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1. A qualitative study of marginalized students’ academic, physical, and social self-efficacy in a multiweek geoscience field program

   https://doi.org/10.1080/10899995.2023.2215673  

   Fairchild, Ennea; Sexton, Julie; Newman, Harmony; Hinerman, Krystal; McKay, Jessica; Riggs, Eric (July 2023, Journal of Geoscience Education)

   Undergraduate summer field programs are valuable experiences that can foster or reduce students’ self-efficacy, an important factor in students’ success and retention in geoscience. Growing research findings show that science field experiences can be hostile and unwelcoming to students with marginalized identities, which may negatively impact their self-efficacy in geoscience, a discipline with a dearth of students from underrepresented, marginalized identities. We conducted an interpretive qualitative study examining how summer geoscience field programs affected two undergraduate, marginalized students’ self-efficacy. Adding to existing theoretical explanations of self-efficacy, we identified three types of self-efficacy impacted positively and negatively by geoscience field experiences: academic, physical, and social self-efficacy. We developed a nuanced understanding of the specific field experiences that influenced the ‘ups and downs’ of students’ self-efficacy and, ultimately, their intent in continuing to pursue a geoscience education or career. Despite negative experiences, including gender discrimination, crude sexual jokes, and a lack of belonging, the students described their intent to persist in geoscience. Our findings can assist geoscience educators (and others in field-based sciences) to consider experiences that support and hinder marginalized students’ self-efficacy. Also, our findings can guide efforts to improve geoscience field programs to create more inclusive environments. 

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2. Identity Dilemmas, Cultural Homelessness and Intersectionality: A Discourse Analysis of the Experiences of a Female Undergraduate International and Transracial Adoptee in Engineering (Research)

   Kali, Maimuna Begum; Secules, Stephen (July 2023, ASEE annual conference exposition)

   Abstract Background: Engineering education research on inclusion has helped understand the challenges and better the experiences of underrepresented and marginalized groups (e.g., LGBTQ+, disabled individuals, and first-generation college students). In contrast, populations at the intersection of multiple forms of marginalization are harder to support and not as well represented in the literature. As each identity group can have a unique experience of educational culture, attention to intersectionality necessitates more nuance and specificity in our understanding. Theoretical framework: Cultural homelessness occurs when an individual lacks a cultural frame of reference to fit into existing racial, ethnic, or cultural categories. We argue that students can develop a sense of cultural homelessness via the experience of multiple systems of oppression. Purpose: In this article, we explore how a female transracial adoptee undergraduate engineering student describes her experiences in engineering and the challenges she faces due to having complex identities by employing the notions of intersectionality and cultural home/lessness. Method: This study is part of a larger project that examines aspects of students’ experiences and identities that are overlooked, misunderstood or marginalized in engineering. In this paper, we focus on a single participant, Amber, a female transracial adoptee with anxiety and depression in the 4th year of her engineering program at a Predominantly White Institution (PWI). We used narrative and discourse analysis techniques to examine the experience and characterization of her identity within or outside of a cultural home. Findings: The findings demonstrate cultural homelessness in how Amber expresses an “outsider” identity and two different identity dilemmas that she experiences in life and academic settings. Implications: The study has implications for how we support students from multiply marginalized groups and calls for us to actively and intentionally include groups that are usually overlooked or underexplored. As intersectionality creates nuanced and divergent experiences among all of us, it is crucial to attend to these nuances when investigating engineering marginalization and strive to create a holistically inclusive culture. 

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3. The Academic and Personal Experiences of Engineering Technology and Welding Technology Students: A Literature Review

   https://doi.org/10.1177/00915521241258460  

   Vempala, Vibhavari; Mondisa, Joi-Lynn (June 2024, Community College Review)

   Objective/Research Question: There is a growing demand for skilled workers in engineering and technology fields. However, the number of engineering technology degrees awarded is much less compared to engineering, and a high percentage of students in engineering technology do not persist beyond the first year. To meet the demands for skilled workers, it is important to understand the experiences of engineering technology students to identify factors that contribute to their matriculation and persistence. The purpose of this paper is to summarize the research that exists on the academic and personal experiences of engineering technology and welding technology students. The research questions guiding this study are: (a) what are the academic and personal experiences of engineering technology and welding technology students at 2- and 4-year institutions? and (b) what are students’ experiences with persisting in engineering technology? Methods: Using our research questions and predetermined inclusion criteria, we performed a literature review of relevant articles retrieved from Scopus and ERIC ProQuest databases. Results: We identify three areas of opportunities for future research examination: (a) experiences of students of marginalized populations in engineering technology, (b) how to leverage career and technical education and 2-year engineering technology programs to support matriculation, and (c) ways to address the negative stigma associated with engineering technology programs. Conclusions/Contributions: To meet the demands of the nation’s economy and future workforce, it is important to further examine the experiences of engineering technology students. 

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4. The Complexity of Nonbinary Gender Inclusion in Engineering Culture

   Haverkamp, A. (June 2018, ASEE annual conference & exposition)

   Gender in engineering is a long-standing source of inquiry, research, outreach, and discussion as inequity in demographics and negative experiences persist in the field. Women consist of just approximately 20% of our engineering undergraduate programs nationally, and roughly 14% of our national professional workforce. Absent from these numbers and research into gender minority experiences are students who lay further on the margins of discussion, awareness, inclusion, and acknowledgement of existence - students who identify as nonbinary or other genders aside from man or woman. This paper presents background literature on gender, gender minority experiences in higher education, nonbinary gender identity, and aims to present points of discussion to facilitate further engagement with a more nuanced understanding of gender in engineering. Gender as a social system is defined by multiplicity and fluidity and does not fit within two unitary and discrete categories. The majority of current gender in engineering scholarship utilizes a conceptualization of gender which does not acknowledge or incorporate more than two gender options, and is rooted in increasingly rejected notions of biological essentialism. Nonbinary and gender nonconforming students, some of which also identify within the transgender population, exist in liminal spaces throughout society and higher education, and continuation of this scholarship tacitly denies their existence by framing gender as intrinsically linked to two biological categories. Engineering professionals, faculty, and students who identify as neither men nor women must be included and our conversation be expanded for academically rigorous investigation into gender dynamics and create inclusive engineering spaces. Conversations around gender neutral bathrooms are just the beginnings of widespread cultural change to support gender expansive engineers. The discipline must re-think our approaches towards gender equity in engineering and the theoretical conceptualization of gender to not only frame its inequity through the sharp underrepresentation of women, but its gender dynamics as experienced by nonbinary and gender nonconforming students. We must continue to make space for marginalized gender identities and gendered experiences. Through reviewing existing literature and integrating my own intimate experiences I seek to discuss preliminary efforts towards nonbinary inclusion in our teaching, professionalization, and language. This paper represents a point of entry for discussing nonbinary inclusion as part of the discipline's continued commitment to cultural change surrounding gender. 

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5. The Complexity of Nonbinary Gender Inclusion in Engineering Culture

   Haverkamp, A. (June 2018, ASEE annual conference & exposition)

   Gender in engineering is a long-standing source of inquiry, research, outreach, and discussion as inequity in demographics and negative experiences persist in the field. Women consist of just approximately 20% of our engineering undergraduate programs nationally, and roughly 14% of our national professional workforce. Absent from these numbers and research into gender minority experiences are students who lay further on the margins of discussion, awareness, inclusion, and acknowledgement of existence - students who identify as nonbinary or other genders aside from man or woman. This paper presents background literature on gender, gender minority experiences in higher education, nonbinary gender identity, and aims to present points of discussion to facilitate further engagement with a more nuanced understanding of gender in engineering. Gender as a social system is defined by multiplicity and fluidity and does not fit within two unitary and discrete categories. The majority of current gender in engineering scholarship utilizes a conceptualization of gender which does not acknowledge or incorporate more than two gender options, and is rooted in increasingly rejected notions of biological essentialism. Nonbinary and gender nonconforming students, some of which also identify within the transgender population, exist in liminal spaces throughout society and higher education, and continuation of this scholarship tacitly denies their existence by framing gender as intrinsically linked to two biological categories. Engineering professionals, faculty, and students who identify as neither men nor women must be included and our conversation be expanded for academically rigorous investigation into gender dynamics and create inclusive engineering spaces. Conversations around gender neutral bathrooms are just the beginnings of widespread cultural change to support gender expansive engineers. The discipline must re-think our approaches towards gender equity in engineering and the theoretical conceptualization of gender to not only frame its inequity through the sharp underrepresentation of women, but its gender dynamics as experienced by nonbinary and gender nonconforming students. We must continue to make space for marginalized gender identities and gendered experiences. Through reviewing existing literature and integrating my own intimate experiences I seek to discuss preliminary efforts towards nonbinary inclusion in our teaching, professionalization, and language. This paper represents a point of entry for discussing nonbinary inclusion as part of the discipline's continued commitment to cultural change surrounding gender. 

   more » « less