Actualizing Graduate Student Identity, Belonging, and Feelings of Competence in STEM via Personal Story-telling
- Conference
- Location
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Montreal, Quebec, Canada
- Publication Date
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June 22, 2025
- Start Date
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June 22, 2025
- End Date
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August 15, 2025
- Conference Session
- Tagged Division
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Educational Research and Methods Division (ERM)
- Page Count
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11
- Permanent URL
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https://peer.asee.org/55427
Paper Authors
Angela Minichiello
Utah State University
orcid.org/0000-0002-4545-9355
Angela (Angie) Minichiello, PhD is a military veteran, licensed mechanical engineer, and Associate Professor of Engineering Education at Utah State University.
Krishna Pakala Boise State University
Dr. Krishna Pakala is an Associate Professor in the Department of Mechanical and Biomedical Engineering at Boise State University (Boise, Idaho). He was the Director for the Industrial Assessment Center at Boise State University. He served as the Faculty in Residence for the Engineering and Innovation Living Learning Community (2014 - 2021). He was the inaugural Faculty Associate for Mobile Learning and the Faculty Associate for Accessibility and Universal Design for Learning. He was the recipient of the Foundation Excellence Award, David S. Taylor Service to Students Award and Golden Apple Award from Boise State University. He was also the recipient of 2023 National Outstanding Teacher Award, ASEE PNW Outstanding Teaching Award, ASEE Mechanical Engineering division’s Outstanding New Educator Award and several course design awards. He serves as the campus representative and was the past-Chair for the ASEE PNW Section. His academic research interests include innovative teaching and learning strategies, use of emerging technologies, and mobile teaching and learning strategies.
Uyen Thi Kim Nguyen Utah State University
Uyen Nguyen earned a master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering Technology at Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology and Education and is currently pursuing a doctoral degree in Engineering Education at Utah State University. Her most recent work develops support tools in self-study for students participating in engineering drawing courses. Her research interests include exploring innovative teaching methods and addressing challenges to improve the overall quality of education toward sustainable education.
Anne Hamby Boise State University
Anne Hamby's research focus is in the area of consumer psychology. Specifically, she studies how emotional and structural aspects of stories engage their audiences, and how engagement in stories influence beliefs and behavior in a marketing context. She is also interested in issues related to consumer well-being and examines the psychological, social, and cultural factors that influence risky consumption practices and prosocial behavior.
Jelena Pokimica Boise State University
Eric Jankowski
Boise State University
orcid.org/0000-0002-3267-1410
Dr Jankowski's interest in efficiency underpins his research in thermodynamic self-assembly for materials and his research into how to best empower students as effective engineers. He is an assistant professor in Boise State University's Micron School of
Abstract
This work-in-progress, evidence-based practice paper describes the design, activities, and preliminary results of a three-year, collaborative NSF research project. Traditional science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) graduate training is known to focus more on developing content-related expertise and less on cultivating belonging and identity-related views critical to retention in STEM programs and professions. We address this gap with a cohort-based intervention in which volunteer STEM graduate student participants learn and apply storytelling techniques by sharing true personal stories about themselves. Participant efforts culminate in a storytelling performance designed to reinforce their professional identity and belonging and mitigate stereotypes associated with STEM professionals.
In this work, our multi-institutional team engages graduate student participants in an active story-telling intervention in collaboration with The Story Collider, a national non-profit organization. Together, we aim to develop, implement, assess, refine, and transfer a scalable story-telling intervention able to bolster professional identity and sense of belonging, and reduce feelings of impostorism, among STEM graduate students. Our work is grounded in theories of narrative identity, reflection, and cognitive consistency; our focal outcomes are guided by Self Determination Theory’s three basic human needs of autonomy (identity), relatedness (belongingness), and competence (imposter feelings). Methodologically, we employ a Design-based Research approach to iteratively implement, assess, and refine the intervention. Mixed method data generation includes a tailored pre/post Likert scale survey developed from existing instruments measuring engineering identity, belonging, and impostorism and post intervention semi-structured participant interviews. Additionally, we employ an analysis of narratives approach to analyze participants’ stories to answer the following research question:
(1) What are thematic and structural characteristics of personal narratives that students write about their experiences in STEM graduate education and how do they relate to education relate to (a) professional identity, (b) sense of belonging in their graduate program, and (c) feelings of being an impostor?
During Year 1, we implemented the story-telling intervention with two graduate student cohorts (approximately 50 graduate students in total) enrolled at the lead institution. We generated pre/post mixed-methods data with participants to enable curriculum assessment and refinement relative to its usability and progress toward targeted outcomes. In Year 2, we are employing Year 1 assessment data to refine the curriculum in preparation for its implementation in spring 2025 with two new cohorts at the lead institution. We are also engaging in and documenting training to develop capacity across the two institutions to facilitate the program in Year 3, without the aid of Story Collider personnel, at both institutions.
Preliminary findings Year 1 pre/post survey responses indicate post-intervention improvements in STEM and researcher identities (as hypothesized), slight declines in belonging (inconsistent with hypotheses), and marginal decreases in impostorism (as hypothesized). Post-program qualitative interview data suggest participants perceived the intervention as beneficial and expressed interest in expanding the program to faculty, undergraduate students, and non-STEM fields. The WIP paper will report on findings from the complete dataset, including intervention improvements made for its 2nd implementation in Spring 2025, and emerging themes from narrative analysis of Year 1 participants’ stories.
Minichiello, A., & Pakala, K., & Nguyen, U. T. K., & Hamby, A., & Pokimica, J., & Jankowski, E. (2025, June), Actualizing Graduate Student Identity, Belonging, and Feelings of Competence in STEM via Personal Story-telling Paper presented at 2025 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition , Montreal, Quebec, Canada . https://peer.asee.org/55427
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