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In order for the United States to regain its global standing in science and engineering, educational and governmental organizations have started to re-emphasize science, technology, engineering, and math content in k-12 classrooms.While some preliminary research has been conducted on student and teacher perceptions related to engineering, there has been little research conducted related to teachers beliefs about the importance of engineering content in their classrooms and relatively few studies have investigated elementary teachers teaching engineering self-efficacy. Current studies have investigated the impact of professional development on teachers teaching engineering self-efficacy but these studies were conducted with limited sample sizes, for relatively short professional development timeframes, with a restricted sample and these studies did not include the implementation component of professional development. Research is needed to not only determine elementary teachers beliefs about the importance of engineering content in their classrooms, but to also investigate if these teachers levels of confidence (teaching engineering self-efficacy) can be increased by exposure to STEM-related professional development and the implementation of engineering activities in their classrooms. The research question in this study was to determine if scored responses from a pre-survey taken by teachers participating in an engineering-related professional development would differ from scored responses on two subsequent post-surveys following the professional development and following implementation on the teachers beliefs about the importance of teaching engineering content at the elementary level and the teachers confidence in the ability to teach engineering concepts at the elementary school level.While the teachers in this study generally had positive beliefs about the importance of teaching engineering at the elementary level, an investigation of the individual nine beliefs items from the survey indicated that they are less likely to consider engineering part of the basics and that it should be taught more frequently. One of the major conclusions from this study was that teachers teaching engineering self-efficacy can be significantly strengthened through participation in a week-long professional development series. Furthermore, while not statistically significant, the implementation of these activities into their classroom can also help improve teachers confidence in their ability to teach engineering-related activities.

<p dir="ltr">For 20 years, engineering education scholars and policymakers have consistently witnessed a low number of women compared to men graduating in engineering in the US. However, in many other countries, like Tunisia, we see near gender parity in terms of the number of women and men graduating in engineering. These contrasting trends are observed beyond the sole case of Tunisia and the US. They are, in fact, part of a much larger phenomenon called the “Gender Equality Paradox” (GEP) in STEM. The GEP posits an inverse relationship between, on one hand, a country’s level of material affluence and gender egalitarianism and, on the other hand, the gender gap in STEM graduates. Despite the increased scholarly attention that the GEP has attracted since its inception, the GEP literature has consistently framed and examined this phenomenon from a Western perspective. That is, scholars ask, why do we see small numbers of women compared to men graduating in engineering despite the high level of material affluence and gender egalitarianism in Western countries?<br><br>Little, and largely marginal, space has been given to the voices of women engineers from non-Western countries. This dissertation addresses this gap by investigating Tunisian women’s motivations to become engineers. Specifically, this research examines the translocational experiences of Tunisian women immigrants in the US to understand the different gender orders at play in the US and Tunisia and how they produce different representations of women in engineering. Grounded in postcolonial feminism, this interpretivist qualitative study answered three research questions:</p><p dir="ltr">1. What individual-level factors do Tunisian women describe as motivating their participation and persistence in engineering education and practice?</p><p dir="ltr">2. What societal, cultural, and policy factors in Tunisia do participants describe as supportive of their participation and persistence in engineering education and practice? Which ones are not?</p><p dir="ltr">3. How does the translocational positionality of Tunisian women engineers in the US (re)shape their perception of engineering?</p><p><br></p><p dir="ltr">The findings indicate an interplay between individual agency, structural factors, and historical contingency in determining the participants’ pathway to engineering. The participants described having to respond to different codes of meaning associated to engineering that were signaled to them by their family, the Tunisian society, and the Tunisian state. The participants’ translocational experiences indicate that they had to navigate different types of masculinities in the US and Tunisia, thus producing different perceptions of what it means to be women engineers in both countries. The results of this study center non-Western voices of women engineers in the GEP scholarship, challenge colonial assumptions made by GEP scholars, and interrogate the colonial legacies of the Tunisia education system. They also showcase the limitations of categoricalism-based conceptions of the GEP based on summary indices of material affluence and gender egalitarianism.</p>

<p dir="ltr">In this research, I study the role of empathy in first-year engineering design teams. Engineering programs provide students with opportunities to practice and develop teamwork skills to help them become more effective team members. Thus, it is essential to understand factors that contribute to effective teaming experiences for engineering students. One key factor for promoting effective teaming experiences is empathy.</p>

Although more people are transitioning into environmental sustainability careers, there is still a demand. This presents an opportunity for undergraduate engineering students to satisfy the demand for environmental sustainability professionals. The purpose of this qualitative exploratory study was to explore environmental sustainability learning experiences, from small in-class experiences to internships, and future career choices. By utilizing the social cognitive theory (SCCT) as a theoretical lens, this study explored participants' environmental sustainability interests, learning experiences related to environmental sustainability and their interest in pursuing a future career in environmental sustainability. This research addresses a gap in the existing literature by exploring how undergraduate engineering students' environmental sustainability learning experiences impact their decisions to pursue careers in this field, framed by the SCCT. The perspectives of twenty-five undergraduate engineering students in various engineering disciplines at Virginia Tech, an R1 public university in Blacksburg, Virginia. The participants were enrolled in ENGR3124, Introduction to Green Engineering, during the Fall 2022 semester and were interviewed for the study. Semi-structured online interviews were conducted via Zoom, allowing students to provide detailed information about their learning experiences and future career plans. Data was analyzed to (1) identify students' interest in pursuing a career in environmental sustainability (2) determine if students' interests have changed since they began their undergraduate studies (3) explore how learning experiences have impacted the students' future career choice. The findings discover that exposure to environmental sustainability learning experiences plays a meaningful role in impacting students' interests in pursuing careers in sustainability. Results reveal that factors such as personal values and salary considerations inspire career choices. Outcomes from this research suggest that promoting a connection between engineering education and environmental sustainability can inspire future engineers to actively pursue environmental sustainability careers and find solutions to sustainability issues. This underscores the significance of integrating sustainability experiences, such as a current events discussion in class or projects with an environmental sustainability element, into undergraduate engineering education. This research contributes to addressing the growing demand for people to address environmental sustainability issues, highlighting the role of learning experiences in shaping students' career interests. Further research in this area will be necessary for further developing strategies to encourage students to pursue sustainability-related careers and contribute to environmental sustainability initiatives. / Doctor of Philosophy / Experts are transitioning into environmental sustainability careers, though a gap exists between supply and demand. This presents an opportunity for undergraduate engineering students to fulfill the demand as environmental sustainability professionals. This qualitative exploratory study investigated environmental sustainability learning experiences and future career interests in environmental sustainability. The social cognitive theory (SCCT) was utilized as a theoretical lens, exploring participants' environmental sustainability interests, associated learning experiences and their interest in pursuing a future career in environmental sustainability. Twenty-five undergraduate engineering students in various engineering disciplines were interviewed for this study. Data was analyzed to (1) identify students' interest in pursuing a career in environmental sustainability (2) determine if students' interests have changed since they began their undergraduate studies (3) discover how learning experiences have impacted the students' future career choice. The findings conclude that exposure to environmental sustainability learning experiences is impactful and plays an important role, impacting students' interests in pursuing careers in sustainability. Results unveil that elements such as personal beliefs and salary considerations inspire career choices. This research contributes to addressing the demand for people to tackle environmental sustainability issues, emphasizing the role of learning experiences in shaping students' career interests.

<p>  </p> <p>The engineering education community in the United States has witnessed a tremendous increase in broadening participation initiatives as they wrestle with issues regarding inclusion. To date, these initiatives have targeted several goals, including access, belonging, and retention of students from underrepresented backgrounds. However, these initiatives have generally focused on the experiences of individual students, while systemic barriers, such as the cultural ideologies sustaining a "chilly climate" of engineering, have received less attention.</p> <p>Engineering instructors play a critical role in maintaining the professional culture of engineering through the socialization of undergraduate engineers embedded in the requirements of degree attainment. As engineering students transition through the plan of study, they are socialized to knowledge, skills, and values deemed necessary by instructors and administrators for entry into the engineering profession. The knowledge, skills, and values reinforced by instructors across the socialization process become taken-for-granted as cultural norms reproduced through engineering courses. As a result of these cultural reproductions, engineering instructors shape the boundaries of what it means to be an engineer. The study aimed to investigate how instructor's agency plays a role in establishing cultural norms in their undergraduate engineering courses. Furthermore, the study examined how these norms subsequently influence engineering students' perceptions of the professional culture of engineering. The goal was to understand the mechanisms that maintain and replicate cultural norms in engineering's "chilly climate" and engineering students' perceptions of inclusion (or lack thereof). </p> <p><br></p> <p>This dissertation employed an ethnographic case study approach to investigate the following research questions: (1) What culture did engineering instructors (re)produce in their undergraduate engineering courses?; (2) How were engineering instructors' cultural (re)productions communicated to undergraduate engineering students in their courses?; and (3) How did engineering instructors' agency (or lack thereof) influence their (re)production of ideologies in the professional engineering culture? The research questions examined how instructors' cultural (re)productions in engineering shape the professional culture of engineering. The study included an analysis of instructors' interviews, my classroom observations, course documents, and student focus groups for two sequential mechanical engineering courses in the plan of study.</p> <p><br></p> <p>The engineering instructors expressed agency as the three dimensions referred by Emirbayer and Mische (1998) of "chordal triad" (p. 970)—iterational, projective, and practical-evaluative. As the instructors negotiated their agency through their perspectives and actions, they exhibited the iterational through invocations of their experiences, the projective through their course intentions, and the practical-evaluative in their teaching practices and content. In these cases, I identified four cultural ideologies currently at the foundation of the engineering courses: technocratic, depoliticization, meritocratic, and care. Instructors' experiences, departmental priorities, and teaching practices all played a role in the prevalence of a technocratic culture. Omitting sociopolitical considerations perpetuated a depoliticized environment, while instructors showed a dual agentic orientation by navigating between meritocratic values and care for students. The COVID-19 pandemic emphasized the importance of critical policy and advocacy, instructor empathy, and individual actions in driving collective momentum for transformative social change in engineering settings. A conscientious understanding of the impact of our actions as instructors on the socialization of engineering students is essential. This understanding needs to take up both individual's agency and the context in which agency is enacted to create a space in the profession that authentically reflects and embraces differences among students as integral members of the profession. The research findings serve as an invitation for growth for the engineering education community to "walk the walk". An invitation to be courageous leaders, who try, test, and refine our practices through critical reflections, aligned intentions and agentic actions that engage and support all engineering students, especially students from historically marginalized communities.</p>