Socioeconomic Factors in Engineering Pathways

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This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5)This engineering education research award to Purdue University will employ researchers to investigate the role of socioeconomic status in student decision making, academic trajectory, and success using MIDFIELD, a longitudinal database of information about undergraduate students at 9 institutions during the period from 1987 to 2005. Significant barriers are faced by low-income students, and this project will explore retention, performance, and time to graduation for these students. The project also will determine the significant factors that influence the choice of majors by students from low income backgrounds. Investigating the influence of socioeconomic status on students' choices of major and progress toward a degree addresses an important issue that is not currently well understood, and this work will increase understanding of how students enter and progress through engineering programs. Results of this research will be valuable to universities in understanding and planning strategies and interventions to improve recruitment and retention for engineering students who are disadvantaged because of their low-income background. This will increase the number of engineering students who can fill engineering jobs.