Collection

2024 Rocky Mountain Section Conference

Authors

Grace Burleson; Janet Tsai; Daria Kotys-Schwartz

of engineering education, particularly at the undergraduatelevel (Lee, 2009; Turns et al., 2004) – but what about at the doctoral level? 1 Across the U.S., mechanical engineering PhD programs prepare students for conductingindependent, innovative research in a variety of fundamental areas. PhDs are granted for thecreation of new knowledge within specific disciplines. Research within mechanical engineeringcan include mechanics, materials, thermal-fluid sciences, dynamics, design, and more. Scholarsagree that scholarship in these areas is critical for the advancement of engineering practice andpedagogy (Hubka & Eder, 2012). However

Collection

2024 Rocky Mountain Section Conference

Authors

Katherine Robert

., 2022). It is important to note that each neurodivergent person iscompletely unique despite sharing some characteris�cs with other neurodivergent people, like extremememory or mathema�cal abili�es for example (Grandin, 2022). Social issues, however, are a commonstruggle for au�s�c people and o�en for those with undiagnosed differences like ADHD. Thisdis�nc�veness presents problems for neurodivergent people, including college students, in moderneduca�on and employment systems that are designed to efficiently process people in a one-size-fits-allmodel (Dwyer et al., 2023; Kouo et al., 2021; Ward & Webster, 2018). While there is considerableresearch on neurodivergence among children and in primary and secondary educa�on, research on theexperiences