2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

This work in progress paper focuses on understanding what students in first- year engineering courses understand about who becomes a researcher and if they see themselves as a researcher, or someone who might become a researcher. Specifically, we compare Latinas to other students in this study to explore the origins of differences in later participation. This work has importance and necessity since it has been noted that the national graduation rate for Latinas with a Ph.D. in engineering is very low; only 91 (< 1%) of awardees in 2018- 2019 identified as Latina. Our research investigates the interest of first year engineering students in research, which might illuminate strategies for addressing the underrepresentation of Latinas in national Ph.D. engineering programs. The purpose of this quantitative study is to characterize early perspectives about research, graduate school, and becoming a researcher. A statistical analysis of the results from a cross-sectional survey was completed. A principal component analysis extracted the following constructs: (1) research self-efficacy, (2) engineering research identity, and (3) perceived cultural compatibility. Self-reported demographics (gender, race/ethnicity, college generation, first year on campus) were collected during the survey and used to group respondents during the analysis. The study population includes all students enrolled in a first-year engineering course for the Fall 2022 (n=215) at the University of New Mexico, a public R1, Hispanic- serving institution. The students were from the following engineering disciplines: Chemical & Biological, Civil, Computer Science, Electrical & Computer, Mechanical, and Nuclear. A regression analysis is used to compare Latinas' perceptions and intentions to students who are well-represented (Asian or White men) in engineering. We hypothesize that the constructs examined in this study explain variance in research persistence. This research has significance if we are to attain more diverse faculty for the emerging student population which requires an increase in the number of Latinas graduating with a doctoral degree and continuing into academia.