About this Abstract |
| Meeting |
2026 TMS Annual Meeting & Exhibition
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| Symposium
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Preparing Undergraduate and Graduate Students - and the Faculty who Prepare Them - for Materials Careers (The Judson Education Symposium)
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| Presentation Title |
Transfer Students in Materials-Intensive Engineering: Understanding the Impediments to Professional Development and Success |
| Author(s) |
Dwayne D. Arola, Lilo Pozzo, Eleftheria Roumeli, Junlan Wang |
| On-Site Speaker (Planned) |
Dwayne D. Arola |
| Abstract Scope |
Through support of the National Science Foundation, a team of educators at the University of Washington and regional colleges established an S-STEM program focused on materials engineering. The primary objective was to increase the number of academically talented students that transfer into the "materials-intensive" engineering departments, graduate with bachelor’s or master’s degrees, and then pursue materials careers. Results showed that transfer students experience two impediments that interfere with their professional development. The first is “transfer tunnel vision (TTV)”, which develops within community college and is a misconception of what recruiters look for. The second is that transfer students have limited time to overcome their TTV and engage in professional development. Results of exit surveys for the S-STEM program showed that the most effective tool to overcome these two debilitating factors is to meet with peer graduates in industry that simply explain the greater importance of extracurricular “hands-on” activities. |
| Proceedings Inclusion? |
Planned: |