Preparing a Workforce

By Thomas Ehlers, STAFF WRITER

FLORIDA ENGINEERING SCHOOLS ARE TASKED WITH RECRUITING AND DEVELOPING FUTURE PEs

You don’t have to look far to see progress being made across the State of Florida. For some, all you have to do is glance out of the window.

“If you’re in the Central Florida area, you’re seeing cranes everywhere,” said Charles Davis, professor of engineering and mathematics at Valencia College. “You’re seeing construction everywhere. Construction is not a shortfall; the work is out there especially in civil (engineering) and construction.”

The numbers back up his claim. U.S. jobs in civil engineering are projected to increase by 7% over the decade, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, with 24,200 new jobs opening every year. More than 15,500 civil engineers are currently employed in Florida, the fourth most in the country, and employment is expected to increase in the state by 22% by 2030. The same Department of Labor statistics cite a need to replace workers who transfer to different occupations or exit the labor force, along with future projects.

Who will fill them? Some of the best and brightest from Florida’s colleges and universities.

Davis is one of many professors helping prepare the next generation of the workforce. He notes the importance of achieving a degree from an ABET-accredited school. While not every school is accredited, those that are put students on a path to receive their licenses in the future. Accreditation is important because it ensures graduates are trained in modern curriculum and schools push for successful students, he said.

“It’s really about licensure,” Davis said. “The schools that actually go through the ABET accreditation – it’s pretty detail-intensive.

ABET began as the educational standard against which professional engineers in the U.S. were held for licensure. More than 80 years later, ABET’s standards continue to play a fundamental role and have become the basis of quality for STEM disciplines all over the world. ABET currently accredits 4,564 programs at 895 colleges and universities in 40 countries, including 23 programs in Florida.

The ABET Accreditation process is carried out by its accreditation commissions that set accreditation standards for specific program areas and degree levels. Its engineering criteria is developed by technical professionals from ABET’s member societies with a focus on what students experience and learn.

“What (ABET does) is come in and make sure you are following a certain curriculum, that they are able to give statistics on how students are doing in terms of their classes and in terms of job placement,” Davis said. “They also try to look at if the programs are refreshed because we don’t do the same type of stuff with civil engineering that we did in the ‘50s that we do in 2023.”

Crafting The Perfect Candidate

That refreshing of curriculum is one thing Dr. Lisa Spainhour, chair and professor of civil and environmental engineering at Florida A&M-Florida State College of Engineering, and her colleagues have on their minds. The ABET-accredited joint college of FAMU and FSU has leaned into additional training in the classroom to increase sellable skills.

“We are working hard to modernize our curriculum, especially on the CAD (computer-aided design) side of things,” Spainhour said. “It’s CAD training that lets them hit the ground running. Many engineering firms see the first couple of years as a training exercise, and since having marketable skills is important to them, we have worked to get more of the professional CAD software skills in their pocket when they get out.”

Around 150 miles away, students in the University of Florida’s department of civil and coastal engineering are given a broad range of courses to help them stand out. By special emphasis and relevant elective hours, the program’s coursework is set up to create proficient graduates, according to Dr. Robert Theike, the Christian S. Bauer Jr. Term Assistant Professor and civil and coastal engineering department head.

Photo courtesy of the University of Florida

The department requires students to have technical breadth in each of the program’s specialty areas: construction, geotechnical, structures, water resources and transportation.

“We’ve always had that you have to take at least one course in each of these areas and on top of that, you have to take another course in four of those five areas, so you are well rounded,” Theike said. “On top of that, we still allow students to have 15 credits worth of electives where they can specialize in design classes, capstone design classes, which integrate everything.

“The capstone experience is not unique; it’s an ABET requirement. We all do that regardless of the engineering program you go to, but with the other design on top of that and the breadth across the curriculum, we have some well-prepared students.”

There’s no better way to prepare than receive industry experience than an internship, and many schools in the state provide opportunities for their students as they matriculate. Most of Spainhour’s students complete an internship as part of their undergraduate program.

“We don’t require it but we surely encourage it,” Spainhour said. “It’s the singular most important non-academic thing they can do to both secure that first position but also get those skills to be successful in that first position.”

Davis echoed the importance of industry experience, particularly in the form of a mentorship.

“Those individuals who are going into this discipline or any other engineering discipline need to know that they will probably need to find a good mentor,” Davis said. “Someone who can show them outside the classroom a day in the life, what it’s like to be an engineer working on a site working in an office, meeting with a client.”

It’s not just civil-specific programs that are setting up students for success in civil engineering. Florida Polytechnic University, which offers a variety of engineering degrees, including computer, environmental, electrical and more, gives students an introduction to business along with its degree programs – allowing them to be well-rounded if they change course in their careers.

“We offer an Innovation, Science, and Technology (IST) building designed to inspire creativity, and our dedicated Office of Innovation and Technology Transfer supports students in turning their ideas into viable businesses,” said Ben Matthew Corpus, vice provost of enrollment management at Florida Poly. “This commitment to nurturing the next generation of entrepreneurs sets Florida Poly apart and makes us an excellent choice for ambitious students seeking an unparalleled educational experience.”

The University of Florida offers chapters of Chi Epsilon, Florida Structural Engineers Association, Institute of Transportation Engineers and Florida Engineering Society, along with a distinguished chapter award-winning American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) group. Theike noted the importance of these extracurriculars for student understanding.

Those individuals who are going into this discipline or any other engineering discipline need to know that they will probably need to find a good mentor, someone who can show them outside the classroom a day in the life, what it’s like to be an engineer working on a site working in an office, meeting with a client.

“Most engineering programs – and ours is probably not totally different – struggle a bit with the fact that in the beginning, you are taking a lot of courses in science and math that are engineering-disconnected to a large extent,” Thieke said. “Sometimes it is hard to see where all of this can apply. By having these students involved with student societies, they can see the applications of what they are doing in a real-world scenario.”

Professionals in academia like Thieke have been receiving more frequent recruitment fliers and information. These documents reflect the needs of the profession.

“The industry needs it,” Thieke said. “Our advisory board is always clamoring for us to graduate more people. They have too much work and not enough humans to do it. It’s getting difficult to keep up in the business with the amount of work these firms have.”

A New Age Of Recruiting

Many firms are stepping up their recruitment efforts as employment needs grow. Ryan Wetherell, Florida marketing manager and vice president at Kimley-Horn, said his company looks for more than engineering skills when judging a candidate.

“When I think about hiring a new civil engineering candidate to the team, you certainly want that broad technical foundation, that technical understanding that you are going to expect them to come out of school with,” Wetherell said. “You certainly want that foundational element, but beyond that, when you think about what makes the best, it’s beyond the technical piece of it.”

“Some schools require you to take the test before you graduate, while other schools don’t,” Wetherell said. “Somebody who decides that it is important for their career to go ahead and sign up and sit for the exam and prepare themselves to pass the exam shows some of those other intangible characteristics about who they are.”

Wetherell continued that Kimley-Horn – like other firms – looks into how a candidate approaches a challenge, identifies it, creates a solution and how they communicate it to others. Criteria like articulation, leadership traits, passion and rigor are important – along with passing industry tests like the Fundamentals of Engineering (FE) Exam.

Photo courtesy of the University of Florida

Additionally, recruiters often look for more than just technically proficient candidates. Wetherell looks for those that can manage projects, bring other skills to the table and thrive in a multidisciplinary group or team. He also looks for candidates outside the state – not because Florida candidates are lacking, but because the company needs young professionals.

“We’ve got a lot of schools in the state that are producing talented individuals, but there are more opportunities than we are able to meet with graduates from within the state,” Wetherell, a Georgia Tech graduate who got his start in the Sunshine State, said.

No matter where candidates come from, Kimley-Horn works hard to ensure their candidates stay with the company for an extended portion of their careers. Wetherell noted extended flexibility coupled with experiences out of the office – like job site visits, training opportunities and industry events – that are used to promote a happy workplace, one that has been recognized as one of Fortune Magazine’s Best Companies to Work For 16 times.

From the marketplace’s perspective, Wetherell said it’s the perfect time to be graduating and joining the workforce in a state full of growth and opportunity.

“I don’t know how a job market can be more exciting than the one we’re experiencing right now,” Wetherell said. “There’s an awful lot going on, and as an individual, you have the ability to lean into a wide variety of passions.”