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

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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.