2024 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

This student-led research paper describes the social-cultural environment of a design and build engineering club team.

In 2022 the number of women employed as mechanical engineers was 8.5% of the profession in the United States. Mechanical Engineering degrees rank the highest awarded at the baccalaureate level, with only 17.5% were awarded to women. The degree completion by women in mechanical engineering correlates to the level of women participating in the micro environment of design and build engineering club teams. The social constructs that currently exist within the club environment may negatively impact women's participation in extracurricular activities, affecting their abilities to participate in career building opportunities. Experience in hands-on technical design and build engineering clubs provide students with critical knowledge and skill sets, such as designing, planning, and manufacturing, that contribute to future success in the profession. The low numbers of women’s participation in club activities demonstrates existing obstacles toward diversity, equity, and inclusion for women in engineering fields.

This study is from the perspective of a current engineering build and design team member who acted as a participant-researcher and served in a leadership role within this organization. The participant-researcher's intention in this leadership role was to improve the social-cultural environment within the teams to provide opportunities for everyone. She aimed to accomplish this by developing a cultural understanding and acceptance of marginalized groups among the majority of participants (team members); while at the same time providing a safe and collaborative work environment for development of technical skills and opportunities.

The pursuit of these goals led the authors to initiate a semester-long ethnographic study of the design and build engineering club team. In our investigation of the team we ask the following questions:
1) What are the current social environmental conditions including language and mentoring of the engineering build and design team?
2) How did a shift in practices in an attempt to include minoritized populations in an engineering build and design team succeed or fail?

The participant-researcher began by capturing field notes using techniques from an active participant perspective. She observed the linguistic practices, mannerisms, behavior, and social interactions of the engineering design and build team at Purple University. The majority of observations took place while attending weekly team meetings and specialized subsystem meetings. The participant-observer documented educational techniques used by senior members of the build and design team to educate and retain new and less experienced members.

The field notes were analyzed by the two authors using thematic analysis. They met and discussed the observation notes and identified evidence of shifts in team culture. Their analysis also focused on behaviors and moves that lead to inclusivity or exclusivity within the design and build team.

Preliminary results show that the addition of supplementary workshops increased the overall participation of marginalized and underrepresented groups. We also identified, measured and analyzed the conscious and unconscious bias exhibited by majority members of the engineering build team that was directed at minority members. It is understood that such bias manifests in negative linguistic practices, exclusive social interactions, and insensitive mannerisms that often have a deleterious impact on a minority member's sense of inclusion. The implication is that such social constructs create inequities to opportunities in engineering for women and marginalized groups and subsequently discourage participation in the profession. A potential outcome may be to restructure club organizations to implement procedures and behaviors that encourage inclusive and equitable practices in mentoring and training of new members. This will better position organizations such as engineering design and build teams to empower and retain minority students within engineering spaces, therefore setting them up for increased internship and career opportunities.