Conference Session

Undergraduate Recruitment

Collection

2012 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Patricia R. Backer, San Jose State University; Rona Tamiko Halualani, San Jose State University

Tagged Divisions

Women in Engineering

. Page 25.718.1 c American Society for Engineering Education, 2012 Impact of Self-Efficacy on Interest and Choice in Engineering Study and Careers for Undergraduate Women Engineering StudentsAbstractSelf-efficacy refers to the belief in a persons’ ability to perform a specific task. Starting inmiddle school, girls tend to underestimate their abilities in STEM. This confidence gap amonggirls persists through high school into college [1]. This gap is presumed to be partiallyresponsible for the gender gap in engineering and other STEM fields (e.g. computer science,physics). In 2006, women only earned 19.5% of the undergraduate BS engineering degrees in theU.S. Using the Life Course Expectancy Framework, this

Conference Session

Potpouri

Collection

2012 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Kristen B. Coletti, Northeastern University; Melinda Covert, Northeastern University; Paul A. DiMilla, Northeastern University; Lauren Gianino, Northeastern University; Rachelle Reisberg, Northeastern University

Tagged Divisions

Women in Engineering

students enrolled in Science,Technology, Engineering, Math (STEM) majors as well as obtaining engineering degrees andemployment positions.1 Although women represent nearly 50% of the workforce in the US, theycurrently fill less than 25% of STEM positions3 and hold less than 11% of engineeringpositions.2 The problem is further compounded by the fact that women hold a significantlylower proportion of leadership positions in STEM than their male counterparts.4Increasing the enrollment, retention, and graduation rate of women in engineering is essential forUS global competitiveness and future economic success, as a diverse pool of individuals will beadvantageous in solving domestic and global technical problems.5 Several barriers continue tolimit

Conference Session

Retention of Women Students II

Collection

2012 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Jennifer Wang, University of California, Berkeley; Eli Patten, University of California, Berkeley; Ryan Shelby, University of California, Berkeley; Farzana Ansari, University of California, Berkeley; Lisa A. Pruitt, University of California, Berkeley

Tagged Divisions

Women in Engineering

appreciationfor the experience and skills gained from the leadership module, as well as an increase inconfidence for women as engineers.IntroductionProfessional skills are often underemphasized in engineering programs. These “soft” skills –proficiencies such as leadership, teamwork, and communication – are important attributes of asuccessful engineer. Traditional engineering curricula and lecture formats need to be revised toenhance these professional skills, as “the quality of future engineers depends very much on thequality of engineering education”1. Service learning and design projects are new pedagogicalmethods found to be effective in nurturing these skills2,3. Moreover, service learning has thepotential to attract and retain women in engineering4

Conference Session

Mentoring Millennial Women in Engineering

Collection

2012 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

David Porush, MentorNet

Tagged Divisions

Women in Engineering

Conference Session

Faculty Career Development

Collection

2012 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Jenna P. Carpenter, Louisiana Tech University; D. Patrick O'Neal, Louisiana Tech University; Lori L. Bakken, University of Wisconsin, Madison

Tagged Divisions

Women in Engineering

research career pathway. This theoretical framework is important because itrecognizes the role of personal agency and personal characteristics in the career developmentprocess. The authors suggested that interventions to increase the number and effectiveness ofresearchers in an academic environment be focused on 1) reducing role conflicts imposed bymultiple environments, 2) providing continuity of training efforts, 3) creating a positive andrewarding mentoring culture, 4) and incorporating and evaluating efforts to increase one’sresearch self-efficacy beliefs.Not only must one be interested in a career pathway and provided with the optimal conditions topursue a career pathway, they must be supported in their work environments to achieve

Conference Session

Retention of Women Students

Collection

2012 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Diane Yu Gu, University of California, Los Angeles

Tagged Divisions

Women in Engineering

, 2012 On the Fence: The Influence of Protégé-Mentor Relationships on Women Doctoral Students' Academic Career Aspirations in EngineeringStatement of Purpose According to a 2004 report from the Commission on Professionals in Science andTechnology, women in engineering and the physical, mathematical, and environmental sciencesmake up less than 6 percent of full professor positions.1 Two decades ago, researchers projectedthat occupational equity for females in science and engineering was just “a matter of time”—time for increasing the number of female Ph.D. students and moving them through the ranks ofacademia.2 However, the prediction that growing numbers of female Ph.D. students would leadto greater gender equity among the

Conference Session

Attaining Academic Leadership Positions

Collection

2012 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Beena Sukumaran, Rowan University; Chris S. Anderson, Michigan Technological University; Dianne Dorland, Rowan University; Sarah A. Rajala, Mississippi State University; Mary Roth, Lafayette College

Tagged Divisions

Women in Engineering

Conference Session

Panel Discussion: Off the Record

Collection

2012 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Cheryl B. Schrader, Missouri University of Science and Technology; Janelle Brown; Lynn Lubamersky, Boise State University; Leslie Madsen-Brooks, Boise State University; Patricia Pyke, Boise State University; Heidi Reeder, Boise State University

Tagged Divisions

Women in Engineering

clearly the opportunities open to, and obstacles faced by, women in STEM (science,technology, engineering and mathematics) today.The panel will be moderated by engineering educator Cheryl Schrader, who will brieflyintroduce the motivation behind the overall project and the team’s companion research on publicperceptions of women in the history of science and engineering.1 Each of the panelists – history,social science and engineering researchers who also wrote these draft monologues – will speakfor four to five minutes in the persona of a woman scientist, engineer or inventor from thehistorical record. These five draft monologues synthesize the details and distinctive voice foundin primary and secondary source documents with the larger concerns of

Conference Session

Focus on Faculty

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Mary Anderson-Rowland, Arizona State University; Anita Grierson, AZ State University

Tagged Divisions

Women in Engineering

140 25 (17.9%) 3 (2.1%) 5 (3.6%) 18 (12.9%) 26 (18.6%)DivisionFull-timeSubtotal 1066First-time 26 6 (23.1%) 4 (15.4%) 2 (3.8) 5 (19.2%) 11 (42.3%)Part-timeFreshmenLower 7 1 (14.3%) 0 (0%) 1 (14.3%) 1 (14.3%) 2 (28.6%)DivisionPart-timeUpper 38 5 (13.2%) 1 (2.6%) 2 (5.3%) 6 (15.8%) 9 (23.7%)DivisionPart-timeSubtotal 71Table I. Full-time and Part-time New Enrollment for Fall 2009 in the Ira A. Fulton Schools ofEngineering by freshmen, transfer, gender, and ethnicity. Source: Office of Institutional Analysis,Arizona State University.3Each year some 300 students transfer into the Fulton

Conference Session

Focus on Faculty

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

David Koonce, Ohio University; Valerie Conley, Ohio University; Cindy Anderson, Ohio University

Tagged Divisions

Women in Engineering

productivity, and others, are identified as markersof academic career advancement.Community colleges differ dramatically from their four-year counterparts in missions andinstitutional characteristics. These differences point to the need to re-examine the explanatorypower of some findings on STEM career success and advancement outcomes of female faculty inthe four-year sector in the context of two-year institutions.In this paper, we present a study to investigate (1) the extent to which the factors associated withadvancement and employment outcomes in the four-year sector translate to the two-yearinstitutional context, and (2) the extent to which there exist other factors affecting female facultymembers’ employment outcomes that are unique to two-year

Conference Session

Effective Methods for Recruiting Women to Engineering

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Manjusha Saraswathiamma, North Dakota State University; Kathy Enger, North Dakota State University; Canan Bilen-Green, North Dakota State University; Achinthya Bazebaruah, North Dakota State University; Bruce Schumacher, North Dakota State University

Tagged Divisions

Women in Engineering

15.367.2enrollment in engineering is almost saturated. Therefore, to increase engineering schoolenrollment and the nation’s supply of engineers, America must recruit and retain females asengineers15.Unfortunately, NSF data for 1995-2005 are not encouraging. These data show vast differencesin the numbers of male and female engineering students in undergraduate programs across thenation32. Female enrollment in engineering schools increased from 18.5% in 1995 to 19.8% in1999; however, by 2005, female enrollment in engineering schools had declined to 17.5%, a fullpercentage point lower than 1999 (See Table 1).Table 1. NSF Data on Undergraduate Engineering Enrollment by Gender from 1995-2005. Year Female Male 1995 18.5

Conference Session

Retaining Women Engineering Students

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Judith Cordes, Michigan State University; Thomas Wolff, Michigan State University

Tagged Divisions

Women in Engineering

engineering and higher education have been looking at this issue and trying to find waysto increase the number of women completing engineering degrees at the bachelors, masters anddoctoral levels.Even with the many efforts going on across the nation, the number of women pursuingengineering degrees is not increasing; and in some areas of engineering, the numbers are actuallydeclining. For many years at Michigan State University (MSU), we saw a steady climb in thenumber of women engineering students, especially in disciplines like Chemical and Mechanical.Through the 1990s, we averaged 22% women engineering students, well above the 16% nationalaverage. However, in 2000 we saw the numbers begin to drop, as they did nationally.Figure 1 compares first-year

Conference Session

Effective Methods for Recruiting Women to Engineering

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Sara Atwood, University of California, Berkeley; Eli Patten, University of California at Berkeley; Lisa Pruitt, University of California, Berkeley

Tagged Divisions

Women in Engineering

students with an evengender split. The course emphasized outreach, communication, and interpersonal skills with agroup project supported throughout the semester by a required skills lab. The project included anoutreach teaching activity for 5th grade students at a local children’s science museum, a writtenreport, and an oral presentation. The supporting skills lab taught technical writing and editing,oral presentation skills, and interpersonal skills linked to Felder’s learning styles.1 Student teamswere assigned so that all majors, learning styles, and genders were represented in each team. Theactivities were assessed using four surveys throughout the semester.Women undergraduates in the course ranked learning styles, teamwork, writing and

Conference Session

Retaining Women Engineering Students

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Rachelle Reisberg, Northeastern University; Margaret Bailey, Rochester Institute of Technology; Carol Burger, Virginia Tech; Jerry Hamann, University of Wyoming; Joe Raelin, Northeastern University; David Whitman, University of Wyoming

Tagged Divisions

Women in Engineering

Page 15.1223.4change in work self-efficacy; prior academic achievement predicted subsequent academic self-efficacy; and academic support significantly enhanced all three forms of self-efficacy. Womenundergraduates were more confident in obtaining occupational information and learning fromtheir work experiences. While this preliminary study suggested the strong influence of co-op,additional variables constituting a more comprehensive model within larger populations neededto be considered. This larger research project, supported by the National Science Foundation,began in 2008, and the current study is a report of the first wave of findings.Conceptual FrameworkThe framework for the study is depicted in Figure 1 as a series of pathways between

Conference Session

Retaining Women Engineering Students

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Elizabeth Creamer, Virginia Tech; Peggy Meszaros, Virginia Tech; Catherine Amelink, Virginia Tech

Tagged Divisions

Women in Engineering

during high school and outreach activities about career opportunitiesthat occur as early as elementary school. While research outcomes are not entirelyconsistent on this point, evidence is that the gender and racial gap in persistence onceenrolled in an engineering major has narrowed to near parity. In a recent analysis, forexample, Lord et al.1 determined that contrary to prevailing perceptions, women and menpersist in engineering majors at approximately the same rate across all ethnic groups.Less encouraging is evidence that a gender gap persists after completion of anundergraduate major in engineering, when women were significantly less likely than mento express interest in pursuing jobs in engineering2,3,4.Conceptual FrameworkThe literature

Conference Session

ADVANCE Grants and Institutional Transformation

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Suzanne Zurn-Birkhimer, Purdue University; Barbara Clark, Purdue University; Susan Geier, Purdue University; Christie Sahley, Purdue University

Tagged Divisions

Women in Engineering

, thepercentage of female PhD holders in full-time STEM academic positions at 2-year and 4-yearcolleges and universities has increased from 10.6% in 1985 to 25.1% in 2006 1. This increase hasbeen attributed to the increase in the number of females earning science and engineering PhDs.However, progress in faculty representation at research intensive institutions has been painfullyslow. A study of the top 100 science and engineering departments (as ranked by NSF) shows thatfemale science and engineering faculty had increased only 3% in the past five years up to a totalSTEM representation of 17% 2.In 2001, the National Science Foundation announced the ADVANCE program to address thedisparity in faculty representation. The goal of ADVANCE is to “… develop

Conference Session

ADVANCE Grants and Institutional Transformation

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Canan Bilen-Green, North Dakota State University; Elizabeth Birmingham, North Dakota State University; Ann Burnett, North Dakota State University; Roger Green, North Dakota State University

Tagged Divisions

Women in Engineering

unfairly disadvantage women and minorities, which iscontrary to “principles of social equity rooted both in democratic ideology”1 and contrary to theideal that scientific careers “be open to talent.”2 Over the last thirty years, research on the natureof organizations3,4,5 provides convincing evidence that assumptions about the neutrality oforganizational structures and dynamics have obscured mechanisms that systematically limitwomen. Organizations are, in fact, gendered to the extent that they pattern “advantage anddisadvantage, exploitation and control, action and emotion, meaning and identity,” in terms ofdistinctions between “male and female, masculine and feminine.”6 Acknowledgement of suchgender-based organizational patterns is essential to

Conference Session

ADVANCE Grants and Institutional Transformation

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Kristen Constant, Iowa State University

Tagged Divisions

Women in Engineering

. Othertargeted activities include college specificmeetings and networking events for womenfaculty in each college, for example, a breakfastmeeting for women faculty in the College ofEngineering designed to combat isolation. (Mostengineering faculty women are one of few in adepartment and rarely meet others within thecollege). Activities directed toward educating thelarger University community (and beyond) rangefrom hosting a national conference to individualone-on-one meetings. These events and activitiesare usually either designed to disseminate resultsof our collaborative transformation efforts, or to Figure 1 Relationship of program elementseducate faculty and administrators on a particular showing the integration across the universitytopic

Conference Session

Focus on Faculty

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Soumya Srivastava, Mississippi State University; Anurag Srivastava, Mississippi State University; Adrienne Minerick, Mississippi State University; Noel Schulz, Mississippi State University

Tagged Divisions

Women in Engineering

contrasted to maleresponses along with some open ended responses. The survey findings presented here are basedonly on engineering student population and not alumni students.Common Concerns for prospective students: In this survey conducted online, the students were asked to rank a list of eleven mostcommon concerns with 1 as the greatest concern and 11 as little or no concern. The commonconcerns were: 1. Transcript evaluation 2. Meeting the deadlines for admission 3. Getting VISA 4. Being accepted into the program 5. Housing 6. Language and culture change 7. Funding/ Support 8. Finding a good academic advisor 9. Finding good courses 10. Finding job after graduation 11. Safety and security of the Campus Figure 1

Conference Session

Women in Engineering Division Poster Session

Collection

2014 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Angela R. Bielefeldt, University of Colorado, Boulder

Tagged Divisions

Women in Engineering

/ engineering to society and thereby increase their interest in thesecareers.22Males tend to have a more positive view of engineering’s impacts on society than women. Forexample, in a fall 1998 study incoming first-year male engineering students had a more positiveperception of how engineers contribute to society than female students at five institutions (withadditional 10 institutions that were higher, but not statistically significant).1 The perception ofengineers as contributing to the welfare of society was also more positive among first year maleengineering students’ in 2006, where male students averaged 4.66 compared to females at 4.29(on a 6-point Likert scale where 4 = agree a little bit, 5 = agree, 6 = strongly agree).2Differences in the

Conference Session

WIED: Pre-College Student Experiences

Collection

2014 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Amanda S. Parker, University of Colorado Boulder; Beth A. Myers, University of Colorado Boulder; Jacquelyn F. Sullivan, University of Colorado Boulder

Tagged Divisions

Women in Engineering

complicated, with many stages inthe engineering recruiting and admissions cycle during which any student, and especiallycoveted female students, can be lost to other universities.The “recruiting funnel” is a well understood college admissions process.1 The top of the funnel(see Figure 1) represents the prospects stage and contains the highest number of students—allthose who have some interest in attending a university. Some of the prospective students apply,becoming applicants. The applicants are reviewed by the admissions department and a portion isadmitted. From those admits, a subset of students decides to attend the university, confirmingtheir intent to enroll and becoming enrollees. The final stage of the funnel is referred to as the“yield” and

Conference Session

WIED: Curricular Undergraduate Student Programs

Collection

2014 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Jaby Mohammed, Petroleum Institute; Nausheen PashaZaidi, The Petroleum Institute

Tagged Divisions

Women in Engineering

at the PetroleumInstitute.Once students reach the freshmen level there are core courses that have to be completedirrespective of their majors. The core course courses as well as some elective courses requiredfor the engineering programs are offered through the Arts and Science Program (A & S).The six departments within A & S include Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, Humanitiesand Social Sciences, Communication, and General Studies (See Figure 1).. Students musttake these required courses in a sequence. Figure 1. The Petroleum Institute Academic Department StructureThe General Studies department offers a sequence of two engineering design coursescalled STEPS, which stands for Strategies

Conference Session

WIED: Pre-College Student Experiences

Collection

2014 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Jerry Volcy, Spelman College

Tagged Divisions

Women in Engineering

 grouped  into  4  recurring  themes:    1)  Engineering   can   be   largely   trial-­‐and-­‐error   and   not   necessarily   math-­‐intensive.   2)  Engineering  is  highly  demanding  in  terms  of  attention  to  detail.  3)  Engineering  can  have  a   very   large   impact   on   society   4)   Engineering   can   be   an   isolating   discipline   for   the  practitioner.    Suggestions  on  how  this  insight  might  be  used  to  attract  and  retain  more  female  students  to  engineering  are  provided.             Page 24.463.2Introduction

Conference Session

WIED: Faculty and Gender Issues

Collection

2014 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Sharon Patricia Mason, Rochester Institute of Technology; Carol Elizabeth Marchetti, Rochester Institute of Technology (COE); Margaret B. Bailey, Rochester Institute of Technology (COE); Stefi Alison Baum, Chester F. Carlson Center for Imaging Science, Rochester Institute of Technology

Tagged Divisions

Women in Engineering

to increase the repre- sentation and advancement of women STEM/SBS faculty, widely represented across ethnic, social, and cultural backgrounds, by removing barriers to resources that support career success and creating new interventions and resources. An additional emphasis will be upon adapting interventions to address the needs of key sub-populations including women of color and deaf and hard-of-hearing women faculty. The project aims to: 1) refine and strengthen targeted institutional structures; 2) improve the quality of women faculty’s work life; 3) align institutional, administrative, and informal systems of power and resources to support and sustain progress towards the project goal; 4) enhance the working

Conference Session

WIED: Medley

Collection

2014 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Keith J. Bowman, Illinois Institute of Technology

Tagged Divisions

Women in Engineering

overlap and distinctions from computerscience (CS) offer a very challenging context for generalizations as well as data reporting andtracking. Throughout the remainder of this paper the designation ECE will be used for thecombined data reported under electrical engineering, computer engineering and electrical andcomputer engineering headings by ASEE (2013).Consider the differential outcomes shown in Figure 1 and Table 1 (see also Bowman, 2014).There was approximately one new domestic engineering assistant professor in 2012 for everyfive thousand graduating high school seniors in 2000, a year in which there were about threemillion high school graduates. Broken down by gender, this ratio is approximately 1 to 10,000for females and 1 to 3,000 for

Conference Session

WIED: Medley

Collection

2014 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Ahmed Imran, Ajman University of Science & Technology, United Arab Emirates (UAE).; Mohamed Nasor M. Kalil; Fahar Ghalib Hayati, Ajman University of Science & Technology

Tagged Divisions

Women in Engineering

study about student attrition suggests that early period after admission isdecisive for a significant majority of students, irrespective of gender.IntroductionGender disparities in engineering programs has been a cause of concern globally. The percentageof women in engineering is generally found to be lower than that of men (1 – 10). Studies have alsoshown that even if women join engineering programs, they may not continue (1, 5, 8, 9). As aconsequence, such disparities in engineering education can lead to inequalities in professionswith related social effects (1, 3, 4, 6, 9, 10). Our experience suggests that, in general, the retention ofstudents in undergraduate engineering programs is influenced by several factors, includingprogram admission

Conference Session

WIED: Pre-College Student Experiences

Collection

2014 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Sruti Modekurty; Judy Fong, UC Davis; Harry H. Cheng, University of California, Davis

Tagged Divisions

Women in Engineering

thedevelopment of these clubs and their participation in RoboPlay Competition. In this paper, thecurriculum and lessons learned through this camp will be presented.1. IntroductionCurrently there is a significant gender gap in engineering and science. A recent article in theNew York Times reported1, even as women make significant headway in fields from law,business, chemistry, and biology, the doors to technology, one of the fastest-growing sectors ofthe economy, remains virtually closed to women. Just 5.7 percent of employed women in theUnited States work in the computer industry, and only about 2 percent of women have a degreein a high-tech field, according to Catalyst2, a prominent research firm studying women andbusiness. If we look at the workforce

Conference Session

WIED: Curricular Undergraduate Student Programs

Collection

2014 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Kristen B. Coletti, Northeastern University; Emily Olina Wisniewski; Rachel Lauren Shapiro, Northeastern University; Paul A. DiMilla, Northeastern University; Rachelle Reisberg, Northeastern University; Melinda Covert, Northeastern University

Tagged Divisions

Women in Engineering

out supplemental instruction in a required generalchemistry course and what factors affected whether a student used a form of supplementalinstruction.1 However, data were unavailable to correlate with grades.In order to understand a student’s pre-disposition and ultimate choice to participate insupplemental instruction as well as to determine correlations with grade distribution, honors andnon-honors students in a required general chemistry course were given pre-surveys at thebeginning and post-surveys at the end of the semester. Analysis of pre-surveys allowedidentification of a student’s predisposed “trigger point” at which s/he decides to seek extra helpupon entering college. The availability of data for different types of course

Conference Session

WIED: Faculty and Gender Issues

Collection

2014 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Jenna P. Carpenter, Louisiana Tech University

Tagged Divisions

Women in Engineering

culture, 4) andincorporating and evaluating efforts to increase one’s research self-efficacy beliefs.Not only must one be interested in a career pathway and provided with the optimalconditions to pursue a career pathway, they must be supported in their workenvironments to achieve and maintain a satisfying work life. Lent and Brown13 initiallyproposed a model for work satisfaction that extends their scholarship on SocialCognitive Career Theory11. In this process model, the authors posit that worksatisfaction is influenced by 1) one’s affective traits, 2) participation in goal-directedactivities, 3) environmental supports and resources, 4) work self-efficacy and 5) bothexpected and received works conditions and outcomes. The relationship

Conference Session

WIED: Medley

Collection

2014 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Ahmed M. El-Sherbeeny, King Saud University

Tagged Divisions

Women in Engineering

enrolled in such fields in the years 2008-2012 as compared to almost296,000 males, i.e. an almost 1 to 10 ratio, with an average 1% annual increase according tothese official figures. Furthermore, throughout the years 2007-2011 only 4,000 female engineershave graduated from Saudi universities versus almost 66,000 males, i.e. an almost 1:16 ratio, yetwith an impressive average annual growth rate of 6.1%. This gap is further amplified whenconsidering the number of female students studying abroad throughout the years 2008-2012,totaling 3,300 versus 81,500 males, i.e. an almost 1:25 ratio, yet with a very impressive averageannual growth rate of 48.0%. Justifications. As with the US and Gulf models previously discussed, such under