UC students explore academic and career options at Engineer Your Major

Nearly 1,400 first-year students attended the day, and 100 UC students, staff and faculty volunteered to make the event a success. First-year students enrolled in Engineering Design Thinking I were required to attend, but many students outside of the college also stopped by.

“We wanted to open this up beyond our college,” said Cook. “It was really important that the event remained accessible to not only the students that we claim as our own, but for the ones who want to get in.”

One of the biggest challenges for educators of first-year students is connecting the courses they’re taking to field as a whole. This can be difficult when student are required to take rigorous math and science courses their first year. The event, therefore, was designed partially to connect these students with the professional applications of their discipline.

“We wanted create opportunities for students to see what engineering is outside of a singular course,” said Cook. “Cultivating an engineering identity creates buy-in, it creates stake, it creates excitement and, more than anything, it creates resilience.”

Engineering is interdisciplinary, touching all aspects of our lives. Engineers apply innovation and imagination to some of the world’s greatest challenges. Engineer Your Major was a way for students to see beyond their first-year experience to the real impacts they can have as engineers.

“Engineer Your Major lets students see the flexibility of the field and takes away the pressure of making a ‘right’ choice,” said Cook. “The idea of engineering a major is about crafting a professional identity that eventually leads to a dream job. That all starts with students knowing enough about the major to know what that dream job could possibly be.”

Featured image at top: An industry representative shared his experience to a group of students at one of the Engineer Your Major sessions. Photo/Corrie Stookey/CEAS Marketing.