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Certificate in Engineering Education Research

Engineering education is an emerging interdisciplinary field in which scholars apply the methods of educational research to address a variety of issues pertaining to teaching and learning in engineering. The Rackham Certificate Program in Engineering Education Research was established to provide engineering doctoral students with a formal program to learn the skills needed to be proficient in the field. Details about the program are contained in the full proposal.

The Rackham Certificate Program in Engineering Education Research requires 15 credit hours of coursework (three courses and two electives) as listed here:

  • ENG 580/CHE 580 Teaching Engineering
  • One of the following courses on quantitative methods:
    • EDUC 795 Quantitative Methods for Non-Experimental Research
    • EDUC 793 Introduction to Quantitative Methods in Educational Research
  • EDUC 792 Methods in Educational Research: Qualitative
  • Two elective class.

The program must also include an engineering education research project – for most students, this will take the form of a course project, and some students may even complete a dissertation that incorporates engineering education research.

Engineering graduate students who are interested in enrolling in the program are invited to apply at any time (provided they have completed at least one term in a Rackham program and are in good academic standing). Students must maintain cumulative GPA of B in order to continue in the program, and the requirements must be completed within four years of admission to the certificate program.

Applications to the program should include four items:

  • a letter of application,
  • a proposed plan of study,
  • a current transcript, and
  • a letter of support from the student’s advisor.

These items should be emailed to Dr. Cynthia Finelli. Admission decisions will be made on a rolling basis. Questions about the program should be directed to Dr. Finelli.