(EI)2: Exploring Inclusive Engineering Identities through Freshman Engineering Curriculum Change

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The engineering workforce needs to better represent the diversity of the society it serves by attracting and retaining students from diverse backgrounds. The process students experience to become engineers requires them to acquire technical knowledge but also to identify with the profession. This project is designing a new curriculum for freshman engineering courses to help shape students' emerging engineering identities and expose students to the important role diversity plays in engineering. The curriculum is created to help students recognize the value that diversity brings to engineering in terms of (a) designing better and innovative solutions, and (b) expanding students' conceptions of who can be an engineer. The project is evaluating the effect of the curriculum on students in two different freshman engineering classes. The research questions include the following: How did the intervention change students' attitudes toward diversity in engineering? How did the intervention change students' ability to recognize themselves and others as an engineer? Both quantitative and qualitative methods are being used in this evaluation. The intellectual merit of the project is its transformational approach to retaining diverse students. In particular, the project seeks to change the culture in the educational and work contexts for engineers rather than simply trying to support students from underrepresented groups in engineering. Furthermore, the project contributes to our understanding of how students form engineering identities. The broader impacts of the project include helping to broaden participation in engineering, preparing students for a global work environment, and improving STEM education.