Seminar & Workshop Series

The professional development seminar and workshop series (EGRMGMT 501) develops students’ capabilities in these areas: 

1. Self-Awareness:  Understanding personal identities, strengths, constraints, interests, motivations, values, and purpose;
2. Global Awareness:  Navigating diverse human dynamics and understanding the global context for engineering challenges and solutions;
3. Leadership & Collaboration:  Leading teams, collaborating, practicing effective followership, and understanding professional and ethical responsibility;
4. Communication: Communicating ideas, and their significance, and understanding others’ nonverbal and verbal cues.

Seminars

Students gain practical knowledge of the professional world through Friday seminars. Speakers reinforce professional development themes, emphasize life-long learning, and encourage student engagement.  These sessions provide students the opportunity to interact with industry leaders, experienced business managers, engineers, entrepreneurs, and other business and engineering experts.  

Fall 2018 Seminar Speakers

• La Tondra Murray, Ph.D.
• Candy Barone, MBA, Founder & CEO, You Empowered Strong
• Kenya Oduor, Ph.D., MS (Human Factors), Managing Partner, Lean Geeks
• I-Sah Hsieh, Director, Corporate Social Innovation, SAS
• Jerilin Kenney, MBA, VP/General Manager of Life Sciences & Healthcare, Phononic
• Suren Palakkal, CSCP CLTD CPIM PMP, Managing Principal, Supply Chain Competence LLC
• Liz Tracy, Innovation and Social Entrepreneurship Strategist
• Sean Dolle, Owner and President, Grounded Engineering

Fall 2018 Workshop Series 

Self-Awareness

• 7 Habits for Highly Effective People
• Strengths Finder Coaching Sessions
• Values Identification
• Introduction to Mindfulness and Stress Reduction
• Wellness & Self Care
• Personal ROI:  Streamline Essential Priorities

Global Awareness

• The Business Implications of Climate Change
• Implicit Bias, Parts 1 and 2
• Navigating Critical Conversations Through Interactive Theater
• Durham West End Civil Rights Walking Tour
• Gender Dynamics
• Black Life in America

Leadership & Collaboration

• Empowering Your Leadership:  Giving and Receiving Feedback
• Building Leadership & Collaboration Skills Through Improvisation
• Conflict Resolution
• Business Etiquette
• Ethics & Big Data
• Ethics & STEM
• Inside Job:  Examination of an Ethical and Financial Crisis
• Rock Climbing: Lessons in Decision Making, Flexibility, & Resilience
• Challenge Course:  Effective Communication & Collaborative Decision Making
• Budgetopolis:  Collaborative Decision Making & Competing Priorities
• Breaking Down the Noise:  Eliminating Personal Barriers
• Electric Maze

Communication

• On-Camera Communication
• Writing Matters for Engineers
• Science Communication 101
• The Art of Self Promotion
• Sales Skills
• Table Topics

Tactical

• A Non-Technical Introduction to What Data Scientists Do
• Introduction to Product Management

REQUIRED COURSE (2 SEMESTERS) 

EGRMGMT 501: Engineering Management Seminar/Workshop

Current topics in applied engineering management and entrepreneurship. Weekly seminar series. Students are required to complete eight workshops. Credit/No credit. Staff (Spring and Fall Semesters)