Decline in engineering enrollment continues and renewed efforts are required to improve enrollment and diversity. Herein, we address this problem by conducting research to understand engineering students through the lens of identity theory. Implications of this effort are twofold: (1) to contribute to our basic understanding of engineering students' identities as well as what factors (experiences and settings) foster the formation and transformation of these identities during the undergraduate experience, and from these findings (2) to gain insight into improving recruitment and retention of engineering students, particularly students underrepresented in engineering. By conducting focus groups and interviews, our goal was to understand professional identity development in freshman engineering persisters and freshman engineering switchers. Initial findings suggest that exposure to meaningful engineering-related experiences and engineers are critical in developing an engineer identity. Our future efforts involve understanding the longitudinal nature of professional identity development (from freshman to senior years).Index Terms -freshman engineering students, identity theory, identity development, recruitment and retention. MOTIVATION AND RELEVANCE

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There has been much criticism about science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education not focusing enough on problem solving, especially in authentic realworld contexts which are most often associated to ill-structured domains. To improve education, it is essential that curricula promote high levels of cognitive development by exposing students to authentic problems. Problem-based learning (PBL) is a studentcentered pedagogy that offers a strong framework upon which to build a curriculum to teach students essential problem solving skills. An authentic problem-solving experience, which is highly valued and promoted outside of the classroom yet almost nonexistent in the classroom, is undergraduate research (UR). Herein, the goal was to understand the nature of UR problems as a means of developing recommendations for translating UR problems and experiences into the classroom using PBL methodologies. Using survey design, data were collected from sixty students participating in summer undergraduate research experiences. Our findings revealed that moderately structured and fairly complex UR problems are well-suited for PBL implementation in the classroom because they trigger the use of multiple cognitive operations in the context of a continuously changing, dynamic, and interdisciplinary team environment.

Prior to her graduate education, she graduated from the University of Virginia with a B.S. in biology and a B.A. in psychology. She currently serves as a graduate assistant to Dr. Olga Pierrakos working on an NSF funded BRIGE project investigating engineering identity. Olga Pierrakos, James Madison University OLGA PIERRAKOS is an assistant professor in the School of Engineering at James Madison University. Dr. Pierrakos holds a B.S. in Engineering Science and Mechanics, an M.S. in Engineering Mechanics, and a Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering from Virginia Tech. Her interests in engineering education research center around recruitment and retention, understanding engineering students through the lens of identity theory, advancing problem based learning methodologies, assessing student learning, as well as understanding and integrating complex problem solving in undergraduate engineering education. This latter project is funded through her recent NSF CAREER award. Her other research interests lie in cardiovascular fluid mechanics and K-12 engineering education. Jamie Constantz, James Madison University JAMIE CONSTANTZ is a first year graduate student in the School Psychology program at James Madison University. Prior to her graduate studies at James Madison, she graduated from Niagara University with a B.A. in psychology. She currently serves as a graduate assistant to Dr. Olga Pierrakos working on an NSF funded BRIGE project investigating engineering identity.