There is a continuing call for the development of engineers who can become leaders in helping solve the world's grand challenges. Although many programs look toward the capstone design experience to help build students' professional skills, which includes leadership, student preparation for the leadership challenges associated with the capstone design team experience may widely vary. Leadership scholars suggest that "shared leadership" may be a more effective leadership model than the hierarchical, individual leadership model that is typically used in team-based capstone design projects. The capstone experience replicates the creative, complex, and interdependent knowledge work for which shared leadership has been shown to be more effective. Unlike some of their civilian counterparts, military academies and military colleges often incorporate a highly developed leadership curriculum throughout the four-year college experience, whereas civilian engineering universities generally tend to be less purposeful in their leadership development for engineering students. In both instances, little is known regarding how civilian and military undergraduate engineering students approach and share leadership in their formative, design experiences.
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