Date Approved

5-27-2026

Embargo Period

5-27-2026

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Ph.D. Engineering Education

Department

Engineering Education

College

Henry M. Rowan College of Engineering

Advisor

Cheryl Bodnar, Ph.D.

Committee Member 1

Cassandra Jamison, Ph.D.

Committee Member 2

Justin Major, PhD

Committee Member 3

Thomas Meadowcroft, Ph.D.

Committee Member 4

Elif Eda Miskioglu, Ph.D.

Keywords

case studies;cognitive apprenticeship;Dreyfus model;industry preparedness;process safety;skills acquisition

Disciplines

Engineering

Abstract

Process safety management is vital to companies operating highly hazardous materials or processes, and it is of interest to the engineering community as poor process safety judgments can have catastrophic results. Process safety judgments consider more than the prioritization of safety, as they are often influenced by elements like production, spending, reputation, and time. As such, it’s important to prepare engineering students nearing graduation for the complexity of these judgments and narrow the Theory-to-Practice gap for students entering industry. This work sought to identify 1) how the Theory-to-Practice gap is manifesting in process safety judgments, and 2) how the application of cognitive apprenticeship elements in a process safety course could improve engineering students’ skills acquisition. This dissertation found that the Theory-to-Practice gap was manifesting in three ways: 1) protocols vs. experience, 2) caring for the employees, and 3) looking forward. This work also revealed that cognitive apprenticeship elements in a process safety course were able to develop students’ ability to understand perspectives and has potential to create immersion in process safety scenarios. However, this study found that students struggle to identify organizational elements such as bottom line and time when making process safety judgments. Overall, this work identifies the need for more ill-structured, contextualized problems in process safety education.

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