“Si no servimos, no servimos”: A Pilot Study on the Influence of Perceived Advisor Support on Graduate Student Thesis Self-Efficacy

Abimelec Mercado Rivera; Brooke Charae Coley; Samantha Ruth Brunhaver

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Conference: 2025 Collaborative Network for Engineering & Computing Diversity (CoNECD)
Location: San Antonio, Texas
Publication Date: February 9, 2025
Start Date: February 9, 2025
End Date: February 11, 2025
Conference Session: Track 2: Technical Session 2: "Si no servimos, no servimos": A Pilot Study on the Influence of Perceived Advisor Support on Graduate Student Thesis Self-Efficacy
Tagged Topics: Diversity and 2025 CoNECD Paper Submissions
Page Count: 17
Permanent URL: https://peer.asee.org/54061
Download Count: 5

Paper Authors

biography

Abimelec Mercado Rivera Arizona State University, Polytechnic Campus orcid.org/0000-0002-8899-7671

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Abimelec Mercado Rivera is a Puerto Rican doctoral student and graduate research assistant in the Engineering Education Systems and Design program at Arizona State University. Abimelec received his Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering at the University of Puerto Rico at Mayaguez (UPRM) in 2016. After working in the aerospace industry, he returned to the UPRM for his MS in Mechanical Engineering in 2017, where he pursued ways to tailor ideation methods to interdisciplinary teams as part of his thesis work, and had the opportunity to teach undergraduate ME courses. His previous efforts and experiences in engineering education helped shape his overall goal of fostering human-centered education systems, which led him to pursue his PhD at ASU.

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biography

Brooke Charae Coley Arizona State University, Polytechnic Campus

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Dr. Brooke Coley, an Assistant Professor of Engineering at Arizona State University, is a pioneering force in disrupting the status quo of engineering to create a more equitable and inclusive field where all individuals can thrive. As the Founding Executive Director of the Center for Research Advancing Racial Equity, Justice, and Sociotechnical Innovation Centered in Engineering (RARE JUSTICE), Dr. Coley leads transformative efforts to challenge systemic barriers and promote equity in academia. Her research focuses on amplifying the lived experiences of racially minoritized scholars, dismantling anti-Blackness in STEM, graduate student education, and fostering awareness of, and ultimately, accountability for, the lived realities of individuals navigating STEM through immersive virtual reality experiences. Collaborating with mental health experts, she also is intentional to integrate a head-on focus on the implications for wellness and wholeness in academic environments. Dr. Coley's transparent and culturally responsive approaches, coupled with her dedication and fortitude, have positioned her as a recognized leader in the field. Since 2017, she has secured millions of dollars in grant funding from the National Science Foundation, employing critical qualitative and arts-based methodologies in her work. She received the Wickenden Award and Betty Vetter Award in 2024 and was named a Virtual Visiting Scholar by the ARC Network in 2023. Launching from the Ph.D. in Bioengineering from the University of Pittsburgh oriented to the challenges of navigating STEM as an underrepresented and minoritized scholar, she continues to lead change and advocate for institutional transformation and accountability through novel applications and approaches.

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Samantha Ruth Brunhaver Arizona State University, Polytechnic Campus orcid.org/0000-0001-8607-5959

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Samantha Brunhaver is an Assistant Professor of Engineering in the Fulton Schools of Engineering Polytechnic School. Dr. Brunhaver recently joined Arizona State after completing her M.S. and Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering at Stanford University. She also

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Abstract

Reflecting the change in demographics across the Nation, the number of federally designated Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSIs) continues to grow yearly. Yet many of these institutions join the ranks of HSIs without having an established mission to serve underrepresented communities, and those of the Latinx community, specifically. As a result, much work has been dedicated to conceptualizing “servingness,” seeking to position institutions to reflect and act in their role to ensure representation and engagement of the Latinx community. However, little is known about how current servingness practices at these institutions translate to impact the experiences of engineering graduate students and, in turn, how institutional policies and practices may be aiding or barricading these students’ path to success. As the calls to expand the post-baccalaureate opportunities of the Latinx community abound, it becomes imperative to gain a deeper understanding of these factors impacting their success. One of the most influential factors in a graduate student's experience, at both the master’s and doctoral levels, is their advising relationship, which can directly influence their pathway to degree completion. The support provided by an advisor—characterized as having the potential to become an aid or barrier to a graduate student’s success—can influence a graduate student’s self-efficacy beliefs in areas relating to the completion of their terminal document (e.g., their confidence in completing their thesis, dissertation, or project report). It is also important to consider with intentionality the influence of the institutional policies, grounded in the institution’s enactment of its mission, on the support an advisor can provide. Thus, this pilot study examines the extent to which a faculty advisor's instrumental and psychosocial support influences graduate students’ self-efficacy for the tasks related to completing their terminal document. Further, we explore the effect of institutional context, based on the assumption that “servingness” would impart different and/or explicit policies to support students, by comparing graduate student self-efficacy scores at HSIs and non-HSIs. The following questions guide the study: (1) To what extent do instrumental and psychosocial advisor support influence engineering graduate students’ thesis self-efficacy? (2) How does institutional context influence the types of support advisors provide and its relationship to graduate students’ thesis self-efficacy? This work presents our exploration of the research questions using a survey designed to explore graduate students' thesis self-efficacy and their perceptions of advisor support. We report on data collected from 576 graduate students across 25 institutions, including HSIs (n=14) and non-HSIs with a high enrollment of underrepresented students at the graduate level (n=11). Our analysis is underpinned by Lent’s Social Cognitive Career Theory, which posits that sources of support can influence self-efficacy beliefs and work-related trajectories. Additionally, we use Garcia’s Multidimensional Conceptual Framework for Servingness to conceptualize and interrogate advisor support as a servingness practice. Initial findings show a positive trend between a student’s thesis self-efficacy and a positive perception of the instrumental and psychosocial support provided by their advisor. This pilot study’s results can serve as a first step in fostering greater alignment between servingness practices and graduate students’ support needs, positioning institutions and engineering graduate programs, specifically, to better promote their success.

Citation
Format

Mercado Rivera, A., & Coley, B. C., & Brunhaver, S. R. (2025, February), “Si no servimos, no servimos”: A Pilot Study on the Influence of Perceived Advisor Support on Graduate Student Thesis Self-Efficacy Paper presented at 2025 Collaborative Network for Engineering & Computing Diversity (CoNECD), San Antonio, Texas. https://peer.asee.org/54061

TY  - CPAPER
AB  - Reflecting the change in demographics across the Nation, the number of federally designated Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSIs) continues to grow yearly. Yet many of these institutions join the ranks of HSIs without having an established mission to serve underrepresented communities, and those of the Latinx community, specifically. As a result, much work has been dedicated to conceptualizing “servingness,” seeking to position institutions to reflect and act in their role to ensure representation and engagement of the Latinx community. However, little is known about how current servingness practices at these institutions translate to impact the experiences of engineering graduate students and, in turn, how institutional policies and practices may be aiding or barricading these students’ path to success. As the calls to expand the post-baccalaureate opportunities of the Latinx community abound, it becomes imperative to gain a deeper understanding of these factors impacting their success.    
One of the most influential factors in a graduate student&#39;s experience, at both the master’s and doctoral levels, is their advising relationship, which can directly influence their pathway to degree completion. The support provided by an advisor—characterized as having the potential to become an aid or barrier to a graduate student’s success—can influence a graduate student’s self-efficacy beliefs in areas relating to the completion of their terminal document (e.g., their confidence in completing their thesis, dissertation, or project report). It is also important to consider with intentionality the influence of the institutional policies, grounded in the institution’s enactment of its mission, on the support an advisor can provide. Thus, this pilot study examines the extent to which a faculty advisor&#39;s instrumental and psychosocial support influences graduate students’ self-efficacy for the tasks related to completing their terminal document. Further, we explore the effect of institutional context, based on the assumption that “servingness” would impart different and/or explicit policies to support students, by comparing graduate student self-efficacy scores at HSIs and non-HSIs. The following questions guide the study: (1) To what extent do instrumental and psychosocial advisor support influence engineering graduate students’ thesis self-efficacy? (2) How does institutional context influence the types of support advisors provide and its relationship to graduate students’ thesis self-efficacy?
This work presents our exploration of the research questions using a survey designed to explore graduate students&#39; thesis self-efficacy and their perceptions of advisor support. We report on data collected from 576 graduate students across 25 institutions, including HSIs (n=14) and non-HSIs with a high enrollment of underrepresented students at the graduate level (n=11). Our analysis is underpinned by Lent’s Social Cognitive Career Theory, which posits that sources of support can influence self-efficacy beliefs and work-related trajectories. Additionally, we use Garcia’s Multidimensional Conceptual Framework for Servingness to conceptualize and interrogate advisor support as a servingness practice. Initial findings show a positive trend between a student’s thesis self-efficacy and a positive perception of the instrumental and psychosocial support provided by their advisor. This pilot study’s results can serve as a first step in fostering greater alignment between servingness practices and graduate students’ support needs, positioning institutions and engineering graduate programs, specifically, to better promote their success.
AU  - Abimelec Mercado Rivera
AU  - Brooke Charae Coley
AU  - Samantha Ruth Brunhaver
CY  - San Antonio, Texas
DA  - 2025/02/09
PB  - ASEE Conferences
TI  - “Si no servimos, no servimos”: A Pilot Study on the Influence of Perceived Advisor Support on Graduate Student Thesis Self-Efficacy
UR  - https://peer.asee.org/54061
ER  -