Smith, C. A. S., & Skvoretz, J., & Campbell-Montalvo, R., & Puccia, E., & Kersaint, G., & Martin, J. P., & Wao, H. (2023, June), Examining the Experiences of Women and Underrepresented Students Who Leave  Engineering Undergraduate Programs   Paper presented at 2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Baltimore , Maryland. 10.18260/1-2--43506

\bibitem{asee_peer_43506}
  Smith, C. A. S., \& Skvoretz, J., \& Campbell-Montalvo, R., \& Puccia, E., \& Kersaint, G., \& Martin, J. P., \& Wao, H. (2023, June), \emph{Examining the Experiences of Women and Underrepresented Students Who Leave  Engineering Undergraduate Programs }
  Paper presented at 2023 ASEE Annual Conference \& Exposition, Baltimore , Maryland.
  10.18260/1-2--43506

Chrystal A. S. Smith, John Skvoretz Jr., Rebecca Campbell-Montalvo, Ellen Puccia, Gladis Kersaint, Julie P. Martin, and Hesborn Wao.  "Examining the Experiences of Women and Underrepresented Students Who Leave  Engineering Undergraduate Programs ".  2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Baltimore , Maryland, 2023, June.  ASEE Conferences, 2023.  https://peer.asee.org/43506 Internet.  06 May, 2025

\bibitem{asee_peer_43506}
  Chrystal A. S. Smith, John Skvoretz Jr., Rebecca Campbell-Montalvo, Ellen Puccia, Gladis Kersaint, Julie P. Martin, and Hesborn Wao.
  "Examining the Experiences of Women and Underrepresented Students Who Leave  Engineering Undergraduate Programs ".
  \emph{2023 ASEE Annual Conference \& Exposition, Baltimore , Maryland, 2023, June}.
  ASEE Conferences, 2023.
  https://peer.asee.org/43506 Internet.  06 May, 2025

@INPROCEEDINGS{asee_peer_43506
author = "Chrystal A. S. Smith, John Skvoretz Jr., Rebecca Campbell-Montalvo, Ellen Puccia, Gladis Kersaint, Julie P. Martin, and Hesborn Wao"
title = "Examining the Experiences of Women and Underrepresented Students Who Leave  Engineering Undergraduate Programs "
booktitle = "2023 ASEE Annual Conference \& Exposition"
year = "2023"
month = "June"
address = "Baltimore , Maryland"
publisher = "ASEE Conferences"
note = {https://peer.asee.org/43506}
number = {10.18260/1-2--43506}
}

TY  - CPAPER
AB  - Given that women and ethnic minority students are underrepresented in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) undergraduate programs, understanding the factors that impact persistence is critical for universities to develop effective interventions to increase their representation. In our five-year, mixed methods longitudinal study, we followed a cohort of 2,186 engineering majors from the first year to determine how social capital and cultural models of engineering success (CMES) influence their persistence. Students were surveyed every year and we found that Black students were less likely to persist than other groups of students. If students reported in surveys two to five that they were no longer enrolled in their engineering program, they were asked why they were no longer engineering majors, and to rank those reasons in order of the most important to least important. In response to the second survey, 249 students gave at least one reason for leaving engineering. Our descriptive analysis found that the most frequently selected and highest ranked reason for leaving engineering was, “I was academically prepared, but am no longer interested in pursuing engineering.” Women ranked this reason slightly higher than men did. Black students were overrepresented among students who selected “I entered my engineering program not understanding what it meant to be an engineer” and “I was not academically prepared for the math courses in my engineering program.” They ranked the response, “I had financial obligations” higher than other groups of students. They were underrepresented among students who selected “I did not fit in with other students in my department.” Latinx students were overrepresented among students who selected, “I did not fit in with other students in my department” and were underrepresented among students who selected, “I entered my engineering program not understanding what it meant to be an engineer.” In their second year, we interviewed a subsample of 55 women and underrepresented minority (URM) students and conducted follow-up interviews with 36 of these students in their fourth year. Five of the interviewed students had switched to non-engineering majors, and five had left university. Our analysis of the coded interviews found that many of the reasons students gave for switching to non-engineering majors were consistent with the survey responses. These reasons included realizing that they were not interested in engineering, concern about their grade point average because of their coursework's difficulty, and feeling that they did not fit in. Collectively, the survey and interview findings suggest that undergraduate STEM programs must transform their culture and become more welcoming to women and URM students; this includes restructuring “weed-out” courses, faculty professional development that focuses on using inclusive teaching and pedagogy strategies in the classrooms, and developing interventions that focus on changing how faculty, instructional staff, and advisors view and interact with students in their first year.


AU  - Chrystal A. S. Smith
AU  - John Skvoretz Jr.
AU  - Rebecca Campbell-Montalvo
AU  - Ellen Puccia
AU  - Gladis Kersaint
AU  - Julie P. Martin
AU  - Hesborn Wao
CY  - Baltimore , Maryland
DA  - 2023/06/25
PB  - ASEE Conferences
TI  - Examining the Experiences of Women and Underrepresented Students Who Leave  Engineering Undergraduate Programs 
UR  - https://peer.asee.org/43506
DO  - 10.18260/1-2--43506
ER  -