2025 Collaborative Network for Engineering & Computing Diversity (CoNECD)

The role of undergraduate engineering students’ different support networks in promoting emotional well-being: A narrative study

Presented at Track 6: Technical Session 3: The role of undergraduate engineering students' different support networks in promoting emotional well-being: A narrative study

This research paper explores the role of undergraduate engineering students' different support networks. Support of students is integral to promoting a sense of belonging as an engineer, which leads to greater persistence. Our recent work suggests that emotional support may be the most important type of support, impacting students' feelings of recognition as engineers. We focus on two types of family: the traditional family (e.g., the family assigned at birth) and the chosen family (e.g., friends and mentors students choose to call family). We hypothesize that each family type contributes differently to students' well-being. By identifying who supports students, and how, we can better understand how to support all undergraduate engineering students more effectively. In this work, we used a qualitative, narrative inquiry approach to examine how students experience their support networks. We conducted nine in-depth narrative interviews with undergraduate engineering students from a mid-Atlantic institution. Interviews were guided by a set of narrative prompts that allowed participants to share their personal experiences. After transcription, we restoried the students' accounts and cross-analyzed the final narratives using analysis of narratives. Our findings suggest that engineering students often avoid discussing their emotional needs. When they do, they are more likely to seek out chosen families, where they feel greater authenticity and less judgment given the lack of power dynamics. Positive relationships within traditional families, supplemented by chosen families, contribute to stronger emotional well-being and support students' success as engineers. These results, and others, are discussed further.

Authors

Sowmya Panuganti Purdue Engineering Education [biography]

Sowmya Panuganti is a graduate student at Purdue University in the Engineering Education department. She is passionate about understanding engineering culture and the effects it has on engineers' mental health and well-being.
Narjes Khorsandi Koujel Rowan University [biography]

Narjes is a Ph.D. student in Engineering Education at Rowan University. She earned a bachelor's degree in industrial engineering in Iran and subsequently worked as an industrial engineer in the food industry for over 10 years. Narjes’ research and activism focuses on women in the Middle East. Particularly, she is focused on how resources, culture, and gendered norms impact their engineering identity development.
Dr. Justin Charles Major http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3111-8509 Rowan University [biography]

Dr. Justin C. Major (they/them) is an Assistant Professor of Experiential Engineering Education at Rowan University where they leads ASPIRE Lab (Advancing Student Pathways through Inequality Research in Engineering). Justin’s research focuses on low-income students, engineering belonging and marginalization mechanisms, adverse childhood experiences, and feminist approaches to EER, and connects these topics to broader understandings of student success in engineering. Justin completed their Ph.D. in Engineering Education (’22) and M.S. in Aeronautics and Astronautics (’21) at Purdue University, and two B.S. in Mechanical Engineering and Secondary Mathematics Education at the University of Nevada, Reno (’17). Atop their education, Justin is a previous NSF Graduate Research Fellow and has won over a dozen awards for research, service, and activism related to marginalized communities, including the 2020 ASEE ERM Division Best Diversity Paper for their work on test anxiety. As a previous homeless and food-insecure student, Justin is eager to challenge and change engineering engineering education to be a pathway for socioeconomic mobility and broader systemic improvement rather than an additional barrier.

Note

The full paper will be available to logged in and registered conference attendees once the conference starts on February 9, 2025, and to all visitors after the conference ends on February 11, 2025

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