2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Board 192: Identifying and addressing the barriers to advancement for women in the engineering professoriate: A systematic review of literature

Presented at Women in Engineering Division (WIED) Poster Session

This work-in-progress paper shares ongoing findings from a mixed-methods systematic literature review that seeks to examine the retention of women in the engineering professoriate. We identified literature from EBSCOHost and Engineering Village that discussed women in the engineering professoriate in relation to either retention or persistence or both, as explicitly stated in their abstract. Following an initial review of 191 titles, 48 papers passed our inclusion criteria; further qualitative analysis of abstracts yielded 31 papers, which underwent a full paper review. Our ongoing findings suggest the following: a) research on the retention of women in engineering professoriate is being supported by grants and funding opportunities; b) the reviewed literature documented six barriers faced by women in the engineering professoriate: isolation of women faculty, work/life balance, inequitable distribution of service, underrepresentation of women faculty, implicit bias, and departmental resources; and c) although journal scholarship on this topic is not limited to popular engineering education publishing venues, conference scholarship are mainly from those popular in the field, such as the ASEE Annual Conference and the Frontiers in Education Conference. Future work will share the extent to which the reviewed literature discussed interventions to recruit or retain women in the engineering professoriate, and whether these interventions vary by the type of institution.

Authors

Dr. Debarati Basu http://orcid.org/0000-0002-6205-8510 Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University [biography]

Dr. Debarati Basu is an Assistant Professor in the Engineering Fundamentals Department in the College of Engineering at the Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University at the Daytona Beach campus. She earned her Ph.D. in Engineering Education from Virginia Tech (VT). She received her bachelor's and masters in Computer Science and Engineering. Her research is at the intersection of Engineering Education (EE) and Computing Education Research (CER) to advance personalized learning, specifically within the context of online learning and engagement, educational technologies, curriculum design which includes innovative and equitable pedagogical approaches, and support programs that boost the academic success of different groups of students. She teaches in active learning environments, such as project-based learning and flipped classrooms. She aims to bring EE and CER into practice.
Dr. Lilianny Virguez http://orcid.org/0009-0007-1672-3907 University of Florida [biography]

Dr. Virgüez is an engineering educator with several years of teaching experience at the first-year level. Her research interests include motivation to succeed in engineering with a focus on first-year students. She has work experience in the telecommunications industry. Dr. Virgüez holds a Ph.D. in Engineering Education and a Masters’ degree in Management Systems Engineering from Virginia Tech and a bachelor’s degree in Telecommunications Engineering from the National Experimental University of the Armed Forces in Venezuela.
Dr. Michelle Soledad http://orcid.org/0000-0002-2491-6684 Virginia Tech [biography]

Michelle Soledad, Ph.D. is a Collegiate Assistant Professor in the Department of Engineering Education at Virginia Tech. Her research and service interests include teaching and learning experiences in fundamental engineering courses, faculty development and support initiatives – including programs for the future engineering professoriate, and leveraging institutional data to support reflective teaching practices. She has degrees in Electrical Engineering (B.S., M.Eng.) from the Ateneo de Davao University in Davao City, Philippines, where she previously held appointments as Assistant Professor and Department Chair for Electrical Engineering. She also previously served as Director for Communications and International Engagement at the Department of Engineering Education at Virginia Tech, Lecturer at the Department of Engineering Education at The Ohio State University, and Assistant Professor at the Department of Integrated Engineering at Minnesota State University, Mankato. She holds a Ph.D. in Engineering Education from Virginia Tech.
Dr. Sreyoshi Bhaduri ThatStatsGirl [biography]

Dr. Sreyoshi Bhaduri is an Engineering Educator and People Research Scientist. Sreyoshi's expertise lies at the intersection of workforce development, AI and emerging technology, and engineering education. As a Research Scientist in the tech industry, Sreyoshi leverages AI for mixed-methods research on and for people at work, ensuring that organizations intentionally center the human experience. Sreyoshi has spoken at over 100+ global venues, addressing diverse audiences ranging from academics, NSF PIs, industry leaders, entrepreneurs, and professionals to students or high-schoolers starting out with Computer Sciences, helping them strategize and broaden participation, as well as explore, understand, and apply emerging technologies. Sreyoshi is committed to broadening participation among underrepresented minorities in engineering and serves as a Senator at the Society of Women Engineers. She is also part of the Advisory Board at the College of Engineering at Virginia Tech and serves as an Advisor to the leadership at Sisters in STEM. Sreyoshi frequently collaborates on several National Science Foundation projects in the engineering education realm, researching engineering career trajectories, student motivation, and learning. Sreyoshi has been recognized as a Fellow at the Academy for Teaching Excellence at Virginia Tech (VTGrATE) and a Fellow at the Global Perspectives Program (GPP) and was inducted to the Yale Bouchet Honor Society during her time at Virginia Tech. She has also been honored as an Engaged Advocate in 2022 and an Emerging Leader in Technology (New ELiTE) in 2021 by the Society of Women Engineers. Views expressed in this paper are the author's own, and do not necessarily reflect those of organizations she is associated with. Learn more about Sreyoshi's impact - www.ThatStatsGirl.com

Download paper (728 KB)

Are you a researcher? Would you like to cite this paper? Visit the ASEE document repository at peer.asee.org for more tools and easy citations.

» Download paper

« View session

For those interested in:

Broadening Participation in Engineering and Engineering Technology