Steven J. Kerno Jr. is a DBA (doctorate in business administration) candidate at St. Ambrose University (Davenport, IA). He is employed full-time as a parts cross-reference analyst at John Deere PDC in Milan, IL, and teaches business and economics courses for St. Ambrose and Iowa Wesleyan College. He has written feature articles on the changing nature of careers for magazines such as Mechanical Engineering, Resource, PE, IE, Welding, and Appliance, and has contributed chapters to the books Career Development in Bioengineering and Biotechnology and The Praeger Handbook of Human Resource Management. He is particularly interested in how economics and contemporary business practices impact innovation, as well as how communities of practice can assist engineers in their work. He resides in Rock Island, IL, with his wife, Tammy, and four children (Brett, Stephanie, Scott, and Andrew).
Selected Writings:
Engineering Practice
"The Efficient Frontier: Pushing the Boundaries of What's Possible as an Engineer," Mechanical Engineering, March 2008
"Tapping Communities of Practice," Mechanical Engineering, October 2008
Engineering Communities of Practice and Professional Networks
"Limitations of Communities of Practice: A Consideration of Unresolved Issues and Difficulties in the Approach," an expanded version of a paper by the same title that appeared in the Summer 2008 issue of the Journal of Leadership and Organizational Studies , vol. 15, no. 1, pp. 69-78
"It's Who You Know," Inbound Logisitcis, December 2007
"Continual Career Change," Mechanical Engineering, July 2007
Engineering Careers
"Protean Profesionalism and Career Development,"in Career Development in Bioengineering and Biotechnology, Springer Press, New York, 2008.