In this paper we develop an analytical framework we refer to as "Becoming an Engineer" that focuses upon changes occurring over time as students traverse their undergraduate educations in engineering. This analytical framework involves three related dimensions that we track over time: disciplinary knowledge, identification, and navigation. Our analysis illustrates how these three dimensions enable us to understand how students become, or do not become, engineers by examining how these three interrelated dimensions unfold over time. This study is based on longitudinal ethnographic data from which we have developed "person-centered ethnographies" focused on individual students' pathways through engineering. We present comparative analysis, spanning four schools and four years. We also present person-centered ethnographic case studies that illustrate how our conceptual dimensions interrelate. Our discussion draws some educational implications from our analysis and proposes further lines of research.

is an Associate Professor in the College of Education at the University of Washington. He specializes in ethnographic and comparative approaches to studying how people learn in STEM related fields. His research spans studies of informal and formal learning environments and is focussed on the link between the two. He is currently co-leading two NSF Centers working on issues related to how people learn, the LIFE Center and CAEE. Daniel Amos, University of Washington Daniel Amos was one of the first ethnographers from the United States to do ethnographic research in the People's Republic of China. He has taught at five Chinese universities, and directed the Chinese Studies program at Clark Atlanta University. His graduate degrees are from UCLA (Anthropology, 1983

Recent educational theory emphasizes the importance of considering identity processes in studying learning and development. In engineering education, identity has been cited as central in student development, for example, as a key factor in retention of students in the discipline. This paper examines how identity relates to students' decisions about whether to remain in or switch out of engineering majors. We develop case studies of two students, both women and both members of underrepresented minority groups. One successfully gained admittance into her desired major, and one is considering leaving engineering. We argue that while each woman takes a different position on what engineering education should offer, both display a common, and we argue troubling, view of this educational experience. Our analysis seeks to explicate our ethnographic methods and to explore the broader possible significance for engineering education of the views that these women hold.

As part of a longitudinal study of engineering students on four campuses spanning four years, students were asked questions each year about their images of the work of engineers. Such questions included: what do you expect to do on a day-today basis, how did you become interested in engineering, what are the characteristics that make a good engineer, and others. In responses to such questions students described how they imagined engineering workplaces and the work of engineering. We found that students in their first year of preparation to become engineers knew little about what kind of work they would be doing in the future as engineers. That is, they developed hopeful images of engineering. In some cases these images were altered or augmented in later years to become more mundane. For some students images from the first year remained virtually unchanged into their fourth year. Our discussion reflects how students' identities are affected both by common, widely circulating images of engineering and the absence of real workplace experiences in the undergraduate engineering education.

Her research interests include academic and professional identity development of engineering students, academic advising of engineering students, history of engineering education in the U.S., and the organization of engineering education programs. Ms. Bailey received a Bachelor's Degree in Mathematics from Spelman College and a Bachelor's Degree in Mechanical Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology where she was a NASA Women in Science and Engineering Scholar. She also holds a Master's Degree in Mechanical Engineering from Stanford University. Lari Garrison, University of Washington Lari Garrison is a Ph.D. candidate in Cognitive Studies in Education at the University of Washington. Currently, she works as a Research Assistant for CAEE (Center for the Advancement of Engineering Education). She received a B.A. and a M.Ed. from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and taught high school mathematics for ten years before beginning work on her Ph.D. at UW.