<p>This paper is the third in a series of efforts to address the troublesome departure of promising college students, most notably women and minorities, from the field of mechanical engineering and other similar engineering disciplines. Despite widespread valiant and largely successful efforts to increase the numbers of women and minorities in engineering education, their numbers continue to shrink at a time when they should be expanding. Our first publication (IMECE 2017-72597) uncovered a mismatch between the empathizing tendency among many students and a climate that discourages professional outlets for such tendencies; as well as frequent incongruencies between professional identity and engineering identity.&nbsp; Female students tended to be deterred from their engineering aspirations by a climate that included biased engineering stereotypes, a traditional male-style hierarchy in engineering, and pervasive differential treatment. Our second endeavor (IMECE 2020-23679) showcased findings from a subsequent study conducted at our own institution that inspired a persistence model which placed social responsibility goals, or the desire to pursue a career for the betterment of humanity, front and center in the effort to better understand female and minority persistence. Surrounding that goal orientation are groups of factors that deter women and minorities that can be categorized as: 1) Norms and biases of the wider culture; 2) Social structural factors that make it more difficult to pursue an engineering career, such as overrepresentation in poverty (financial burdens); and 3) Ideas and practices <i>within</i> the field of mechanical engineering that disenfranchise women and minorities, such as an overly competitive and unsupportive atmosphere. The current effort advances recommendations on practical steps toward: promoting the public perception that mechanical engineering can be an inclusive field that can address pressing social problems; expanding the organizational culture of mechanical engineering to be more inclusive; and nurturing students along an educational path that keeps their goals in sight in the face of expected STEM challenges. The paper makes empirically based recommendations on ways to boost students’ desire to persist in mechanical engineering that include enhancing intrinsic motivation in the teaching and learning process; increasing program STEMpathy (empathy in engineering education) based on our own original research on the topic; and supporting students in navigating the arduous landscape of a demanding education in mechanical engineering. In addition, the paper expands on recommendations made in our original work surrounding the hiring and retention of female and minority role models; infusion of empathy into engineering education; strengthening of networks for women and minorities in engineering; and raising awareness of and effectively combating the effects of prejudice and discrimination in engineering education. The recommendations advanced in the paper are informed by our own original research; by successful programs at other institutions of higher learning in the U.S. and abroad; and by the early results of interventions currently implemented by the current authors at the Milwaukee School of Engineering as part of a five-year NSF approved grant called S-STEM: The Mechanical Engineering Retention, Academic Success and Career Pathway Program (NSF: DUE-2027632).</p>

Enhancing University Persistence of Diverse Mechanical Engineering Students

Paper Proceedings: https://asmedigitalcollection.asme.org/IMECE/IMECE2021/volume/85543

ASME 2021 International Mechanical Engineering Congress and Exposition (IMECE2021)

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