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1. Inside the STEM pipeline: Changes in students’ biomedical career plans across the college years

   https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.abe0985  

   Rosenzweig, Emily Q.; Hecht, Cameron A.; Priniski, Stacy J.; Canning, Elizabeth A.; Asher, Michael W.; Tibbetts, Yoi; Hyde, Janet S.; Harackiewicz, Judith M. (April 2021, Science Advances)

   null (Ed.)

   Researchers often invoke the metaphor of a pipeline when studying participation in careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), focusing on the important issue of students who “leak” from the pipeline, but largely ignoring students who persist in STEM. Using interview, survey, and institutional data over 6 years, we examined the experiences of 921 students who persisted in biomedical fields through college graduation and planned to pursue biomedical careers. Despite remaining in the biomedical pipeline, almost half of these students changed their career plans, which was almost twice the number of students who abandoned biomedical career paths altogether. Women changed plans more often and were more likely than men to change to a career requiring fewer years of post-graduate education. Results highlight the importance of studying within-pipeline patterns rather than focusing only on why students leave STEM fields. 

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2. Impact of Teachers With Research Experiences: Student Gains in STEM Career Awareness, Perception of Value of STEM Learning, and Persistence in STEM Course Tasks

   https://doi.org/10.1002/sce.21926  

   Keller, John; Buxner, Sanlyn; Donnelly‐Hermosillo, Dermot; Bailey, Elsa; Citkowicz, Martyna; Horvath, Larry; Moreno, Dan; Yisak, Melissa; Zhu, Bo; Fulbeck, Eleanor; et al (January 2025, Science Education)

   ABSTRACT Research Experiences for Teachers (RET) programs are a burgeoning approach to engage teachers in STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) research that they can translate into their K‐12 classrooms. Despite an increase in studies of RETs, there is a need for comparison of RET and non‐RET teachers' student outcomes. This mixed methods, quasi‐experimental comparison study, using a revised third‐generation activity theory framework, investigates how an RET program for preservice and early career STEM teachers impacted participating teachers and their students up to 8 years after RET participation. Specifically, we conducted a matched comparison of student achievement data from students of nine RET teachers versus many non‐RET comparison teachers within the same districts (n = 830–1132 students). We also investigated student and teacher perceptions of classroom practices through surveys (n = 576 students) and interviews (15 teacher interviews). Omnibus tests revealed no statistically significant differences by treatment in math or science achievement. However, students of the RET teachers reported stronger perceptions of STEM career awareness, greater value for learning STEM subjects, and a greater propensity to persist in STEM course tasks (three of the five constructs measured). This was consistent with teacher interview responses in which RET teachers spoke about STEM career awareness in a broader context for understanding the value of STEM in society, and also discussed struggles in research and attempts to bring this mindset to their students, which may have resulted in greater student engagement in their courses. Implications for teacher education and for supporting science and engineering practices in STEM classrooms are discussed along with recommendations for further research on the impacts of RET programs guided by a revised third‐generation activity theory framework informed by this work. 

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3. The Development of a Measure of Engineering Identity

   https://doi.org/10.18260/p.26122  

   Godwin, Allison (January 2016, ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition)

   Measures of subject-related role identities in physics and math have been developed from research on the underlying constructs of identity in science education. The items for these measures capture three constructs of identity: students’ interest in the subject, students’ feeling of recognition by others, and students’ beliefs about their performance/competence in the subject area. In prior studies with late secondary and early post-secondary students, participants did not distinguish between performance beliefs (e.g., believing that they can do well in a particular subject) and competence beliefs (e.g., believing that they can understand a particular subject); therefore, performance/competence beliefs are measured as a single construct. These validated measures have been successful in predicting STEM career choices including physics, math, and engineering. Based on these measures of identity, literature on engineering identity, and my prior work on understanding engineering choice and belongingness through students’ science and math identities at the transition from high school to college, I developed a set of new engineering identity measures that capture and overall identification as an engineer, future engineering career identification, and students’ engineering-related interest, recognition, and performance/competence beliefs. I conducted a pilot survey of 371 first-year engineering students at three institutions within the U.S. during the spring semester of 2015. An exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was performed to examine the underlying structure of the piloted questions about students’ engineering identity. The measures loaded on three separate constructs that were consistent with the hypothesized constructs of interest, performance/competence and recognition. The developed items were used in a subsequent study deployed in the fall semester of 2015 that measured more than 2500 first-year engineering students’ attitudes and beliefs at four institutions within the U.S. The data on engineering identity measures from this second survey were analyzed using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). The results indicated that the developed measures do extract a significant portion of the average variance in the latent constructs and the internal consistency of the measures (Cronbach’s α) falls within the acceptable and better range. The development of these items provides ways for engineering education researchers to more deeply explore the underlying self-beliefs in students’ engineering identity formation through quantitative measures with strong evidence for validity. 

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4. Black Women in STEM: The Need for Intersectional Supports in Professional Conference Spaces

   Sanchez, M. E.; Hypolite, L. I.; Newman, C. B.; and Cole, D. G. (July 2019, The Journal of Negro education)

   null (Ed.)

   National discourse about STEM careers has dominated conversations about the need to meet the demands of the labor market. The ever increasing population diversity requires the participation of underrepresented groups, including women and individuals from racially minoritized backgrounds. However, for those at the intersections of historical and persistent marginality, such as Black female students, access to STEM majors, programs, and careers are particularly limited. This article uses observations, four student focus groups, document analysis, and survey data from a Black science conference to understand the experiences of Black women student attendees. Through an intersectional lens, we find that professional conferences can better serve Black female student participants by considering their nuanced experiences, barriers, and contributions to the field. 

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5. Tinkerers, Artists, and Athletes: Using Personas to Spotlight Alternative Engineering Identities and Pathways

   Appelhans, S; Thomas, R; Tilsen, J; Cheville, RA (June 2025, American Society for Engineering Education)

   Engineering education is typically described using a “pipeline” metaphor, wherein students are shuffled along pre-determined pathways toward a narrow set of career outcomes. However, several decades of research have shown that this pipeline model does not accurately describe engineering trajectories and may exclude students who enter the pipeline at different times and have other career outcomes in mind. Similarly, qualitative studies have shown that normative identities in engineering feature masculine stereotypes such as “geeks” and “nerds” that reproduce technical/social dichotomies. Several studies have suggested that broadening the expected outcomes and identities in engineering to include “alternative” pathways and identities may contribute to a shift to a more inclusive form of engineering education. To make these alternative pathways more visible to faculty and students, we have developed a set of engineering “personas” based on interviews [n=16] with senior engineering students at a liberal arts university. Interviews were coded by three members of the research team using consensus coding techniques to ascertain core elements of the personas: Origins, Identities, and Trajectories. Early drafts of student personas were presented to students, who provided insights into future iterations. We propose several engineering personas using a matrix approach, which allows each persona to be adaptable for various origins, identities, and trajectories. These personas contribute to our understanding of alternative engineering pathways based on real student experiences. We intend to use these personas as pedagogical tools to help faculty recognize a wider range of engineering identities, and to help students see themselves as “real engineers” without sacrificing other (non-technical) core values, identities, and pathways. 

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