01666297

Component

https://doi.org/10.1177/0361198118757968

https://doi.org/10.1177/0361198118757968

Undergraduate students in engineering face many important decisions in the final 2 years of their degree program. These decisions can have an impact on long-term career choices, such as specialization area, career role of interest, and whether to apply to graduate school. Unfortunately, uninformed decisions can lead to missed opportunities, as well as the student potentially leaving science, technology, engineering, and mathematics education due to choosing a specialization that is not well aligned with their interests. This survey-based study assists students by analyzing the personality types, demographics, and career paths of 567 alumni that have earned an undergraduate degree in civil and environmental engineering (CEE) and are no longer enrolled in a university. Study findings include the fact that certain demographics, personality types, and job preferences are significant predictors of the final outcome of an alumni’s career when choosing between the different technical areas within CEE and professional roles. Family history of having an engineer in the immediate family did not prove to be a significant factor in these decisions. In addition, little significance was found between the data captured in the survey of whether or not someone would go on to earn a graduate degree in CEE. Given where significant relationships were found, it is recommended that future studies focus on testing additional personality types (e.g., is enthusiastic) and job traits (e.g., likes a desk job) to provide even greater distinctions between the technical areas and roles.

18-03163

English

pp 1-9

2018

Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board

Print

Figures (2) ; References (15) ; Tables (7)

Civil engineering; College students; Decision making; Demographics; Environmental engineering; Jobs; Personality; Surveys; Transportation careers

Education and Training; Transportation (General)

TRIS, TRB, ATRI

Dec 22 2017 10:37AM

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