Professional Engineering Credentialing Inequity and its Impact on Professional Formation of Engineers.

Civil engineering has many pathways to professional licensure, the most common being engineering b.s and engineering technology degrees. For civil engineers, professional
engineering licensure is the first step in career mobility, but the requirements for licensure vary statewide, especially for engineering technologists. Engineering technologists generally have different work experience requirements for all U.S. states and territories. In my research, I will be analyzing the inequities in PE licensure pathways. Attempting to collect information on underrepresented demographics in engineering technology, the difference in licensure pathways, the attitudes of faculty and students on the curriculum, and the impacts of credentialing on the graduates of engineering technologists. The goal of my research is to give a scope of awareness to the impact of inconsistent licensure to jurisdiction in hopes of a change in curriculum or pathway allowance for engineer technologists.

Today I am going to present my research on the Professional Engineering Credentialing Inequity and its Impact on Professional Formation of Engineers.

My research explores the relationship between engineering b.s and engineering technology, PE licensure pathways
The goal of my research is to expand the scope of inconsistent licensure amongst engineering technologists so that they are more informed about the obstacles in their career path.

My questions are the following What are the trends in the degree production of Engineering technology graduates for the past 5 years considering degrees awarded, discipline types, gender, and race?

What are the major or subtle differences in licensure pathway requirements for Engineering vs Engineering technologist graduates in different U.S. jurisdictions?

What are the attitudes of engineering and engineering technology faculty and current students towards the variability of PE credentialing and the adequacy of their curriculums in explaining the importance of licensure?

What are the inequitable impacts of PE credentialing on the professional formation of Engineering Technologists graduates as observed by accreditation evaluators and licensing board members?

Engineers b.s and engineer technologists are accredited by the same accreditation board (ABET) but engineer technologists are often regarded as sub-par in comparison and are not encouraged to grow in their field because of the extra requirements for professional engineering licensure compared to Engineering B.S

Engineers and engineering technologists are similar in education as Both require 4 years of schooling, and both are educated on the basics of math and science and applied engineering concepts, but the main difference is that engineer b.s typically focuses more on theory and concepts and engineering technologists tend to work on more hands-on applications and use more on-field technology which uses less math in their curriculum.

These differences are what cause the licensure differences between the two pathways. Although most states allow PE licensure for engineering technologists most states have different requirements for attaining the license. Usually, engineering technologist PE licensure Pathway is required to have more experience and in some cases extra coursework that must be completed. While B.S. civil engineering degrees mostly have similar pathways for licensure with some outliers being an extra 1 year required experience difference.

With different jurisdictions having different licensure requirements, including some states the license being completely unattainable, PE licensure is not emphasized consistently in the engineering technology curriculum. which can be an obstacle to the student’s professional development. In our research, we will be collecting the PE licensure requirements for all 50 states, specifically the work experience required. The Pathways we will be considering for research are engineering technologists, non-abet accredited engineering degrees, and engineering b.s. So far we have concluded that almost 50 % of the states require an additional 2-4 years on top of the 4-year experience requirement that engineering b.s have. Also, most of those educational requirements are not met by around 30 percent of states, which means they have to take additional classes in order to qualify for licensure.

After this step, we analyze the underrepresented demographics in engineering b.s compared to engineering technologists.
Collect information on the organizations affecting PE licensure requirements.
Conduct electronic Surveys of PE licensure awareness in engineering students and faculty
Then conduct in-person interviews with engineering technology program evaluators

The goal of this research is to give a scope of awareness to the impact of inconsistent licensure to jurisdiction in hopes of a change in curriculum or Pathway allowance for engineer technologists.