Planning Grant: Engineering Research Center for Engineering Student Success Initiatives

The National Science Board reports that, since 2000, the portion of engineering degrees awarded to underrepresented students has improved very little or not at all. For example, in 2000, 8.6%, 7.3%, and 0.7% of engineering degrees were awarded to African Americans, Latinx, and Native American students, respectively. In 2015, 8.7%, 12.8%, and 0.5% of degrees were awarded to those same student groups.

Recent statistics on engineering education shows that underrepresented students are more likely to attend Minority-Serving Institutions (MSI). Yet, most of the research on engineering education comes from Predominantly-White Institutions (PWIs), which may limit the generalizability of findings for underrepresented students and more diverse institutions.

Furthermore, research often is done in silos with insufficient interdisciplinary collaboration. If we are going to move the needle on broadening participation in engineering and engineering workforce development—our targeted societal impact—we need a convergent approach led by stakeholders at the forefront of supporting a diverse engineering future—MSIs.

Employing asset-based approaches such as Community Cultural Wealth (CCW) for all aspects of research, management, and development, we will develop an MSI-led Engineering Research Center (ERC) that focuses on Engineering Student Success founded on Engineering Education frameworks. This ERC will become a leader in the development of engineering student success research and will be uniquely positioned to translate findings into policies and practices that address the success (defined as recruitment, retention, and graduation) of underrepresented engineering students, at both the undergraduate and graduate levels.

This ERC will bring together a core team of interdisciplinary researchers from across MSIs in the Greater Houston area and beyond. The aim for the development and execution of this ERC is to become a model of MSI engagement and collaboration. The ERC proposal that will result from the planning grant will pursue research and development work that focuses on a) research relating to underrepresented student success, b) interventions designed to strengthen engineering workforce pathways (i.e., K-12, community college, and four-year institutions), c) rigorous and culturally responsive project evaluation, and d) dissemination of engineering education research to the academic community, practitioners, and policymakers.

This planning grant will leverage the proximity of engaged institutions to build a community of researchers and advocates centered on similar challenges and research interests. The subsequent ERC will support the production of high-impact, convergent research focused on student success and broadening participation in engineering.

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.