Panuganti, S., & Khorsandi Koujel, N., & Major, J. C. (2025, February), The role of undergraduate engineering students’ different support  networks in promoting emotional well-being: A narrative study  Paper presented at 2025 Collaborative Network for Engineering & Computing Diversity (CoNECD), San Antonio, Texas. https://peer.asee.org/54120

\bibitem{asee_peer_54120}
  Panuganti, S., \& Khorsandi Koujel, N., \& Major, J. C. (2025, February), \emph{The role of undergraduate engineering students’ different support  networks in promoting emotional well-being: A narrative study}
  Paper presented at 2025 Collaborative Network for Engineering \& Computing Diversity (CoNECD), San Antonio, Texas.
  https://peer.asee.org/54120

Sowmya Panuganti, Narjes Khorsandi Koujel, and Justin Charles Major.  "The role of undergraduate engineering students’ different support  networks in promoting emotional well-being: A narrative study".  2025 Collaborative Network for Engineering & Computing Diversity (CoNECD), San Antonio, Texas, 2025, February.  ASEE Conferences, 2025.  https://peer.asee.org/54120 Internet.  25 Mar, 2025

\bibitem{asee_peer_54120}
  Sowmya Panuganti, Narjes Khorsandi Koujel, and Justin Charles Major.
  "The role of undergraduate engineering students’ different support  networks in promoting emotional well-being: A narrative study".
  \emph{2025 Collaborative Network for Engineering \& Computing Diversity (CoNECD), San Antonio, Texas, 2025, February}.
  ASEE Conferences, 2025.
  https://peer.asee.org/54120 Internet.  25 Mar, 2025

@INPROCEEDINGS{asee_peer_54120
author = "Sowmya Panuganti, Narjes Khorsandi Koujel, and Justin Charles Major"
title = "The role of undergraduate engineering students’ different support  networks in promoting emotional well-being: A narrative study"
booktitle = "2025 Collaborative Network for Engineering \& Computing Diversity (CoNECD)"
year = "2025"
month = "February"
address = "San Antonio, Texas"
publisher = "ASEE Conferences"
note = {https://peer.asee.org/54120}
}

TY  - CPAPER
AB  - This research paper explores the role of undergraduate engineering students' different support networks. Support of students is integral to promoting a sense of belonging as an engineer, which leads to greater persistence. Our recent work suggests that emotional support may be the most important type of support, impacting students' feelings of recognition as engineers. We focus on two types of family: the traditional family (e.g., the family assigned at birth) and the chosen family (e.g., friends and mentors students choose to call family). We hypothesize that each family type contributes differently to students' well-being. By identifying who supports students, and how, we can better understand how to support all undergraduate engineering students more effectively. In this work, we used a qualitative, narrative inquiry approach to examine how students experience their support networks. We conducted nine in-depth narrative interviews with undergraduate engineering students from a mid-Atlantic institution. Interviews were guided by a set of narrative prompts that allowed participants to share their personal experiences. After transcription, we restoried the students' accounts and cross-analyzed the final narratives using analysis of narratives. Our findings suggest that engineering students often avoid discussing their emotional needs. When they do, they are more likely to seek out chosen families, where they feel greater authenticity and less judgment given the lack of power dynamics. Positive relationships within traditional families, supplemented by chosen families, contribute to stronger emotional well-being and support students' success as engineers. These results, and others, are discussed further.

AU  - Sowmya Panuganti
AU  - Narjes Khorsandi Koujel
AU  - Justin Charles Major
CY  - San Antonio, Texas
DA  - 2025/02/09
PB  - ASEE Conferences
TI  - The role of undergraduate engineering students’ different support  networks in promoting emotional well-being: A narrative study
UR  - https://peer.asee.org/54120
ER  -