2024 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Board 435: Work in Progress: Preliminary Findings from NSF Award No. 2205033 - Research Initiation: Mapping Identity Development in Doctoral Engineering Students

Presented at NSF Grantees Poster Session

This work in progress (WIP) paper focuses on the development and initial validation of a survey adapting the three identity scales from Godwin’s (2016) Engineering Identity measure – Recognition (R), Interest (I), and Competence (C) - to assess research identity formation in doctoral engineering students. This study is a product of an NSF grant (Award No. 2205033) obtained to apply user experience (UX) methods to investigate the process through which doctoral engineering students develop their research identity. This survey was conducted during 2022 and 2023 for on-site and online Ph.D. students enrolled in various engineering fields at a large research university in the United States. In addition to the three identity scales, items from the survey include demographics, self-perceptions of capability to perform in different contexts, and various curricular and co-curricular experiences, including research experiences. Validation results include exploratory factor analysis of items utilizing oblimin rotation, KMO and Bartlett’s test, pattern matrix, component correlation matrix, and Cronbach’s alpha measures for each identity construct. These results suggest that the survey’s adaptation for research identity formation is valid and reliable. The instrument properties are further compared with the most closely related measures, including Godwin’s original scales, their sources, and the expanded researcher identity measure proposed by Perkins et al. (2018). Future research and applied work can benefit from this study by considering the experiences of other doctoral students, including those in programs beyond the engineering contexts studied. This research may impact future engineering doctoral program designs and contribute to the education of generations of doctoral engineering students and scholars interested in this area.

Authors

Diego Alejandro Polanco-Lahoz Texas Tech University [biography]

Diego A. Polanco-Lahoz is a Ph.D. student, from the program of Systems and Engineering Management, in the Department of Industrial, Manufacturing & Systems Engineering at Texas Tech University. He received his BS in Industrial Engineering from the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso (PUCV). His research interests are organizational factors research, organizational assessment/performance measurement, and engineering education.
Dr. Jennifer A Cross Texas Tech University [biography]

Jennifer Cross is an Associate Professor in the Department of Industrial, Manufacturing & Systems Engineering at Texas Tech University. She received her BS in Industrial Engineering from the University of Arkansas and her MS and PhD in Industrial and Systems Engineering from Virginia Tech, where she also served as a Postdoctoral Associate in the Enterprise Engineering Research Lab. Her research interests are organizational assessment/performance measurement, teams, performance improvement methodologies, and engineering education.
Kelli Cargile Cook Texas Tech University [biography]

Kelli Cargile Cook is a Professor and Founding Chair of the Professional Communication Department at Texas Tech University. Previously, she served as Professor and Director of Technical Communication and Rhetoric at Texas Tech and as Associate Professor at Utah State University. Her scholarship focuses on online education, program development and assessment, and user-experience design.
Dr. Mario G. Beruvides P.E. Texas Tech University [biography]

Dr. Mario G. Beruvides is the AT&T Professor of Industrial Engineering and Director of the Laboratory for Systems Solutions in the Industrial Engineering Department at Texas Tech University. He is a registered professional engineer in the state of Texas.
Jason Tham Texas Tech University [biography]

Jason Tham is an associate professor of technical communication and rhetoric at Texas Tech University. He is author of Design Thinking in Technical Communication (2021 Routledge) and co-author of UX Writing (2024 Routledge), Writing to Learn in Teams (2023 Parlor Press), Designing Technical and Professional Communication (2021 Routledge), and Collaborative Writing Playbook (2021 Parlor Press). He has also edited the collection Keywords in Design Thinking (2022 University Press of Colorado).
Md Rashedul Hasan Texas Tech University [biography]

I am working on my MS in Systems and Engineering Management at Texas Tech University. I am from Bangladesh, a South Asian country known for its abundant green landscapes. After completing my master’s program, I intend to pursue a Ph.D. in Industrial and System Engineering. With a focus on bridging theory and practice, I intend to uncover the factors that shape the identities of doctoral engineering students, thereby contributing to enhancing academic programs and support mechanisms. Through rigorous analysis and innovative methodologies, I aim to generate insights that will inform policies and interventions to foster a conducive environment for the growth and success of future engineering scholars.

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