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This research paper presents the findings of an interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) case study of the experience of shame in a woman engineering student. Our overarching research question that framed this study was: How do woman students with multiple salient identities psychologically experience shame in the context of engineering education? We present findings derived from in-depth analysis of an interview with a single case: A White, female student-athlete who majored in mechanical engineering at a private, liberal arts university (pseudonym: Nicole). We selected Nicole as a case in order to critically examine the tensions experienced among multiple salient identities in women engineering students. The findings demonstrate how the study participant internally negotiated the expectations of others with her own self-concept. That is to say, in reaction to a shame experience, the participant evaluated and often adjusted the value she ascribed to the expectations of others and the ways in which those expectations fit into her core identity. Overall, the findings provide a sensitive description with which connections can be forged between broader discussions of engineering education and how cultural expectations manifest within the lived experience of the individual student. 

This brief paper summarizes our major research activities and outcomes in relation to an investigation of shame in the engineering context, a study that was funded through the NSF EEC RFE program (1752897). Based on suggestive evidence from prior engineering education research, we maintain that shame is likely a key mechanism that undergirds socialization processes related to inclusion and exclusion within engineering programs. Therefore, we have organized this study to unpack both the individual, psychological experience of shame in the context of engineering education as well as the socio-cultural landscape in which these experiences occur. The paper summarizes the preliminary findings of our study of psychological patterns of shame in engineering and describes the next steps of the overall investigation.