Assessing the outcomes of student involvement in research: educational outcomes in an engineering research center

摘要

The academic literature on NSF's Engineering Research Center (ERC) program to date has been characterized with an emphasis that is somewhat disconnected from the stated goals of the program. The ERC program was established to accomplish two main goals: to improve engineering research and education so that engineers training in US universities can more readily contribute to engineering practice; and to train engineers in industry-relevant ways to improve industrial competitiveness. However, the bulk of academic writing on this program has focused on evaluating outcomes that are indirectly related to the core program mission, such as new products and processes acquired by firms, patents and licensing revenues, etc. To address this gap, this study assesses how ERCs affect student educational and training outcomes. Using survey data from a study of students affiliated with the Mid-America Earthquake Centre, this study assesses how center experiences affect the educational effects of ERCs.