Students' Changing Images of Engineering and Engineers. Research Brief

This study analyzes the images of engineers and engineering that students construct over the course of their undergraduate engineering educations. Students in their first year of study to become engineers knew very little about the work they would be doing as an engineer and their expectations were more specific, hopeful, and high status than reported in subsequent years. This may not be surprising, but it was found that even after four years studying engineering, participating in co-ops and internships, working as undergraduate researchers, and being involved in engineering organizations, some students' images of their lives as engineers and their engineering work, remained virtually unchanged.