A Systematic Literature Review of the Impact of Undergraduate Work Experiences on Women in Engineering

Abstract

Numerous studies have examined the reasons that students leave engineering pathways, identifying a strong sense of self-efficacy as a key indicator of students' retention and persistence. Research has hypothesized that mastery experiences, such as cooperative education, typically develop self-efficacy, but the impacts may vary between genders (Mamaril & Royal, 2008). The disproportionate representation of women at all points along the engineering pathway offers a strong motivation to study the full extent of how cooperative education and internship experiences differ between genders and how those differences manifest themselves in student retention and persistence.

The Industry Scholars Mentorship Program: a Professional Industry Connection Experience for Engineering Undergraduates

“…For engineering students, even if this value of mentorship is known, the process by which to find a mentor can be intimidating and awkward. For many, gender, race, and perceived self-efficacy define these limitations [9].…”