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1. Persistence of African American Females in Engineering: The Mathematics Identity Factor.

   McKoy, T.L. ; Beane, C.D. ; Oyeteju, M.O. ; Hammond, M.S. ; Hargrove, S.K ( January 2020 , Urban education research and policy annuals)

   null (Ed.)

   To continue as global science and technological leaders, the United States is motivated to create a diverse, engineering workforce. One way of diversifying the engineering workforce is to address the disparity of women engineers. Although concerted efforts to improve retention rates of women in engineering are ongoing, women have earned only 5.6% of all undergraduate engineering degrees, with only 1% attributed to African American women (NSF, 2015b). African American women are commonly included in racial or gender-focused studies on persistence; however, few studies assess the effect of multiple identities to persistence. This exploratory study examined the relationship of persistence, measured by intent to persist, to multiple identities (social, professional, and racial) of African American female engineering students. Forward regression analyses were conducted and results indicated that the participant’s mathematical identities were more salient to them than their racial or gender identities. Also, the values these women placed on being an engineer and belonging to the group were principal aspects of their professional identity. Additionally, negative affect and stereotype threat were found significant predictors of intent to persist. 

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2. “I Think I Am Getting There” Understanding the Computational Identity of Engineering Students Participating in a Computationally Intensive Thermodynamics Course

   https://doi.org/10.1007/s43683-022-00084-1  

   Shoaib, Huma ; Madamanchi, Aasakiran ; Pienaar, Elsje ; Umulis, David M. ; Cardella, Monica E. ( September 2022 , Biomedical Engineering Education)

   In response to the growing computational intensity of the healthcare industry, biomedical engineering (BME) undergraduate education is placing increased emphasis on computation. The presence of substantial gender disparities in many computationally intensive disciplines suggests that the adoption of computational instruction approaches that lack intentionality may exacerbate gender disparities. Educational research suggests that the development of an engineering and computational identity is one factor that can support students’ decisions to enter and persist in an engineering major. Discipline-based identity research is used as a lens to understand retention and persistence of students in engineering. Our specific purpose is to apply discipline-based identity research to define and explore the computational identities of undergraduate engineering students who engage in computational environments. This work will inform future studies regarding retention and persistence of students who engage in computational courses. Twenty-eight undergraduate engineering students (20 women, 8 men) from three engineering majors (biomedical engineering, agricultural engineering, and biological engineering) participated in semi-structured interviews. The students discussed their experiences in a computationally-intensive thermodynamics course offered jointly by the Biomedical Engineering and Agricultural & Biological Engineering departments. The transcribed interviews were analyzed through thematic coding. The gender stereotypes associated with computer programming also come part and parcel with computer programming, possibly threatening a student's sense of belonging in engineering. The majority of the participants reported that their computational identity was “in the making.” Students’ responses also suggested that their engineering identity and their computational identity were in congruence, while some incongruence is found between their engineering identity and a creative identity as well as between computational identity and perceived feminine norms. Responses also indicate that students associate specific skills with having a computational identity. This study's findings present an emergent thematic definition of a computational person constructed from student perceptions and experiences. Instructors can support students’ nascent computational identities through intentional mitigation of the gender stereotypes and biases, and by framing assignments to focus on developing specific skills associated with the computational modeling processes.

    

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3. Development and Refinement of Interview Protocol to Study Engineering Students' Beliefs and Identities

   https://doi.org/10.18260/1-2--34443  

   Kramer, Amy ; Dringenberg, Emily ; Kajfez, Rachel ( June 2020 , Proceedings of the American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference and Exposition, Virtual)

   null (Ed.)

   Despite decades of research, the underrepresentation of non-male, and non-white individuals in engineering continues to be a critical problem. A widespread and commonly accepted approach to recruit and retain diverse individuals is to provide multiple pathways into engineering degree programs, such as offering introductory courses at community colleges or regional campuses. Although these pathways are intended to promote diversity, they are similar in structure to the educational tracking practices common within the K-12 context that extant research has shown often work to perpetuate social inequalities. Students in less prestigious tracks have lower educational aspirations and less favorable self-beliefs. As such, the objective of this research is to understand undergraduate engineering students’ beliefs and identities with respect to smartness and engineering from different institutionalized educational pathways. In our executive summary and poster, we report on the pilot phase of the project consisting of nine semi-structured one-on-one interviews with first-year engineering students across three different institutionalized educational pathways as well as the development and refinement of the interview protocol. The pilot interview protocol was initially development to access the main constructs of interest for this research, beliefs about engineering and smartness as well as identity with respect to engineering and smartness. After the pilot interviews were completed, we utilized an interview protocol refinement approach and determined that the most insufficient portion of our initial protocol was the portion designed to have participants relate their engineering identity to their identity as smart (or not). As such, follow up questions were added to the protocol to provide clarity. The refined interview protocol will be used during the next phase of the study. The full study will include interviews with 30 participants across six different pathways to understand how participation in different institutionalized pathways relates to students’ experiences, beliefs, and identities. These participants will be interviewed up to three times to follow their development as they transition beyond introductory engineering courses regardless of if they continue with the engineering or not. Our work will provide valuable insights into the complex beliefs and identities about engineering and smartness of students participating in different institutionalized pathways into engineering. Ultimately, we believe our findings will inform the ways in which this common structural approach to broadening participation is enacted in engineering. 

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4. An Examination of Perceived Climate, Identity and Belongingness among Undergraduate Women in Engineering

   Ali, S. ( January 2021 , 2021 ASEE Virtual Annual Conference Content Access)

   More women than men in the US graduate college, but women constitute only 16% of the engineering workforce [1]. Women frequently attribute their lack of persistence in engineering to a chilly academic climate [2]. Researchers have suggested that developing a robust engineering identity could moderate a climate effect and support improved retention and graduation of female engineers [2]. However, there is little empirical data on interrelationships among gender, perceived academic climate in engineering programs, engineering identity, and belonging to an engineering community. We drew on social identity theory and extant literature to develop four research questions: 1) Are there any differences between men and women regarding perceived academic climate, sense of belonging, and engineering identity? 2) Does academic climate predict engineering identity in the same way for women and men? 3)Does sense of belonging mediate the relationship between perceived academic climate and engineering identity? 4) Do engineering students who are women demonstrate different relationships among perceived climate, engineering identity, and belongingness from men? We used survey data from a multi-year NSF-funded project (Award # 1726268, #1726088, and #1725880/2033129) that incorporated experimental course-based interventions to build an inclusive curriculum. Surveys were administered at the beginning and end of the semester. We found that at the end of the semester women engineering undergraduates reported lower engineering identity though the initial engineering identity, perceived academic climate, and sense of belonging were the same for both men and women engineering undergraduates. Multiple regression analyses with 601 first-year engineer majors (21% female) indicated perceived climate and gender accounted for 48% of engineering identity variability. The interaction between perceived climate and gender on engineering identity was not statistically significant. Mediation analysis revealed that sense of belonging (b=0.42, 95% CI [0.30, 0.53]) mediated the relationship between perceived climate and engineering identity for both males and females. Sense of belonging was critical in engineering identity. Moderated mediation analysis indicated gender did not moderate the indirect effect of perceived climate on engineering identity through a sense of belonging. 

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5. The power of interest: minoritized women’s interest in engineering fosters persistence beliefs beyond belongingness and engineering identity

   https://doi.org/10.1186/s40594-021-00292-1  

   Verdín, Dina ( December 2021 , International Journal of STEM Education)

   null (Ed.)

   Abstract Backgrounds This study examined how developing an engineering identity through the interplay between interest, recognition, and performance/competence beliefs and establishing a sense of belonging supported women’s persistence beliefs in engineering. Persistence belief in this study is captured through women’s certainty of graduating with an engineering degree. Students’ levels of motivation, affective states, and actions are based on what students believe to be true. Data were gathered from a survey administered to engineering students at nine institutions across the USA. Only female engineering students were used in the analysis. Students were further grouped into categories based on the representation of their race/ethnicity in engineering; 121 women were identified as minoritized in engineering, and 252 were identified as part of the majority group in engineering. Structural equation modeling was used to understand how the development of an engineering identity and modes of belonging (i.e., belonging in the major and in the classroom environment) supported women’s certainty to graduate with an engineering degree. All latent constructs were examined for measurement invariance; partial measurement invariance was achieved. Equality constraints on the structural paths of the model were not enforced to allow for differences across groups. Results Seeing oneself as an engineer (i.e., internal recognition) did not support minoritized women’s certainty to persist toward degree completion, whereas this internal recognition supported majority women’s persistence. Belonging in the major and belonging in the classroom environment did not support minoritized women’s certainty to persist. Establishing a sense of belonging in the classroom environment supported majority women’s certainty to persist. Minoritized women’s persistence toward degree completion was supported by their interest in engineering and their confidence in performing well in engineering coursework. However, interest in engineering was two times more influential toward minoritized women’s persistence than their performance competence beliefs. Conclusion These findings provide educators with a nuanced understanding of how identity development and modes of belonging differentially affect women’s persistence beliefs. These findings suggest that educators need to understand the powerful influence minoritized women’s interest in engineering has on their persistence beliefs and create mechanisms to continuously reinforce interest. 

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