Understanding and Diversifying Transfer Student Pathways to Engineering Degrees

这种混合方法的研究正在发展一个更清楚地了解转学生的途径，作为一种手段，以增加工程学位的生产和扩大参与工程职业，特别是对西班牙裔学生。这些研究中心是美国西班牙裔工程师的十大生产商之四：德克萨斯大学埃尔帕索分校，德克萨斯A M大学，德克萨斯大学奥斯汀分校和德克萨斯大学泛美分校。调查人员正在调查7个队列中的5，200名学生，他们被转移到4年制院校。4所院校的工作人员正在将调查答复与GPA和工程学位获得情况相匹配，以便统计模型能够将教育经验与成果联系起来。 该团队还采访了40名工程转学生（50%为西班牙裔），了解他们的转学经历。 拉美裔仍然是美国潜在STEM人才的未开发群体。 自2005年以来，西班牙裔学生在K-12教育系统中的入学率超过了20%，但他们在2007年获得的工程学位仅占10%。在过去的几年里，德克萨斯州的经济（GDP）和人口增长迅速，加上少数民族人口众多，使其成为研究转学生途径并最终扩大工程参与的重要环境。通过与德克萨斯州西班牙裔工程师的前4名生产商及其4所支线社区学院（奥斯汀社区学院，布林学院，埃尔帕索社区学院和南德克萨斯学院）合作，该项目有可能大幅增加西班牙裔和非西班牙裔学生通过转学机制获得工程学位的人数。项目咨询委员会成员拥有强大的专业网络，可将调查结果传播给决策者和教育工作者，使他们能够将调查结果付诸行动。

This mixed methods research is developing a clearer understanding of transfer student pathways as a means to increase engineering degree production and broaden participation in engineering careers, especially for Hispanic students. The study sites are 4 of the top 10 producers of U.S. Hispanic engineers: The University of Texas at El Paso, Texas A&M University, The University of Texas at Austin, and The University of Texas-Pan American. The investigators are surveying 5,200 students in 7 cohorts who transferred to 4-year institutions. Staff at the 4 institutions are matching survey responses to GPAs and engineering degree attainment so that statistical models can link educational experiences to outcomes. The team is also interviewing a sample of 40 engineering transfer students (50% Hispanic) about their transfer experiences. Hispanics continue to be an untapped pool of prospective STEM talent in United States. Since 2005, Hispanics have exceeded more than 20 percent of students enrolled in the K-12 education system, yet they earned only 10 percent of the engineering degrees awarded in 2007. The state of Texas has uniquely seen rapid economic (GDP) and population growth in the past few years, coupled with a high minority population, making it an important setting for studying transfer student pathways and ultimately broadening participation in engineering. By partnering with the top 4 producers of Hispanic engineers in Texas and 4 of their feeder community colleges (Austin Community College, Blinn College, El Paso Community College, and South Texas College), this project has the potential to dramatically increase the numbers of both Hispanic and non-Hispanic students earning engineering degrees through transfer mechanisms. Project advisory board members have strong professional networks for disseminating the findings to policymakers and educational practitioners who can put the findings into action.