Mechanical Engineering Sustainability Curricular Content and Bachelor’s Degrees Awarded to Women

Angela R Bielefeldt; Joan Tisdale

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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: MECH - Technical Session 3: Advancements in Teaching Mechanical Engineering
Tagged Division: Mechanical Engineering Division (MECH)
Tagged Topic: Diversity
Permanent URL: https://peer.asee.org/47769

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Paper Authors

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Angela R Bielefeldt University of Colorado Boulder

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Angela Bielefeldt is a professor at the University of Colorado Boulder in the Department of Civil, Environmental, and Architectural Engineering (CEAE) and Director of the Integrated Design Engineering program. Her research interests include ethics, social responsibility, sustainability, and community engagement.

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Joan Tisdale University of Colorado Boulder

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Joany Tisdale is a Teaching Assistant Professor for the Integrated Design Engineering program.

Joany earned a MS degree in Mechanical Engineering from MIT and a Bachelor’s degree in Aerospace Engineering from Auburn University. She has a PhD in Civil Engineering with a Civil Systems focus and a certificate in Global Engineering from CU Boulder. Her research investigates sustainability integration into engineering curricula. She worked as an engineer for more than 5 years at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory.

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Abstract

Mechanical engineers can play an important role in contributing to a sustainable future. Groups traditionally underrepresented in engineering including women and minoritized groups are motivated to improve societal and environmental conditions. Thus, increasing the amount and visibility of sustainability-related content in mechanical engineering (ME) curricula and courses may broaden the demographics of students earning ME degrees. For example, mechanical engineering (ME) lags environmental engineering with respect to the percentage of Bachelor’s degrees awarded to women in the U.S.; e.g., mechanical 17.3% versus environmental 57.8%. Potential correlations between the sustainability scores of a university under the American Association for Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE) STARS rating system and the percentage of engineering Bachelor’s degrees awarded to female students were explored. Courses with sustainability content were identified using information submitted by universities to the AASHE STARS program and/or course catalogs. This included Bachelor’s level ME courses and general engineering courses required for ME students. The data set included 89 ME programs in the U.S. that were ABET accredited, of which 72 programs had AASHE STARS scores. There were weak statistically significant correlations between the total AASHE STARS scores and the percentage of engineering and ME Bachelor’s degrees awarded to females. However, there was not a direct correlation between the percentage of females awarded ME Bachelor’s degrees and the number of identified ME courses with sustainability. The demographics of students earning Bachelor’s degrees in ME is likely due to a broad array of factors beyond the extent that sustainability is evident in the courses. For example, differences among private and public institutions were significant. Strong correlations were found between the number of mechanical engineering courses with sustainability and the percentage of Bachelor’s degrees earned by females when relationship were explored within single states and either public or private institutions. This preliminary work suggests that sustainability may help attract and retain female students to mechanical engineering, sparking interest in future research.

Citation
Format

Bielefeldt, A. R., & Tisdale, J. (2024, June), Mechanical Engineering Sustainability Curricular Content and Bachelor’s Degrees Awarded to Women Paper presented at 2024 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Portland, Oregon. https://peer.asee.org/47769

TY  - CPAPER
AB  - Mechanical engineers can play an important role in contributing to a sustainable future. Groups traditionally underrepresented in engineering including women and minoritized groups are motivated to improve societal and environmental conditions. Thus, increasing the amount and visibility of sustainability-related content in mechanical engineering (ME) curricula and courses may broaden the demographics of students earning ME degrees. For example, mechanical engineering (ME) lags environmental engineering with respect to the percentage of Bachelor’s degrees awarded to women in the U.S.; e.g., mechanical 17.3% versus environmental 57.8%. Potential correlations between the sustainability scores of a university under the American Association for Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE) STARS rating system and the percentage of engineering Bachelor’s degrees awarded to female students were explored. Courses with sustainability content were identified using information submitted by universities to the AASHE STARS program and/or course catalogs. This included Bachelor’s level ME courses and general engineering courses required for ME students. The data set included 89 ME programs in the U.S. that were ABET accredited, of which 72 programs had AASHE STARS scores. There were weak statistically significant correlations between the total AASHE STARS scores and the percentage of engineering and ME Bachelor’s degrees awarded to females. However, there was not a direct correlation between the percentage of females awarded ME Bachelor’s degrees and the number of identified ME courses with sustainability. The demographics of students earning Bachelor’s degrees in ME is likely due to a broad array of factors beyond the extent that sustainability is evident in the courses. For example, differences among private and public institutions were significant. Strong correlations were found between the number of mechanical engineering courses with sustainability and the percentage of Bachelor’s degrees earned by females when relationship were explored within single states and either public or private institutions. This preliminary work suggests that sustainability may help attract and retain female students to mechanical engineering, sparking interest in future research.
AU  - Angela R Bielefeldt
AU  - Joan Tisdale
CY  - Portland, Oregon
DA  - 2024/06/23
PB  - ASEE Conferences
TI  - Mechanical Engineering Sustainability Curricular Content and Bachelor’s Degrees Awarded to Women
UR  - https://peer.asee.org/47769
ER  -