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This work-in-progress research paper describes the prevalence of neurodivergent students (ND) in engineering across two institutions. There is growing awareness that engineering students who are neurodivergent bring unique assets and face challenges to their higher education experience. Neurodivergent students may also face additional challenges associated with chronic illness or being marginalized due to their gender or race/ethnicity. This paper provides background on these issues, followed by demographic data from two institutions. The goal of the paper is to raise the awareness of engineering faculty that the variety of differences and medical conditions among engineering students may be more diverse and/or prevalent than many realize. Students may not disclose these conditions or receive formal accommodations but can be successful. With a notable percentage of engineering students identifying as ND, faculty should ensure these students feel supported. Higher education institutions should also prioritize systematic planning and programming to support the retention and success of these neurodivergent students. 

This project evaluates if and how an intervention to design a K-12 STEM activity related to water chemistry impacts the innovation self-efficacy (ISE) of junior students enrolled in a required environmental engineering course. ISE is defined as having five behavioral components: questioning, observing, experimenting, idea networking, and associational thinking. In this course, the K-12 STEM activity is designed with a team of 3 to 5 students. The activity requires that the students develop an innovative activity that demonstrates environmental engineering concepts such as acid mine drainage, ocean acidification, and contaminant removal. The student projects are scaffolded throughout the 10 weeks via intermediate submissions and meetings with a K-12 STEM teacher and design mentors. In fall 2022 a pilot of the study was conducted and relied on a quantitative survey instrument that measured ISE, innovation interest (INT), and future innovative work interest (IW). Based on the preliminary findings of factor structure, item reliability, and face validity evaluated by two faculty and two undergraduate students, small changes were made to the quantitative assessment instrument. The revised survey was deployed in the fall of 2023 in a required junior-level test course and a senior-level control course. The senior-level control course consisted of students who took the junior-level course with the K-12 STEM activity in the previous year. In 2023 the K-12 STEM activity intervention also included additional scaffolding through the addition of 3 team-based and 2 individual reflections to understand the process of ISE formation. Pre-post comparisons of the quantitative survey items will be conducted for individual students in the test and control courses. Team and individual reflections from the test course will be analyzed after the course. Potential demographic differences in ISE will be explored. Potential team-level influences will also be evaluated to understand the impact of a team’s ISE score on enhancing an individual team member’s ISE gain. Focus groups and individual interviews with students who participated in the test course will take place in spring 2024. The ISE, INT, and IW of environmental engineering students will be further assessed in spring 2024 through the ISE survey in the environmental engineering capstone design course and a junior-level creativity and entrepreneurship design course. This assessment will compare two different learning experiences on ISE, INT, and IW, the K-12 STEM education activity design with a semester-long, group-based technical design experience. Preliminary results will be presented in the NSF Grantees Poster Session. 

Academia can engage with communities in a variety of ways, including an education focus (such as service-learning) or geared toward research (community engaged research, CER). These different forms of community engagement (CE) share many elements in common, while other attributes differ. This paper first compares and contrasts educationally-focused CE with CER. We then present a rubric that was developed to evaluate CER in environmental engineering, indicating what aspects are appropriate for community engaged education. The CER rubric proposes nine evaluation categories: centering on communities, capacity building, action-oriented outcome, shared leadership, shared funding, shared data, equitable valuing of CER scholarship, culturally specific assessment, and culturally specific communication and dissemination. For illustrative purposes the rubric is applied to two case studies. In the educationally-focused CE case study, a senior capstone design course in environmental engineering worked on a project defined by a community partner. The rubric did a good job revealing where improvements in the project could have been realized while also revealing that the non-profit facilitator was instrumental in engaging the community. In the second case study, a community sub-contracted an academic partner to explore residential indoor air quality. The project was at a higher level of the rubric for most criteria compared to the educationally-focused case study. Use of the rubric at the start of any project will open important conversations, thereby contributing to both the community and academic partners more fully meeting their needs. 

The population of neurodivergent (ND) students in engineering programs is a topic of growing interest and importance in both academia and industry. Neurodivergence encompasses a range of neurological differences, including but not limited to autism spectrum disorder (ASD), attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), dyslexia, and dyspraxia. This diverse group of students brings unique perspectives, skills, and challenges to engineering education and the workforce. Understanding and supporting neurodivergent students is crucial for promoting inclusivity and diversity in engineering. This paper summarizes existing literature on the prevalence of neurodivergent students. This is followed by data from a large public institution, exploring the extent to which undergraduate engineering students self-identified as neurodivergent. Among over 1000 students, 18% identified as neurodivergent, 19% as maybe neurodivergent, and 62% as not neurodivergent (and therefore neurotypical). Junior and senior students were given the opportunity to self-identify types of neurodivergence, with ADHD and anxiety found as the most common write-in responses. A number of students identified multiple conditions. A higher percentage of female compared to male students self-identified as ND or maybe ND. Large percentages of students who indicated a gender that was not male or female also self-identified as neurodivergent. Similar percentages of White and Hispanic/Latinx first-year students identified as neurotypical; a higher percentage of Asian students identified as neurotypical. The results indicate that studies on the experiences of neurodivergent students in engineering should consider intersectional demographics. Given the significant percentages of engineering students identifying as ND, faculty should work to ensure these students are supported. 

This research explored potential relationships between the innovation self-efficacy (ISE) of engineering students and their artistic creativity and life experiences revealed on an ice-breaker assignment. In a community-building assignment, students were directed to introduce themselves through cartoon monster drawings that communicated various personal attributes (such as the number of languages they speak, and the number of states visited). Previous research has found that multicultural experiences can shape feelings of self-efficacy concerning innovation and creativity. This pilot study was conducted in a single junior-level course for environmental engineering students. The innovation self-efficacy of participants was measured using a survey that included items from the Very Brief Innovation Self-Efficacy scale (ISE.6), the Innovation Interests scale (INI), and the Career Goals: Innovative Work scale (IW). The drawings were analyzed for Artistic Effort (AE) and Creative Work (CW) by engineering and art evaluators, respectively. The ISE survey results were compared with the AE and CW scores and the correlations with travel, gender, and multilingualism on creativity attributes were explored. A strong correlation between CW scores and AE scores was observed. A negative correlation between CW and ISE.6 was found. The CW scores were significantly different between female and male students, except for black/white shading in the cartoon drawings. There were no significant differences between the AE scores for female versus male students. Our results do not support the existence of a correlation between multilingualism and travel with artistic creativity and innovation self-efficacy attributes. Overall, we did not find that the students’ artistic creativity or life experiences revealed through the self-portrait activity provided insights into innovation attitudes.