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1. Intersection of Race and Gender on Experiences of Undergraduate Engineering Students in Leadership Roles

   Lilley, Carmen (January 2020, American Society of Engineering Education 2020 Annual Conference)

   null (Ed.)

   This project explores the leadership beliefs, experiences, and knowledge/skills of undergraduate engineering students who have self-identified as having leadership experience at a Research I minority serving institution for Asian Americans and Native Americans, as well as a Hispanic Serving Institution. Thirty-two undergraduate engineering students with self-identified leadership experience were recruited from the College of Engineering across the various majors. In this paper, the perspective of how students described their self-identities and the emerging categories of negative leadership experiences that act as external stressors is presented and discussed specifically for the students that identified as belonging to an underrepresented minority group, including those that were multiracial. The research illustrates how nuances need to be explored to understand how intersectionality of critical race theory with feminist theory increases the complexity of creating an inclusive logic model that can be incorporated into a theory of change that increases academic and professional success of engineers as future leaders within an organization. 

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2. Work in Progress: Intersection of Race and Gender on Experiences of Undergraduate Engineering Students of Color in Positional Leadership Roles

   Lilley, Carmen M. (January 2020, ASEE 2020 Virtual Conference)

   null (Ed.)

   This work in progress discusses an NSF sponsored project that explores the leadership beliefs, experiences, and knowledge/skills of undergraduate engineering students who have self-identified as having leadership experience at a Research I minority serving institution (MSI) for Asian Americans and Native Americans, as well as a Hispanic Serving Institution. Thirty-two undergraduate engineering students with self-identified leadership experience were recruited from the College of Engineering at the MSI across the various majors. In this paper, the perspective of how students described their self-identities and the emerging categories of negative leadership experiences is presented and discussed. The research illustrates how nuances need to be explored to understand how intersectionality increases the complexity of creating an inclusive logic model that can be incorporated into a theory of change that increases academic and professional success of engineers as future leaders within an organization. 

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3. Developing research identity: Experiences and influences leading to undergraduate students’ growth as researchers

   Splendido, S; O’Connor, J; Thole, K_A; Berdanier, C_G_P (June 2024, 2024 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference and Exposition)

   The purpose of this research full paper is to examine the development of undergraduate students’ research identity during a summer undergraduate research experience. Identity development through socialization experiences is crucial for students to explore future career paths, especially in careers that require research-focused graduate degrees. However, literature is limited on how effective socialization occurs for research and future research-related careers. This paper follows 10 undergraduate engineering and physics students participating in an engineering-focused Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) program at an R1 institution to explore this gap in knowledge. As part of a longitudinal multi-method study, participants completed a pre- and post-experience survey, and participated in three interviews over the course of the summer. Survey data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and a Wilcoxon signed-rank test. Interviews were analyzed through the lens of academic self-concept theory for common themes of socialization and identity development in research through the course of the program. Findings indicate that undergraduate students’ research self-concepts are heavily influenced by research experiences and comparisons to their peers. The students’ increase in research self-concept as well as their experiences and interactions within the program allowed them to see research careers as attainable and increased their interest in pursuing graduate degrees after the program. Survey data showed a statistical increase in research self-efficacy and research identity at the end of the program, reinforcing the idea that students’ experiences in the REU helped them grow as researchers and engineers. This research increases our understanding of students’ research identity development and provides potential ways to implement research self-concept and identity development to similar undergraduate research experiences. 

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4. Circle of success—An interpretative phenomenological analysis of how Black engineering students experience success

   https://doi.org/10.1002/jee.20509  

   Henderson, Jerrod A.; Junqueira, Waldemiro; Benjamin, Le Shorn S.; Hines, Erik M.; Alarcón, Jeannette D.; Davis, Jared L.; Cavazos, Sebastian (March 2023, Journal of Engineering Education)

   Abstract BackgroundThough minoritized undergraduate engineering students earn less than 25% of engineering bachelor's degrees, minority‐serving institutions (MSIs) are leading the way in producing a large percentage of those underrepresented engineering bachelor's degree holders. However, much of the published research about the experiences of underrepresented engineering students occurs within the context of predominantly White institutions. Upon deeper inspection into the apparent success of some MSIs, graduation rates of specific minoritized populations (e.g., Black students) remain critically low. This suggests that there is more to be learned about how to better support Black engineering students' success. PurposeWe explored the experiences of Black undergraduate engineering students at a large public doctoral university with very high research activity. Design/MethodWe used interpretative phenomenological analysis to understand the experiences of eight participants. FindingsWe inductively developed two themes to describe how Black engineering students experience success at a Hispanic‐serving institution, which include building success networks and implementing rules of engagement. ConclusionParticipants enacted their cultural capital to construct their circles of success through the intentional engagement of others, resources, and themselves to realize success. This work sheds light on how Black students describe what it means to be successful in their engineering environment. 

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5. The Making of an Innovative Engineer: Academic and Life Experiences that Shape Engineering Task and Innovation Self-Efficacy.

   Schar, M.; Gilmartin, S.; Rieken, B.; Brunhaver, S.; Chen, H.; Sheppard, S. (January 2017, Proceedings of the American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference, June 25-28. Columbus, OH.)

   This research paper presents the results of a study that uses multivariate models to explore the relationships between participation in learning experiences, innovation self-efficacy, and engineering task self-efficacy. Findings show that many engineering students participated in learning experiences that are typically associated with engineering education, such as taking a shop class or engineering class in high school (47%), taking a computer science (81%) or design/prototyping (72%) class as an undergraduate, working in an engineering environment as an intern (56%), or attending a career related event during college (75%). Somewhat surprisingly, given the rigors of an engineering curriculum, a significant number of students participated in an art, dance, music, theater, or creative writing class (55%), taken a class on leadership topics (47%), and/or participated in student clubs outside of engineering (44%) during college. There also were important differences in rates of participation by gender, underrepresented racial/ethnic minority status, and first generation college student status. Overall prediction of engineering task self-efficacy and innovation self-efficacy was relatively low, with a model fit of these learning experiences predicting engineering task self-efficacy at (adjusted r2 of) .200 and .163 for innovation self-efficacy. Certain patterns emerged when the learning experiences were sorted by Bandura’s Sources of Self-Efficacy. For engineering task self-efficacy, higher participation in engineering mastery and vicarious engineering experiences was associated with higher engineering task self-efficacy ratings. For the development of innovation self-efficacy, a broader range of experiences beyond engineering experiences was important. There was a strong foundation of engineering mastery experiences in the innovation self-efficacy model; however, broadening experiences beyond engineering, particularly in the area of leadership experiences, may be a factor in innovation selfefficacy. These results provide a foundation for future longitudinal work probing specific types of learning experiences that shape engineering students’ innovation goals. They also set the stage for comparative models of students’ goals around highly technical engineering work, which allows us to understand more deeply how “innovation” and “engineering” come together in the engineering student experience. 

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