Javernick-Will, A., & Kaminsky, J., & Leslie, C., & Litchfield, K. (2012, June), Collaborative Research:  Gender Diversity, Identity, and EWB-USA   Paper presented at 2012 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, San Antonio, Texas. 10.18260/1-2--21079

\bibitem{asee_peer_21079}
  Javernick-Will, A., \& Kaminsky, J., \& Leslie, C., \& Litchfield, K. (2012, June), \emph{Collaborative Research:  Gender Diversity, Identity, and EWB-USA }
  Paper presented at 2012 ASEE Annual Conference \& Exposition, San Antonio, Texas.
  10.18260/1-2--21079

Amy Javernick-Will, Jessica Kaminsky, Cathy Leslie P.E., and Kaitlin Litchfield.  "Collaborative Research:  Gender Diversity, Identity, and EWB-USA ".  2012 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, San Antonio, Texas, 2012, June.  ASEE Conferences, 2012.  https://peer.asee.org/21079 Internet.  15 Jan, 2025

\bibitem{asee_peer_21079}
  Amy Javernick-Will, Jessica Kaminsky, Cathy Leslie P.E., and Kaitlin Litchfield.
  "Collaborative Research:  Gender Diversity, Identity, and EWB-USA ".
  \emph{2012 ASEE Annual Conference \& Exposition, San Antonio, Texas, 2012, June}.
  ASEE Conferences, 2012.
  https://peer.asee.org/21079 Internet.  15 Jan, 2025

@INPROCEEDINGS{asee_peer_21079
author = "Amy Javernick-Will, Jessica Kaminsky, Cathy Leslie P.E., and Kaitlin Litchfield"
title = "Collaborative Research:  Gender Diversity, Identity, and EWB-USA "
booktitle = "2012 ASEE Annual Conference \& Exposition"
year = "2012"
month = "June"
address = "San Antonio, Texas"
publisher = "ASEE Conferences"
note = {https://peer.asee.org/21079}
number = {10.18260/1-2--21079}
}

TY  - CPAPER
AB  -          Collaborative Research: Gender Diversity, Identity, and EWB-                                    USAThis recently initiated research investigates the motivations driving members of the serviceorganization Engineers Without Borders-USA (EWB-USA) in the theoretical context of identityand social cognitive theory. As a rare example of a professional engineering organization with aroughly balanced gender ratio among its membership, EWB-USA provides a strategic researchsite for unpacking gendered motivations and identity formations in engineering. This researchwill consider an extended STEM pipeline that includes both undergraduates and professionals,recognizing the importance of not only recruiting but also retaining diverse genders in STEM.Due to the early phase of research, this poster does not present any results but rather describesthe project methodology and expected results.Females are underrepresented in STEM fields. This is true for student and professional cohorts.Past research suggests that recruitment, not retention, is the problem for females in universityengineering programs. In contrast to this, female engineering professionals experience higherattrition rates than do their male counterparts. This dual problem of recruitment and retentionmeans that capable female engineers leave or never enter the profession, disproportionatelycontributing to the shortage of engineers.Social cognitive theory proposes that self-efficacy and expected outcomes form the basis forprofessional identity and motivation. This research will test social cognitive theory as aframework for attracting diverse groups to engineering. Specifically, it proposes thatparticipation in EWB-USA changes the expected outcomes of engineering—from Dilbert to theengineer of 2020. In addition, it provides career scaffolding that helps members navigatecareers. Both of these aspects are hypothesized to be particularly attractive and beneficial tofemales, which in turn is hypothesized to explain the gender ratios observed in the EWB-USAmembership.This project proposes a multi-method approach. The first research phase is primarily qualitativeand consists of data collection through semi-structured focus groups and interviews. We willconduct 28 interviews of female and male students and professionals involved with EWB-USA.These interviews will contain open-ended questions aimed at understanding the motivations forjoining EWB, what they gain from their membership in the organization, what they believe to belacking in their education, and how their membership has changed them. 16 focus groups willbe held with female, male, and mixed gender groups, students and professional groups, and EWBand non-EWB groups. The participants in these focus groups will be asked many of the samequestions and will be asked to vote on the most important and least important aspects of what thegroup discussed. Participants in both the interviews and focus groups will be asked to write adescription of an EWB member, engineer, and themselves to determine perceptions ofengineering identity and motivation, and differences in these generalizations for the variouscohorts. This data will be transcribed and coded in QSR NVivo to analyze emergent trends. Inthe second phase of the research, this qualitative data will be used as the foundation for aquantitative survey that will be distributed to the memberships of EWB-USA, the Society ofWomen Engineers, the American Society of Civil Engineers, and the American Society ofMechanical Engineers.This research hypothesizes that the expected outcomes of engineering will vary among thetargeted research cohorts, and that EWB-USA members will report important career scaffoldingexperiences due to EWB-USA participation. This new knowledge will be of use in the design ofevidence-based university curriculum and industry programs to increase the participation offemales in engineering.
AU  - Amy Javernick-Will
AU  - Jessica Kaminsky
AU  - Cathy Leslie P.E.
AU  - Kaitlin Litchfield
CY  - San Antonio, Texas
DA  - 2012/06/10
PB  - ASEE Conferences
TI  - Collaborative Research:  Gender Diversity, Identity, and EWB-USA 
UR  - https://peer.asee.org/21079
DO  - 10.18260/1-2--21079
ER  -