Quantitative Methodological Approaches to Understand the Impact of Interventions: Exploring Black Engineering Student Success

Kelly-Ann Dixon Hamil; Tasha Zephirin; Darryl Dickerson

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Conference: 2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition
Location: Baltimore , Maryland
Publication Date: June 25, 2023
Start Date: June 25, 2023
End Date: June 28, 2023
Conference Session: Towards a Participatory Action, Retention of Black Students, and Exploring Black Engineering Student Success
Tagged Division: Minorities in Engineering Division(MIND)
Tagged Topic: Diversity
Page Count: 19
DOI: 10.18260/1-2--44006
Permanent URL: https://peer.asee.org/44006
Download Count: 87

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Paper Authors

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Kelly-Ann Dixon Hamil The University of the West Indies, Mona

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Kelly-Ann Dixon Hamil is an Assistant Professor in Statistics and Undergraduate chair in the Department of Economics at the University of the West Indies, Mona Campus, Jamaica W. I. She received a BSc. in Statistics and Economics from the University of the West Indies, Mona Campus, a MSc. in Statistics from the University of Kent at Canterbury, UK, a M.S degree in Mathematical Statistics and a PhD in Statistics from Purdue University, USA.

Dr Dixon Hamil is an interdisciplinary researcher with her main research area being spatial statistics and is an award-winning teacher and an inductee into the Purdue Teaching Academy. Her interdisciplinary research interests span the Social Sciences, Education, Ecology and Epidemiology, especially applying statistical methodologies within diverse contexts. She also serves as co-chair of the Socio-Economic Group, National COVID-19 Research Agenda and is an advisory committee member to the Visitor Harassment Research Unit, Purdue University.

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Tasha Zephirin Purdue University, West Lafayette

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Tasha Zephirin is a Ph.D. Candidate in the School of Engineering Education at Purdue University. She is the Executive Assistant for the National Association of Multicultural Program Advocates (NAMEPA) Inc. She developed an interest in engineering education research while pursuing a degree in Electrical Engineering at Virginia Tech. This interest developed through research and teaching experiences in the Engineering Education department and leadership experiences in the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE). Her research interests include providing an evidence-based understanding of marginalized group experiences in engineering education and the role of noncurricular engineering education initiatives in the engineering experience, especially within and across cultural boundaries. Through this research, she aims to inform the development and evaluation of engineering education initiatives in various contexts.

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Darryl Dickerson Florida International University orcid.org/0000-0002-5935-4124

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Dr. Darryl A. Dickerson is an Assistant Professor of Mechanical and Materials Engineering at Florida International University (FIU). Dr. Dickerson’s research focuses on transforming multiscale mechanobiological insights into biomanufacturing processes enabling the creation of personalized, fully functional engineered tissues. His research group, the Inclusive Complex Tissue Regeneration Lab (InCTRL), does this through multiscale characterization of complex tissues, fundamental studies on biophysical control of induced pluripotent stem cells, biomaterial development for complex tissue regeneration, and intentionally building inclusion into research design and execution. This connects to his broader vision to make engineering spaces more diverse, more equitable, and more inclusive. He has held administrative positions in programs to broaden the participation of historically excluded students in engineering. Dr. Dickerson’s work in expanding participation in engineering has yielded significant programmatic interventions, institutional change activities, and national strategic initiatives. He also serves as the Director of Engineering Workforce and Education for the CELL-MET ERC. Dr. Dickerson manages the K-12 outreach and research experiences for high school students, teachers, and undergraduates in this role.

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Abstract

As engineering educators and practitioners, we must broaden the participation of students from racially minoritized populations to meet engineering education's social and ethical responsibilities to address problems and design solutions relevant to our diverse communities. However, the engineering profession in the United States has historically and continues to exclude certain racial and ethnic populations, including Black, Latinx, and Native people. As a result, engineering remains a predominantly white discipline despite national calls to broaden participation. There have been interventions to help historically excluded students navigate the exclusionary engineering culture, including institution-driven and student-driven interventions. Affinity engineering student organizations, such as the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE), are student-driven and serve as effective interventions to help improve persistence and graduation rates for historically excluded undergraduate engineering students.

In this study, we explore different quantitative methodological approaches (logistic regression and survival analysis) to examine how various dimensions of involvement influence persistence. We consider a local chapter of NSBE at a large, Midwestern historically and predominantly white institution as a model student-driven intervention using a sample of 348 students. To understand how involvement in NSBE influences persistence, we define two dimensions of involvement within NSBE for our analysis: "time as a member" and "first-semester membership" as initial proxies for time invested and energy expended by Black engineering student members. We found a significant association between the length of time spent as a member of NSBE and the likelihood of graduation with an Engineering degree, highlighting the need for a depth of involvement. Interestingly, early involvement with NSBE was not associated with persistence to graduation in this study. The results provide less explored insights into the impact of different dimensions of a student-driven intervention on Black engineering student success and point to new quantitative methodological approaches that may be used for any intervention to understand its impact on student success. Next steps to expand on this work include adding more academic history control variables, increasing sample size, and examining institution-driven interventions as variables. This paper would be of interest to engineering educators, student support practitioners, institutional leaders, and all engineering stakeholders invested in understanding the broader ecosystem of student support, especially for interventions that serve historically marginalized students.

Citation
Format

Dixon Hamil, K., & Zephirin, T., & Dickerson, D. (2023, June), Quantitative Methodological Approaches to Understand the Impact of Interventions: Exploring Black Engineering Student Success Paper presented at 2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Baltimore , Maryland. 10.18260/1-2--44006

TY  - CPAPER
AB  - As engineering educators and practitioners, we must broaden the participation of students from racially minoritized populations to meet engineering education&#39;s social and ethical responsibilities to address problems and design solutions relevant to our diverse communities.   However, the engineering profession in the United States has historically and continues to exclude certain racial and ethnic populations, including Black, Latinx, and Native people. As a result, engineering remains a predominantly white discipline despite national calls to broaden participation. There have been interventions to help historically excluded students navigate the exclusionary engineering culture, including institution-driven and student-driven interventions. Affinity engineering student organizations, such as the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE), are student-driven and serve as effective interventions to help improve persistence and graduation rates for historically excluded undergraduate engineering students.   

In this study, we explore different quantitative methodological approaches (logistic regression and survival analysis) to examine how various dimensions of involvement influence persistence. We  consider a local chapter of NSBE at a large, Midwestern historically and predominantly white institution as a model student-driven intervention using a sample of 348 students. To understand how involvement in NSBE influences persistence, we define two dimensions of involvement within NSBE for our analysis: &quot;time as a member&quot; and &quot;first-semester membership&quot; as initial proxies for time invested and energy expended by Black engineering student members. We found a significant association between the length of time spent as a member of NSBE and the likelihood of graduation with an Engineering degree, highlighting the need for a depth of involvement. Interestingly, early involvement with NSBE was not associated with persistence to graduation in this study. The results provide less explored insights into the impact of different dimensions of a student-driven intervention on Black engineering student success and point to new quantitative methodological approaches that may be used for any intervention to understand its impact on student success. Next steps to expand on this work include adding more academic history control variables, increasing sample size, and examining institution-driven interventions as variables. This paper would be of interest to engineering educators, student support practitioners, institutional leaders, and all engineering stakeholders invested in understanding the broader ecosystem of student support, especially for interventions that serve historically marginalized students.
AU  - Kelly-Ann Dixon Hamil
AU  - Tasha Zephirin
AU  - Darryl Dickerson
CY  - Baltimore , Maryland
DA  - 2023/06/25
PB  - ASEE Conferences
TI  - Quantitative Methodological Approaches to Understand the Impact of Interventions: Exploring Black Engineering Student Success
UR  - https://peer.asee.org/44006
DO  - 10.18260/1-2--44006
ER  -