Background: Identifying as an engineer is essential for belonging and student success, yet the social context and professional norms make it more difficult for some students to establish an identity as an engineer. Purpose/Hypothesis: This study investigated whether first-generation college students' funds of knowledge supported their engineering…

Background: Retaining women and racially minoritized individuals in engineering programs has been a subject of widespread discussion and investigation. While the sense of belonging and its link to retention have been studied based on student characteristics, there is an absence of studies investigating the importance of students' social identities…

Background: Though minoritized undergraduate engineering students earn less than 25% of engineering bachelor's degrees, minority-serving institutions (MSIs) are leading the way in producing a large percentage of those underrepresented engineering bachelor's degree holders. However, much of the published research about the experiences of…

Background: Degree completion rates for doctoral engineering students remain stagnant at levels lower than necessary to meet national and global workforce needs. Increasing degree completion can improve opportunities for individuals and provide the human resources needed to address engineering challenges. Purpose/Hypothesis: In this work, we…

Background: Mindsets are based on two basic assumptions: some people think that their intellectual abilities can be developed through hard work and instruction (i.e., a growth mindset), whereas others believe that nothing can change their level of intellectual ability (i.e., a fixed mindset). The association between mindsets and academic…

Background: Researchers have shown that students leave undergraduate engineering programs during the first 2 years. Justifiably, many studies have tried to tackle engineering student persistence and attrition, especially during the first year, and then developed interventions to address the challenges. Although those interventions have improved…

Background: For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology (FIRST) robotics is an international, extra-curricular program that fosters young students' interpersonal skills and career choices in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). FIRST teams are guided by mentors, about half of whom are also mentees. Purpose: To…

Background: A predictor of student success, sense of belonging (SB) is often inhibited for minoritized students in engineering environments and difficult to foster in online courses. A shift to remote learning formats necessitated by COVID-19, therefore, posed an additive threat to SB for engineering first-year students, especially those with…

Background: Although participation rates vary by field, Latiné and women engineers continue to be underrepresented across most segments of the engineering workforce. Research has examined engagement and persistence of Latiné and White women in engineering; however, few studies have investigated how race, ethnicity, gender, and institutional…

Background: Personal characteristics (e.g., race/ethnicity, gender, and precollege experiences) are known to shape students' pathways to engineering, as well as persistence decisions in college. However, the role of psychological cost in postgraduation intentions has received less scholarly attention. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to…