2024 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Work-in-Progress: Updated Progress Towards Understanding Perspectives among Neurodiverse Undergraduate Researchers in STEM

Presented at Charting Inclusivity: Advancing Diversity, Equity, and Technology in Engineering and Computing Education

In this work-in-progress research paper, we update the community on the assessment tool we have been developing to assess Thriving in STEM undergraduate researchers across neurodiversity. Neurodivergent students are often marginalized and stigmatized to the point of feeling pressure to "normalize" or "camouflage" their behavior to appear neurotypical. We have generated a preliminary assessment tool to understand the perspectives of neurodiverse students in undergraduate research, specifically their priorities in community, culture, and future prospects. Our investigation reports a qualitative assessment of these categories between neurodivergent students in STEM research environments compared to their neurotypical counterparts. The survey was first improved after cognitive interviews, and then distributed among STEM undergraduates. In this paper, we report the refinement process of the survey and the initial quantitative survey results.

Authors

Prof. Jeffrey Halpern http://orcid.org/0000-0003-0814-1986 University of New Hampshire [biography]

Jeffrey M. Halpern is an Associate Professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering at the University of New Hampshire. He earned his B.S.E. and Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering at Case Western Reserve University. He takes a personalized approach with my students to give individualized training. He integrates inclusive mentoring into a rigorous undergraduate research experience to optimize the
success of each individual. His mentoring work recently led to him receiving the inaugural UNH College of Engineering and Physical Sciences Undergraduate Mentoring Award in 2023.
Mariah Arral http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3248-4068 Carnegie Mellon University
Cassandra Michelle Lafleur University of New Hampshire
Sarah Young
Elise Baribault University of New Hampshire
Julianna Gesun http://orcid.org/0000-0002-0084-951X University of New Hampshire [biography]

Julianna Gesun, Ph.D., is currently a postdoctoral research scholar at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. Her research broadly focuses on understanding and supporting the process by which engineering programs facilitate the environments for students to develop optimal functioning in undergraduate engineering programs. Her research interests intersect the fields of positive psychology, engineering education, and human development to understand the intrapersonal, cognitive, social, behavioral, contextual, cultural, and outcome factors that influence thriving in engineering.

Prior to joining Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, she was a National Science Foundation/American Society for Engineering Education engineering postdoctoral fellow at the University of New Hampshire. She received her Ph.D. in Engineering Education at Purdue University, where she was an NSF Graduate Research Fellow and the winner of Purdue's 2021 Three Minute Thesis competition for her work in developing research and courses on engineering thriving. She also received dual bachelor's degrees in Industrial Engineering and Human Development and Family Studies at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Her prior work experiences include product management, consulting, tutoring, marketing, and information technology.

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