Capstone to Work (C2W) is an NSF-funded research project on the transition from capstone design courses to the workplace.  Data are from more than one hundred graduating engineers from four diverse institutions through the new engineers' first year of professional work.  The research findings demonstrated the critical ways in which industry-oriented capstone courses provide new engineers with essential professional skills that help ease their transition from school to work.  By providing experiences not only in technical engineering work, but also in self-directed learning, teamwork, and communication, capstone courses help build students' identities as professional engineers. 

HANDOUTS

• Advice for New Graduates: Success Strategies (PDF handouts, Google slides)
• What Transferred from Capstone (PDF handouts, PDF slides, Google slides)
• Why Invest in Capstone? What Differentiates Capstone? (PDF)

PUBLICATIONS

• 2021:
  • IEEE TPC: New Engineers’ Transfer of Communication Activities From School to Work (paper)
  • Engineering Studies: Becoming after College: Agency and Structure in Transitions to Engineering Work (paper)
  • ASEE: It’s a Context Gap, Not a Competency Gap: Understanding the Transition from Capstone Design to Industry (paper)
• 2020:
  • FIE: Engineering Graduates Perceived Preparedness for the First Three-Months of Work in Industry (paper)
  • ASEE: Using Competing Values Framework to Map the Development of Leadership Skills as Capstone Design Students Transition to the Workplace (paper)
  • ASEE: Women’s Unique Challenges in the Transitions to Engineering Work (paper)
  • IJEE: Leveraging the Capstone Design Experience to Build Self-Directed Learning (paper)
• 2019:
  • Research Outreach: Engineering Capstone Courses Help Students Transition from School to Work (paper)
  • IJEE: Transitioning from Capstone Design Courses to Workplaces: A Study of New Engineers’ First Three Months (paper)
  • REES: The Impact of Capstone Design Courses on New Engineering Graduates Preparation for Teamwork: A Mixed Methods Investigation (paper)
  • ASEE: Women's Experiences in the Transition from Capstone Design Courses to Engineering Workplaces (paper)
• 2018:
  • ASEE: New Engineers' First Three Months: A Study of the Transition from Capstone Design Courses to Workplaces (paper)
  • CapConf: Preliminary Results from a Study Investigating the Transition from Capstone Design to Industry (paper, poster)

ABOUT C2W

• PI: Marie Paretti (Virginia Tech)
• Co-PIs: Julie Dyke Ford (New Mexico Tech), Susannah Howe (Smith College), Daria Kotys-Schwartz (CU Boulder)
• Grant Duration: 9/2016 - 1/2021
• Research Methods: Data Collection, Data Analysis, Protocols, Codebook (PDF)
• NSF Project Outcomes Report (website)

[page maintained by Susannah Howe, showe@smith.edu]