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

在过去几年中，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。在成为一名实践工程师（即，宣布主修工程专业，获得工程学位，在工程领域工作）的每一个过渡点上，拉丁裔的数量都在继续减少。在整个工程生态系统中，特别是在从大学到工作的过渡期间，需要加大努力，以扩大拉丁裔（美国增长最快的种族之一）的参与，并满足行业对工程岗位的需求，预计未来十年工程岗位将增加。本项目旨在了解环境、个人和心理因素对拉丁裔工程专业学生从大学到工作的转变过程中的工作投入、满意度和坚持决策的影响，以及在他们职业生涯的早期。调查人员将进行年度调查、经验调查和个人访谈，了解拉丁裔工程师在5年期间的工作经历，以跟踪与拉丁裔工程师的工作投入、工作满意度和在该领域的持久性相关的因素。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STEM参与和STEM劳动力发展。工程局的扩大参与工程（BPE）计划提供了额外的支持。基于社会认知职业整合理论的视角，研究者假设社会认知、情境和文化因素之间的关系可以解释拉丁裔工程师工作投入、满意度和持久性的显著差异。结构方程模型（SEM）将用于纵向检验这一假设。研究人员将通过扫描电镜多组分析评估基于性别、种族以及性别和种族相互作用的综合SCCT模型的普遍性。研究人员还将使用经验抽样方法收集感知工作场所气候的细粒度快照，通过多层次建模和增长建模来检查这种感知的瞬间和纵向变化对拉丁裔工程师的工作投入、满意度和持久性的影响。最后，他们将使用因子分析和项目反应理论技术为受雇的工程师产生一个可靠和有效的工程兴趣测量。该项目的潜在结果包括：1)检验综合SCCT模型在预测拉丁裔工程专业学生从大学到工作的过渡阶段和职业生涯早期的工程投入、满意度和持久性方面的效用；2)在未来研究中使用的工程兴趣的新度量；3)定制干预措施的发展，以增加相关的系统支持，最大限度地减少系统障碍，并加强社会认知，这些社会认知是拉丁裔女性和拉丁裔男性工作投入、满意度和持久性的有力预测因素。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值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.