2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Board 374: Replicating a Community-Engaged Educational Ecosystem: First-Year Findings

Presented at NSF Grantees Poster Session

In our highly mobile and global economy, STEM-related employment is key to stabilizing and rebuilding our middle class. Attrition in STEM fields, however, is disproportionately high at all educational levels for women, African Americans, Latinos, and people from low-income families. Compounding these challenges, many places in the United States struggle more than others to attract, develop, and retain STEM skills in their workforce. These cities often have poverty rates double the national average, lower educational attainment, and larger percentages of those underrepresented in STEM. So, while attraction, motivation, and retention in STEM disciplines are a national imperative, their importance within these regions is particularly acute. This poster and paper present the findings from the replication of a community-engaged educational ecosystem – as a STEM learning ‘commons’ – for delivering integrated high-impact pedagogical practices as a paid internship. The initial pilot that informs this replication effort targeted challenges with which many deindustrialized cities struggle – STEM knowledge and skills, talent retention, workforce readiness, and community engagement and vitality. The multi-year study uses a convergent mixed-methods design and collects qualitative and quantitative data throughout the summer immersion. Using data from the pilot site and the first year of the two replication sites, this poster and paper will focus on quantitative findings on a few key areas – including self-efficacy in STEM and place attachment as intermediate metrics toward the goal of rebuilding Midwestern cities.

Authors

Dr. Danielle Wood University of Notre Dame [biography]

Associate Director for Research, Center for Civic Innovation

Dr. Wood received her M.S.and Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and holds her B.S. from Purdue University. She is a transdisciplinary researcher, with research interests including community engagement, evaluation in complex settings, and translational work at the socio-technical nexus.
Dr. Hazel Marie Youngstown State University [biography]

Hazel Marie, Ph.D., P.E. received her B.S. in mechanical engineering from the University of Texas in Austin, her M.S. from Youngstown State University, and her Ph.D. from the University of Akron. She is currently Professor of Mechanical Engineering
Dr. Faisal Aqlan http://orcid.org/0000-0002-0695-5364 University of Louisville [biography]

Dr. Faisal Aqlan is an Associate Professor of Industrial Engineering at The University of Louisville. He received his Ph.D. in Industrial and Systems Engineering form The State University of New York at Binghamton.
Dr. Jay B. Brockman University of Notre Dame [biography]

Dr. Jay Brockman is the Associate Dean of Engineering for Experiential Learning and Community Engagement. He received his Ph.D. in Computer Engineering from Carnegie Mellon University and previously worked for Intel Corporation. He is also a founder of
Daniel Lapsley University of Notre Dame
Dr. Kerry Meyers University of Notre Dame [biography]

Dr. Kerry Meyers holds a Ph.D. in Engineering Education (B.S. & M.S. Mechanical Engineering) and is specifically focused on programs that influence studentâ€™s experience, affect retention rates, and the factors that determine the overall long term succes
Emily C. LaPorte
Khalid Oladeji Bello University of Louisville [biography]

Khalid Bello is a PhD student at University of Louisville.

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