2024 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

A central theme to the field of biomedical engineering is the ability to identify clinical problems and propose and develop engineering approaches to solving these problems. In order to train students in developing these skills, our department has developed a clinical and industry immersion course that serves as a pre-requisite to the senior design course in the undergraduate curriculum. The specific content and efficacy of these types of courses are likely to vary significantly depending on a range of factors, including the Institutions’ access to academic medical centers and biomedical industry sites proximate to their location, as well as the specific demographic composition of the student body. The field of biomedical engineering- as in other fields of engineering- broadly exhibits particular demographics that differ from that of the general population. As a result, students from certain underrepresented groups may experience disparate learning outcomes from these types of courses, and strategies to improve clinical immersion courses for these groups are limited in the engineering education literature. A major focus of this study was to quantify how our clinical immersion course impacts students from historically marginalized groups in race, ethnicity, first-generation status, gender, and age. Comparisons will be made between historically marginalized groups such as African Americans, Hispanics, women, and first-generation college students and their dominant counterparts. Pre- and post- course Likert scale questions will be used to analyze the student’s sense of self-efficacy, abilities to make connections and create value, and general interests in engineering. Preliminary data analysis indicates that there are discrepancies in the results of different demographic groups. Between Hispanic and non-Hispanic students, Hispanic students not only reported a lower level of agreeance prior to the course but also reported the most growth following the completion of the course. Further analysis will be conducted to reveal the intricacies of the relationship between historically marginalized groups and their experiences in this class. A qualitative analysis software will be used to evaluate the open-response questions between these groups to more clearly identify which factors are most influential for students’ learning outcomes and sense of belongingness in the field. This study intends to understand the differential impacts of a service-learning course on historically marginalized groups, in an attempt to improve the equity and quality of our curriculum.