Conference Session

LGBTQ+ Track - Technical Session IV

Collection

2018 CoNECD - The Collaborative Network for Engineering and Computing Diversity Conference

Authors

Kristin Boudreau, Worcester Polytechnic Institute; David DiBiasio, Worcester Polytechnic Institute; Paula Quinn, Worcester Polytechnic Institute; Zoe Reidinger

Tagged Topics

Diversity, LGBTQ+

discovered that students were not only eager to talk to us, butalso very articulate and self-reflecting about their experiences. The WPI Alliance, astudent organization of LGBTQ people and allies, whose main focus is to discuss andeducate the community about themes related to sexual identity and orientation, averagesabout 25 students at each weekly meeting, with about 50 attending multiple meetingsover the course of the year; at least seven of these, including the past president of theAlliance, are transgender students. Many other openly LGBTQ students are not affiliatedwith the Alliance because they have found a community of other LGBTQ students andallies in other organizations with different focuses. LGBTQ students are heavilyrepresented at some

Conference Session

LGBTQ+ Track - Technical Session IV

Collection

2018 CoNECD - The Collaborative Network for Engineering and Computing Diversity Conference

Authors

David J. McLaughlin, University of Massachusetts, Amherst; Genny Beemyn, University of Massachusetts, Amherst

Tagged Topics

Diversity, LGBTQ+

shown in Fig. 3. knowledgeDuring the first meeting, the instructors and students took turnsintroducing themselves, including indicating their gender pronouns. Students were also asked what theywanted to discuss in the course and they indicated a number of topics related to identity, technology, and art.Among the identities mentioned by students were asexual people, queer people of color, and trans people,which often reflected their own identities. Students were introduced to the Arduino microcontroller, which isdescribed in product literature as “an open-source electronics prototyping platform based on flexible easy-to-use hardware and software…intended for artists, designers, and inventors…”[7]. Students were asked toindicate, via survey