Exploring academic factors affecting engineeringgraduate student research proficiency

Abstract

It is paramount that engineering graduate students are proficient in research for research is the centerpiece of graduate-level engineering education. In order for graduate student research deficiencies to be resolved, factors affecting research proficiency for various types of graduate students must be understood. Unfortunately, graduate-level research deficiencies are cited sporadically in literature and are often studied using anecdotal data, so many deficiencies existing globally have not been resolved definitively. Despite the lack of documented findings, we discovered much about student research proficiency in our environmental engineering graduate program through sustained student assessment. Academic preparation to perform research, organization in executing research, and research progress are general metrics we used to quantify research proficiency in two assessment studies. Analysis of more-specific variables indicated significant research deficiencies for a large number of students assessed. Variances in assessed proficiency were correlated to factors such as graduate degree program, length of graduate study tenure, academic background, and studentadvisor communication. Student motivations for study are tied to research proficiency. We assessed student perceptions of research success criteria that included learning achieved, professional development, progress toward graduation, and number of papers published; we learned that students overall value personal advancement/enrichment criteria over paper-publishing criteria that some faculty members consider to be very important metrics for research success. However, we found variances in perceptions of importance correlated to the demographic factors degree program and length of study tenure. In our program, assessment studies isolated potential causes of and conditions associated with graduate student research deficiency. With collected data, students and faculty members in our program are seeking to provide better guidance for graduate students in research. Deficiencies we discovered are common on the global scale, but sustained student assessment shows promise in being the first step towards definitive solutions. © American Society for Engineering Education, 2007.