A narrative study of food insecure students in engineering and computing

Justin Charles Major

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Conference: 2025 Collaborative Network for Engineering & Computing Diversity (CoNECD)
Location: San Antonio, Texas
Publication Date: February 9, 2025
Start Date: February 9, 2025
End Date: February 11, 2025
Conference Session: Track 4: Technical Session 3: A narrative study of food insecure students in engineering and computing
Tagged Topics: Diversity and 2025 CoNECD Paper Submissions
Page Count: 21
Permanent URL: https://peer.asee.org/54064
Download Count: 4

Paper Authors

biography

Justin Charles Major Rowan University orcid.org/0000-0002-3111-8509

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Dr. Justin C. Major (they/them) is an Assistant Professor of Experiential Engineering Education at Rowan University where they leads ASPIRE Lab (Advancing Student Pathways through Inequality Research in Engineering). Justin’s research focuses on low-income students, engineering belonging and marginalization mechanisms, adverse childhood experiences, and feminist approaches to EER, and connects these topics to broader understandings of student success in engineering. Justin completed their Ph.D. in Engineering Education (’22) and M.S. in Aeronautics and Astronautics (’21) at Purdue University, and two B.S. in Mechanical Engineering and Secondary Mathematics Education at the University of Nevada, Reno (’17). Atop their education, Justin is a previous NSF Graduate Research Fellow and has won over a dozen awards for research, service, and activism related to marginalized communities, including the 2020 ASEE ERM Division Best Diversity Paper for their work on test anxiety. As a previous homeless and food-insecure student, Justin is eager to challenge and change engineering engineering education to be a pathway for socioeconomic mobility and broader systemic improvement rather than an additional barrier.

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Abstract

This research paper describes an ongoing study investigating food insecurity. As the US grapples with the rising costs of living, food insecurity is becoming a more common topic of discussion. Food insecurity is especially an issue on college campuses, where reports suggest as many as two-thirds of the college-going population experiences some level of food insecurity. Understanding how food insecurity comes about and is experienced is necessary for breaking down barriers to participation in college programs including engineering and computing.

As part of a larger grant-funded project collecting narratives about, and addressing, student food insecurity at a single mid-Atlantic institution, this study focuses on a subset of 11 students who we identified as enrolled in various engineering or computing programs. Of the students, demographics were as follows: Gender: seven female, four male; Race/Ethnicity: seven international (Southeast Asia or South America), four domestic (three White and one Black); (Dis)Ability: two students with Autism; Degree Level: six PhD, three MS, two undergraduates.

The 11 students were recruited via listservs, flyers, and in-person recruiting. Students were offered $50 for their time to participate in one-hour narrative interviews and $25 more to compensate them for member-checking their transcripts and finalized narratives. The primary interview prompt was “Tell me how your experiences with food insecurity have impacted your time at [Redacted] University.” After transcription was completed, narratives were constructed by a team of one PI and nine undergraduate research assistants as first-person accounts with low-authorial distance and little smoothing to center the participants and their stories, including both successes and struggles. Feminist ethics and stringent qualitative quality research standards were engaged to honor participants and maximize the work’s potential. The entire study was IRB approved by the included institution.

The larger project's findings illustrate the strengths and struggles of involved students. Involved students described skipping meals, sleeping off hunger, using community and campus food banks, and even engaging in borderline illegal activities to afford or access necessities such as food and housing alongside their tuition. We identified how physically and mentally time-consuming the concept of shopping for and feeding oneself was for students, how large the issue of transportation is amongst the problems of food insecurity on college campuses, and finally, how important it is to consider intersectional effects such as the role of domestic violence, eating disorders, racism, sexism, classism, and able-bodiedness/neurotypicality. For engineering and computing students, we found the the stressors of food insecurity were especially heightened. Specifically, we found that the cultures of computing and engineering lead to an environment that requires more time and on-campus presence of students with little support for students experiencing socioeconomic struggles. Further, given the location of engineering and computing in relation housing and shopping on the given campus, as well as the increased population of vehicle-less international students which make up a large portion of the population, we found that engineering and computing students experienced greater strains on transportation. Findings and their implications for broadening participation will be discussed further.

Citation
Format

Major, J. C. (2025, February), A narrative study of food insecure students in engineering and computing Paper presented at 2025 Collaborative Network for Engineering & Computing Diversity (CoNECD), San Antonio, Texas. https://peer.asee.org/54064

TY  - CPAPER
AB  - This research paper describes an ongoing study investigating food insecurity. As the US grapples with the rising costs of living, food insecurity is becoming a more common topic of discussion. Food insecurity is especially an issue on college campuses, where reports suggest as many as two-thirds of the college-going population experiences some level of food insecurity. Understanding how food insecurity comes about and is experienced is necessary for breaking down barriers to participation in college programs including engineering and computing.

As part of a larger grant-funded project collecting narratives about, and addressing, student food insecurity at a single mid-Atlantic institution, this study focuses on a subset of 11 students who we identified as enrolled in various engineering or computing programs.  Of the students, demographics were as follows: Gender: seven female, four male; Race/Ethnicity: seven international (Southeast Asia or South America), four domestic (three White and one Black); (Dis)Ability: two students with Autism; Degree Level: six PhD, three MS, two undergraduates. 

The 11 students were recruited via listservs, flyers, and in-person recruiting. Students were offered $50 for their time to participate in one-hour narrative interviews and $25 more to compensate them for member-checking their transcripts and finalized narratives. The primary interview prompt was “Tell me how your experiences with food insecurity have impacted your time at [Redacted] University.” After transcription was completed, narratives were constructed by a team of one PI and nine undergraduate research assistants as first-person accounts with low-authorial distance and little smoothing to center the participants and their stories, including both successes and struggles. Feminist ethics and stringent qualitative quality research standards were engaged to honor participants and maximize the work’s potential. The entire study was IRB approved by the included institution.

The larger project&#39;s findings illustrate the strengths and struggles of involved students. Involved students described skipping meals, sleeping off hunger, using community and campus food banks, and even engaging in borderline illegal activities to afford or access necessities such as food and housing alongside their tuition. We identified how physically and mentally time-consuming the concept of shopping for and feeding oneself was for students, how large the issue of transportation is amongst the problems of food insecurity on college campuses, and finally, how important it is to consider intersectional effects such as the role of domestic violence, eating disorders, racism, sexism, classism, and able-bodiedness/neurotypicality. For engineering and computing students, we found the the stressors of food insecurity were especially heightened. Specifically, we found that the cultures of computing and engineering lead to an environment that requires more time and on-campus presence of students with little support for students experiencing socioeconomic struggles. Further, given the location of engineering and computing in relation housing and shopping on the given campus, as well as the increased population of vehicle-less international students which make up a large portion of the population, we found that engineering and computing students experienced greater strains on transportation. Findings and their implications for broadening participation will be discussed further.

AU  - Justin Charles Major
CY  - San Antonio, Texas
DA  - 2025/02/09
PB  - ASEE Conferences
TI  - A narrative study of food insecure students in engineering and computing
UR  - https://peer.asee.org/54064
ER  -