Engineering Education (PhD)
The Ph.D. in Engineering Education, through its coursework and research programs, provides students with the skills and competencies needed to conduct high quality educational research in the context of engineering programs at both the pre- and post-secondary level. Graduates will be well-qualified to work in academic, industrial, or governmental settings, and excel at identifying, creating, and expanding connections between engineering and the social sciences.
Engineering Education is cross-disciplinary, and students are encouraged to take courses in engineering, curriculum and instruction, educational psychology, and other relevant disciplines with approval from their major advisor. Students may apply up to 6 credits of 3000- or 4000-level courses approved in advance by their Major Advisor toward the Ph.D. as long as those courses were not included on their undergraduate plan of study.
Location
- Storrs Campus
Modality
- In Person
Minimum of 39 credits of graduate coursework including:
Required Core Courses
| Course | Title | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| ENGR 5610 | Foundations in Engineering Education Research | 3 |
| ENGR 5620 | Power and Politics of STEM Education | 3 |
| At least 3 credits from ENGR Professional Development Courses, including those offered as ENGR 5300 | 3 | |
| Special Topics in Engineering 1 | ||
| Scientific Communication | ||
| Engineering Internships and Careers in Industry | ||
| Teaching Engineering: Communication and Pedagogy | ||
| First Year Experience | ||
| Theories in Education | ||
| Select one of the following: | 1-6 | |
| History of Educational Thought | ||
| Philosophical Analysis in Education | ||
| Workshop in Education | ||
| Introduction to Critical Pedagogy | ||
| Seminar | ||
| Learning: Its Implication for Education | ||
| Theories of Learning, Cognition and Instruction | ||
| Situated Cognition | ||
| Practicum | ||
| ENGR 6920 | Doctoral Teaching Practicum | 3 |
| Seminar (up to three credits) | ||
| ENGR 6901 | Engineering Education Seminar | 1 |
| Educational Research Methods Courses | ||
| EDCI 6000 | Qualitative Methods of Educational Research | 3 |
| EPSY 5605 | Quantitative Methods in Research I | 3 |
| Research Methods Elective | ||
| Select two of the following | 3-6 | |
| Educational Inequities Research Methods | ||
| Qualitative Methods of Educational Research II | ||
| Workshop in Education | ||
| Educational Tests and Measurements | ||
| Quantitative Methods in Research II | ||
| Applied Regression Analysis for the Education Sciences | ||
| Multivariate Analysis in Educational Research | ||
| Construction of Evaluation Instruments | ||
| Causal Inference and Measurement for Data Science | ||
| Text Analytics | ||
| Single Subject Research in Education | ||
| Methods and Techniques of Educational Research | ||
| Hierarchical Linear Modeling | ||
| Structural Equation Modeling | ||
| Advanced Modeling Using Latent Variable Techniques | ||
| Program Evaluation | ||
| Advanced Program Evaluation | ||
| Measurement Theory and Application | ||
| Item Response Theory | ||
| Introduction to Methods for Causal Inference Using Educational Data | ||
| Advanced Causal Inference with Data | ||
| Total Credits | 23-31 | |
- 1
ENGR 5300 Special Topics in Engineering may be repeated for credit with a change in topic.
Engineering Education Concentrations
Depending upon their background and career plans, students may choose from an existing concentration, or, with the approval of their Major Advisor, select coursework with a coherent theme that supports their research or career goals.
Engineering Field Concentration
9 credits in discipline-based courses (e.g. CHEG, ME, ECE) at the 5000-level or higher chosen in consultation with the Major advisor.
Advanced Methods Concentration
9 additional credits beyond the required educational methods courses focused on advanced educational research methods.
| Course | Title | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| Educational Inequities Research Methods | ||
| Qualitative Methods of Educational Research II | ||
| Workshop in Education | ||
| Educational Tests and Measurements | ||
| Applied Regression Analysis for the Education Sciences | ||
| Multivariate Analysis in Educational Research | ||
| Construction of Evaluation Instruments | ||
| Causal Inference and Measurement for Data Science | ||
| Text Analytics | ||
| Single Subject Research in Education | ||
| Hierarchical Linear Modeling | ||
| Structural Equation Modeling | ||
| Advanced Modeling Using Latent Variable Techniques | ||
| Program Evaluation | ||
| Advanced Program Evaluation | ||
| Measurement Theory and Application | ||
| Item Response Theory | ||
| Introduction to Methods for Causal Inference Using Educational Data | ||
| Advanced Causal Inference with Data | ||
| Advanced Causal Inference with Data | ||
other courses in consultation with Major Advisor | ||
Theories in Education/Learning Science Concentration
9 credits focused on interdisciplinarity, theories of knowledge, or epistemology. Students may select from Theories in Education list, or other courses in consultation with their Major Advisor.
| Course | Title | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| History of Educational Thought | ||
| Philosophical Analysis in Education | ||
| Workshop in Education | ||
| Introduction to Critical Pedagogy | ||
| Seminar | ||
| Learning: Its Implication for Education | ||
| Theories of Learning, Cognition and Instruction | ||
| Situated Cognition |
Engineering and Human Rights Concentration
9 credits approved by the Major Advisor in consultation with EHRI faculty.
Individualized Concentration
9 credits as approved by the Major Advisor.
Additional Requirements
The Ph.D. in Engineering Education does not have a foreign language requirement. Ph.D. students must maintain a cumulative GPA of at least 3.0 across all coursework. For students entering with a master’s degree, up to 15 credits of previous graduate coursework may be counted toward the Ph.D.
All Ph.D. students must also complete at least 15 credits of GRAD 6950 Doctoral Dissertation Research. All full-time Ph.D. students must enroll in the one-credit seminar course, ENGR 6901 Engineering Education Seminar, at least three times during their degree, for a total of three credits.
Qualifying Exam and Dissertation: Ph.D. students must pass a qualifying examination as administered by faculty affiliated with the Engineering Education graduate program. Ph.D. candidates must prepare and orally defend a dissertation proposal, as well as prepare and publicly defend the Ph.D. dissertation. The dissertation research must generate at least three works that are publishable in a peer-reviewed journal or peer-reviewed conference proceeding appropriate to the field, and at least one of these should be a first-author publication. For multiple author manuscripts, the manuscript must be accompanied by a brief explanation of the student's role in the manuscript. Exceptions can be made for non-first author manuscripts in which the student has contributed heavily with approval by the Major Advisor. At least one of these works must be published or accepted by the time of a student's defense, and the others either in review or in the final stages of preparation for submission.
Learning Objectives
- Knowledge: Demonstrate appropriate breadth and depth of disciplinary knowledge and comprehension of the major topics, theories, and issues of the discipline, including demonstration of specialized knowledge of a sub-field sufficient to carry out substantive independent research or creative pursuits.
- Research/applied skills: Use disciplinary methods and techniques ethically and professionally to apply knowledge, critically analyze, and, as appropriate to the degree, create new knowledge or achieve advanced creative accomplishments.
- Communication: Communicate proficiently and effectively to a specialist or non-specialist audience, verbally and in writing, a structured, coherent academic presentation, representation, or argument that cogently summarizes their research or creative pursuit, relevant literature, and its significance at the level appropriate to discipline.