BACKGROUNDIf we are to effect change in teacher practices and decision making regarding instruction, college preparation, and career success in engineering, then knowledge of teachers' beliefs and expectations about engineering needs to be understood. PURPOSE (HYPOTHESIS)The primary purpose was to develop a statistically reliable survey instrument to document teachers' beliefs and expectations about pre-college engineering instruction, college preparation, and career success in engineering, called the Engineering Education Beliefs and Expectations Instrument (EEBEI), and to compare teachers' views.

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Objective: Although upward transfer in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields represents a prominent national policy concern, community college students’ aspirations for transfer in STEM are often impeded, resulting in lower transfer rates. This study investigated four aspects of community college STEM students’ aspirational experiences and behaviors with regard to transfer: support for transfer, transfer service usage, transfer-oriented interactions, and transfer information acquisition. Particular attention was paid to how these factors may impact students’ aspirational momentum differently based on gender and race/ethnicity. Method: The study drew upon survey and administrative records from 1,245 first-time students beginning in STEM majors or courses at three large comprehensive 2-year institutions in a Midwestern state. A logistic regression model with interaction terms was employed to explore whether and how the relationship between students’ aspirational momentum toward STEM transfer and their aspirational experiences and behaviors vary across gender and race/ethnicity. Results: Results indicate that, overall, students engaging in more frequent transfer service usage were significantly more likely to have aspirational momentum, but this relationship is weaker among female students, compared with males. Also, Black and Hispanic students’ aspirational momentum was significantly less affected by support for transfer than for White students. In contrast, the effect of transfer service usage on aspirational momentum for Black students was significantly stronger than for White students. Contributions: Our findings hold implications for how to cultivate aspirational momentum toward transfer in STEM, especially how to resolve potential gender and racial disparities within this unique and pivotal transfer pathway.

This chapter examines the nation's changing research and innovation context and presents an evolving template for community college–research university partnerships, one grounded in Midwestern undergraduate student research experiences, faculty development initiatives, and new transfer partnerships.