Research Initiation: Long-Term Effect of Involvement in Humanitarian Engineering Projects on Student Professional Formation and Views of Diversity and Inclusion

研究启动：参与人道主义工程项目对学生专业形成的长期影响以及多样性和包容性观点

• 批准号: 2024525
• 负责人: Kirsten Dodson
• 金额: $ 20万
• 依托单位: David Lipscomb University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2020
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2020-09-01 至 2024-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2024525&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Research; Initiation; Long; Term; Effect

As leaders in tackling the world’s biggest challenges, engineers need to diversify their workforce and recognize their professional responsibility to effect societal change. The engineering workplace suffers from a lack of inclusion creating a climate that does not welcome professional who do not match the white male majority in the field. Studies show that women and underrepresented minorities tend to leave the engineering field because of widespread discrimination, stereotyping, and systemic issues that plague the field and society at-large. While strong efforts have been made to increase the number of women and underrepresented minorities that pursue engineering, it is clear that attracting these groups to engineering does not necessarily equate to long-term retention in the field. In addition to these issues, engineers are challenged to find technical solutions to problems that have social, economic, and environmental implications. Service-learning in engineering and humanitarian engineering are growing disciplines that attempt to address these complex sociotechnical problems. Engineering educators have an opportunity to train engineers that are prepared for an inclusive workforce and can effectively solve these challenges. This research will investigate the connections between involvement in humanitarian engineering projects and student professional formation, specifically their views on diversity and inclusion. The research team poses the following questions: (1) What perceived impact does student involvement in humanitarian engineering projects have on professional formation and perspectives of diversity and inclusion? and (2) How has involvement in humanitarian engineering projects influenced the professional workplace culture and perspectives of diversity and inclusion of alumni? The study will survey students and alumni who were and were not involved in humanitarian engineering projects. The survey will utilize the Attitudes Toward Diversity Scale and the Engineering Professional Responsibilities Assessment. Participants with varied experiences and views will be selected for interviews on their perspectives of diversity and inclusion and professional responsibility as well as shifts in perspective due to involvement in humanitarian engineering projects. The study will leverage the PI’s personal background and motivations to investigate the interconnections among these three ideas by studying the effect of involvement in humanitarian engineering projects on student professional formation of views on diversity and inclusion. An experienced mentor, trained in social science and ethics, will guide this work by supervising the research plan and providing mentoring to the PI and student researchers. The project will incorporate outreach and educational efforts to enhance student mentoring, promote humanitarian engineering initiatives, inform future research, and encourage inclusive work environments. The project is unique in that it will build on the results of past research into the connections between these concepts in order to develop solutions to retaining women and minority involvement in engineering careers. The benefits to the engineering field of enhanced diversity and improved inclusivity will be directly scalable and applicable to other professional fields that struggle with these issues. Because traditionally underrepresented groups are more valued for their diversity in the professional workplace, their career satisfaction and retention will likely increase as a result of this work. Findings from the study will be published in relevant journals to encourage other researchers to further study how humanitarian projects have a long-term effect on professional formation. Dissemination of this study to a broader audience outside of Lipscomb engineering and engineering education researchers will have significant impact on engineering programs and companies by informing diversity initiatives toward an improved workplace culture for underrepresented groups in the field.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.

作为应对世界上最大挑战的领导者，工程师需要使他们的劳动力多样化，并认识到他们对社会变革的职业责任。工程工作场所缺乏包容性，创造了一种不欢迎与该领域白色男性多数不匹配的专业人士的氛围。研究表明，妇女和代表性不足的少数民族往往离开工程领域，因为广泛的歧视，陈规定型观念和系统性问题困扰着该领域和整个社会。虽然已经做出了巨大的努力，以增加妇女和代表性不足的少数民族，追求工程的数量，很明显，吸引这些群体的工程并不一定等于长期保留在外地。除了这些问题之外，工程师还面临着为具有社会、经济和环境影响的问题找到技术解决方案的挑战。工程学和人道主义工程学中的服务学习是试图解决这些复杂的社会技术问题的新兴学科。工程教育工作者有机会培训为包容性劳动力做好准备并能有效解决这些挑战的工程师。本研究将调查参与人道主义工程项目和学生专业形成之间的联系，特别是他们对多样性和包容性的看法。研究小组提出了以下问题：（1）学生参与人道主义工程项目对专业形成和多样性和包容性的看法有什么影响？以及（2）参与人道主义工程项目如何影响专业工作场所文化以及校友的多样性和包容性观点？这项研究将调查参与和未参与人道主义工程项目的学生和校友。该调查将利用对多样性的态度量表和工程专业责任评估。将挑选具有不同经验和观点的参与者进行采访，了解他们对多样性和包容性的看法，以及由于参与人道主义工程项目而产生的观点转变。本研究将利用PI的个人背景和动机，通过研究参与人道主义工程项目对学生专业形成多样性和包容性观点的影响，调查这三个想法之间的相互联系。一位经验丰富的导师，在社会科学和道德方面的培训，将指导这项工作，监督研究计划，并提供指导PI和学生研究人员。该项目将包括外联和教育工作，以加强学生辅导，促进人道主义工程倡议，为未来的研究提供信息，并鼓励包容性的工作环境。该项目的独特之处在于，它将建立在过去对这些概念之间联系的研究结果的基础上，以便制定留住妇女和少数民族参与工程职业的解决方案。增强多样性和提高包容性对工程领域的好处将直接扩展并适用于与这些问题作斗争的其他专业领域。由于传统上代表性不足的群体在专业工作场所的多样性更受重视，因此他们的职业满意度和保留率可能会因这项工作而增加。研究结果将在相关期刊上发表，以鼓励其他研究人员进一步研究人道主义项目如何对专业形成产生长期影响。这项研究的传播到更广泛的受众以外的Lipscomb工程和工程教育研究人员将有重大影响的工程项目和公司，通过通知多样性的倡议，以改善工作场所的文化，为代表性不足的群体在外地。这个奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并已被认为是值得的支持，通过评估使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准。

项目成果

Long-Term Impact of Humanitarian Engineering Projects on Views of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion: Preliminary Qualitative Results from Alumni

人道主义工程项目对多样性、公平和包容性观点的长期影响：校友的初步定性结果

• 发表时间: 2022
• 期刊: ASEE Annual Conference proceedings
• 作者: Dodson, K.;Deckard, C.;Duke, H.;White, J.;Buchanan, E.
• 通讯作者: Buchanan, E.

Creating Inclusive Engineers through Humanitarian Engineering: Quantitative Results from a Survey

通过人道主义工程培养包容性工程师：调查的定量结果

• 发表时间: 2023
• 期刊: ASEE 2023 Annual Conference & Exposition
• 作者: Dodson, Kirsten H.;Cook, Amelia E.;Ngwenya, Lui;Duke, Hannah G.
• 通讯作者: Duke, Hannah G.