CAREER: Disrupting the Status Quo Regarding Who Gets to be an Engineer

尽管对黑人和棕色学生在努力参与工程教育和就业时面临的障碍进行了广泛的研究，但关于解决这一复杂挑战的解决方案的学术研究较少。其中一个原因是，关于工程教育如何发生变化的学术研究往往集中在课程内容和课堂教学上。不幸的是，这样的发现并不容易导致诸如多样性、公平性和包容性(Dei)等具有价值的系统性问题。幸运的是，美国各地的一些工程学院(CoE)已经采取了变革战略，从而一直被评为黑人和棕色工程师的十大生产商之一。这个项目的动机是希望向他们学习并以他们为榜样。这个职业项目将通过调查五个在过去20年里显著改变了工程学面貌的COE来打破关于谁将成为工程师的现状。该项目将：(1)促进我们对模范COE用来改善黑人和棕色学生获得工程教育和职业机会的变革战略的理解；(2)确定以证据为基础的模式，以扩大未被充分代表的种族/民族群体在工程领域的参与；以及(3)让COES走上平等的道路，使全国COE的学生人口统计数据反映国家的种族/民族构成。这项多案例研究将以Kotter的领先变化模型和Acker的不平等制度为框架，调查示范COES如何设想、实施和制度化影响黑人和棕色学生获得工程学的变化。将被调查的五个COE是：佛罗里达国际大学、摩根州立大学、佛罗里达中央大学、马里兰大学-巴尔的摩县大学和马里兰大学-学院公园。考虑到研究设计中包括的大学类型的不同，比较和对比从每个案例中出现的见解将使PI能够了解改变的条件。使用依赖于定性和定量数据的研究性研究设计将产生补充形式的证据，说明是什么促进和阻碍了这方面的进展。研究成果将包括：(1)影响叙述，记录如何扩大谁成为工程师的具体例子；以及(2)通过对这些范例的跨案例分析，扩大参与的模式。此外，这项及时的工作侧重于需要利用每个人口群体的人才来使工程劳动力多样化，并改善小规模群体的生活体验。教育成果将包括：将研究转化为可操作战略的Impact Playbook；针对每个案例为未来工程学教师设计的研究生课程；副教授之间的市政厅讨论；与ASEE工程院长理事会分享见解；以及与弗吉尼亚理工大学(弗吉尼亚理工大学)工程学院和科学学院合作，在其领导人中建立能力，以设想和实施可持续的变化，促进VT校园的DEI。这个职业项目有可能重塑COE如何处理他们的Dei努力，并增加长期成功的可能性。拟议的活动旨在培养STEM领导人网络，旨在设想和制定可持续、可扩展的变化，以扩大谁将成为其研究所的工程师。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。

While there has been extensive research on the barriers Black and brown students face as they strive to participate in engineering education and the workforce, there is less scholarship on solutions for addressing this complex challenge. One reason for this is because the scholarship on how change happens in engineering education tends to focus on course content and classroom instruction. Unfortunately, such findings do not easily lend themselves to value-laden, systemic issues like diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). Fortunately, some Colleges of Engineering (COEs) throughout the U.S. have adopted change strategies that have resulted in consistently being named among the top-ten producers of Black and brown engineers. This project is motivated by a desire to learn from and follow their example. This CAREER project will disrupt the status quo regarding who gets to be an engineer by investigating five COEs that have significantly changed the face of engineering over the last 20 years. This project will: (1) Advance our understanding of the change strategies that exemplary COEs have used to improve Black and brown students’ access to engineering education and careers; (2) Identify evidence-based models for broadening participation of underrepresented racial/ethnic groups in engineering; and (3) Set COEs on a path to parity, such that the student body demographics in COEs across the country reflect the racial/ethnic makeup of the nation.Using Kotter’s Leading Change Model and Acker’s Inequality Regimes as a framework, this multi-case study will investigate how exemplary COEs envisioned, implemented, and institutionalized changes that influenced Black and brown students’ access to engineering. The five COEs that will be investigated are: Florida International University, Morgan State University, University of Central Florida, University of Maryland-Baltimore County, and University of Maryland-College Park. Given variations in the types of universities included in the research design, comparing and contrasting insights that emerge from each case will enable the PI to understand the conditions for change. The use of a research study design that relies on both qualitative and quantitative data will produce complementary forms of evidence on what promotes and impedes progress in this context. The research outcomes will include: (1) impact narratives that document concrete examples of how to expand who gets to be an engineer; and (2) a model for broadening participation informed by a cross-case analysis of these exemplars. Furthermore, this timely work focuses on the need to leverage talent from every demographic to diversify the engineering workforce and improve the lived experiences of minoritized groups. The educational outcomes will include: an Impact Playbook that translates the research into actionable strategies; a graduate course for future engineering faculty designed around each of the cases; a townhall discussion among associate professors; sharing insights with ASEE’s Engineering Deans Council; and a partnership with Virginia Tech’s (VT) College of Engineering and College of Science to build capacity among its leaders to envision and enact sustainable changes that promote DEI on VT’s campus. This CAREER project has the potential to reshape how COEs approach their DEI efforts, and increase the likelihood of long-term success. The proposed activities are designed to foster a network of STEM leaders motivated to envision and enact sustainable, scalable changes that expand who gets to be an engineer at their institution.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.