Research Initiation: Exploring the Associations Between Personality Attributes and Transformative Learning of Engineering Study Abroad Program Participants

The global nature of the marketplace requires engineering students to be able to work across different cultures as a major differentiator in the competition for engineering jobs. A growing number of US engineering students opt to develop their ability through study abroad experience. However, a given study abroad experience elicits vastly different responses among students: for some students, the experience is life-altering while for others, it is decidedly not. This project stems from these observations and from a desire to ensure that global experiences are highly impactful for all students, and not just a select group. Building on the literature on experiential learning, this research hypothesizes that student impacts could be related to student personality attributes, and aims to explore the associations between personality attributes and transformative learning of engineering study abroad program participants.