thatinform women’s decisions to enter each respective sector. More importantly, there is vanishinglylittle work on women’s decisions to enter different engineering careers in contexts where womenare well-represented.In our paper, we discuss participation of women in engineering in Malaysia, a context wherewomen represent a high share of both academia and industry (e.g., overall, 45% of theengineering workforce) [3]. Findings from the 2013 Malaysian MWFCD Women in the LaborMarket Study conclude that women are about 46% of the public and 51% of the privateengineering, manufacturing, and construction work sector [4]. Studying the Malaysian contextwill help us gain purchase on the way choices are driven by “preferences for science” [5],reflective of
: Underrepresented Minorities in Engineering: A Data-Based Look at Diversity” and the NACME databook. Research in progress includes projects funded by the National Science Foundation on women’s interna- tional participation and collaboration in science and engineering and on career outcomes of engineering bachelor’s degree recipients. In addition, she is working on analyses of supply and demand for engineers and scientists. Support for this research was provided by NACME with additional support via a grant from the National Science Foundation, Research on Gender in Science and Engineering HRD#0827461. Any findings or conclusions are those of the author and do not reflect those of the National Science Foundation
Engineering degrees in 2005, but their proportion is smaller (30%) inmost S&E occupations. This is reflected in the study of “high technology” companies as well. 4However, NSF reports that more women than men have entered the S&E workforce over recentdecades. Their proportion in the S&E occupations rose from 12% in 1980 to 27% in 2007.Women in the S&E workforce are on average younger than men, suggesting that largerproportions of men than women may retire in the near future, changing the gender ratios.NSF data from the 2006 SESTAT5 data shows that, of the five S&E degree fields included, theratio of females to males is lowest for
theory of self-authorship3 will be introduced as the theoreticalframework for looking at the individual through the lenses of context and institution, as well asthe larger cultural paradigm. Next, the methodological framework informing the research designand the research design and methods used throughout this study will be offered. Finally, theresearch findings of identity development and formation of females who have persisted inundergraduate engineering programs and how this impacts their professional choices will bediscussed.Literature ReviewResearch reflects increased enrollments of females in STEM majors; for example, women makeup the majority of those studying the physical and life sciences (57%). Yet the proportion ofSTEM major females
in researchprojects related to women in engineering, in both the professional workplace and educationcontexts. What is unusual about this particular research group is the widely varying disciplinebackgrounds of the members. The group comprises professors in feminist economics, sociology,education and civil engineering. The collaboration has faced numerous challenges in terms ofgeography, methodology, availability, finding a common language and understanding, differingpractice in the various disciplines with respect to writing for publication and what grants count.This paper identifies four inter-related themes that have emerged from our reflections on ourexperience of gender-based multidisciplinary research.IntroductionMultidisciplinary
self-reflection about themselvesleads them to fall behind males in STEM fields like computing and engineering in high school[14][16]. According to a study by Riegel-Crumb (2011), children are “ […] aware of how theirskills do or do not match up to external expectations of their academic proficiency in math andscience” [15]. However, external factors can play an important role on students career aspirations[15]. Various reasons have been identified as having impact on female student major and careerchoices both positively and negatively. Students get positive inspiration from role models [17],interaction with teachers [18], and early exposure to STEM [19]. On the other hand, they getnegative influences from gender stereotypes [20], early gender
-consuming nature of fostering several weaker ties.Too much time spent on strengthening weak ties can be difficult, particularly those whom arecommonly tokenized, like women in engineering or those with interdisciplinary degreebackgrounds. Cultivating several functioning weak ties assumes unwritten network requirementsthat are problematic due to their gender-neutral structure, an informal unwritten practice ofnetworks. With men usually in the highest positions of power (seen also in engineering fieldstoday), network structures are related to gender composition of the network and leadership withinthe network; therefore, making women tokenized members (Kanter, 1977). In a network, memberstend to select individuals that reflect themselves for entry to
friends with my mentor from three years ago and reach out to her for advice and previous mentees reach out to me often. The bonding has resulted in success that would not have happened without the program and community.Mentoring was prioritized by many of the women since they recognized the sustained impact oftheir efforts. They often viewed themselves as aspirational role models for the first-year studentswith whom they interacted. One student contextualized the importance of her work in terms offacilitating the growth of others: I think that I really prioritize mentoring. I think that it's something very important to me because just reflecting on my past year of mentoring, it's been very rewarding in the fact
College created a pilot job shadow program for women in engineering. Job shadowing is aworkplace-based learning experience that introduces students to career areas and provides theopportunity to spend a day or two observing a professional in the field. The overarching goal ofthe project was to explore the effectiveness of job shadowing by undergraduate womenengineering students as a means of improving interest and persistence in engineering. Shadowparticipants created reflective interest statements, spent a day observing engineeringprofessionals, and reported on their experiences at a panel presentation for their engineeringclassmates. A mixed methods research plan was developed and implemented in order to assessthe impact of the job shadow
are likely to continue to have long and substantial effects onengineering students [1]. Such effects will likely be reflected in student perceptions of theirlearning experience as well as their well-being, mental health, and retention in engineeringprograms [10] [11] [12]. In a spring 2020 survey of nine public research universities (30,725undergraduates), 35% of students screened positive for a major depressive disorder and 39%screened positive for generalized anxiety disorder based on the PHQ-2 and GAD-2 screeningtools [4]. Such results are consistent with the reported loss of motivation by students incompleting coursework reported in other national surveys and disengagement with classes anduniversity activities [2]. These relatively high
of ally development created by Broido[19]: 1. Students are given information needed to understand the purpose of their work as allies within the COE, including why the issue of retaining women and URMs in engineering is relevant to their work and to the field. 2. The students are then given the opportunity to reflect and make meaning of the content, how it impacts them personally, and how it impacts their peers in the COE. 3. The students then have the self-confidence to act as allies in an academic setting.Since the original goal was to develop men as allies for women in engineering, the course wasonly offered to students who identified as men in the first year (2015). An analogous
was based on the work ofLutz & Paretti [18], which reflected the kinds of learning that newcomers reported as necessaryon-the-job. A priori codes consisted of four categories of engineering activity: “Teamwork andCommunication,” “Self-Directed Learning,” “Engineering Design,” and “Engineering Identity.”In coding the interview data, new codes were allowed to emerge from an inductive approach, andthe codebook underwent changes. A new activity category, “Adulting,” was added, “EngineeringDesign” was changed to “Technical work,” and within each category, subcodes were developedto describe the specifics of that genre of activity (such as “Interpersonal - Manager” under“Teamwork and Communication,” or “Time Management” under “Self-Directed
(summarized, by priority, in Table 1, below) include innovation;engineering education best practices; preparing students using a hands-on, project-based approach; integrating the traditional lecture format and laboratoryexperiences into a seamless “class-lab” format; strong professional developmentand service learning components; and an emphasis on a broad base of core skills,complemented with depth in focused concentrations: mechanical engineering(manufacturing focus) and chemical engineering (pharmaceutical focus). The initialconcentrations reflect regional and state engineering employment opportunities,the university’s historic strength in the health sciences, a forward-looking view ofengineering in the 21st century, and a desire to attract a
and informal mentoring at Cal Poly Pomona. Theirfeedback and reflections on the above five programmatic issues were collected. This processaccomplished three things. The first is a better understanding of the climate for mentoring at CalPoly Pomona. (Are faculty members seeking mentoring and are they currently receivingmentoring in their departments and colleges?) The second benefit of the interviews was asummary of previous mentoring programs’ successes and pitfalls. The third benefit was the buy-in of these senior women; without their full participation the ‘Mentoring Circles’ could not besuccessful.The Mentoring Circles Program created networks across ranks, departments, and colleges. TheMentoring Circle structure would provide support to
highlighted faculty perspectives on institutionalstrengths, areas for improvement, and satisfaction across twenty themed question categories. Of the 438respondents, 151 of the 231 women faculty invited to participate responded (65%), and 287 of the 506men faculty responded (57%). COACHE defines effect size as the measuring of differences betweenpaired subgroups within a campus. Comparison among campus groups included pretenure/tenure,associate/full; gender and white/faculty of color were reflected by small (between 0.1 and 0.3), medium(between 0.3 and 0.5), and large (greater than 0.5) effect size. Table 1 indicates questions where largeand medium effect sizes were seen by gender in the COACHE survey results.Table 1: Gender Differences in COACHE
. Additionally, Tinto argues that the first year of college, indeed the first semester, is critical to students being incorporated into the college campus, aswell as their eventual persistence through to graduation. Retention programs, therefore, are mostsuccessful when they utilize informal faculty-student contact in order to integrate students intothe academic and social life of the college5.Some studies have examined the effect of precollege characteristics, parental socialization andcollege experiences to determine their relationship with female STEM major persistence.In a study by Espinosa, the experiences of 1,250 women of color and 891 Caucasian womenattending 135 colleges nationwide were collected via a reflecting survey of their four years
experiences ofundergraduate women, the construct of a “chilly climate” has been extended to includeexperiences outside the classroom, graduate student experiences and the academic workplace forfemale faculty and administrators1-5. A chilly climate is defined by the isolation, subtlediscrimination and persistent micro-inequities experienced by women and underrepresentedgroups in academic settings. Hall and Sandler identified behaviors that overlook, ignore,discount or single out women, and reflect preconceived ideas about the ability of women tosucceed in academic settings4.However, context seems to matter in the experience of climate in engineering departments.Climate in science and engineering disciplines is more problematic than in other
content knowledge. The studio course inwhich she was enrolled required introductory physics and calculus skills. Her physics and mathbackground was adequate to perform well with this type of content. She was interested inlearning engineering skills and concepts. On the other hand, her goal in taking the course was toexplore and learn more about the engineering learning environment without strong intentions topursue an engineering degree. This reflected a “typical” freshman student’s uncertainty inchoosing engineering as a career.There were three sources of data for this study: 1) the researcher’s observations and journalentries, 2) the researcher’s assessment of her self-efficacy, and 3) the self-assessment papers shewrote as assignments for the
passionate about this project, but I don’t understand where you are coming from. I need you to explain to me why this is the right solution.” Keep asking questions until he hopefully sees the problems with his approach.2.4 Procedures:These two scenarios and the potential responses were among the materials participants receivedin advance of our interviews. Participants were asked in the interviews to identify the pros andcons of the different responses and supply us with what they found were the “right” answers toany of the scenarios. We also asked participants to reflect on whether or not there might havebeen a time when their responses would have been different. Finally, participants were asked ifthey had ever experienced similar
analyzing interview transcripts also receive training.Second InterviewThe second interview allows participants to describe the details of present experience through anarrative about her current career, including what she learns formally and informally throughother people, mentors, or job assignments that influences her STEM career decision-making. Theinterviewer asks the participant to reflect back on the history of her choices by describing theturning points, significant life or job events, and experiences that led to STEM career persistenceor decision to leave. The researchers are attuned to both overt as well as minimally expressedbias and discrimination issues and seek to build rapport in a manner that allows furtherexplication of how these
?Three distinct phases of a woman’s journey were examined. First, a sample of women who havealready completed an undergraduate engineering degree from a public university was studied.Secondly, women in their upper division year of their undergraduate degree program were askedto reflect on their experiences over their undergraduate career. Both of these groups of womenwere asked questions from the same interview protocol. Finally, classes were observed anddiscourse was analyzed in gatekeeper courses to understand the interaction of women and theirprofessors as well as women with their peers, both male and female. The lens of Feminist PostStructuralism and of Sense-Making allowed the critical analysis to shine a light on theunderlying cultural
betweenunderrepresented minority (URM) and non-URM students with respect to engineering identity.Understanding these differences is important in developing programs that target a particulargroup. For example, one key programming component for URM students may be providing themwith opportunities to join organizations that reflect their cultural and ethnic identities. Toillustrate, Revelo interviewed 20 LatinX engineering students who attended the Society forHispanic Professional Engineers (SHPE) conference [11]. The interviews indicated that studentsfelt they developed professional and leadership skills through their membership in SHPE, withworkshops and the conference itself playing a significant role in that development. Additionally,a key component for these
engineering majors –Bioengineering, Computer Science, and Electrical Engineering. These three majors were selectedbased on the gender balance in each major – high (Bioengineering; 51.4% female), medium(Computer science; 27.5% female) and low (Electrical Engineering; 14.2% female) at the focalinstitution.Qualitative Interview DesignThe interview protocol included three main sections. In the first section, students were askedabout their major selection and influences on deciding on that major. For example, “In thinkingabout how you selected your major, who, if anyone, contributed to your choice? What courses, ifany, prepared you for your major?” Participants were also asked to reflect on factors orcharacteristics that are required for success in the
academic careers.4 Yet women faculty have indicated high levels of interest inleadership positions.5 With NSF ADVANCE support, Virginia Tech, a STEM-dominantuniversity, has sought to empower women faculty to overcome the barriers to leadership.This paper reports on how leadership programs focusing on women faculty can increase therepresentation of women in leadership roles across campus at a STEM-dominant institution. Byproviding multiple strategies to empower women faculty at varying stages of their careers,ADVANCE leadership programs sought to enhance their capabilities and productivity astechnical and administrative leaders and as scholars. This was done, in part, by bringing womenfaculty together at many points during the project to reflect on
activities. Aftertenure, faculty members set their goal on a new prize – full professor. This has its own set ofactivities that can take up 50 to 60 hours a week or more. Faculty are often so busy putting outshort-term professional fires that they lack time or energy for long term activities, strategicplanning, advanced goal setting or reflection. Sometimes along the way faculty start to feelburned out and need a change to help them regain their enthusiasm for their chosen career.A sabbatical provides an excellent opportunity for a faculty member to re-evaluate theirprofessional and personal goals around their career. This paper will provide overview of onefaculty member’s experience with an international sabbatical. The first part will discuss
that worked in refugee camps in areas hit with natural disasters and civil conflicts. Atthe end of the semester, students write reflective essays on civil engineering and why they maywant to become civil engineers. In these essays, 50% of the 8 women and 21% of the 84 menstated an interest in serving society. One female student wrote: “I was surprised and interested toread [about] the international and service aspects.... I would like to find out more about this formof ‘emergency civil engineering’.” Another female student commented: “I like that I would bedoing something that makes a difference in the community.”The three-credit First-Year Engineering Projects course (GEEN 1400) has had a few sectionsfocused on “Appropriate Technology” over
a multi-institution study that queried students about the primary factor that influenced theirdecision to leave engineering, 8% of student respondents indicated that they found the curriculumtoo narrow; one female student reflected, “The curriculum was extremely narrow…there was littleto no room for any humanities…or any other type of class. I feel that this is a major failing of theengineering program.”9The same question about the potential impact of curricular choice applies to computing, which—like engineering—suffers from gender diversity that is not representative of the population at large,nor the over 50% of bachelor’s degrees earned by women in the U.S. each year.10 In 2014, just 14%of computer science and 12% of computer
E F 0 1 2 3 4 5 Figure 4: Outreach impact on areas A-F in scale 0-5 ("0" no impact, "5" significant positive impact)In addition to the personal assessment portion, the survey contained a free response section. Inthis section, students were asked to reflect on their view of the importance of the outreach event,in correlation to self-development, society, and education.I: Outreach and Personal SkillsStudents indicated that outreach helped them develop and enhance their communication skills,public speaking skills, self-confidence, teamwork and leadership skills. The majority of therespondents mentioned communication as one of the most developed skills. “Public
for “Did you learn something new during this activity?” Figure 12: Survey results for “Did you enjoy the activity?”Manufacturing Engineering Workshop Figure 13: Survey results for “Did you learn something new during this activity?” Figure 14: Survey results for “Did you enjoy the activity?”The survey results indicate that many girl scouts enjoyed Biomedical, Electrical andManufacturing Engineering workshops. 100% of the scouts learned some/a lot of BiomedicalEngineering and Manufacturing Engineering, while 99.2% of the scouts learned some/a lot ofElectrical Engineering. Scouts also reflected that they enjoyed the experience very much. 86.9%of the scouts really liked Biomedical Engineering workshop
excited about our program and we got positive feedback from thestudents. Students reflected that they would like to participate more STEM related activities inthe future.Introduction/BackgroundNowadays, more and more scientists, engineers and innovators are needed to succeed in theglobal competitive economy environment. As a result, this requires quality science, technology,engineering and mathematics (STEM) education. However, few American students pursueeducation and training in the STEM fields. After noticing this challenge, the whole STEMsociety has made great efforts to increase STEM-related activities, which have the potential topromote collaborative learning and inquiry as well as to contribute to the development of the21st century skills