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Work-In-Progress: Applying Transition Theory to an Exploration of the High-School-to-College Transition Experiences of Students from Underrepresented Ethnic/Racial Groups

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Conference

2019 CoNECD - The Collaborative Network for Engineering and Computing Diversity

Location

Crystal City, Virginia

Publication Date

April 14, 2019

Start Date

April 14, 2019

End Date

April 22, 2019

Conference Session

Track: Collegiate - Technical Session 10

Tagged Topics

Diversity and Collegiate

Page Count

11

DOI

10.18260/1-2--31809

Permanent URL

https://strategy.asee.org/31809

Download Count

1536

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Paper Authors

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Karis Boyd-Sinkler Virginia Tech

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Karis Boyd-Sinkler is a doctoral student in Engineering Education at Virginia Tech. She also serves as support staff for the Center for the Enhancement of Engineering Diversity where she is involved in the recruitment, outreach, and retention of engineering students. Her research interests include diversity in engineering and the role of engineering student support centers in regards to student attrition and persistence rates. Ms. Boyd received her B.S. in Engineering Science from the University of Virginia in 2014.

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Raeven Carmelita Waters

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Yasmine Yunus Sikder

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Ashley R. Taylor Virginia Tech

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Ashley Taylor is a doctoral candidate in engineering education at Virginia Polytechnic and State University, where she also serves as a program assistant for the Center for Enhancement of Engineering Diversity and an advisor for international senior design projects in the Department of Mechanical Engineering. Ashley received her MS in Mechanical Engineering, MPH in Public Health Education, and BS in Mechanical Engineering from Virginia Tech. Her research interests include access to higher education, broadening participation in engineering, the integration of engineering education and international development, and building capacity in low and middle income countries through inclusive technical education.

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Mayra S. Artiles Virginia Tech Orcid 16x16 orcid.org/0000-0001-7604-0410

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Mayra S. Artiles is a Ph.D. candidate in Engineering Education at Virginia Tech. She has a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Puerto Rico at Mayaguez and an M.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Purdue University with a focus on nanotechnology. Prior to her current position, she worked at Ford Motor Company as an Electrified Vehicles Thermal Engineer. Her research interests are broadening participation in engineering higher education, graduate engineering education, and academic motivation.

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Alexandra Coso Strong Florida International University Orcid 16x16 orcid.org/0000-0003-4988-361X

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As an assistant professor of engineering education at Florida International University, Dr. Alexandra Coso Strong works and teaches at the intersection of engineering education, faculty development, and complex systems design. Alexandra completed her doctorate in aerospace engineering at Georgia Tech in Spring 2014. Prior to attending Georgia Tech, Alexandra received a bachelor’s degree in aerospace engineering from MIT (2007) and a master’s degree in systems engineering from the University of Virginia (2010). Alexandra comes to FIU after completing a postdoctoral fellowship at Georgia Tech’s Center for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning (CETL) and three years as a faculty member at Olin College of Engineering in Massachusetts. Alexandra’s research aims to improve the design of educational experiences for students by critically examining the work and learning environments of practitioners. Specifically, she focuses on (1) how to design and change educational and work systems through studies of practicing engineers and educators and (2) how to help students transition into, through and out of educational and work systems.

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Walter C. Lee Virginia Tech Orcid 16x16 orcid.org/0000-0001-5082-1411

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Dr. Walter Lee is an assistant professor in the Department of Engineering Education and the assistant director for research in the Center for the Enhancement of Engineering Diversity (CEED), both at Virginia Tech. His research interests include co-curricular support, student success and retention, and diversity. Lee received his Ph.D in engineering education from Virginia Tech, his M.S. in industrial & systems engineering from Virginia Tech, and his B.S. in industrial engineering from Clemson University.

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Abstract

Student support programs within colleges of engineering often aim to assist students during their transition from high school to college. While studies of this transition can characterize experiences that could support the design of these support programs, research commonly focuses on the broader student population, where engineering students are often the minority. To further improve student support programs in engineering, particularly those designed for students from traditionally underrepresented populations, additional research is needed to understand the transitional experiences of first-year engineering students. The purpose of this paper is to explore the applicability of a theoretical framework from adult development (i.e., Schlossberg’s Transition Theory) to examine the high school-to-college transition of engineering students from underrepresented racial/ethnic groups. In the work-in-progress paper, we describe the theoretical constructs that appear most applicable in this context as we begin coding data from a series of three interviews with each participant. Our results will advance the engineering education community’s understanding of the applicability of Transition Theory for examining the transitions of students into engineering and inform future work.

Boyd-Sinkler, K., & Waters, R. C., & Sikder, Y. Y., & Taylor, A. R., & Artiles , M. S., & Strong, A. C., & Lee, W. C. (2019, April), Work-In-Progress: Applying Transition Theory to an Exploration of the High-School-to-College Transition Experiences of Students from Underrepresented Ethnic/Racial Groups Paper presented at 2019 CoNECD - The Collaborative Network for Engineering and Computing Diversity , Crystal City, Virginia. 10.18260/1-2--31809

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