Portland, Oregon
June 23, 2024
June 23, 2024
June 26, 2024
Milhouse's Moment: Engineering Inclusivity, Everything's Coming Up Milhouse!
Pre-College Engineering Education Division (PCEE)
Diversity
15
10.18260/1-2--47272
https://peer.asee.org/47272
52
Nina Telang is a Professor of Instruction in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Texas at Austin. She received the B.Tech degree in Engineering Physics from the Indian Institute of Technology, Mumbai in 1989, and the M.S. and Ph.D. from the University of Notre Dame in 1992 and 1995.
In this paper, we discuss the creation and establishment of an engineering mentorship program for [City] high school students from Title I public schools. The objective of this program is to provide high school students of underrepresented backgrounds exposure to engineering fields, the necessary support to navigate financial and accessibility obstacles posed by the college application process, and a role model and mentor. Typically, students from lower-income high schools do not receive the resources to be familiar with engineering areas and careers, nor the college application process, so this program aims to address these gaps. The aim is that students who participate in this program feel encouraged and confident to apply to engineering programs, resulting in increased applications and potential enrollment of students from low-income high schools.
In this program, student mentors (current undergraduate engineering students) are responsible for helping second-year high school students find an engineering major based on their interests, discussing the college application process at a fundamental level, and connecting the student with various financial and academic resources. Weekly mentoring sessions are held over Zoom during the students’ school day in compliance with school district and university regulations. The program lasts six weeks, covering topics such as an overview of the university’s engineering program, the different engineering fields and careers, a thorough overview of the application process, financial resources, and a recap and evaluation.
This project will be evaluated with an anonymous survey administered after the completion of the program to the high school students to gauge engagement, whether they felt the program was beneficial, and interest levels in engineering, all of which will help determine the program's effectiveness. (Please note that this program is currently running, and we will be able to share our results by the time the first paper draft is due.)
Telang, N. K., & Raghavan, A. M. (2024, June), Engineering Bright Futures: A College Mentorship Program for Title I Public High Schools Paper presented at 2024 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Portland, Oregon. 10.18260/1-2--47272
ASEE holds the copyright on this document. It may be read by the public free of charge. Authors may archive their work on personal websites or in institutional repositories with the following citation: © 2024 American Society for Engineering Education. Other scholars may excerpt or quote from these materials with the same citation. When excerpting or quoting from Conference Proceedings, authors should, in addition to noting the ASEE copyright, list all the original authors and their institutions and name the host city of the conference. - Last updated April 1, 2015