GoKawiilArizona State study probes what 'adaptability' really means for engineers
Samantha Brunhaver, an associate professor at Arizona State University, is leading an NSF-funded project examining how engineers develop adaptability on the job. Through interviews with managers, early-career employees, and undergraduates, she found that while adaptability is widely cited as essential, employers rarely define or teach it consistently, and its meaning shifts depending on the industry, from tool turnover in software to regulatory changes in aerospace or biomedical fields.