The addition of the critical paths from the CPPT is beneficial and important for engineering studies students at Lafayette. This addition to the curriculum will be an opportunity for students to optimize their class curriculum under a certain concentration they are interested in. Allowing the engineering students to focus on classes they know will be beneficial to their career is essential to the development of any student. Taking these classes will properly prepare the students for the professional career they are pursuing. The more a student is exposed to certain aspects of a professional career the more prepared they will be for not only the job, but also for the ability to obtain a job. Having more experience in that field will allow students to be much more successful in interviews and increase the likelihood of obtaining more job offers.
On top of the preparation, we are predicting this type of class scheduling around a certain critical path will lead to higher starting salaries and quicker pay raises. That experience and knowledge for a certain field will help students exponentially grow in the professional field, leading to higher positions and responsibilities much quicker. The changes to this degree fits the needed demand in the job market today that faces “Grand challenges, from slowing or mitigating climate change to considering the accessibility, inclusivity, and impact of new technologies, exist in the spaces 17 between traditional disciplines—meaningfully addressing these challenges will require the artful combination of multiple approaches and methods” (Sanford pg. 17). Along with those challenges, comes the need for the engineers like those at Lafayette that are concentrated along a critical path but are also diverse. According to the article of Free Executive, “they aspire to engineers in 2020 who will remain well grounded in the basics of mathematics and science, and who will expand their vision of design through a solid grounding in the humanities, social sciences, and economics. Emphasis on the creative process will allow more effective leadership in the development and application of next-generation technologies to problems of the future” (National Academy of Engineering). The reform to engineering studies will be a very important attribute for the future engineers at Lafayette College and will continue to fit the description of the current diverse job market.
Lafayette engineering students branch out into this diverse job market during their career at Lafayette through internships. They notice the need and desire of large corporations, businesses, banks, etc. to select a student who has a diverse background, leadership skills, and ability to connect with various disciplines. Students who have the opportunities to do these internships notice first hand the need to be able to communicate, connect, and collaborate with various people to accomplish a common goal. As interns at various companies we noticed the importance of being able to use teamwork to solve problems demonstrating that the problems in the world are bigger than one person can handle, so having the engineering studies degree with its critical paths and core principles will allow students to succeed and thrive in any profession.
As of now, Lafayette engineering studies graduates prove to be a valuable asset to various companies and organizations as the average starting salary for students is around $60,000. This data will continue to be true and grow even more with the addition of the CPPT and its critical paths. The critical path system will allow students to have more initial knowledge when beginning with an employer will have a considerable advantage compared to the average students entering that profession. Below is a chart describing the trend for average salary over the last 20 years and fits the narrative of the current job market that looks for diverse interdisciplinary engineers.
Figure 3. Avg. Starting Salary for EGRS Students. (Lafayette Career Center)
The world and its challenges are calling on a new type of engineering, one that Lafayette currently has. It will become more and more important in the future. So it is vital and important to reform it during this critical moment of reckoning. The challenges the world faces “go beyond the traditional image of engineers’ tasks and responsibilities. They call for a type of engineer who is socially connected and who can work both within and outside the boundaries of his or her own discipline” (Beemt pg. 1). As the current job market continues to demand for students like those of the Lafayette engineering studies program, expect the recommended new change in the CPPT and critical paths to properly prepare students for the workforce and exponentially increase the starting salary of engineering students. These changes will be an enormous benefit to the Lafayette engineering studies community but will also be a small but crucial point for the engineering world as a whole.
Click below to learn about the conclusion of the project.