Development of Social Impact Considerations during Engineering Internships

Abstract

Internships are known to be valuable experiences for engineering students, as they provide students with hands-on engineering experience and development of professional skills. However, less is known about internships in terms of how they develop engineering students' skills related to social impact considerations. In this work in progress paper, we conducted semi structured interviews with 10 engineering students who participated in engineering internships during the previous summer. Our preliminary results indicate that while students believe that engineers should consider the social impact of their work, those same engineering students are not always equipped with the tools to discuss the social impact of their internship projects. Thus, we demonstrate a need for more intentional development of connections between engineering work and social impact during internships and in engineering curriculum.