2025 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

This critical theory paper explores how engineering education researchers can advance discussions of gender equity by integrating the insights and methodologies of trans studies.
Despite the growing recognition of systemic barriers, the experiences of transgender, nonbinary, and gender nonconforming (TNBGNC) students in engineering education remain underexplored. This study seeks to address how integrating the work of trans studies scholars into engineering education research can enhance the inclusivity and equity of engineering for TNBGNC students. Specifically, we propose the following question: How can trans studies knowledge improve TNBGNC research practices in engineering education?
TNBGNC students are an increasingly politicized and underserved demographic especially within engineering spaces. It is well established that engineering is a cisheteropatriarchal discipline, and the way that gender is discussed in engineering education often perpetuates the marginalization of transgender, nonbinary, and gender nonconforming individuals. Literature establishes that TNBGNC students face some of the lowest retention rates in STEM programs, alongside high levels of isolation and a diminished sense of belonging compared to their cisgender peers. When engineering education researchers discuss gender, TNBGNC students are often overlooked in findings or generalized within the larger LGBTQ+ community, reinforcing their invisibility and contributing to their ongoing marginalization in the discipline.
Trans studies offers tools to critically interrogate power structures and address the marginalization of trans individuals. Most of the established research on TNBGNC students in engineering utilize established frameworks and methods from within the discipline which rarely address transgender and nonbinary identities. Trans studies challenges these limitations by centering the lived experiences of TNBGNC individuals. Thus, engineering education researchers can engage in a more nuanced conversation around gender equity in engineering by engaging with the methodologies and frameworks of trans studies.
This study employs reflexive content analysis to evaluate three trans studies papers at the intersection of trans studies and educational research. Reflexive content analysis is a flexible framework for analyzing manifest content and is intended to be adaptable within a larger epistemological framework. Researchers in engineering education have used content analysis as a method of codifying topics, methodologies, and subgroups represented in literature. We purposefully selected three articles with relation to educational research with TNBGNC individuals. We analyzed each article for the subject matter, research methodologies, and language related to TNBGNC individuals.
This work provides a roadmap for engineering education researchers to adopt inclusive frameworks, fostering an academic environment where TNBGNC students can thrive.