Guest editorial: Continuing to build engineering education research capabilities

The engineering education research community has progressed considerably since the first Frontiers in Education (FIE) conference. The FIE conference was started by the IEEE Education Society in 1971. The FIE conference has helped engineering faculty become more scholarly teachers. Becoming a scholarly teacher means being familiar with the best practices in engineering education, reading engineering education literature and engaging in periodic conversations about teaching and learning with colleagues, and conducting systematic assessment of their students' learning. The IEEE Education Society has provided extraordinary leadership in engineering education and is now well positioned to play a significant role in preparing engineering education researchers. In January 2003, the Journal of Engineering Education (JEE) repositioned itself as an archival journal for scholarly research in engineering education.