From "Leaky Pipelines" to "Diversity of Thought": What Does "Diversity" Mean in Engineering Education?

Abstract

is a PhD candidate in Cultural Anthropology. Her dissertation research, "Steel Toes and Ponytails: Gender and Belonging in Engineering", investigates the boundaries of membership in engineering in the Capital District of New York. She is honored to be a research assistant on the NSFsponsored study on engineering education reform entitled "The Distributed System of Governance in Engineering Education." In addition to her academic experience, she is a former mechanical engineer with several years of experience in the aviation and construction industries.

Week of Action: #EngineersShowUp as Intersectional Advocates

“…While the work of this project has involved many diverse ideas and actionable items for moving conversations forward, we are bounding our presentation and discussion to focus on the week of action to discuss broader implications and possibilities for further work. The week of action is the culmination of multiple conversations over the past three years organizing engineering educators toward addressing root causes of inequity (racism, sexism, homophobia, ableism) that the participants have identified as deeply embedded in engineering education and practice [1], [2], [3]. Participants in these ongoing conversations seek to trouble surface-level approaches to "diversity" that do not challenge systemic inequities built into engineering education and practice.…”

Attracting Black Students to Undergraduate Engineering Programs: A Rapid Review for Broadening Participation

“…And despite the widespread insistence that the process for growing minority enrollment in engineering programs is as linear as the chart in Figure 1, our practitioner lens allows us to confidently say that this is not an accurate depiction of the student experience from outreach to undergraduate enrollment. In the literature, there is a remarkable emphasis placed on the importance of the "engineering pipeline," and at the same time, there is equal emphasis placed on how "leaky" the pipeline is [49]. It is therefore worthwhile to consider that the "leak" may be from leading students to interest in engineering degrees through programs under the scope of "broadening participation," only to lock them out of the programs upon application due to a mismatch between belonging and identity alignment, and required cognitive for admission.…”