Marie Paretti, Ph.D.

Education

Ph.D. English, University of Wisconsin, Madison, 1997
M.A. English, Virginia Tech, 1990
B.S. Chemical Engineering, Virginia Tech, 1986

Research Interests

• Professional engineering identities
• School-to-work transition for engineers
• Communication, teamwork, and professional skills in engineering
• Capstone design education

Research Statement

My research grows from my passion for empowering students to develop as professionals.  My work focuses on engineering identity understood broadly, including research on professional engineering practice, communication and teamwork, design education, and diversity and inclusion. Across these domains, my research and the research of my graduate students helps current and future faculty create inclusive learning environments that prepare students to succeed in their professional lives.

In exploring engineering identity, my graduate students and I consider what it means to be an engineer at school and at work, and the ways in which individuals from underrepresented groups experience engineering. Within engineering curricula, I am particularly interested in design-based and project-based learning environments where students develop professional skills, build adaptive expertise, and develop the capacity for self-directed learning. To that end, I have studied effective practices in project-based courses, transitions from school to work, and studies of communication and collaboration practices at school and at work. Across all of these domains, my work consistently considers the experiences of underrepresented students (including factors such as gender, race, and class) to help both engineering programs and engineering workplaces better serve all individuals. 

Biography

Marie C. Paretti is a Professor of Engineering Education at Virginia Tech, where she directs the Virginia Tech Engineering Communications Center (VTECC). She received a B.S. in chemical engineering and an M.A. in English from Virginia Tech, and a Ph.D. in English from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Her research focuses on communication and collaboration, design education, and identity (including race, gender, class, etc.) in engineering. She was awarded a CAREER grant from the National Science Foundation to study expert teaching in capstone design courses, and is co-PI on numerous NSF grants exploring communication, teamwork, design, and identity in engineering. Drawing on theories of situated learning and identity development, her work includes studies on the teaching and learning of communication, effective teaching practices in design education, the effects of differing pedagogies on personal and professional identities, the dynamics of cross-disciplinary collaboration in both academic and industry design environments, and gender and identity in engineering. When not at work, she can be found pulling weeds in her garden or bicycling the back roads of Craig County, VA.

Teaching/Courses Taught

• EngE 4735-36: Interdisciplinary Capstone Design
• EngE 1215: Foundations of Engineering
• EngE 5224: Disciplinary Literacy: Theorizing and Writing and Engineering Education
• EngE 5514: Applied Design and Assessment of Educational Experiences in Engineering

Awards & Honors

• 2022 Ronald S. Bliq Award for Distinction in Technical Communication Education from the IEEE Professional Communication Society
• 2022 Rudolph K. Joenk Award for Best 2021 Paper in IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication (co-authors: J. Ford, S. Howe, D. Kotys-Schwartz, and R. Ott)
• 2019 COE Dean’s Award for Excellence in Service2015 Nunnally Award for Outstanding Faculty in Engineering Education
• 2014 Finalist, Sporn Award for Excellence in Teaching Undergraduate Engineering Subjects
• 2008 National Science Foundation CAREER Award
• 2008 Sporn Award for Excellence in Teaching Undergraduate Engineering Subjects
• 2008 Outstanding New Assistant Professor in the College of Engineering
• 2003 XCaliber Certificate of Excellence for English 3764: Technical Writing Online. Virginia Tech Center for Innovation in Learning, 2003. With Jim Dubinsky and Mark Armstrong

Selected Publications

• Jordan, S.S., Matusovich, H.M., Case, J.M., Benson, L., Delaine, D.A., Kajfez, R.L., Lord, S.M., Paretti, M.C., Young, E.T. and Zastavker, Y.V. (2024) ‘SHARE: A Framework for Secondary Qualitative Data Analysis’ Studies in Engineering Education, 5(1), p. 125–133.

• Deters, J.*, Paretti, M. C., Perry, L., & Ott, R. (2024). What does it mean to be “prepared for work”? Perceptions of new engineers. Journal of Engineering Education. 113(1): 103-123. 

• Paretti, M. C., Case, J. M., Benson, L., Delaine, D. A., Jordan, S., Kajfez, R. L., Lord, S. M., Matusovich, H. M., Young, E. T., & Zastavker, Y. V. (2023). Building capacity in engineering education research through collaborative secondary data analysis. Australasian Journal of Engineering Education, 28(1): 8-16. 

• Francis, R.A., Paretti, M.C. and Riedner, R. (2022). Theorizing Engineering Judgment at the Intersection of Decision-Making and Identity. Studies in Engineering, 3(1), p.79–98. 

• Lutz, B.*, & Paretti, M. C. (2021). Exploring the Social and Cultural Dimensions of Learning for Recent Engineering Graduates During the School-to-Work Transition. Engineering Studies, 13(2), 132-157. 

• Gewirtz, C.*, & Paretti, M. C. (2021, 2021/05/04). Becoming after College: Agency and Structure in Transitions to Engineering Work. Engineering Studies, 13(2), 111-131. 

• Ford, J. D., Paretti, M., Kotys-Schwartz, D., Howe, S., & Ott, R. New engineers’ transfer of communication activities from school to work (2021). IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication. 64(2): 105-120.

• Cross, K.J.* & Paretti, M.C. (2020) African-American males’ team experiences. Journal of Women and Minorities in Science and Engineering. 26(4): 381-411.

• McCall, C., Shew, A., Simmons, D. R., Paretti, M. C., & McNair, L. D. (2020) Exploring student disability and professional identity: navigating sociocultural expectations in U.S. undergraduate civil engineering programs. Australasian Journal of Engineering Education. 25(1):79-89, (Best Paper, AJEE 2020)

• Paretti, M. C., Kotys-Schwartz, D., Ford, J.D., Howe, S., Ott, R. (2020). Leveraging capstone design experiences to build self-directed learning. International Journal of Engineering Education. 36(2): 664-674. 

• Ford, J.D., Paretti, M.C., Kotys-Schwartz, D., Howe, S., Gewirtz, C.* … (2019). Transitioning from capstone design courses to workplaces: A study of new engineers’ first three months. International Journal of Engineering Education. 35(6):1993-2013.

• Pembridge, J. J.* & Paretti, M.C. (2019). Characterizing Capstone Design Teaching: A Functional Taxonomy. Journal of Engineering Education 108(2): 197-218.

• Paretti, M. C., Gustafsson, M., Eriksson, A. (2019). Faculty and Student Perceptions of the Impacts of Communication-In-The-Disciplines (CID) on Students’ Development as Engineers. IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication. 62(1): 27-42.