring and peer mentoring. The professional development activities are designed to target specific points in the students' plan of study. They include various topics such as preparation of a personal development plan (sophomore level), resume writing and job search skills (sophomore and senior level), developing research skills (junior level), seven habits of highly effective people (senior level), writing and presenting an engineering-based business case (junior level), and presenting and communication research (M.S. level). © American Society for Engineering Education, 2014.