Theme 4: Industry-readiness skills for an evolving and diversified job market
Session 3: Challenges with capstone experience to maximize workforce readiness and meet students' expectations
Session Chairs:
Laura Gaviria, The University of Texas at San Antonio
Holly Golecki, University of Illinois Urbana Champaign
Panelists:
Robert Kallen ( Sr Medical Affairs Manager, BD)
John Crombie ( UpStart Product Development LLC President)
Jack Shea ( Global Commercial Assessment and Forecasting at Merck)
Session Outline
Introduction and Data
Topic 1- Brainstorm strengths, weaknesses, challenges and opportunities
Topic 2 - Explore experiences and opinions during panel discussion:
Topic 3 - Takeaways in terms of action items and recommendations for further investment.
What is your level of awareness of the unique challenges underrepresented engineering students in engineering face in preparedness for industry careers?
Does your department have tools in place to track graduates' trajectories in industry careers?
What percentage of your department’s capstone projects come from industry?
no
yes
Skills Valued by Industry in Biomedical Engineering Graduates
Recommendations
Rated importance of skills sorted most important (top) to least important (bottom) by aggregate 4 and 5 responses. The width of each color bar indicates the number of respondents for each response category. Color legend above graph: 0—No response, 1—Lowest importance, and 5—Highest importance
Selected skills which respondents rated in similar patterns across the three categories (importance, scarcity, difficulty to train)
Share out your experiences!
At your table, on the whiteboard, discuss and fill out a SWOC analysis of Integrating industry and capstone.
Strengths | Weaknesses |
Opportunities | Challenges |
Panel Discussion
This discussion is open to ask questions, share experiences and ideas!
John Crombie (UpStart Product Development LLC, President)
Robert Kallen (Sr Medical Affairs Manager, BD)
Jack Shea (Global Commercial Assessment and Forecasting at Merck)
Post Panel Discussion
Based on our discussion today, how might your department increase engagement with industry in capstone?
What are the biggest challenges/barriers to wanting to engage with industry?
How can we support diverse teams in BME courses?
What are the unique challenges students from underrepresented groups face in capstone teams and the transition from capstone design to industry?