NSF ENGINEERS GRANT –Co PI’s Dr. Tanya Kunberger and Dr. R. Christopher Geiger

By Encouraging the Next Generation of Innovative iNtelligent Engaged Engineers to Reach Success, the ENGINEERS program within the U. A. Whitaker College of Engineering (WCE) at Florida GulfCoast University (FGCU) gives academically talented students with demonstrated financial need the opportunity to augment their educational experience through enhanced academic mentoring and meaningful extracurricular activities tailored to their own requirements for professional development. In their first two years in the program, participants are provided with enriched academic support, cohort and programmatic activities, discipline specific mentoring, and additional opportunities to engage the engineering community within FGCU and the
Southwest Florida region. Programs designed to improve technical writing skills, resume building, and effective learning are offered to maximize each participant’s chances of success. Within their last two year in the program, based on their career goals and aspirations, the program administrators (PAs) link each student with a mentor whose expertise is consistent with their chosen career path (post-graduate education, immediate entry into the work force or entrepreneurial endeavors). Together with their mentor and the PAs, participants develop a student enhancement plan that encompasses a series of specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and timely goals that fit their career development needs. Progress is examined through end of the semester portfolio reviews with their PA, as well as regularly scheduled meetings with their mentor.

In addition to enhancing each participant’s educational experience, the ENGINEERS program encourages civic engagement from our demographically diverse cohort in a manner that aligns with the mission and vision of the WCE and FGCU. The impact of programmatic activities on the student cohorts undergoes formative and summative assessment with the findings broadly disseminated at the college, university, and national level to contribute to “best practices” for implementing targeted extracurricular activities that significantly enhance the student educational experiences. Program graduates have a competitive edge in their future endeavors, whether in joining the workforce, continuing their educational training, or engaging in entrepreneurial opportunities.