Necessary Soft Skills for Today's Engineer

For years, researchers, students, educators and industry professionals have recognized the need for a general overhaul of engineering education programs. To meet today's challenges, engineering students must acquire a set of skills beyond technical proficiency: they must possess what have come to be known as soft skills. Using many different methods, researchers have attempted to create a definitive list of these soft skills and attributes that all new engineers should possess upon graduation. The aim of this paper is to collect the research that has been conducted so far in order to shed new light on this debate. The main skills identified fit into three different skill sets: interpersonal skills, an awareness of the world and attitude/thinking skills. The prevalence of specific skills in the literature indicates that a general consensus over which soft skills are crucial to the success of engineers can be identified and studied.


Pre-College STEM Education in the United States: An Overview of Where We Are and the State of STEM Curriculum and Outreach

The last decade has seen a tremendous decline in the number of American students enrolling in math and science programs, and those who do pursue a technical career are often ill-prepared for the challenges faced by the scientific community. In 2006, the National Academy of Science released a report entitled Rising Above the Gathering Storm, which warned that a lack of math and science literacy could constitute a long-term challenge to the strength of the national economy (Augustine 2006). As the world marketplace expands and trade barriers disappear, competition for jobs, both within and outside the field of engineering, is becoming progressively globalized. U.S. engineers are now competing with applicants from all over the world for jobs.  STEM education in the U.S. must be strong to produce qualified scientists, engineers, and scientifically literate citizens in order to maintain our nation’s economy and security (Bybee 2007a).


Effect of Doing a Science Fair Project on Students' Perceptions of Science

The purpose of this case study was to identify how 8-12 grade students, engaged in science fair projects under supervision of a university student, change their attitude toward science. The following questions guided this study: How does performing a real scientific inquiry change students’ perceptions of nature of science and scientist and interest in scientific disciplines? How do science fair projects reflect on students’ academic achievement in science disciplines? What other benefits exist in being involved in a real scientific inquiry? Data was collected through pre-and-post VNOS-HS scale (Schwartz et. al. 2001), semi-structured interviews, and journaling.