Ongoing student surveys, supplemented by interviews, reveal that service in general and servicelearning (S-L) in particular are more attractive to those from underrepresented groups in engineering than to their counterparts. Courses with service-learning projects have been integrated into existing required courses in engineering over the past six years in five departments at the University of Massachusetts Lowell. Entering engineering students have been sampled every fall with a "pre" survey, and then all students are surveyed "post" at the end of the spring semester. Evidence continues to mount of the significant difference in responses in attitudes toward community service and S-L in engineering with women especially and to a lesser extent other minorities in engineering. Voluntary participation in S-L projects involving work with and in developing countries continues to attract females at a rate of more than 3 times their underlying population. The results of these ongoing S-L courses and surveys point to a growing difference by gender in response to community service in general and service-learning in particular. If the engineering profession wants to attract and retain more people from underrepresented groups, more servicelearning in engineering appears to be one approach.

In this study, an average of nearly 800 students per semester has participated in S-L projects integrated into courses throughout the four-year engineering curriculum at a public university. Over the academic years 2004-2008, an average of 30 core required engineering courses have had S-L projects each year. The hypothesis is that because the students would see with S-L more directly how engineering can improve the lives of those in the local and international community, they would be more motivated to enter and stay in engineering and try to learn the subject matter better. In terms of recruitment, S-L is advertized to prospective students as the number two reason to come to the college (number one is value). Twenty-two percent of first year students at the end of their first semester reported that S-L was one of the reasons for coming to the college, roughly the same as the 24% in December 2007 and 23% and 21% the previous years. In terms of retention, at the end of the spring 2008 semester, from a representative sample of students across 4 years and 5 departments (n = 369), 64% reported that S-L had a positive impact on the likelihood that they would continue in engineering (25% reported a very strong impact, i.e., chose 9 on a Likert scale of 1-9), while only 3.5% reported a negative impact, with the rest neutral. Females and underrepresented groups by race indicated a significantly (5%) more positive impact of S-L on retention on average. The retention responses also correlated positively with a number of responses indicative of factors known to affect retention (e.g., relationship with faculty, previous S-L experience). Enrollments have in fact increased, and overall retention has remained about the same over the last three years, but the effect of the S-L program will probably not be felt for some more years as it matures and improves. In conclusion, the effect of S-L on recruitment and retention of engineering students appears to be positive from the students themselves, and underrepresented groups in engineering appear more motivated to persist and be concerned about helping others in the profession.

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Undergraduate engineering students were asked about their views of the principal benefits attributable to service-learning (S-L) dispersed through core required courses through surveys, interviews, and focus groups. As S-L continues to become a significant part of the communityengagement movement in higher education, and as more university professors are encouraged to incorporate S-L activities in their course requirements, it is essential that educators build an understanding of what students gain with S-L and that they give students a voice in their own educational process and in the community. The service-learning (S-L) program SLICE (Service-Learning Integrated throughout a College of Engineering), based within the Francis College of Engineering at the University of Massachusetts Lowell, began as a curricular reform initiative designed to sequentially infuse S-L throughout engineering curriculum as a broad approach to promote development of better engineers, more engaged citizens, along with engineering the common good in communities. Chemical, Civil, Electrical, Mechanical, and Plastics Engineering departments within the college integrated S-L activities into 192 course offerings (5 intro, 65 ME, 32 EE, 47 CE, 31 PlE, 12 ChE) across the last five years that involved an average of 753 undergraduate students each semester carrying out S-L projects. Half of the faculty has been involved.In order to discover student views about S-L activities in engineering courses, and to better understand why students seem more motivated to learn with S-L, administration of 399 pre-S-L surveys and 458 post-S-L surveys were conducted with freshmen students; 526 post S-L student surveys at the end of the 2009 academic year; and 100 interviews, including some focus groups with undergraduate students and 5 alumni in 2009. Based on overall quantitative and qualitative data, students reported that S-L provided an important element of their education that encourages deepened and meaningful learning benefits. The outcomes are based on the total number of participants that responded to surveys across five years, as well as interviews, and focus groups. In short, engineering student voices are calling for more S-L projects integrated into core courses, for more direct community interactions, for meaning to what they are studying, and for empowerment to provide useful service to the community at all levels in their studies.

Should community service be an expected part of the engineering profession? A certain amount of pro bono work is expected of professionals, in engineering as well as more prominently in law. And if service is part of the engineering profession, should it become part of the education of engineering students? How? Should it be integrated into technical courses, as in servicelearning, or should it be left to extra curricular activities? Student opinions were sampled recently. Courses with service-learning projects have been integrated into existing required courses in engineering over the past six years in five departments of University of Massachusetts Lowell. A recent sampling of entering engineering students at this university revealed that 75% agreed with the statement that public service should be considered as part of the engineering profession. A survey of all students in the same engineering school at all years in the curriculum resulted in an even higher percentage of agreement. Similar results were obtained in response to the statement that service and academic course work should be integrated. The codes of conduct of several engineering professional societies as well as evidence from this case study supports the principle that service should be considered part of the engineering profession. Integrating service-learning within existing technical courses is a concrete way of training students in how and why engineers perform such professional community service.