Written by Kaycie Lane, PhD, PE

Training future engineers is an important task. We need engineers who are not just technically trained and certified professionals in their field, but also engineers who evolve with changing technological tools and understand the social factors that influence their designs.

So, why does it sometimes seem like all we hear as academics and consulting engineers is, “young engineers aren’t career ready”? Is this really true? If so, what needs to change?

There are two viewpoints and experiences to consider when examining “readiness” of young engineers: (1) the academics producing Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET)-accredited engineers and (2) the consulting companies and other agencies hiring those same engineers.

On the academic side of things, here are some of the challenges our professors are facing when trying to train young engineers:

  • Changing accreditation requirements, both from inside and outside the university
  • University-level budget constraints and changing leadership
  • Students coming into engineering are underprepared (and this is not to be blamed on COVID-19; challenges with basic algebra, trigonometry, and other topics predate and postdate the pandemic)
  • A push from employers to make sure engineers are proficient in Computer-Aided Design (CAD), Civil 3D, Geographic Information Systems (GIS), Python, Excel, etc. which needs to be balanced with other design-based courses
  • Professor jobs are not 100% teaching – research grants matter and have a huge impact on where professors spend time
  • Rigorous requirements for promotion and tenure that take time away from teaching
  • A need to update pedagogical methods and course delivery but not enough time to do so given other job responsibilities

On the consulting side of things, here are some of the challenges our engineers are facing when hiring and retaining young engineers:

  • A lack of experience with necessary programming tools or software
  • Poor communication skills that lead to ineffective and inefficient time management
  • No time for prioritized on-the-job training due to the natural ebb and flow of ongoing projects
  • Mentoring programs that are available but may fall short when timelines require focus on project delivery
  • No training in how to mentor or deliver on-the-job training and skill building, leading to a reliance on outside resources which can undermine team building and retention if young engineers do not feel a sense of belonging in the company

Is there a disconnect between academia and consulting? As an academic and consultant, myself, I say no. We want the same thing. The challenge is not a misalignment; the challenge is sharing the load in such a way that neither academics nor consultants are excessively overburdened. Both academics and consultants feel the strain of being asked to do more with fewer resources. This means we need to forge better relationships with each other that reframe training engineers not just as the job of either professors or consultants, but as a collaboration between both.

Some have suggested visiting clubs and career fairs to check the box. That’s a start, but it’s not meaningful collaboration. We need to move beyond consultants and academics only catering to the students who have time for clubs and career fairs; the past strategy of weeding out students based on grades and privilege no longer serves the engineering industry. We need all of our graduates to be successful, not just those that have the time and access to the traditional methods of collaboration between universities and consultants. Professors who are also consultants, like myself, teach students some of the important lessons learned from working at engineering firms but it’s not enough. Students need to interact with consultants and learn for themselves the importance of the career they have chosen.

Being both an academic and consultant, I don’t have all of the answers to how industry-academic partnerships can be structured, but I have some ideas that I have tried in practice that have been meaningful to my students:

  1. Bringing in guest speakers to class instead of club meetings so that all students can benefit from interactions with consultants. As an example, Steve Burian, President and CEO of Burian & Associates, gave a recent talk on the Safe Drinking Water Act, Surface Water Treatment Rule, and aquatic invasive species in the University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s (UNL) Environmental Microbiology junior-level course. Students were asked to review information about drinking water regulations ahead of class and to turn in at least two questions for Steve as a way to get students actively engaged in the talk. This led to about 75% of the students getting to ask a consultant questions about his experience in the field, not just the students who would have attended the talk through a club meeting.
  2. Supporting project-based courses, not just limited to senior design. Project-based learning has gained a foothold in engineering education and provides students with real-world experiences prior to graduation. Finding these projects is tough work! If consultants team up not just with senior design classes, but with other design classes, we can generate a pipeline where students enter their careers with more design experience than in the past. As an example, DigDeep Appalachia worked with students in UNL’s Water and Wastewater Design course to generate initial ideas for rural drinking water and wastewater solutions in four communities. The students noted in class reflections that they felt they learned more by having to work with a real-world client than if the class had been structured with classic tests. I’ve also had “PE Project Review Days” where I bring in one professional engineer for every 3-4 students and let the students discuss their initial design drafts with real-world engineers. Students have found this activity to be eye-opening: they learn that the textbook and reference manuals are a good starting point but need an engineer’s judgement and expertise to be properly applied.
  3. Let’s share facilities instead of siloing them. Universities have labs, research facilities, computer labs, and highly trained professors who are specialists in their field. Consultants have software licenses, established clients, offices and collaboration spaces, and professional engineers with a wealth of experience. Right now, those resources don’t get shared as often as they could be. Why not use a university lab to run water quality samples? Why not have a professor give a talk for continuing education at your consulting company? Students could get involved with either activity as well and would also see how academics and consultants work together. As a personal example, working with Burian & Associates, LLC allowed me to finish obtaining my four years of experience working under a professional engineer so that I could finish obtaining my professional license. My students know I work as a consultant and I have shared how important it was to me to become a Professional Engineer, which leads to discussions in classes about the licensure process, how non-traditional students can balance working part time and still obtain their Engineer-in-Training status, when to take the Fundamentals of Engineering Exam, etc. These small connections of academics to consultants start a cascading effect that make students aware of all possible career opportunities and the steps they need to take to become engineers.
  4. Academics shadow consultants and consultants shadow academics. Let’s face it: how many professors really know what consultants do in the field if they have never been a consulting engineer themselves? This is part of the reason I work part-time with Burian & Associates: I need to stay connected to the consulting engineering industry so I can make sure my course content stays relevant to the reality of the careers my students will have. And let’s be honest: consultants also don’t always understand the daily academic life either. Our students will tell you we’re hard to track down because when we’re not in class, we’re preparing content, applying for grants, serving on committees, attending office hours, and answering endless emails. I propose we fill this gap by learning more about what each of us do on a daily basis so we both have a better understanding of how we can partner to ensure our young engineers are successful.

These ideas are a starting point. Every year we will see articles about how the world is changing (as the only thing that is certain is change) and how our younger generations are not prepared for the workforce as it is. This has been happening for generations and will continue to happen for generations. However, it doesn’t mean we can’t try as academics and consultants to partner with each other to train young engineers to be flexible, innovative, and clear communicators. The responsibility does not fall to one person or institution: it’s industry-academic partnerships that will provide us with the best educated, prepared, and well-rounded future engineers.