Balancing the needs of family with career ambitions is often challenging for women who pursue science, technology, engineering, or mathematics (STEM) careers, particularly in academia. In these male-dominated workplaces, few incentives exist for women who decide to manage both work and family. In this basic qualitative research study, a modified…

Despite a nearly 40-year history of research initiatives and interventions to recruit and retain women engineering students, women remain significantly underrepresented in engineering. Given the lack of progress, it seems clear that new lenses on the problem of underrepresentation warrant further attention. Higher education policies are one area…

Background: Black women are underrepresented in engineering and face barriers as a result of their race and gender. While existing research often focuses on strategies Black women can adopt to become successful engineers, this study asks how engineering institutions might change to better accommodate Black women. Purpose: The specific purpose of…

The purpose of this case study is to explore the lived experiences of women engineering students. Social cognitive and social cognitive career theories served as the theoretical foundation of this study. In this study, a sample of seven engineering students from a small private university in Ecuador were interviewed using a semi-structured format…

Three projects that use evidence- and research-based practice to engage and support three under-served audiences -- children with special educational needs (Science Hunters -- Lancaster University), young carers (Young Carer Chemistry Workshops at Cotton On -- Science from the Start) and girls and women in engineering (Women Like Me -- UWE…

Universities across the United States (U.S.) are perplexed as to why fewer women than men study engineering and why even fewer complete the curriculum and earn an undergraduate degree in engineering. The percentage of undergraduate engineering degrees awarded annually to women in the U.S. since 2000 has remained relatively constant at around 20%.…

Research has shown that students' identity development is important for students' retention in engineering (Madsen, & Holmegaard, 2010), but for women the cultural representations of the field can create a disconnect that limits their potential identities with engineering (Carlone & Johnson, 2007; Faulkner 2006; 2007; Goldman, 2012; Malone…

The purpose of this study was to examine the lived experiences of women engineering students through socialization processes during their cooperative education, co-op, experience., in which students gain work experience in their chose industries. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with female engineering students who have completed at least…

Studies exploring engineering students' experiences with cooperative education (co-op) typically utilize traditional quantitative and qualitative methods to focus on overall outcomes as opposed to individual voices. As a result of this, women's experiences in a co-op environment are rarely captured. Historically, women are underrepresented in…

Engineering plays a key role in supporting the growth and development of a country's economy as well as in improving the quality of life for citizens. Most of developed countries witnessed economic growth with the contribution of women in engineering field. In developing countries like India women remained under-utilized resource. Women in…

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted, exacerbated, and caused many challenges within engineering education. At the same time, the pandemic provided opportunities for engineering educators to learn from forced change to promote strategic efforts to improve classroom engagement and connection to better support engineering students.…

Women of color (WoC) continue to be underrepresented in engineering programs across the United States. Many scholarly reports on faculty demographic characteristics do not provide measures regarding the representation of WoC faculty due to data reporting restrictions or lack of relevant data. Using 14 years of data from the American Society for…

Kuh's theory of student engagement was used in this quantitative study to examine the relationship between student participation in co-curricular activities and student engagement among women in engineering programs in community colleges. Self-reported ex post facto student data from the Community College Survey of Student Engagement (CCSSE) for…

This dissertation study explores the experiences of 11 undergraduate women in a variety of engineering majors graduating from a Southern, research, predominately White institution and the use of theory to understand those experiences. While narrative inquiry is used throughout, this dissertation study is organized into three separate papers. The…

Despite the continuous efforts of governments and universities to avoid the underrepresentation of women entering engineering degrees, the trend has not reverted, and this is a general fact all over the world. This fact goes against the tendency of a growing ratio of women in tertiary education, so causes must be investigated. This research…