HSI Implementation and Evaluation Project: Western MA Engineering Pathways Program

With support from the Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI Program), this Track 2 project called The Western MA Engineering Pathways Program, will contribute to the national need for a diverse engineering workforce by supporting the recruitment, retention, graduation, and transfer of underrepresented students in engineering programs at Holyoke Community College (HCC), the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, and Western New England University (WNEU). Over a four-year period, the project will identify students from partners Holyoke High School and Westfield High School who express an interest in engineering, develop and test innovative interventions, and support students along the academic pathway.

Early engagement with engineering concepts and ongoing comprehensive student supports will bolster STEM identity, self-efficacy, and self-confidence among traditionally underrepresented students in the field. The Western MA Engineering Pathways Program has three goals: 1) Create improved pathways to broaden the participation of students historically underrepresented in engineering, 2) Revitalize HCC’s engineering programs to be more responsive to a diverse student body and to regional employer demands, and 3) Produce fundamental research on building an effective pathway for targeted students in the Western Massachusetts that can be implemented and sustained in a way that is replicable nationally.

With support from project partners at the Collaborative for Educational Services, the Society for Women Engineers (SWE), and the 50K Coalition, project activities will attract and retain more students in engineering, especially students who identify themselves as women, Latinx, or from other historically marginalized groups. The proposed project will investigate the differences between the experiences and decisions surrounding engineering education for women, Latinx students, and students with multiple marginalized identities (MMI) in undergraduate engineering education.

Research questions will determine how high school and community college students make decisions around pursuing undergraduate engineering education; the ways in which Latinx and female students, especially those with MMI, differ in their decision-making process from their peers; how institutional changes made to address the needs of Latinx students, especially those with MMI, improve their outcomes and those of other undergraduate engineering students; and how equitable pathway design can be used to shift stakeholders’ foci from institutional outcomes to student-centered outcomes.

Findings from this project will support equity and inclusion efforts at each partnership institution and will guide efforts at other Hispanic-Serving Institutions seeking to increase Latinx contributions to the future of engineering. The project team will work with the 50k Coalition to share promising practices and STEM education research findings on a national scale.

Improved connection and interaction with local industry will provide employers with a voice in preparing future engineers and increasing diversity in their workforce. The HSI Program aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education, broaden participation in STEM, and build capacity at HSIs. Achieving these aims, given the diverse nature and context of the HSIs, requires innovative approaches that incentivize institutional and community transformation and promote fundamental research (i) on engaged student learning, (ii) about what it takes to diversify and increase participation in STEM effectively, and (iii) that improves our understanding of how to build institutional capacity at HSIs.

Projects supported by the HSI Program will also draw from these approaches to generate new knowledge on how to achieve these aims.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.