Collaborative Research: Should I Stay or Should I Go? Understanding the Retention of Latinx in Engineering Jobs

在过去几年里，在扩大工程学科中代表性不足的群体的参与方面进展缓慢。特别是，在成为执业工程师的道路上的每个转折点，拉丁裔的数量都在继续减少(即宣布主修工程专业，获得工程学学位，在工程领域工作)。需要在整个工程生态系统中加大努力，特别是在从大学到工作的过渡期间，以扩大拉丁裔(美国增长最快的种族之一)的参与。并满足行业需求，填补预计在未来十年增加的工程职位。本项目旨在了解在工程专业拉丁裔学生从大学到工作的过渡过程中，以及在他们职业生涯的早期，影响工作敬业度、满意度和坚持性决策的环境、个人和心理因素。调查人员将在为期5年的时间里对Latinx在工程劳动力中的工作经历进行年度调查、体验调查和个人访谈，以跟踪与Latinx工程师的工作参与度、工作满意度和现场坚持性相关的因素。该项目是密苏里大学和北达科他州大学的共同努力，并得到了EHR核心研究(ECR)计划的支持，该计划支持推进STEM学习和学习环境的基础研究，扩大对STEM的参与，以及STEM劳动力发展。此外，工程指导委员会还提供了更多的支持。根据综合社会认知职业理论视角，研究人员假设，社会认知、背景和文化因素之间的关系将解释Latinx工程师工作敬业度、满意度和坚持性的显著差异。结构方程模型(SEM)将用于纵向检验这一假说。研究人员将基于性别、种族以及性别和种族的交互作用，通过扫描电子显微镜多组分析来评估综合SCCT模型的泛化能力。调查人员还将使用体验抽样方法收集感知到的工作场所氛围的细粒度快照，以通过多层次建模和成长建模来检验这种感知的瞬时和纵向变化对Latinx工程师的工作敬业度、满意度和坚持性的影响。最后，他们将使用因素分析和项目反应理论技术为受雇工程师产生可靠和有效的工程兴趣测量。该项目的潜在成果包括：1)检验综合SCCT模型在预测拉美裔美国人在大学到工作过渡和职业生涯早期阶段对工程的敬业度、满意度和坚持性方面的效用；2)新的工程兴趣衡量标准，用于未来的研究；以及3)开发定制干预措施，以增强相关的系统性支持，最大限度地减少系统性障碍，并增强社会认知，这些都是拉美裔女性和拉丁裔男性工作敬业度、满意度和坚持性的有力预测因素。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Slow progress has been made over the past several years to broaden the involvement of groups who are underrepresented in engineering disciplines. The number of Latinxs in particular continues to decrease at each transition point along the pathway to becoming a practicing engineer (i.e., declaring a engineering major, graduating with an engineering degree, working in the engineering field). Increased efforts across the engineering ecosystem, but specifically during the college-to-work transition, are needed to broaden the participation of Latinxs (one of the fastest growing ethnic groups in the U.S.) and to meet the industry demands to fill engineering jobs, which are projected to increase in the next decade. This project aims to understand environmental, personal, and psychological factors that influence work engagement, satisfaction, and persistence decisions during the college-to-work transition among Latinx in engineering, as well as during the early years of their career. The investigators will conduct annual surveys, experiential surveys, and individual interviews about workplace experiences with Latinx in the engineering workforce across a 5-year period to track factors related to Latinx engineers’ work engagement, job satisfaction, and persistence in the field. This project is a joint effort between the University of Missouri and the University of North Dakota and is supported by the EHR Core Research (ECR) program, which supports work that advances fundamental research on STEM learning and learning environments, broadening participation in STEM, and STEM workforce development. Additional support has been provided by the Directorate for Engineering's Broadening Participation in Engineering (BPE) program.As posited by the integrative social cognitive career theory lens, the investigators hypothesize that the relations among social cognitive, contextual and cultural factors will explain a significant amount of variance in Latinx engineers’ work engagement, satisfaction, and persistence. Structural equation modeling (SEM) will be used to examine this hypothesis longitudinally. The investigators will assess the integrative SCCT model’s generalizability based on gender, race, and the interaction of gender and race via SEM multigroup analyses. The investigators also will use experience sampling methodology to gather fine-grained snapshots of perceived workplace climate to examine the effects of momentary and longitudinal changes in such perceptions on Latinx engineers’ work engagement, satisfaction, and persistence via multilevel modeling and growth modeling. Finally, they will generate a reliable and valid measure of engineering interests for employed engineers using factor analytical and Item Response Theory techniques. Potential outcomes of the project include: 1) examining the utility of the integrative SCCT model in predicting engagement, satisfaction, and persistence in engineering for Latinxs in engineering during the college-to-work transition and early career stages; 2) a new measure of engineering interests for use in future research; and 3) the development of custom interventions to augment relevant systemic supports, minimize systemic barriers, and bolster social cognitions that are strong predictors of work engagement, satisfaction, and persistence for Latina women and Latino men.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.