A Cox Regression Analysis of a Women's Mentoring Program in Engineering

Perceptions of engineering identity: Diversity and EWB-USA

“…Additional research confirms that a sense of inclusion and finding "people like me" assists female engineers in identifying with and persisting in STEM disciplines [13,14]. Formal and informal mentoring serves as a way for female engineers to find role-models to identify with and learn from; however, with limited resources of similar mentors, female retention may be hindered [15,16,17]. Other research shows that most engineers are assumed to be Caucasian men [18], which restricts the identity of the overall engineering profession.…”

Retaining Diverse Students in Civil Engineering and its Subdisciplines: Challenges and Opportunities

“…The primary topics covered in the survey are summarized in Table 2, with a focus on exploring factors that previous research have demonstrated affect retention, persistence and diversity [5][6][7][8][9][10] . To test the clarity and the length of the survey, the survey design was distributed to a small number of pre-identified respondents for feedback, and the survey questions updated before broader dissemination.…”

“…We are unable to quantify the response rate because we do not know how many individuals received the link, but response rates for web-based surveys with a significant number of questions tend to be relatively low. 6 Participants responses were excluded from the analysis if any of the following conditions occurred: (1) if the respondent did not provide information about his/her gender; (2) if the respondent did not finish the survey; or (3) if the respondent took the survey more than once. Early respondents were offered a $5 Starbucks gift card for participating.…”

“…3 In contrast, women now make up over 30% of lawyers and physicians, and over 70% of psychologists. Since no evidence exists that significant gender or racial differences in math or science ability exist 1,4 , discrepancies in persistence, engagement and achievement in engineering have been attributed to a range of factors including a lack of preparation 5 and encouragement 6 , workplace 7,8,9 and academic 10 environments, and the public image of engineering 11 . Yet, little research has examined why some engineering fields are more successful at recruiting and retaining a diverse student body and workforce than others and what factors affect individual's choice of a discipline or subdiscipline of engineering.…”

Collaborative Research: Gender Diversity, Identity, and EWB-USA

“…However, it is commonly suggested that having examples of people like oneself may be a strong contributor. In STEM fields with low female membership, this may hinder the entry and retention of females into engineering [38][39][40] . STEM study and work is perceived by students as more difficult than many social sciences or humanities 12 .…”