Gabriella Coloyan Fleming
RESEARCH SCIENTIST IN THE DEPARTMENT OF ENGINEERING EDUCATION AT VIRGINIA TECH
MIDWAY THROUGH HER DOCTORATE IN MECHANICAL ENGINEERING, Gabriella Coloyan Fleming nearly chose another path. “I was offered a job at a major American car company to work on their new EVs, and I was very seriously considering leaving,” she said. “Coursework was hard. Research is hard. I had a health issue and took time during my recovery to seriously consider what I wanted for my life and future career.”
But she ultimately decided to stay in academia and now calls finishing her doctorate her proudest accomplishment. “It’s as much a degree in persistence as it is in engineering and problem solving,” she added.
That lived experience now fuels her research as a scientist at Virginia Tech’s Department of Engineering Education, where she focuses on how engineering graduate students are (or aren’t) being prepared for life after the lab.
“I felt like the skills that I had gained during grad school really only prepared me to be a graduate student in my field,” she said. “There was little to no professional development for what came after graduation.”
PRACTICAL STRATEGIES
Now she’s changing the script for others. Fleming’s current work explores how universities support students headed for jobs outside the world of academia. “The majority of graduate students go on to non-academic careers,” she noted. “One finding is that programs that prepare students particularly well work closely with industry partners, and these students are very well set up for success after they graduate.”
Fleming emphasizes practical strategies for both undergraduate and graduate students planning their futures: “Look at the jobs that you want, even if you’re three years out from graduation. Look at the skills they require and think about how you can gain those skills before you graduate.”
Listen to Gabriella Coloyan Fleming and Abdulrahman Alsharif discuss the technical and professional skills students need.
Internships can make a big difference. “People who have done internships have such an advantage when it comes to applying for a job after graduation because they have this real-world experience,” she said.
Today, engineering education is at a crossroads—an inflection point, Fleming said, referencing recent grant cuts that have left researchers, herself included, rethinking the future. But for Fleming, the mission is clear: helping the next generation thrive.
“No one is an engineer by themselves—anyone, even students, could be your future colleagues,” she said. “Networking is never a bad thing. Don’t make ChatGPT your professional engineering society.”
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