Skills
Engineering Professor Skills & Tools
The technical skills, people skills and tools employers look for in engineering professors, and how to build and show them.
What skills do engineering professors need?
Engineering Professors need technical skills such as engineering fundamentals, research design, and lab management, plus people skills like leadership and mentoring. They also use tools such as Simulation software and Lab instruments.
Technical (hard) skills
- Engineering fundamentals
- Research design
- Lab management
- Grant writing
- Technical writing
- Curriculum design
People (soft) skills
- Leadership
- Mentoring
- Communication
- Project management
Tools, equipment and technology
- Simulation software
- Lab instruments
- MATLAB
- CAD
- Learning management systems
- Research computing
Skills in action: common tasks
These step-by-step guides show how engineering professors put their skills to work:
- How to advise a capstone design team
- How to write a research grant proposal
- How to run a safe research lab
How to show these skills on a resume
- Lead your skills section with the technical skills from the job posting, for example, “Engineering fundamentals” and “Research design.”
- Prove soft skills with results: instead of listing “leadership,” describe a situation where you used it.
- List credentials such as Ph.D. in engineering near the top, with the issuing organization and date.
- Use the employer’s vocabulary. Our engineering professor glossary covers the terms hiring managers expect.
How to build these skills
Formal training, supervised practice and certification are the most direct routes. Our Engineering Professor training introduces each of these skills with plain-language lessons, procedures and a final knowledge check: a strong foundation before hands-on training or your first day.