Purdue School of Engineering Education Assistant Professor Kirsten Davis is the recipient a National Science Foundation Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Award to fund her research.

CAREER awards recognize faculty who have the potential to serve as academic role models in research and education and to lead advances in the mission of their department or organization. The five-year grants are NSF’s most prestigious award in support of early career faculty.

Davis’ project titled, “Characterizing the Process of Global Formation for Engineers,” builds on prior research in which she explores how engineering students develop the skills necessary to function in a globalized engineering work environment. Davis contends that working in international and intercultural teams can enhance innovation, but only when engineers have the skills necessary to support such collaboration. Her CAREER Award will fund a comparison of student learning for engineering students between travel (e.g., study abroad, internship abroad) and non-travel intercultural learning formats (e.g., global courses, domestic internships). Understanding how each opportunity enhances essential skills in the learning process will support the development of curricular and co-curricular experiences for all engineering students, regardless of whether they are able to travel abroad. Her project will begin in August.

"I am excited to explore different ways that engineering students can develop the skills necessary to do engineering work in a globalized work environment," Davis said. "It's particularly important to develop both travel and non-travel options so that all engineering students have opportunities to develop these skills. My project aims to help us understand what elements are essential in different formats to enhance student learning."

The project also will produce two online educational modules that can be used to enhance learning in experiential programs and provide workshop and webinar training to educators in how to implement these modules.