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The experiences and strategies of women faculty serving in leadership roles is understudied in the field of engineering education. This study begins to document how women leaders in engineering education engage in leadership using the Kern Entrepreneurial Engineering Network's (KEEN) Entrepreneurial Mindset (EM) as a lens. We conducted a thematic analysis of a series of artifacts associated with a workshop that aimed to generate conversation on leadership among a group of 14 women holding a variety of leadership positions in engineering education exploring how women leaders discussed their leadership roles. We also conducted in-depth interviews with 10 of the participants. We found that the women leaders in our study emphasized the importance of people in regard to connections. Within connections people were information sources to obtain insight and were considered when managing and assessing risks. The findings expand upon the current conception of connections as described iii the EM framework. As we increase our knowledge of women's experiences and strategies in leadership in engineering education. it will improve our ability to recommend methods for establishing, growing, and using connections within the field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Choosing a doctoral advisor is the most critical decision students will make in their doctoral journey. The relationship between doctoral students and their advisors can determine if students will complete the doctorate. Yet, little is known about how students experience this decision process and whether students are supported in this selection. The purpose of this study was to explore how students experience the satisfaction oftheir basic needs in the advisor selection process of one Chemical Engineering program. Using case study methodology, we interviewed 14 doctoral students about their experience in selecting an advisor. Self-Determination Theory guided evaluative and theoretical coding. The findings revealed that most doctoral students who participated in research experiences prior to the doctorate are more satisfied with their choice and practiced a better-informed selection. They had a clearer understanding ofwhat they needed to look for in an advisor when compared to students who had not participated in such research experiences. This study shows that the process offinding an advisor in the Chemical Engineering Program studied may not provide sufficient competence support for students who have not participated in research, limiting their ability to make a decision when selecting an advisor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research shows that interest is often reported as a primary reason for career choice selection among majority students but not necessarily for underrepresented students. At the same time, research focused on rural Appalachian youth in Virginia and Tennessee (students underrepresented in higher education broadly and specifically within engineering) has shown interest as preferentially important in engineering fields though not in other fields. To better understand how interest in engineering is sparked and sustained among Appalachian students, we used a qualitative multi-case study approach to first compare interest in engineering and healthcare fields among high school students and then to compare high school and college student interest in engineering careers. For high school students, our findings reveal interest sparks in engineering were more likely to be associated with organized experiences, while health care interests were primarily associated with personal experiences. We also found an association between engineering interests and a preference for math and science classes, but the same association did not exist for interests in health care fields, despite the potentially equivalent math/ science intensity of these career fields. With regard to interest development phases among high school students, individual rather than situational interests tend to be associated with intention toward engineering majors, whereas the opposite was true for healthcare fields. For college engineering students, we identified a greater balance between individual and situational interest than in the high school sample of students interested in an engineering career. College students were also more likely than high school students to indicate a personal experience as sparking his or her interest in engineering than an organized activity. Finally, though we compared two case sites in rural Appalachia, our findings revealed commonality in interest levels and sparks across sites. In combination, these findings have implications for designing interventions intended to spark interests in engineering such that the interests can also be sustained. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Much of the existing research on engineering students' conceptual understanding focuses on identifying difficult concepts in specific courses and curricula. Although there are a great number of findings from which engineering educators may be able to draw, few are directly transferable from their original context and few inform instructors about how to improve learning. This paper seeks to fill the gap by investigating conceptual understanding across four engineering disciplines. Specifically, the present study seeks to answer the following overarching research question: What are the patterns in engineering students' conceptual understanding across four engineering content areas? We used an amplified secondary qualitative data analysis to examine over 250 interviews with engineering students that were initially conducted to understand students' conceptual understanding in different disciplines of engineering. The engineering topics represented in the data set included mechanics of materials, transportation engineering, fluid mechanics, and digital logic. Two themes emerged from our analysis that apply to students' understanding across four diverse content areas within engineering: (1) students inappropriately group dissimilar phenomena, processes, or features, and (2) students reason using simplified causal relationships. These themes lend themselves to suggestions for instructional practice across disciplines and for future research areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A key component of undergraduate engineering education is preparing future engineers for the workplace. In order to help new graduates prepare for and successfully transition to the workplace, we must understand the experiences of these early career engineers. In this study, we identify and explain the career goals and actions of early career engineering graduates by answering the following questions: (1) How consistent are early career engineering graduates' career goals near the end of their undergraduate engineering studies with their future career plans? (2) What factors contribute to consistency in goals between these two points in time? Using Social Cognitive Career Theory, specifically the Social Cognitive Model of Career Self-Management, and a longitudinal, qualitative design, we analyzed interviews from 30 participants collected at two points in time: when participants were undergraduates and then later as early career engineering graduates. Participants were graduates from three different universities and were diverse with respect to sex, race, and undergraduate major. Results show that although early career engineering graduates had diverse goals, similar factors influenced career decisions. Participants generally wanted to find interesting work and focused their actions towards that goal. Family commitments geographically constrained career choices while also increasing the desire for stability. The economic downturn impacted job availability for many participants, and women were more likely than men to be in categories reflecting changes in career goals and/or pathways to original goals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

matushm@vt.edu The MUSIC Model of Academic Motivation and a model of domain identification have been shown to be useful models to explain students' motivation. We used these models to examine the extent to which students' perceptions of a first-year engineering cornerstone course affected their engineering identification and motivational beliefs (i.e., engineering utility, engineering program belonging, and engineering program expectancy), as well as the extent to which students' engineering identification and motivational beliefs affected their course effort, course grades, and engineering major and career goals. We surveyed 365 first-year engineering students enrolled in an introductory design course at a large U.S. public university. A series of structural equation models were estimated, with each model answering a different question and examining a different outcome. The results provide evidence to support the validity of the MUSIC model and model of domain identification with a sample of undergraduate engineering students. This evidence includes the fact that significant relationships existed between variables that the model predicted should be related, such as course perceptions, domain identification, motivational beliefs, effort, and academic outcomes. Because students' perceptions of the MUSIC model components in the engineering course were related to students' engineering identification and motivational beliefs, it might be possible to develop course curricula and methods directed towards the MUSIC components that could foster these important academic outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite efforts made by the engineering community, the struggle to increase racial and ethnic diversity continues. As women and ethnic minorities make up a larger percentage of the United States labor force, academic departments need to support the development of students from these talent pools. To improve the retention of these students, engineering departments need to be inclusive, allowing students to feel welcomed, valued, respected, and supported. The overall purpose of this study was to develop and pilot a survey instrument, grounded in Tinto's Model of institutional Departure, to provide engineering educators and administrators with a tool that can be used to investigate how underrepresented engineering students rate the level of inclusion within engineering departments, paying close attention to gender and race/ ethnicity. Herein we specifically report on the instrument development and the initial findings through data collected from two public, predominately White research institutions with high undergraduate engineering student enrollment. Our results demonstrate that the Engineering Department Inclusion Level (EDIL) survey can yield valid and reliable scores with the population of interest. Before embarking on further data collection to continue developing the survey, we wanted to determine what value the survey might have. Results indicate no differences between men and women from underrepresented populations but that African-Americans rated the same environments less inclusive than other racial/ ethnic groups across all of the scales. Finally, PhD students scored University Pride lower than participants at other academic levels. Moreover, based on initial data results, we suggest further research on feelings of inclusion as an important aspect to creating a diverse environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a field, engineering remains challenged with regard to gender parity and ethnic diversity despite efforts over the last 20 years aimed at closing such gaps. Although research and curricular reform efforts have advanced our understanding of what works to attract women to engineering, we still know little from the student perspective as to why some practices are successful in attracting and retaining women. It is not enough to know what works, but we must also know why some practices work in order to create lasting change and reach diversity goals. Our study begins addressing this why question by qualitatively examining eight women participants' choices to enroll in a service-learning course (Engineering Projects in Community Service (EPICS)) that has been successful in attracting women over 16 years. Our results show that our participants choose EPICS as a way to gain experience doing engineering; that EPICS provides the benefit of contextualized learning with resulting impacts within EPICS and in other classes, and that EPICS positively impacts commitment to engineering. Interpreting our results, we argue that women are seeking ways to gain engineering experience in a setting that is comfortable to them, such as EPICS. The context of the experience and ability to help others is important, but secondary to gaining engineering experience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Misconceptions about engineering and science concepts persist among engineering students, and some are resistant event direct instruction. This paper reports on a unique form of computer-based online learning module, designed to help engineering undergraduates learn difficult concepts in the thermal and transport sciences (specifically, heat transfer, mass diffusion, and microfluidics). The design of these modules has been informed by relevant research on cognitive psychology and technology-enhanced learning. Specifically, the modules are based on the prior work of Chi and Slotta, which focus on helping students understand the emergent properties of complex physical systems, thereby providing a means for promoting conceptual change within these challenging domains. The modules were designed and hosted in a Web-base learning management system, where a variety of interactive materials and inquiry prompts were incorporated to help students better understand the concepts and visualize the phenomena. Engineering students' perceptions of compute based online learning are reported along with learning outcomes that resulted from their use of the modules. This was the first study to provide a discipline-based example in engineering education for how to use computer-based online learning and emergent properties of complex systems to help undergraduate engineering students learn difficult concepts. It has implications for (1) designing effective online learning environments to help students learn difficult science and engineering concepts; and (2) developing effective instructional strategies for promoting conceptual change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]