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Journal of Women and Minorities in Science and Engineering

Published 6 issues per year

ISSN Print: 1072-8325

ISSN Online: 1940-431X

SJR: 0.514 SNIP: 0.875 CiteScore™:: 2.4 H-Index: 27

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AN EXPLORATION OF GENDER DIVERSITY IN ENGINEERING PROGRAMS: A CURRICULUM AND INSTRUCTION-BASED PERSPECTIVE

Volume 18, Issue 1, 2012, pp. 55-78
DOI: 10.1615/JWomenMinorScienEng.2012003702
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ABSTRACT

Both the government and industry recognize the need for an innovative and diverse engineering workforce for the US to maintain global competitiveness. Because women comprise less than a fifth of engineering undergraduates, it important to identify practices that may counteract this gender gap in engineering. Unlike other work focused on recruitment and retention of women, this study relies on research and theory on college students to inform the overall research design. It explores how variations in curricular emphases, instructional practices, and students' perceptions of climate across disciplines are related to gender disparities across engineering disciplines. Data are drawn from a nationally representative survey of students from 121 programs at 31 institutions. No research to date has systematically examined the relationship between curricular experiences and gender disparity on such a large scale. Analyses clearly demonstrate differences in gender diversity across the engineering disciplines−programs in mechanical and electrical engineering are significantly less diverse by gender than biomedical/bioengineering, chemical, civil, general, and industrial engineering. Thus, efforts to recruit and retain women students should develop strategies for specific disciplines, perhaps looking beyond traditional efforts that have focused on climate and instead examining curriculum or instructional strategies. This research indicates that females may gravitate toward or persist in disciplines that emphasize thinking from a broad, systems perspective in which instructors explicitly link topics across disciplines in their courses. The less diverse electrical and mechanical engineering disciplines could place a greater emphasis on such topics as an effort to boost their attractiveness to females.

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  2. DeMonbrun Matthew, Brown Michael, Emphasizing professional skills and professional values: Investigating the role of faculty's gender and departmental gender diversity, 2014 IEEE Frontiers in Education Conference (FIE) Proceedings, 2014. Crossref

  3. Carter Deborah Faye, Ro Hyun Kyoung, Alcott Benjamin, Lattuca Lisa R., Co-Curricular Connections: The Role of Undergraduate Research Experiences in Promoting Engineering Students’ Communication, Teamwork, and Leadership Skills, Research in Higher Education, 57, 3, 2016. Crossref

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  5. Ro Hyun Kyoung, Knight David B., Gender Differences in Learning Outcomes from the College Experiences of Engineering Students, Journal of Engineering Education, 105, 3, 2016. Crossref

  6. Knight David B., Reversing the Logic, Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 36, 2, 2014. Crossref

  7. Farrell Stephanie, Forin Tiago, Jahan Kauser, Dusseau Ralph, Bhavsar Parth, Sukumaran Beena, Developing Multiple Strategies for an Inclusive Curriculum in Civil Engineering, 2017 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition Proceedings, 2017. Crossref

  8. Trautvetter Lois Calian, Institutional Practices and Policies for Recruiting and Supporting Undergraduate Women in Engineering Across Four-Year Institutions, New Directions for Institutional Research, 2018, 179, 2018. Crossref

  9. Lord Susan M., Ohland Matthew W., Layton Richard A., Camacho Michelle M., Beyond pipeline and pathways: Ecosystem metrics, Journal of Engineering Education, 108, 1, 2019. Crossref

  10. Nguyen Ha, Wu Lily, Fischer Christian, Washington Gregory, Warschauer Mark, Increasing success in college: Examining the impact of a project‐based introductory engineering course, Journal of Engineering Education, 109, 3, 2020. Crossref

  11. Günay Elif Elcin, Guo Xiuyan, Jackson Kathy Lou, Wu Xinli, Okudan Kremer Gül E., An Investigation on the Effects of Ambiguity, Gender Orientation, and Domain Relatedness of Design Projects on Student Performance, Journal of Mechanical Design, 142, 7, 2020. Crossref

  12. Linsenmeier Robert A., Saterbak Ann, Fifty Years of Biomedical Engineering Undergraduate Education, Annals of Biomedical Engineering, 48, 6, 2020. Crossref

  13. Ortiz-Rosario Alexis, Shermadou Amena, Delaine David, Nocera Tanya, To What Extent Does Gender and Ethnicity Impact Engineering Students’ Career Outcomes? An Exploratory Analysis Comparing Biomedical to Three Other Undergraduate Engineering Majors, 2019 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition Proceedings, 2019. Crossref

  14. Alemdar Meltem, Ehsan Hoda, Cappelli Christopher, Kim Euisun, Moore Roxanne, Helms Michael, Rosen Jeffrey, Weissburg Marc, Biologically Inspired Design For Engineering Education: Online Teacher Professional Learning (Evaluation), 2021 ASEE Virtual Annual Conference Content Access Proceedings, 2021. Crossref

  15. Hartman Harriet, Forin Tiago, Sukumaran Beena, Farrell Stephanie, Bhavsar Parth, Jahan Kauser, Dusseau Ralph, Bruckerhoff Theresa, Cole Peter, Lezotte Stephanie, Zeppilli Danilo, Macey Danielle, Strategies for Improving Diversity and Inclusion in an Engineering Department, Journal of Professional Issues in Engineering Education and Practice, 145, 2, 2019. Crossref

  16. Lee Walter C., Hall Janice L., Godwin Allison, Knight David B., Verdín Dina, Operationalizing and monitoring student support in undergraduate engineering education, Journal of Engineering Education, 111, 1, 2022. Crossref

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  18. Main Joyce B., Griffith Amanda L., Xu Xinrui, Dukes Alexandra M., Choosing an engineering major: A conceptual model of student pathways into engineering, Journal of Engineering Education, 111, 1, 2022. Crossref

  19. Bilow Felicity, DeWaters Jan, Examining Student Responses and Gender Differences to a First-Year Sociotechnical Engineering Course, 2022 IEEE Frontiers in Education Conference (FIE), 2022. Crossref

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