Background Few studies have investigated how engineering education admission policies contribute to the underrepresentation of specific groups. Transforming these policies may significantly affect who becomes an engineer. This article reports the outcome of using research results to inform change in admission policy at a Midwestern public university.Purpose There were three research questions: Is there statistically significant evidence of admission decision gender bias for engineering applicants? Do affective and cognitive factors predictive of engineering student success differ between men and women? Can a difference in the resulting admitted class be confirmed when such factors inform admission policy?Design/Method Admissions records were examined for differences in cognitive metrics between men and women. Student records were analyzed before and after the policy change. Neural network modeling of student records predicted the cognitive and affective measures most important for success in retention and graduation.Results Statistical analysis indicated a gender bias in the admission process results, which was traced back to the policy. Success factor modeling suggested a different set of criteria could mitigate this bias. After admission criteria were changed, statistical analysis confirmed the gender bias against women was mitigated. ConclusionsThe application of research and the change process described shows the important role of research in motivating and informing policy change. This work highlights the contribution of institutional bias in admission policy to the underrepresentation of groups in engineering education, especially if admission is limited to a minimum standardized math test score. OverviewOne of the early steps a student makes along the pathway toward becoming an engineer is applying and being admitted to an accredited institution. While an abundance of literature describes the virtues of precollege and recruiting programs and their potential effect on increasing the number of applications to engineering schools, little to no research informs institutional policy on important factors to consider in the engineering admissions process. This article describes a research-to-practice effort at a U.S. Midwestern public university which began by studying the results of admission practices and ended by changing admissions policy. The genesis of this Journal of Engineering EducationV C 2014 ASEE. effort was when the authors identified that the number of engineering applications from women increased by 46% over a five-year time period while the number of women admitted during that same time period increased by only 23%. This disparity between application and admissions gains led to an investigation of the university's engineering admissions process and ultimately policy. When a gender bias was confirmed by statistical analysis, the authors used research-based success modeling to identify key admission factors that could produce a different result from the university's engineering admission policy. Whi...

Dr. Rhoads' current research interests include the predictive design, analysis, and implementation of resonant micro/nanoelectromechanical systems (MEMS/NEMS); the behavior of electromechanical and thermomechanical systems operating in rich, multi-physics environments; and mechanics education. Dr. Rhoads is a member of the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE) and the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), where he serves on the Student Design Committee and the Design Engineering Division's Technical Committees on Micro/Nanosystems and Vibration and Sound. Dr. Rhoads is a recipient of the National Science Foundation's Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Award,

Fellowship. His current research interests include the design of novel infrared optoelectronic devices and how instructional changes can help students more quickly advance from novice to expert problem solvers. He has co-authored over 120 referred technical articles and has won numerous awards for his teaching.In his role as Vice Provost, Archie's major responsibilities include areas related to the undergraduate educational experience including advising, expanding and enhancing university-wide high impact experiences, and connections between academic and student affairs. He also works on building the interdisciplinary capacity of U.Va. and further efforts to establish institutes and centers to foster interdisciplinary research and education. Professor Kokini's research activities include the study of failure mechanisms and design of high-temperature advanced materials such as functionally graded and composite ceramic thermal barrier coatings. He also works on interdisciplinary research related to the biomicromechanics of ECM-cell interactions.He is an ASME Fellow (2002) Adrienne is currently co-Chair of ASEE's Diversity Committee and PIC I Chair; she has previously served on WIED, ChED, and NEE leadership teams and contributed to 37 ASEE conference proceedings articles. Prof. Beena Sukumaran, Rowan UniversityBeena Sukumaran has been on the faculty at Rowan University since 1998 and is currently Professor and Chair of Civil and Environmental Engineering. Under her leadership, the Civil and Environmental Engineering Program has seen considerable growth in student and faculty numbers. Her area of expertise is in micro-geomechanics and has published over 100 peer reviewed conference and journal papers including several papers on engineering education and the unique undergraduate curriculum at Rowan University, especially the Engineering Clinics. She has been involved in various outreach activities to recruit more women and minorities into engineering and is Interactive Panel on Perspectives and Practical Skills for Men as Advocates for Gender Equity AbstractMen can serve unique and critical roles as advocates of gender equity, particularly in maledominated units or organizations, such as most engineering departments and many universities. This panel brings together a group of men with diverse backgrounds and experiences to discuss their perspectives and offer practical skills for men to effectively serve as advocates for gender equity. This paper augments the panel and captures the backgrounds, experiences, perspectives, and recommendations of the panelists, thereby providing a lasting resource for those unable to attend the panel or future interested individuals. The information we present targets men and administrators, who will better understand the barriers to advocacy, learn best-practices of effective advocacy, and hear first-hand experiences of successful advocacy. BackgroundMany factors -systemic and non-systemic, conscious and unconscious, policy and climate -can negatively impact the participation of min...

Birkhimer conducts research and leads retention activities including administration of the undergraduate and graduate mentoring programs and the teaching of the Women in Engineering seminar courses. For the past decade, Dr. Zurn-Birkhimer's research has focused on broadening participation of women and underrepresented group in STEM fields. Recently, she has been investigating the intersection of education and career path with cultural identity and is developing strategies to inform programming and policies that facilitate recruitment and retention of underrepresented populations in academia. In 2012 Dr. Zurn-Birkhimer was presented with an Outstanding Alumni Award from the

In 2014, the Gallup-Purdue Index Report examined the relationship between certain collegiate experiences and workplace engagement. It found that experiences or experiential learning opportunities such as participating in a cooperative education program (co-op), internship or working on projects that developed over one semester more deeply affect the level of a graduate's workplace engagement and therefore productivity and overall well-being. While it is apparent how important experiential learning can be to the future success and well-being of students, it is more difficult to measure all of the activities that can be labeled as experiential learning and to define what constitutes a meaningful experiential learning opportunity. This paper will examine the results of a survey, given at Purdue University, used to measure the undergraduate engineering population's involvement in experiential learning. The survey was distributed to 7712 undergraduate students. The results reflect that students are participating in a wide variety of activities that could be considered experiential learning; however the results also suggest that there is a need to refine the definition of experiential learning as it pertains specifically to engineering. For example, is a single project in a design-build course a significant experiential learning experience or is a traditional semester abroad which doesn't include any engineering focus? Additionally, this paper will discuss the development of a tool which could be shared with academic stakeholders to guide students to participation in experiences which will serve to propel them toward their career goals as well as advance their progress through their course of study. Additionally this tool could be used as a means to measure participation throughout a student's academic career rather than simply compiling a final report at the end of their academic tenure, as is currently the case.