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International graduate students serving as teaching assistants constitute a major component of the teaching of undergraduate students at U.S. universities, particularly in engineering. Prior literature on these international teaching assistants (ITAs) generally characterizes their linguistic experiences as challenges. This characterization can be attributed to an institutional environment that is reluctant to accommodate diverse ways of speaking English. This study applies an intersectionality framework to explore the variations in ITAs' English-language experiences and the influence of the academic context on these experiences using semi-structured interviews and weekly reflections collected from seven engineering ITAs over a semester. Results of data analysis suggest that ITAs' English proficiency varies based on their prior exposure to English in their home countries, and their English competence improves through their teaching experiences in the United States. Participants' experiences also highlight a perceived expectation to not only use English while teaching but also to adapt to American English.

Background: Engineers' identification with their profession is crucial for persistence among engineering students and career professionals. Significant research has been conducted on various dimensions of identity in the engineering field. However, little is known about the ways students negotiate these dimensions as they construct professional identities within a single engineering discipline such as civil engineering. Purpose/Hypothesis: The purpose of this study is twofold in that we not only seek to enhance our understanding of professional identity formation but also to develop a theory that will allow future research to examine professional formation negotiations and processes through a single, interconnected lens. Design/Method: In this grounded theory study, semistructured interviews with 31 undergraduate students were conducted and analyzed using constant comparative techniques. Frameworks situated within identity theory served as sensitizing concepts and undergraduate civil engineering education served as context to initiate theory development. Results: The result of this study is the Negotiating Equilibrium: Advancing from Outsider to Insider model (the AOI model). This grounded theory model captures the dynamic process through which individuals iteratively integrate definitions of self and profession to develop professional identities during their undergraduate careers. Conclusions: This grounded theory model provides a new framework to capture the complex negotiation process of professional identity formation in undergraduate engineering students. Overall, this work contributes to ongoing conversations that promote the diversity of experiences and backgrounds of students to paint a more holistic and diverse picture of engineering students and of the engineering field.

In this work, we examined the problem of preparing future faculty (graduate students) regarding their development in multiple roles, focusing on students in science and engineering disciplines. The purpose of the presented research was to address the questions, "Do graduate students believe that their current experiences align with the roles they will perform in their academic careers?" and "How do graduate students' perceptions of their professional roles change during the process of constructing portfolios?" We used the theoretical lens of role identity to guide this work; academic careers are typically categorized in terms of teaching, research, and service, which can be mapped as professional identity roles. We conducted a survey and focus groups with participants working through an ePortfolio development curriculum. Our findings suggest that there is a perception of misalignment between current and future roles, and that the construction of ePortfolios can be utilized to promote reflective practices leading to changed perceptions of those roles.

Contribution: This paper analyzes reflective thinking within organizational structures in higher education and draws parallels between the challenges faced by educators developing interdisciplinary courses and their students working in ill-structured projects. Background: Interdisciplinarity as a learning goal is prevalent across engineering education literature. However, without organizational support structures to guide faculty members in developing interdisciplinary courses, interdisciplinarity as a student learning outcome is difficult to sustain. There is a need to evolve existing organizational structures faculty navigate when creating interdisciplinary courses, so that competing organizational systems do not stifle interdisciplinarity. Moreover, educators' effort in developing interdisciplinary courses is mirrored in the uncertain processes in which instructors engage students. Research Questions: In settings of interdisciplinary curriculum design and implementation, how do interdisciplinary faculty collaborations parallel that of their student design teams? How do organizational structures affect interdisciplinary faculty teams designing courses that span disciplines? Methodology: The study used a qualitative case, bound by three required courses in a new interdisciplinary undergraduate minor. Data was collected via interviews, class observations, and student reflection assignments. Analysis was guided by the conceptual frameworks of King and Kitchener's reflective judgment model and strange and banning's conceptualization of campus learning environments. Findings: Both educators and students develop through the discomfort with uncertainty--a prevalent theme in complex problem-solving. Forms of summative assessment pose an added challenge for both groups as they negotiate organizational structures. Lastly, discipline-specific expectations and ways of valuing knowledge contribute to uncertainty through the interactions among groups.

ePortfolios (ePs) have been used in a variety of applications ranging from undergraduate assessment to graduate student work showcases. We hypothesize that the flexible, individualized nature of ePs makes them suitable assessment tools for graduate engineering programs, which are likewise flexible and individualized. Our investigation resulted in a systematic design process that can be used to create eP systems for graduate programmatic assessment. The process was used to develop eP assessment systems for three different engineering graduate programs. Results indicate that (1) the end products, the eP assessment systems, were directly affected by the graduate programs' culture and vision of graduate engineering assessment, and that (2) ePs are flexible based on departmental or program needs. Therefore, we conclude that ePs are appropriate for assessment in graduate engineering programs and that a systematic process of development can be used.

In this paper, we demonstrate how theory can inform the design of a program to prepare graduate students for faculty careers. Preparing Future Faculty programs within and beyond engineering are not new, but explicit application of Communities of Practice and related literature is novel. We describe a prestigious teaching fellowship program that spans three years of increasing instructional responsibility, and present assessment data to describe the role of faculty mentoring and peer networks in student identity development as a Steward of the Discipline. The results are interpreted in light of the literature, and we conclude with areas for future research.

Engineering education, like many fields, has started to explore the benefits of concept maps as an assessment technique for knowledge integration. Because they allow students to graphically link topics and represent complex interconnections among diverse concepts, we argue that concept maps are particularly appropriate for assessing interdisciplinary knowledge integration. The results from a year-long study of a design course in green engineering demonstrate the viability of this approach. However, this research also highlights important issues in faculty scoring of interdisciplinary concept maps that may not be present when maps are used in traditional single-discipline settings. The interdisciplinary setting revealed differences in (1) evaluation criteria, (2) expertise, and (3) investment. We conclude with suggestions for selecting and training scorers to address these issues.

Background: Transformative change in higher education requires a continuous interplay between educational research and educational practice. In considering how to engage researchers and practitioners in "cycles of educational practice and research" (Jamieson & Lohmann, 2009), we focus on individuals and what motivates them to create and sustain innovations within the engineering education system. Purpose: Through this study, we seek to better understand why faculty do or do not engage in the research-practice cycle. Specifically, we employ expectancy value theory and examine the success and value beliefs motivating individuals' choices. Design/Method: We used mixed methods assessment data from two engineering education conferences that focused on promoting transformational change. Data included observational notes, open-ended written responses submitted after conference sessions, open-ended survey questions, and quantitative survey questions. For data analysis. we used descriptive statistics and open coding techniques. Results: We identified expectancy of success and cost value and utility value as important to participants. Notably, the same motivation constructs generally matter for research, practice, and research-informed practice, although practice-informed research was nearly absent from the data. Participants cited strategies that are currently working to improve only some of the success and value categories. Conclusions: Expectancy value theory provides a useful framework for understanding faculty choices in the research-practice cycles required for change and innovation in engineering education. Our findings indicate that in addition to improving individuals' competence with critical research and teaching practices, our field should also support collective efficacy and value beliefs.