Creating Inclusive Engineers through Humanitarian Engineering Projects: Exploring the Experiences of Two Students through Interviews

Kirsten Heikkinen Dodson; René Marie Rosalie Marius; Mark Sedek

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Conference: 2024 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition
Location: Portland, Oregon
Publication Date: June 23, 2024
Start Date: June 23, 2024
End Date: July 12, 2024
Conference Session: Community Engagement and Humanitarian Engineering: Creating Inclusive Engineers
Tagged Division: Community Engagement Division (COMMENG)
Tagged Topic: Diversity
Permanent URL: https://peer.asee.org/47086

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Paper Authors

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Kirsten Heikkinen Dodson Lipscomb University orcid.org/0000-0002-5626-4393

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Kirsten Heikkinen Dodson (pronouns: she/her) is an Associate Professor and Chair of Mechanical Engineering in the Raymond B. Jones College of Engineering at Lipscomb University. She earned her B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Lipscomb University and her Ph.D. from Vanderbilt University before returning to her alma mater. Her research interests focus on the connections between humanitarian engineering, engineering education, and equity and inclusion topics. She primarily teaches thermal-fluid sciences as well as introductory and advanced design courses.

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René Marie Rosalie Marius Lipscomb University

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René Marius is an undergraduate student at Lipscomb University. She is studying Software Engineering with a German minor. René has been working with Dr. Dodson to research the connections of humanitarian engineering projects affecting views of diversity, equity, and inclusion.

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Mark Sedek Lipscomb University

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Mark Sedek is an undergraduate student at Lipscomb University studying mechanical engineering with a minor in applied mathematics. Looking forward, he plans on gaining more experience within the research field and pursue graduate school after completing his bachelors to study aerospace engineering. He is currently researching the affects of humanitarian engineering projects on students, alumni, and professional's views of diversity equity and inclusion.

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Abstract

This paper provides further results on continuing research studying the impact of humanitarian engineering projects on student professional formation and views of diversity, equity, and inclusion. Through this project, the authors aim to create a more inclusive and equitable engineering workforce by involving students in humanitarian engineering. Previous results from this study have shown positive results from open-ended questions from a survey, but little difference between those who have and have not participated in a humanitarian engineering project from Likert-scaled items. These mixed results from the quantitative and initial qualitative analysis of the survey suggest that further qualitative investigation would better reveal insights for this project’s objectives. From the results of the survey, the researchers designed a semi-structured interview protocol to explore the deeper nuances of the impacts of humanitarian engineering projects on inclusive behavior. This paper will focus on the interview of two engineering students who participated in the survey before and after involvement in a humanitarian engineering project. Interestingly, from the survey, it seems that one student was highly impacted by their involvement, whereas the other was not. The interviews with these two students examine their experiences in engineering, their participation in a humanitarian engineering project, and how these experiences connect with their views of inclusivity and equity in the field. The paper reviews the thematic analysis of the interviews through coding and provides a comparison of the two students, their experiences, and their behaviors. In addition to the results from these interviews, the paper also briefly describes the interview design and revision as well as the iterative participant selection process. As next steps, the research team will be interviewing a mixture of engineering students and alumni from Lipscomb University. From these interviews, the team will build a model which may be utilized by other engineering organizations to create inclusive engineers and increase diverse representation in the field.

Citation
Format

Dodson, K. H., & Marius, R. M. R., & Sedek, M. (2024, June), Creating Inclusive Engineers through Humanitarian Engineering Projects: Exploring the Experiences of Two Students through Interviews Paper presented at 2024 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Portland, Oregon. https://peer.asee.org/47086

TY  - CPAPER
AB  - This paper provides further results on continuing research studying the impact of humanitarian engineering projects on student professional formation and views of diversity, equity, and inclusion. Through this project, the authors aim to create a more inclusive and equitable engineering workforce by involving students in humanitarian engineering. Previous results from this study have shown positive results from open-ended questions from a survey, but little difference between those who have and have not participated in a humanitarian engineering project from Likert-scaled items. These mixed results from the quantitative and initial qualitative analysis of the survey suggest that further qualitative investigation would better reveal insights for this project’s objectives. From the results of the survey, the researchers designed a semi-structured interview protocol to explore the deeper nuances of the impacts of humanitarian engineering projects on inclusive behavior. This paper will focus on the interview of two engineering students who participated in the survey before and after involvement in a humanitarian engineering project. Interestingly, from the survey, it seems that one student was highly impacted by their involvement, whereas the other was not. The interviews with these two students examine their experiences in engineering, their participation in a humanitarian engineering project, and how these experiences connect with their views of inclusivity and equity in the field. The paper reviews the thematic analysis of the interviews through coding and provides a comparison of the two students, their experiences, and their behaviors. In addition to the results from these interviews, the paper also briefly describes the interview design and revision as well as the iterative participant selection process. As next steps, the research team will be interviewing a mixture of engineering students and alumni from Lipscomb University. From these interviews, the team will build a model which may be utilized by other engineering organizations to create inclusive engineers and increase diverse representation in the field.
AU  - Kirsten Heikkinen Dodson
AU  - René Marie Rosalie Marius
AU  - Mark Sedek
CY  - Portland, Oregon
DA  - 2024/06/23
PB  - ASEE Conferences
TI  - Creating Inclusive Engineers through Humanitarian Engineering Projects: Exploring the Experiences of Two Students through Interviews
UR  - https://peer.asee.org/47086
ER  -