Board 51: Utilizing Technical Competitions to Enhance Diverse Workforce Recruitment and Retention

Jacalynn Sharp; Julianne Burroughs; Jorge Luis Rivera; Aishwarya Jayabharathi; Katherine-Ann Carr; William Roberts Gray-Roncal; Danielle Patrice Hilliard; Alberto J. De Jesus Santiago

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Conference: 2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition
Location: Baltimore , Maryland
Publication Date: June 25, 2023
Start Date: June 25, 2023
End Date: June 28, 2023
Conference Session: College Industry Partnerships Division (CIP) Poster Session
Tagged Division: College Industry Partnerships Division (CIP)
Tagged Topic: Diversity
Page Count: 11
DOI: 10.18260/1-2--42839
Permanent URL: https://peer.asee.org/42839
Download Count: 118

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Paper Authors

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Jacalynn Sharp JHU APL

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Jackie Sharp is a mechanical engineer at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (JHU APL) where she works in mechanical design and analysis as well as simple electronics development and integration. Jackie volunteers as a robotics instructor and mentors high school students interested in STEM from low SES and diverse backgrounds. She is the treasurer of the ASME DC Section (American Society of Mechanical Engineers) and is committee co-lead for the ASME FutureME platform. Jackie received her B.S. and M.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Pittsburgh. She is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering through the University of Pittsburgh.

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Will Gray-Roncal, PhD, is a Group Supervisor and Senior Research Engineer at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory. His research interests include Learning Science, advancing equity and inclusion in STEM, and Connectomics.

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Danielle Patrice Hilliard Johns Hopkins University, Laurel

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Alberto J. De Jesus Santiago

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Abstract

Recruiting top talent is a challenge many organizations face, including our own. At the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (JHU/APL), a University Affiliated Research Center (UARC), we consider opportunities to broaden our talent pool through targeted activities in inclusion, recruiting, and retention. In the search for a novel, inclusive, and informative recruitment tool to engage future interns and new hires, our team of representatives from various internship programs across our organization designed a hackathon-style, engineering competition called Net-Hack. The intent of Net-Hack is to address these challenges by providing students with networking training and professional development, followed by facilitating introductions between interns and staff through technical talks, mentoring, and workshops. Net-Hack saw participation from over 75 college interns who were assigned to small, interdisciplinary and cross departmental teams of 4-5 students. Teams were formed based on challenge interests to develop a research proposal similar to an internal research grant, demonstrating both interest and capability. Throughout the weekend, interns attended technical presentations and workshops hosted by staff; the weekend culminated in a poster presentation to experienced staff, hiring managers, senior leadership and executives’ gallery walk where prizes were awarded. Our goals are to grow participants’ confidence in networking, technical communication, and exposure to the JHU/APL and impactful research topics through this immersive experience. Students developed communication skills in STEM topics, competitive presentation experience, and professional networking opportunities, while gaining direct access and exposure to over 30 technical staff members, including 16 day-of volunteers/mentors, 10 technical talk speakers, and 8 gallery walk judges. A majority of the intern participants (over 85%) attended technical talks and gained exposure to cutting edge technologies and relevant topics (including hypersonics, natural disaster response, anti-gravity machines, and 5G networks). Many of these interactions directly informed the students’ project brainstorming sessions and eventual final proposals. Students who responded to the survey stated that they met and interacted with on average three or more staff outside of technical talks and approximately 46% stated their confidence increased after participating. With intentionally removing the barriers of needing prior technical skills and providing professional development trainings for students such as networking, Net-Hack was able to provide a supportive and accessible space for participants regardless of background. Our approach has the potential to be used as a non-conventional recruitment tool for organizations.

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Sharp, J., & Burroughs, J., & Rivera, J. L., & Jayabharathi, A., & Carr, K., & Gray-Roncal, W. R., & Hilliard, D. P., & De Jesus Santiago, A. J. (2023, June), Board 51: Utilizing Technical Competitions to Enhance Diverse Workforce Recruitment and Retention Paper presented at 2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Baltimore , Maryland. 10.18260/1-2--42839

TY  - CPAPER
AB  - Recruiting top talent is a challenge many organizations face, including our own. At the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (JHU/APL), a University Affiliated Research Center (UARC), we consider opportunities to broaden our talent pool through targeted activities in inclusion, recruiting, and retention. In the search for a novel, inclusive, and informative recruitment tool to engage future interns and new hires, our team of representatives from various internship programs across our organization designed a hackathon-style, engineering competition called Net-Hack. The intent of Net-Hack is to address these challenges by providing students with networking training and professional development, followed by facilitating introductions between interns and staff through technical talks, mentoring, and workshops. Net-Hack saw participation from over 75 college interns who were assigned to small, interdisciplinary and cross departmental teams of 4-5 students. Teams were formed based on challenge interests to develop a research proposal similar to an internal research grant, demonstrating both interest and capability. Throughout the weekend, interns attended technical presentations and workshops hosted by staff; the weekend culminated in a poster presentation to experienced staff, hiring managers, senior leadership and executives’ gallery walk where prizes were awarded. Our goals are to grow participants’ confidence in networking, technical communication, and exposure to the JHU/APL and impactful research topics through this immersive experience.
Students developed communication skills in STEM topics, competitive presentation experience, and professional networking opportunities, while gaining direct access and exposure to over 30 technical staff members, including 16 day-of volunteers/mentors, 10 technical talk speakers, and 8 gallery walk judges. A majority of the intern participants (over 85%) attended technical talks and gained exposure to cutting edge technologies and relevant topics (including hypersonics, natural disaster response, anti-gravity machines, and 5G networks). Many of these interactions directly informed the students’ project brainstorming sessions and eventual final proposals. Students who responded to the survey stated that they met and interacted with on average three or more staff outside of technical talks and approximately 46% stated their confidence increased after participating. With intentionally removing the barriers of needing prior technical skills and providing professional development trainings for students such as networking, Net-Hack was able to provide a supportive and accessible space for participants regardless of background. Our approach has the potential to be used as a non-conventional recruitment tool for organizations.
AU  - Jacalynn Sharp
AU  - Julianne Burroughs
AU  - Jorge Luis Rivera
AU  - Aishwarya Jayabharathi
AU  - Katherine-Ann Carr
AU  - William Roberts Gray-Roncal
AU  - Danielle Patrice Hilliard
AU  - Alberto J. De Jesus Santiago
CY  - Baltimore , Maryland
DA  - 2023/06/25
PB  - ASEE Conferences
TI  - Board 51: Utilizing Technical Competitions to Enhance Diverse Workforce Recruitment and Retention
UR  - https://peer.asee.org/42839
DO  - 10.18260/1-2--42839
ER  -