Manufacturing Inclusive Excellence: An Intersectional, Mixed Methods Study of Engineering Identity among Undergraduate Research Students at a Historically Black University

Lara Perez-Felkner; Ciera Fluker; Tarik J. Dickens; Chelsea Armbrister

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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: Educational Research and Methods Division (ERM) Technical Session 10
Tagged Division: Educational Research and Methods Division (ERM)
Tagged Topic: Diversity
Permanent URL: https://peer.asee.org/47758

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Paper Authors

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Lara Perez-Felkner Florida State University orcid.org/0000-0002-3451-8524

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Dr. Lara Perez-Felkner is an Associate Professor of Higher Education and Sociology in the Higher Education Program within the College of Education at Florida State University. Her research uses developmental and sociological perspectives to examine how young people’s social contexts influence their college and career outcomes. She focuses on the mechanisms that shape entry into and persistence in institutions and fields in which they have traditionally been underrepresented. In particular, she investigates racial-ethnic, gender, and socioeconomic disparities in post-secondary educational attainment and entry to scientific career fields. Published work appears in journals including: About Campus, Developmental Psychology, Frontiers in Psychology, International Journal of Educational Development, Journal of Higher Education, Journal of Latinos and Education, and Teachers’ College Record, as well in several edited volumes. She has been supported by external funders including the National Science Foundation, the Gates Foundation, and the Spencer Foundation. At Florida State University, she has been a member of the APLU iChange ASPIRE alliance team and the President’s Taskforce for Diversity and Inclusion. She is currently putting equity work into practice in research as a Student Experience Research Network (SERN) Mid-Career Fellow and Institute in Critical Quantitative, Computational, & Mixed Methodologies (ICQCM) NSF Quantitative Critical Methodologies Scholar.

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Ciera Fluker

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Tarik J. Dickens

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Dr. Tarik J. Dickens is an Associate Professor at Florida A&M University, Department Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering at the FAMU-FSU College of Engineering. Professor Dickensâ€™ research is in the area of manufacturing science and multifuncti

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Chelsea Armbrister Florida A&M University - Florida State University

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Dr. Chelsea Armbrister is currently a Program Manager for student experiences at the FAMU-FSU College of Engineering. Having been a participant in programs similar to that which she manages, she has a passion for designing programs that are tailored to students unique and individual needs.

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Abstract

This works in progress paper is situated in a multi-year mixed methods external evaluation study of a mentored undergraduate research intervention based at a Historically Black University. This intentionally diverse setting has the potential to inform meaningful interventions to foster inclusive excellence in engineering. Researchers have found that engineering identity is important to enhance students’ success during and beyond their undergraduate studies (Espino et al., 2022; Fluker et al., 2022; Patrick & Borrego, 2016). Yet, the opportunities to develop, sustain, and grow one’s engineering identity are not uniformly distributed across students enrolled in engineering programs, nor even among those select students offered the opportunities to participate in mentored engineering research interventions.

Engineering students from underrepresented and structurally marginalized groups may have fewer access points to engage with engineering peers, mentors, and professionals prior to and during their collegiate studies; these challenges can compound for students who may be underrepresented on multiple dimensions in this field, seeing their personal identities reflected less often in their intended engineering careers (e.g., gender, sexuality, race/ethnicity, socioeconomic status). Effective broadening participation efforts ideally “shift the default” (Pawley, 2019, 2020) in who engineering faculty and supervisors invite into research spaces, and offer meaningful ways to welcome students from all backgrounds to materials engineering research learning beyond the classroom. Here, we leverage original external evaluation research data from surveys and individual interviews to situate what we know over multiple years of research – our own collaborative, transdisciplinary research as well as the larger research literature – to briefly synthesize and identify patterns observed to date in how student background is associated with engineering identity and career plans, from ~60 students participating in mentored materials engineering research across five cohorts. This works of progress paper focuses more deeply on newer research this past summer and this fall, using individual and focus group interviews to investigate intersectional experiences of students in our newest cohorts that are additionally more inclusive of students who have enrolled in community colleges and navigated additional structural challenges during the pandemic.

We approach this manuscript critically, examining engineering students’ counterstories in context, from a critical, social justice perspective (see McGee, 2021). Drawing on intersectionality theory, we investigate multiple axes of identity, not limited to representation (Cho et al., 2013; Collins, 2015; Crenshaw, 1991). To date, across our analyses, we find evidence that stable and consistent support that fosters and sustains engineering identity, sense of belonging, and career ambitions. Implications are offered with respect to programmatic, research, and policy directions.

Citation
Format

Perez-Felkner, L., & Fluker, C., & Dickens, T. J., & Armbrister, C. (2024, June), Manufacturing Inclusive Excellence: An Intersectional, Mixed Methods Study of Engineering Identity among Undergraduate Research Students at a Historically Black University Paper presented at 2024 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Portland, Oregon. https://peer.asee.org/47758

TY  - CPAPER
AB  - This works in progress paper is situated in a multi-year mixed methods external evaluation study of a mentored undergraduate research intervention based at a Historically Black University. This intentionally diverse setting has the potential to inform meaningful interventions to foster inclusive excellence in engineering. Researchers have found that engineering identity is important to enhance students’ success during and beyond their undergraduate studies (Espino et al., 2022; Fluker et al., 2022; Patrick &amp;amp; Borrego, 2016). Yet, the opportunities to develop, sustain, and grow one’s engineering identity are not uniformly distributed across students enrolled in engineering programs, nor even among those select students offered the opportunities to participate in mentored engineering research interventions.  

      Engineering students from underrepresented and structurally marginalized groups may have fewer access points to engage with engineering peers, mentors, and professionals prior to and during their collegiate studies; these challenges can compound for students who may be underrepresented on multiple dimensions in this field, seeing their personal identities reflected less often in their intended engineering careers (e.g., gender, sexuality, race/ethnicity, socioeconomic status). Effective broadening participation efforts ideally “shift the default” (Pawley, 2019, 2020) in who engineering faculty and supervisors invite into research spaces, and offer meaningful ways to welcome students from all backgrounds to materials engineering research learning beyond the classroom.  
      
      Here, we leverage original external evaluation research data from surveys and individual interviews to situate what we know over multiple years of research – our own collaborative, transdisciplinary research as well as the larger research literature – to briefly synthesize and identify patterns observed to date in how student background is associated with engineering identity and career plans, from ~60 students participating in mentored materials engineering research across five cohorts. This works of progress paper focuses more deeply on newer research this past summer and this fall, using individual and focus group interviews to investigate intersectional experiences of students in our newest cohorts that are additionally more inclusive of students who have enrolled in community colleges and navigated additional structural challenges during the pandemic.  

      We approach this manuscript critically, examining engineering students’ counterstories in context, from a critical, social justice perspective (see McGee, 2021). Drawing on intersectionality theory, we investigate multiple axes of identity, not limited to representation (Cho et al., 2013; Collins, 2015; Crenshaw, 1991). To date, across our analyses, we find evidence that stable and consistent support that fosters and sustains engineering identity, sense of belonging, and career ambitions. Implications are offered with respect to programmatic, research, and policy directions. 
AU  - Lara Perez-Felkner
AU  - Ciera Fluker
AU  - Tarik J. Dickens
AU  - Chelsea Armbrister
CY  - Portland, Oregon
DA  - 2024/06/23
PB  - ASEE Conferences
TI  - Manufacturing Inclusive Excellence: An Intersectional, Mixed Methods Study of Engineering Identity among Undergraduate Research Students at a Historically Black University
UR  - https://peer.asee.org/47758
ER  -