2024 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

The purpose of this WIP research paper is to describe a new research project incorporating centering Indigenous ways of knowing and being within an engineering education context. [Redacted]’s new master’s program in Engineering & Community Practice is among the first of its kind in the United States as an Indigenous-centered graduate engineering program. This program is a one-year, project-based degree where STEM students will work through the relationship-building process with an Indigenous Nation to develop and complete an engineering project. As such, the potential impact of the program could be significant as we start to engage with the decolonization process as a field. This research works to communicate that impact in a way that centers Indigenous ways of being and storytelling. This will be done through incorporating collaborative autoethnographic and Indigenous research methods to share the story of the program through the experiences of all those involved. These methods position the participants as both coauthors and coresearchers in this work as we co-create this new program and new knowledge together. Participants will be asked to regularly reflect on their experiences within the program, their growth, and any conflicts or feelings that arise. These reflections will then be analyzed by the coauthors and coresearchers both for emerging themes and narrative structures to inform the story-building process. Stories will be created for both the individual participants and the program. This is an expansion of a method utilized in previous research incorporating Indigenous storytelling methodology with western qualitative research practices. This work-in-progress paper will share the data collection methods, beginning themes and stories from the students and program coordinator in the program's very first cohort, as well as initial lessons learned from the first year.