Herbert Wertheim College of Engineering
Simmons Research Lab (SRL)
Led by Denise Simmons · Civil and Coastal Engineering
What we study
The Simmons Research Lab studies workforce development in civil engineering, focusing on how technology and human factors shape the future of work. The lab explores competencies, learning technologies, and organizational culture to create an inclusive workforce.
What working here is like
- Coding helps
- Projects
- 3
- Papers
- 5
Current projects
CAREER: Investigating Co-Curricular Participation of Students Underrepresented in Engineering
This project examines how co-curricular activities engage students from underrepresented groups in engineering.
Preparing a 21st Century STEM Workforce: Defining & Measuring Leadership in Engineering
This project defines and measures leadership competencies in engineering to prepare a future-ready workforce.
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Collaborative Research: An Instrument and Adoption Framework for Student Cognitive and Social Engagement with a Course
This project develops tools to measure and improve student engagement in engineering courses.
Summaries are written by AI in plain language from public symposium abstracts and may be imperfect.
Recent papers, explained
- Exploring engagement narratives among self‐identified Hispanic women's experiences in engineering counterspaces
2025 · Journal of Engineering Education
Explores how Hispanic women experience engagement in engineering outside class.
- Balancing what Drains and Sustains: Factors Influencing Early-Career Women’s Persistence in STEM Fields
2025 · Journal of Career Development
Finds factors that help or hurt early-career women staying in STEM fields.
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- Strategies to Achieve Professional Workforce Maturity in Construction
2025 · Journal of structural design and construction practice.
Identifies strategies to improve workforce skills and retention in construction.
- Belonging in engineering: Exploring the predictive relevance of social interaction and individual factors on undergraduate students' belonging in engineering
2024 · Journal of Engineering Education
Tests how social interactions and personal traits affect engineering students' sense of belonging.
- Effective mentoring strategies to support underrepresented students during a virtual summer research experience for engineering education undergraduates
2024 · International Journal of Mentoring and Coaching in Education
Tests mentoring methods to support underrepresented students in virtual research.
Plain-language summaries are AI-written and reviewed by us; check the paper for details.
How to reach out
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