PhD Engineering – Engineering Education & Transformative Practice Emphasis

In a globally connected and rapidly changing world, engineers need to work across national, domain, and disciplinary boundaries to effectively address complex, socio-technical challenges. To fully assume this expanding responsibility of the engineering profession, we must transform the ways engineering students are educated at the undergraduate level and also equip future engineers at the graduate level with the skills and orientations to become boundary spanners and change leaders. The emphasis area Engineering Education and Transformative Practice addresses these related challenges in a novel, interdisciplinary PhD program.

This emphasis area within our PhD in Engineering prepares graduates for broad practice and academic applications at the intersection of human and technical systems. Through an innovative fusion of methods of social inquiry, knowledge of human development, and tools for positive change embedded in a context of deep technical competence, graduates are enabled to provide transformative leadership in a variety of educational, technical, and organizational settings. Upon graduation, students will be able to apply their unique skill set to a diverse range of contexts, including formal and informal education environments, engineering practice, learning organizations, social entrepreneurship, customer discovery, leadership, and policy.

Engineering Education and Transformative Practice builds on disciplinary strengths in engineering education research, the interdisciplinary breadth of a broad graduate course offering in a major liberal arts university, and the technical context of being embedded in the innovative education and research mission of our College of Engineering. This unique setting provides students with access to a broad range of content, variety of faculty expertise, and diverse application settings as the foundation for shaping their individual programs of study and research trajectories.

The area of emphasis comprises two broad pathways that frame the flexible and context-appropriate development of the individual plan of study and research.

Engineering Education focuses on the complex processes that underpin the learning and professional socialization of engineers across the k through gray spectrum. Areas of interest include, but are not limited to, questions of teaching and learning in university, k-gray, and informal settings; development of technical competence and broad professional attributes such as creativity, empathy, and ethical reasoning; the innovative use of technology in education; and issues of underrepresentation and inclusiveness in engineering.

Transformative Practice focuses on investigating and understanding engineering knowing and doing in contemporary engineering practice settings. Areas of investigation include, but are not limited to, engineering work at the intersection of organizational practices, disciplinary domains, and cutting-edge technological developments; professional development in interdisciplinary and inter-professional spaces; and collaboration, innovation and cross-domain integration that characterize engineering work in the context of 21st century, grand challenges.

Admission to the Emphasis

Students holding a B.S. degree or M.S. in engineering from an ABET accredited program or a B.S. or M.S. in a related field from an accredited institution are invited to apply for admission. The admission requirements to the Ph.D. in Engineering program apply.

Requirements

Candidates for the Ph.D. degree with an emphasis in Engineering Education and Transformative Practice are expected to acquire the skills, knowledge, and orientations that enable them to make creative and original contributions to their discipline at the national or international level. The philosophy of the area of emphasis is grounded in a diversity of possible pathways that rely on students’ agency and initiative in seeking out relevant coursework and interdisciplinary faculty expertise to support their chosen research trajectory.

Requirements for the area of emphasis include a minimum of 73 credit hours in the student’s program of study beyond the B.S. degree as follows:

Focus area courses (6 per area)*18
Elective course work*18
Graduate seminar1
Doctoral research (9000 or 9010)33
Doctoral dissertation (9300)3

 

*Across selected courses a minimum of 16 hours of 8000 or 9000 level courses and an additional 4 hours of courses open to only graduate students is required.

A thesis master’s degree from an accredited university may be accepted for up to 30 credit hours, in which case a minimum of 42 credit hours of approved course work, research and dissertation beyond the M.S. degree is required as follows:

Focus area courses (3 per area)*9
Elective Course work*6
Graduate seminar1
Doctoral research (9000 or 9010)23
Doctoral dissertation (9300)3

 

*Across selected courses a minimum of 15 hours of 8000 or 9000 level courses is required.

Course Work

The recommended course offering is organized in three focus areas. Individual programs of study will be developed collaboratively between the student and their major professor (see Course List with examples of courses in each focus area).

Engineering Education Core

The core engineering education courses provide an understanding of the landscape of this globally connected discipline. Individual course offerings focus on theories of learning and human development in engineering; contemporary issues in engineering formation; and research and evaluation methods in engineering education and practice contexts.

Social and Educational Inquiry Methods

The research methods courses draw on the broad offering of courses across the University of Georgia, including the College of Education. In line with the student’s research project, these courses can comprise offerings in the qualitative, quantitative, or mixed methods areas.

Application and Context

Course selection in the Application and Context area draws on the full breadth of graduate course offering in technical and non-technical fields that provide specific content, theory, or methods to support and ground the students’ chosen research trajectory.

Course List

The following list provides examples of the courses students can take in the three focus area. The selection of courses is neither comprehensive nor necessarily intended as a recommendation. The choice of specific courses is determined through the active suggestion of the student and in consultation with the major professor. In this manner students will work with their advisors and committee to design a program of study that best suits their particular research focus on career trajectory.

Engineering Formation Core

The core engineering formation courses provide an understanding of the landscape of this globally connected discipline. Individual course offerings focus on theories of learning and human development in engineering; contemporary issues in engineering formation; and research and evaluation methods in engineering education and practice contexts.

Students are expected to choose a minimum of 3 (6 for direct Ph.D.) credit hours from the following engineering formation core courses:

Current course offering:

  • ENED 8010: Introduction to Engineering Education Research and Methodology (3 hours)
  • ENED 8020: Current Issues as a Lens for the Integration of Engineering Education Research and Teaching Practice (3 hours)
  • ENED 8030: Educational Research and Evaluation Methods in Engineering (3 hours)
  • ENED 8040: Theories of Learning and Human Development in Contemporary Engineering Education Research (3 hours)

Courses planned / under development:

  • ENED XXXX: Foundations of Science and Technology Studies (3 hours)
  • ENED XXXX: Independent Study in Engineering Formation and Transformative Practice (3 hours)

Social and Educational Inquiry Methods

The research methods courses draw on the broad offering of courses across the University of Georgia, including the College of Education. In line with the student’s research project, these courses can comprise offerings in the qualitative, quantitative, or mixed methods areas.

Students are expected to choose a minimum of 3 (6 for direct Ph.D.) credit hours of advanced coursework in educational or social research methods. The following provides a list of example courses. This list is neither intended to be comprehensive nor constitute a recommendation – the choice of specific courses is determined through the active suggestion of the student and in consultation with the major professor.

  • ANTH(GEOG)(SOCI) 8430: Community-Engaged Research (Praxis) (3 hours)
  • EDHI 8200: Institutional Research (3 hours)
  • EDHI 8910: Quantitative Methods in Higher Education I (3 hours)
  • EDHI 8930: Qualitative Research in Higher Education (3 hours)
  • EDIT 8290: Design-Based Research Methods (3 hours)
  • ERSH 6200: Methods of Research in Education (3 hours)
  • ERSH 6300: Applied Statistical Methods in Education (3 hours)
  • ERSH 7250: Educational Program and Project Evaluation (3 hours)
  • ERSH 8610: Theories of Educational Measurement (3 hours)
  • ERSH 9210: Quantitative Design in Education (3 hours)
  • ETAP(QUAL) 8040: Video Ethnography of Education (3 hours)
  • QUAL 8400: Qualitative Research Traditions (3 hours)
  • QUAL 8575: Mixed Methods Approaches to Research (3 hours)
  • SOWK(MNPO) 7106: Evaluation of Community and Institutional Practices (3 hours)

Application and Context

Course selection in the Application and Context area draws on the full breadth of graduate course offering in technical and non-technical fields that provide specific content, theory, or methods to support and ground the students’ chosen research trajectory.

Students are expected to choose a minimum of 3 (6 for direct Ph.D.) credit hours of coursework to provide a deep understanding of the application context of their research project. The following provides a list courses in some example areas that a students’ dissertation may focus on.

Organizations

  • ALDR 7350: Team and Organizational Development (3 hours)
  • ALDR 8030E: Diffusion of Innovations (3 hours)
  • BUSN 7500: Business Ethics (1.5 – 3 hours)
  • ECHD 9080: Advanced Theories and Procedures of Group Work (3 hours)
  • ECON 8210: Industrial Economics I (3 hours)
  • MNML 7947: Social Entrepreneurship (3 hours)

Environment / Agriculture

  • AGCM 8100: Culture-Centered Communication and Engagement (3 hours)
  • ALDR 8500E: Change Theories in Environmental Conservation (3 hours)
  • ECOL 8730: Environmental Policy (3 hours)
  • EETH(JURI) 5870/7870: Environmental Dispute Resolution (2 hours)
  • PHIL(EETH) 4220/6220: Environmental Ethics (3 hours)

Diversity

  • AFAM(PSYC) 4500/6500: Psychology of Prejudice (3 hours)
  • ECHD 9320: Teaching and Diversity (3 hours)
  • ECHD 9930: Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion in Student Affairs (3 hours)
  • EFND(ANTH) 7150: Anthropology of Education (3 hours)
  • SOCI(AFAM) 6370: Sociology of Race and Ethnicity (3 hours)
  • WMST(AFAM) 4060/6060: Black Feminism (3 hours)

Educational Contexts

  • EBUS 5070/7070: Contemporary Entrepreneurship and Management Practices for Educators (3 hours)
  • ECHD 8290: Social Justice and Liberation Frameworks in School and Community    Settings (3 hours)
  • ECHD 9410: Organizational Development and Consultation in Higher Education (3 hours)
  • ECHD 9420: Advanced Theories of College Student Development (3 hours)
  • EDAP 8070: Ethics in Educational Leadership (3 hours)
  • EDHI 9040: Using Technology in the College Classroom (3 hours)
  • EDIT 8400: Games and Learning (3 hours)

K-12 Engineering Education

  • ECHD 8310: Social Justice Assessment and Program Evaluation in P-16 Settings (3 hours)
  • EDAP 8040: Social Psychology of Schools (3 hours)
  • EDEC 8030: Research Perspectives in Early Childhood Education (3 hours)

Engineering and Society

  • COMM 8350: The Rhetoric of Science (3 hours)
  • JURI 5580/7580: Law, Science, and Technology (3 hours)
  • PHIL(EETH) 4250/6250: Philosophy of Technology (3 hours)


Join a cutting-edge engineering program at a time-honored university

Apply Today Make A Gift